[LBo] Drupal tutorial

[Jose M.]

So, if my web site is at a web hosting company, I can install drupal anyway,
is there some kind of limitations?

2007/1/31, Ben <superunit at gmail.com>:
>
> In short, there isn't one.  How Drupal is used and worked with depends
> heavily on what you want to do with it and how you are able to get it
> done.  I use it for my personal site and as my business intranet site
> (nothing too fancy), and both of those applications are very different
> setups, taken from sites, forums, and blogs found over months of
> searching and experimenting.  Plus, depending on what you mean to do and
> what you know, you might be looking at using CSS, php, html, Drupal
> modules, a combination, or none of the above, most of which falls
> outside the scope of any Drupal tutorial.  You won't get past using
> basic Drupal themes and functions without some knowledge of php and
> CSS.  I forced myself to keep working with it, no matter how frustrated,
> for months before it actually came together and started to make a
> beautiful sort of sense in my head.  I now consider myself an advanced
> beginner.
>
> There are some fledgling attempts at making How-tos or tutorials, but
> they are hampered by the nearly infinite possibilities with Drupal.   A
> good place to start, especially the forums, is www.drupal.org .
> IBM did a incredible tutorial (even if they show you how to set it up
> with a Windows server XD) that's here:
> http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html
> Another basic intro is here:
> http://www.designer-info.com/Writing/drupal_tutorial.htm
>
> A couple things I've learned (off the top of my head):
> -The best thing to do is to download it, slap it into your web server
> and do your best to mess it up.  That's what I did.  A lot of the time I
> couldn't tell what was going on or whether my changes or fixes were
> taking effect until I had screwed it up or altered it so much that it
> was obvious.
> -Install phpmyadmin (if it's your server).  It'll help installing and
> making backups if you're not comfortable with the SQL command line.
> -Try to have a very strict, bare vision for the site and it's
> functionality.  I had a hard time with distraction and unnecessary
> clutter at first, what with all the flashy Javascript libraries, AJAX
> searches, voting APIs, organic groups...pick the bare minimum and stick
> with it until you get used to how it all goes together.  Use it out of
> the box at first, without adding modules or redoing anything.
> -Follow the directions that appear after a successful install and try to
> stay focused on what you are trying to accomplish.  They may seem
> sparse, but most of the complexity comes from not having the discipline
> of knowing what you want to do and just clicking around.
> -After you get used to it (the install, backup, and basic
> administration), and have found what will break it, write that stuff
> down.  I used this opportunity to make a basic journal site with my own
> notes on my experiments with Drupal as a way of getting used to working
> with it.
> -And remember...Drupal is not blogging software.  It will make a clumsy
> but decent Blogger type site, but Blogger does it WAY better with 100
> times less work. Trust me.
>
> Here are my approximate steps after I install:
> 1. Add modules I need (not too many or it gets complicated quick)
> 2. Configure access control (adding roles and configuring what they have
> the ability to see/do)
> 3. Configure settings (in the admin menu - settings first, then the rest)
> 4. BACKUP (My least favorite part is the access control and module
> configuration, so I do backups here)
> 5. Configure the appearance and structure of the site (what do people
> see when they first visit...is it the front page, or a log-in screen? Is
> the front page an aggregator of all the site content (the Drupal
> default), or does the front page have its own content with teasers and
> links to different parts of the site? What blocks will be where, and for
> what kind of reader/visitor? What theme are you going to use, and how
> are the blocks for that theme arranged? etc)
> 6. Create users (for my intranet site...my blog is set to accept
> registrations)
> 7. And so on.
>
> By the way...DON'T install Drupal via Fantastico or other installation
> script.  They create insecure, difficult to upgrade and non-working
> installs of Drupal.  It's very simple to install, and you really should
> learn how to do it...
>
> Hope this helps, and I apologize for the length..
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