The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Drupal - presented at DrupalCampOH 2012 in Columbus, OH

1. Drupal Beginner Training
Rod Martin
@imrodmartin
http://bit.ly/1834sUE

2. Introductions
• Myself
• Yourself
• The people sitting
next to you

3. Rod Martin
@imrodmartin
rod@ostraining.com

4. Support After the Class
Book Videos Support

5. Drupal
• What? A Content Management System
with over 22,000 add-on features.

6. What is a Content
Management System (CMS)?
a software application that makes it possible
for non-technical users to publish content to
a website. A CMS serves as a store for a
wide range of information assets, including
text, image databases and so on.
www.publiclife.co.uk/glossary.html

7. What is a Content
Management System (CMS)?

8. What is a Content
Management System (CMS)?
Content
Text, editing, links.

9. What is a Content
Management System (CMS)?
Content
Text, editing, links.
Creative Design
Site Design and Page
Layout, Information
Architecture, Usability
Design - Theme

10. What is a Content
Management System (CMS)?
Technical Design
PHP, AJAX,
JavaScript, etc. - Drupal
Content
Text, editing, links.
Creative Design
Site Design and Page
Layout, Information
Architecture, Usability
Design - Theme

11. The Drupal Business Model
Drupal is free.
How is that possible? Drupal is run by
volunteers working for Drupal businesses.
Drupal is free: but Drupal sites often
aren’t.

12. Drupal - When?
• Started in 2000 by Dries Buytaert a
student at a university in Belgium.

13. Drupal - Who?
• Over 900,000 people on Drupal.org
• Around 1000 active developers
• Developers are not paid by Drupal. Most
work for Drupal companies and volunteer
some of their time.

14. The Business Behind Drupal
Drupal is still led by it’s founder, Dries
Buytaert.
His company Acquia runs much of Drupal’s
products, services and support
DrupalCon London

15. The Business Behind Drupal
Drupal is still led by it’s founder, Dries
Buytaert.
His company Acquia runs much of Drupal’s
products, services and support
DrupalCon London

16. What Does Drupal Mean?
Drupal is a misspelling of “drop” in Dutch.
That explains the logos:

17. Users: White House

18. Department of Commerce

19. Department of Education

20. Grammy Awards

21. Christina Aguilera

22. Major League Soccer

23. Rafael Nadal

25. No False Promises
• HUGE learning curve beyond the basics

28. No False Promises
• HUGE learning curve beyond the basics
• Quicker, but good sites still take time
• Cheaper, but may cost $XX,XXX or more
• More Options, but custom work often
needed

29. No False Promises
Drupal is not right for every site
• WordPress = very easy, but few features
• Joomla = easier, but less flexibility

30. No False Promises

31. No False Promises

32. No False Promises

33. Why use Drupal 7?
• Drupal 5
–Launched 2007. Updates have ended
• Drupal 6
–Launched 2008. Still actively developed
and used for 95% of sites.
• Drupal 7
–Launched 2011.

34. Why use Drupal 7?
• Drupal 5
–Launched 2007. Updates have ended
• Drupal 6
–Launched 2008. Still actively developed
and used for 95% of sites.
• Drupal 7
–Launched 2011.

35. Why use Drupal 7?
• Drupal 5
–Launched 2007. Updates have ended
• Drupal 6
–Launched 2008. Still actively developed
and used for 95% of sites.
• Drupal 7
–Launched 2011.

36. Any Questions?

37. The Drupal Site Building Workflow

38. Planning

39. Typical Drupal Site

41. • Content Audit
• Content Types, Fields, Taxonomy
• Extend through Modules
• Plan Site Architecture
• Layout & Display
• Theme

42. The Drupal Site Building Workflow

43. Installation #1 … Automatic

44. Installation #2 … Manual

45. Installation #3 … Cloud

46. Installation #4 ... Desktop

47. Installation #4 ... Desktop

48. Installation #4 ... Desktop

49. Admin Area
Username: admin
Password: admin

50. Admin Area

51. Let’s Touch the Important Ones
1. Add a block
2. Change the logo
(http://ntihost.net/drupalville-logo.png)
3. Turn off a module
4. Change the site name
5. Add some content

52. Content Workflow
1) Content types
2) Fields (if extra data needed)
3) Taxonomy (if categories needed)
• Vocabulary
• Terms
4) Create Content

53. Content Workflow
1) Content types
In Drupal, each item of content is called a node,
and each node belongs to a single content type,
which defines various default settings for nodes
of that type, such as whether the node is
published automatically and whether comments
are permitted.
Control over how content is added to your site.
Goes way beyond the typical “Title” and “Body”
fields.

54. Content Workflow
2) Fields
Attached to Drupal entities (content nodes,
users, taxonomy vocabularies, etc.) fields take
care of storing, loading, editing, and rendering
field data. Where content is added to your site.
Can be sorted, selected, presented in any
setting.
Allow for customizing your content for
maximum flexibility.

