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