Drupal in-depth

Drupal in Depth

Labourtech 2010

1

Who (am I)
Kathryn Carruthers
Network Administrator
National Union of Public and General Employees
kcarruthers@nupge.ca

2

What (is Drupal)
● CMS
● Open source
● Free
● Widely adopted
● Fast development cycle
● Easier to use with every version

3

A Content Management System – content is stored in a database, using PHP scripts to create the
displays and indexes that make your data useful.

Open source projects make the code available for use and change by the users who can do so.
The community has the opportunity to influence the direction of the code by using and
supporting the project, either by funding changes, writing code, or helping with support and
documentation. The more widely used a specific project is in a specific community, the more
influence we have on the direction of the project.

The code base is freely available for use. Consulting services are often required to make code
changes, create custom looks or actions.

Unlike commercial programs, open source coding goes at the speed that it's required. Drupal has
had several major and minor releases in the past five years.

More emphasis has gone into the user experience and making the interface understandable
between versions 5 and 6, and far more work has been done on usability testing and stability for
the upcoming version 7.

When (is it the best choice)
● You want automated category pages / blogs /
gallery / ease of use for multiple content
creators / ability to restrict by role...
● You need multiple sites manageable from a
single point
● You want to be able to move easily between
development/test/production environments
● Example showcase
4

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ Is a major win for Drupal.
Google top drupal sites brings up many people's lists
of their favourites.

I'll post mine at http://sarkasam.ca /drupalfaves

Where (can it live)
● System requirements – (L)AMP
● Security concerns

5

Apache, MySQL, PHP – very standard stuff for website
management.

Security is always important on the internet – you don't
want your site to be the one that's spewing spam.

Use a reputable hosting service if you don't want to
manage security on a server yourself.

Evaluate hosting services based on your site's
anticipated usage – don't put a large news site on a
$5/month service :)

Why (do I have to learn new words to
build a website)
● Node / node type
● Module
● Theme
● Region
● Block
● Taxonomy

6

Node – basic unit of data – a story, for example

Module – code that does something with your data

Theme – display layer – many available at
http://themegarden.org/drupal6/

Region – screen area in your theme – header, content,
sidebars, footer

Block – smaller screen area displays within a region in
your theme

Taxonomy - categories, tags, describe and arrange
your data – modules available to automate menu
creation by taxonomy

How (does it install, run, manage)

● Database (installation)
● File storage – Drupal core, modules, themes
+ images, downloads
● Tools – FTP client+ browser

7

To install Drupal, you need a database (MySQL most
common) with a user/password and a document root
folder to hold your code and uploaded files

Within your site folder, you'll have a folder called Sites
that contains all of your modules, themes, and
uploaded images, documents (like PDFs you're
attaching).

You don't need direct server access – an FTP client (to
upload code and backup your stuff) and browser are
all you need to manage your site.

Versions
● Drupal 5
● Drupal 6
● Acquia Drupal 6
● Drupal 7 (alpha)
● Drupalgardens (Acquia Drupal 7 +
themebuilder)

8

“Drupal 5 will no longer be maintained when Drupal 7
is released. Upgrading to Drupal 6 is recommended.”

Acquia Drupal is a bundled version at Acquia.com –
can purchase support there – code is still free.

Drupal 6 is the current most recommended version

Drupal 7 is in alpha, should be in production by this
summer.

Drupalgardens is a hosted service that lets you build
Drupal 7 sites, with a themebuilder and a totally new
interface – sites can be exported to another host
when ready.

Try it out
● Demo site installation (local install)
● Additional modules
● Configuration
● update.php

9

Acquia local installer – DAMP – download from
http://acquia.com/downloads/windows-installer - run to
have a local Drupal available.

http://drupalmodules.com – IMCE, WYSIWIG, IMCE
WYSIWIG bridge – download modules, unzip (I like
7zip for windows) to Sites folder (default DAMP
install will want it under MyDocumentsMy
sitesacquia drupalsitesmodules)

Go to your site (from DAMP screen, or at
http:localhost::8082 )

Login as your user1 (name/password from DAMP
installer)

Go to Site Building, Modules on the Admin menu, and
enable the new modules.

Obligatory favourite modules list
● Backup Migrate
● WYSIWIG / FCKeditor
● IMCE (IMCE-WYSIWIG bridge)
●

●

●

●

10

Everybody has ten or thirty, mine change depending
on the project, but I always need images, and
backups.

Resources available (books, sites,
video training, groups, camps, cons)
● Slide show of books
● Bookmark list of sites and video resources

11

drupal.org / groups.drupal.org
drupalmodules.com
lullabot.com
packtbooks.com

Drupal in-depth

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