TLA Webinar: Introduction to Drupal -- part 1 of 3

Intro to Drupal, Part 1 of 3 TLA Webinar Series, Nov. 12 2013

Introduction to Drupal Part 1 of 3

Installation, Basic Configuration, Content Types, User Roles


What is Drupal? •  A content management system

•  A web application framework

•  A community

•  Free

•  Open source

•  Entirely customizable

•  Extremely powerful


Minimum Requirements Drupal 7

•  A web server

•  Apache, Nginx, Microsoft IIS

•  A database

•  MySQL 5.0.15+, PostgreSQL 8.3+, SQLite 3.3.7+

•  PHP 5.2.5+ (5.3 recommended)


Installation Options

•  Webhost

•  Acquia Dev Desktop

•  Drupalpro + Virtualbox

•  MAMP

•  Bitnami

•  Zend Desktop


Installation Demo


Common Installation Gotcha’s •  Files not writeable: check sites/default/!les permissions

•  settings.php does not exist: duplicate default.settings.php and rename settings.php – make sure that it is writeable for installation

•  White screen: usually means not enough memory

•  Cannot access any interior page: missing .htaccess file

•  Database access: read your host’s database instructions

These are the common issues/solutions, but they are not the only factors. Drupal.org is a fantastic resource for further troubleshooting.


Proper Permissions •  sites/default/files:

755 command line: chmod -R 755 !les

•  settings.php: 444 command line: chmod 444 settings.php


Basic Configuration Demo


Content Types


Basic Content Types

Basic Page •  Title •  Body text •  Belongs in menu

Article (Right) •  Title •  Submitted by info (1) •  Image (2) •  Body text •  Tags (3) •  Comments (4) •  Does not belong in menu


New Content Type: Event Requirements

•  Title

•  Body text

•  Image

•  Tags

•  No submitted by info

•  No menu

•  Event contact (new !eld)

•  Event date (module)

•  Event location (module)

•  Registration link (module)


Content Types Basic Fields & Choices

Demo



•  Title

•  Body text

•  Image

•  Tags


•  No menu







•  Title

•  Body text

•  Image

•  Tags


•  No menu






Extending Functionality with Modules


Selecting a Module

1. Module description •  Is its purpose clear? •  Is it well documented?

2. Age of the module •  How long has it been around? •  If for a long time, has it been

kept up to date?

3. Issue queue •  Is it active?

4. Maintainers


Selecting a Module Cont.

5. Related modules •  Are a lot of projects working

with this tool? •  Are there lots recipes to

work with?

6. Project information •  Is the module being actively

maintained, today? •  Is it widely used? •  When was it last updated?

7. Downloads •  A – recommended downloads •  B – date of release •  Are there green versions

available?


Installing Modules Demo



•  Title

•  Body text

•  Image

•  Tags


•  No menu

•  Event contact

•  Event date: Date module drupal.org/date

•  Registration link: Link module drupal.org/link

•  Event location: Multiple drupal.org/address!eld_staticmap +


Finish up Event Content Type

Demo


Event Content Type •  Custom fields requiring additional

modules

•  A date field that will allow for database queries based on date (for a calendar, e.g.)

•  Custom display settings for the node view and the teaser view appropriate for event content


Recap: Drupal Glossary •  Node: a piece of content which belongs to a content type. A

node page is the specific single page for that content, but nodes can be viewed outside of their page.

•  Teaser (aka Summary): an introductory paragraph about a piece of content.

•  Terms (aka Tags): organizational keywords that can be used to create categories or metadata.

•  Module: a package of code (typically written in PHP and CSS) that extends Drupal functionality.

https://drupal.org/glossary


Users & User Roles


Users •  Individuals with accounts on the site

•  Accounts are tied to the individuals’ email addresses so that they can reset passwords on their own as needed

•  Activity on the site is tracked so that you can tell who created/edited a node or did other tasks on the site

•  Users can be given roles that have specific sets of permissions


User Roles •  Your site can have unlimited roles

•  Roles can be given very specific sets of permissions (e.g. “Post to facebook”)

•  Users can have many roles, and will have the permissions from each role

•  Permissions can be further refined with the help of workflow modules including Workbench, Workbench Access and Work"ow


Users & User Roles Demo


Recap: Drupal Glossary •  User: an individual with login credentials for the site.

•  Role: a set of permissions that can be applied to individual users. Users can belong to multiple roles.

•  Permission: a tool for controlling access to content creation, modification and site administration.

•  User1 (aka Site Maintenance Account): this is the first user on the site, and can do anything. It is not advisable to work on your site as User1. Always create an administrative account for yourself, and protect the User1 credentials.



Recap: Drupal Glossary •  Administrator: a default Drupal role that has high-level

permissions on the site. This should only be given to trusted individuals who know what the tools do.

•  Authenticated user: a site visitor who has logged into the site using their credentials.

•  Anonymous user: a site visitor who has not logged in (and may not have credentials). The general public will typically be anonymous users.



Questions?


http://chillco.com/ tla-drupal-questions

Technology

TLA Webinar: Introduction to Drupal -- part 1 of 3