55. Content Workflow
3) Create Content
(list of favorite modules coming at the end)

58. The Drupal Site Building Workflow

59. A. Modules Workflow
1) Research
2) Install
3) Enable
4) Configure

60. drupal.org/project/modules
DrupalModules.com

61. Upload Modules
Files needed to be uploaded to either:
/sites/all/modules/ or:
/sites/default/modules/
*** do not upload to /modules/

62. Upload Modules
Files needed to be uploaded to either:
/sites/all/modules/ or:
/sites/default/modules/
*** do not upload to /modules/
x

63. Upload Modules
Files needed to be uploaded to either:
/sites/all/modules/ or:
/sites/default/modules/
*** do not upload to /modules/
x

64. The Drupal Site Building Workflow

67. Themes
Each theme has different block positions

68. Theme Sources
1) Free themes
2) Commercial themes ($50 to $250)
3) Theme Generator ($100)
4) Custom ($2000 and upwards)

69. 1) Free Themes
Drupal.org/project/Themes

70. 2) Commercial Themes
FusionDrupalThemes.com
and a host of others
(google it...)

71. 3) Theme Generator
Artisteer.com ($129)

74. Blocks

75. Views
Selects, orders, presents your content or
any part/combination of it based on the
criteria you define.

76. Selects, orders, presents your content or
any part/combination of it based on the
criteria you define.

77. Views Workflow
1. Display
2. Format
3. Fields
4. Filter
5. Sort

78. Drupal Views
1. Display
2. Format
3. Fields
4. Filter
5. Sort

79. Drupal Views
1. Display
2. Format
3. Fields
4. Filter
5. Sort

80. The Panels Module
• Takes the views we create then controls
access and layout of the content.
• “Blocks with brains”...
– Provides context for our views (user, node,
fields, taxonomy, search, custom... and
more)
– Use panes anywhere - exportable.

81. The Panels Module

82. Modules for Layout/Display
• http://blip.tv/drupalcon/different-ways-
to-control-your-layout-6318577
• Views - in Drupal 8 Core
http://www.esquire.com/style/answer-fella/history-of-applause-0209
Mark Matcho

83. Modules for Layout/Display
• http://blip.tv/drupalcon/different-ways-
to-control-your-layout-6318577
• Views - in Drupal 8 Core
http://www.esquire.com/style/answer-fella/history-of-applause-0209
Mark Matcho

84. Modules for Layout/Display
• http://blip.tv/drupalcon/different-ways-
to-control-your-layout-6318577
• Views - in Drupal 8 Core
• Panels / Panelizer
• Display Suite
• Context
• Bean / Template Field Module
http://www.esquire.com/style/answer-fella/history-of-applause-0209
Mark Matcho

85. Panels Workflow
1) Panels > Panel Page
2) Basic settings
3) Choose the layout
4) Place the content

86. Display Suite
• Display Suite allows you to take full control
over how your content is displayed using a
drag and drop interface. Arrange your nodes,
views, comments, user data etc. the way you
want without having to work your way
through dozens of template files. A
predefined list of layouts (D7 only) is
available for even more drag and drop fun!

87. The Drupal Site Building Workflow

88. People Workflow
1) Roles
2) Permissions
3) Users
4) Masquerade module to
test user accounts

89. The Drupal Site Building Workflow
Things to remember...

90. Content Workflow
1) Content types
2) Fields (if extra data needed)
3) Taxonomy (if categories needed)
• Vocabulary
• Terms
4) Create Content

91. Extend/Design Workflow

92. Modules / Themes Workflow
1) Research
2) Install
3) Enable
4) Configure

93. User Workflow
1) Roles
2) Permissions
3) Users
4) Masquerade module to
test user accounts

94. Drupal Beginner Workflow
1) Plan!
2) Install (4 ways)
3) Create (Content)
4) Extend (Modules)
5) Design (Views, Panels &Themes)
6) Practice, Practice, Practice
(OSTraining.com)

95. Put it all together...

96. Over to you …

97. Favorite Modules
Advanced Help
• Chaos tools
• Developer module
• Display Suite:
• Link
• Views, Views UI
• Votingapi
• Workbench
• Date
• Panels
• Entity Reference
• WYSIWYG
• IMCE / IMCE MkDir
• Pathauto
• Scheduler
• Token
• LinkIt
• CAPTCHA / Text Captcha
• Webforms
• Lightbox2
• Views Slideshow / Cycle
• XML Sitemap
• Administrator Menu?
• to see the top modules -
drupalmodules.com

98. Practice, Practice, Practice
Sign up at http://www.ostraining.com/signup
use coupon code: drupalconprague

99. Resources
http://www.slideshare.net/imrodmartin/
DrupalCon Denver:
http://blip.tv/drupalcondenver
Other DrupalCons: http://blip.tv/drupalcon
Later DrupalCons: http://www.youtube.com/
user/DrupalAssociation