Drupal 101

• ...heard of Drupal?
• ...considering Drupal for your website?
• ...already have a website built on Drupal?

• Content Management System (CMS)
• A database
  • the "node" notion
• Framework
• Modular
• Plug in what you need, leave out what you don't

• Recommended web server: Apache 1.3 or 2.x
• Recommended database server: MySQL 4.1+ OR PostgreSQL 7.4+
• PHP 4.3.5+ (recommended: 5.2 or higher)
• Browser requirements:
  • IE6+
  • Firefox 2+
  • Opera 7+
  • Safari 1+
  • Camino 1+

• Your STUFF:
  • content
  • pages
  • whatever

• The things that make your site functional + cool
• Must-have modules for a library website:
  • Content Creation Kit (CCK)
  • Views
  • Pathauto
• Other good modules for library websites:
• FAQ
• Event
• Search404
• Taxonomy
• TinyMCE or FCKEditor
• Webform
  
  

• Blocks: constructing the way your site looks
• Menus: navigation

• Will users be allowed/required to login to do stuff?
  
• Who will update what on your site?

• Controls the way your site looks (with blocks & menus)
• CSS

• Public Libraries:
  • Ann Arbor District Library
  • Darien Library
  • DC Public Library
  • Mead Public Library
• Academic Libraries:
  • Drake University, Cowles Library
  • McMaster University Library
  • University of Michigan Library
  • University of Toronto Mississauga
• Other Stuff:
  • Duke University
  • Emmy Awards
  • whitehouse.gov (!!)

• spend some up-front time thinking about the types of pages on your site
  • content types in CCK
  • user permissions
• your URLs don't have to mirror your menu structure
  • users don't care about your site architecture
  • friendly URLs are more important
• give yourself plenty of time to template:
  • don't start from scratch
  • start with one of the standard/default themes (e.g. Zen)

• drupal.org [project home]
• drupallib [a place for library drupallers to hang out, includes a listserv]
• Rhinocerus.net [help, themes, modules]
• Librarian in Black on Drupal support [companies that provide support for drupal in libraries]

This presentation is online at
http://blogwithoutalibrary.net/talk/il2009/drupal101

etchesjohnson AT gmail.com
blogwithoutalibrary.net
influx.us

Thank you to Jessamyn West for the the original layout and stylesheet used in this presentation (both are available to borrow via a share and share alike creative commons license. See source code for details).

slides version | printable version