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Drupal: The Basics & More
Walter Nelson RAND Corporation walternelson.com
Disclaimer
RAND Corporation does not use Drupal All my Drupal experience has been extra-
curricular Non-profits, movie theater, personal site etc.
I am self taught and there is much I don’t know
Open Source Content Management Systems Drupal Joomla! WordPress I know Drupal, so that’s what I will discuss Search “Drupal vs. Joomla vs. WordPress”
for informed comparisons
About Drupal
Creates database driven website/Content Management System
Open Source Currently at version 7 Uses PHP and MySQL
Database Driven?
Content and format are separate Internal search engine is a standard feature Self-organizing (if you are organized) Content can be entered in once place, and
appear in many
Some Advantages
Easier to add content – no need for Dreamweaver etc.
Multiple contributors with VERY granular permissions
Contributors can’t break it – unless you let them
Format changes are instantaneous
The Down Side of a CMS
Initial setup is a lot of work – to include wrapping your head around the architecture of your information
Performance may be slow You can destroy the whole website with a
single mistake (back up your database) You can’t make format changes to specific
pages
Open Source Advantages
Not owned by anyone Developed by a huge community Constantly growing and expanding Amazing variety of capabilities No cost to acquire
Open Source Disadvantages
It’s a jungle out there! Constant changes are hard to keep up with New modules or versions may not be
compatible with key pieces of your installation Existing modules may not be compatible with
each other Modules may be abandoned by their
developers If there’s a problem there is no patient chap
in Mumbai to whine to
An option to consider
3rd party vendor They run your Drupal for you They usually want to host it for you, so they
can manage it properly
Installation
Step by step videos Helpful “Fix this to continue” messages The easiest web application I have ever
installed
Some Problems
Your server’s PHP installation may not support all modules (e.g. graphics issues)
Insufficient memory allotted to application or database
Performance issues if resources are constrained Caching is imperfect fix
Modules
Drupal has hundreds of modules which do almost anything you want to do Download and unzip Upload to server Activate via Admin page Set appropriate permissions Use it
Selected Modules
Date + Calendar MARC (turn your OPAC records into web
pages) Contact form Image uploader RSS feeds (lots of them) Feed Aggregator Commenting “CAPTCHA” spam reducer
Taxonomies – be still my librarian heart
Each term creates aggregated pages, each with RSS feed Fixed vocabulary with sub-headings Free form “tags” do the same
“Book” format with “child pages” creates menu tree Affiliates pages hierarchically and menu is created
automatically Easy to change location in hierarchy
Permissions
Everything on the site, including the ability to see a thing, is permission driven
Every module has its own set of permissions You can create special content types with
unique permissions Permissions are bundled in admin-defined
“Groups” Users are assigned to Groups
Some screen shots
The interfaces at work
Module On/Off Admin Panel
Typical Content Creation Screen
Permissions Management
Themes
Drupal Example
Another Drupal Site
Graphic & Attached Document
Feed Aggregator
Calendar
Contact Form
MARC Display
Conclusion
Drupal gives those without the resources or skill set the power to create a real CMS driven website
Collaborative community provides resources beyond anything an individual or small organization could create
Drupal can do the job
A Final Observation
Drupal is the real deal It is not “Content Management” lite It is a real CMS, and it is as good as your
understanding of data architecture can make it
Recommended