This introduction to Drupal 6 was presented to the Chicago Web Professionals meetup as the third in a series of CMS introductions (following WordPress and Joomla)
2. INTRODUCTION TO DRUPAL
What Kind of Site Do You Want to Build Today?
Steve Maxey • Maxey MediaWorks • steve@maxeymediaworks.com
3. ABOUT ME:
BUILDING WEB SITES SINCE 1997
• 1988–1997: Print production editor—from light tables and Xacto
knives to fully digital Quark/Illustrator/Photoshop production.
• 1997–2001: Took over a half-dozen related Microsoft FrontPage
sites, migrated them to Dreamweaver/Fireworks, migrated from
from tables and font tags to semantic markup and CSS. Started
working with podcasting, video and other technologies.
• 2001–2008: Acquired into a team with sites driven by custom php,
where I repeated the front end migration from tables and font tags
to semantic markup and CSS and managed the building of custom
unctionalities. Also administered and modified WordPress and
Mambo/Joomla sites.
• 2009: Launched Maxey MediaWorks and made the leap into
Drupal, which I had recommended for the Joomla sites. Active
member of CDMUG (Chicago Drupal Meetup Group).
5. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
Why a CMS?
• “Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress are the 3 most popular content management
systems according to Alexa and most webmasters” —Slayerment: http://
www.slayerment.com/blog/drupal-vs-joomla-vs-wordpress
• Customers pay a little more up front, but than can change and add page content
themselves, rather than calling their web guru for every small text change.
• A lot of the “behind-the-scenes” things that aren’t really part of design (RSS feeds,
SEO-friendly page titles and URLs, minimizing CSS and javascript and placing them
in external files, etc.) are built into the CMS or its core modules and don’t have to
be manually copied from page to page, or baked into a template.
• Helps you conceptualize your online content not as “web pages” but as structured
web content—which it is when you move beyond the browser.
6. WHAT IS DRUPAL?
Drupal Is a Content Management System
(CMS) Platform
• Free and Open Source (PHP, MySQL/PostgresSQL)
• Extensible (by design: a basic set of common
features with a rich API)
• With a Multi-Hierarchical Taxonomy System
• and Granular User-Permissions Control Suitable for
Community-based Sites
8. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
WordPress vs. Joomla vs. Drupal
WordPress Joomla Drupal
9. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
WordPress vs. Joomla vs. Drupal
WordPress Joomla Drupal
• A great blogging tool with an
intuitive interface
• Many plug-ins with specific
functionality and some
pluggable CMS features
• Many attractive free and
inexpensive themes
• Great for a single user.
Extensible to a controlled
group of users
• Go from zero to an attractive
working blog with your logo
in hours; more complex sites
will take longer to set up
10. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
WordPress vs. Joomla vs. Drupal
WordPress Joomla Drupal
• A great blogging tool with an • A CMS based on a
intuitive interface hierarchical tree-structure
taxonomy
• Many plug-ins with specific
functionality and some • Many free and for-pay plug-ins
pluggable CMS features extend functionality (some for-
pay modules are compiled so
• Many attractive free and you can’t see the code)
inexpensive themes
• Many attractive free and
• Great for a single user. inexpensive themes
Extensible to a controlled
group of users • Great for a controlled group
of users with publishing rights
• Go from zero to an attractive
working blog with your logo • Structured layouts mean you
in hours; more complex sites can go from zero to a working
will take longer to set up site in a few days
11. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
WordPress vs. Joomla vs. Drupal
WordPress Joomla Drupal
• A great blogging tool with an • A CMS based on a • A multi-hierarchical CMS
intuitive interface hierarchical tree-structure supporting multiple content
taxonomy types and ways of organizing
• Many plug-ins with specific your data.
functionality and some • Many free and for-pay plug-ins
pluggable CMS features extend functionality (some for- • Many modules to extend
pay modules are compiled so functionality—all of them free
• Many attractive free and you can’t see the code) as in beer, free as in speech
inexpensive themes
• Many attractive free and • Ugly default theme, few free
• Great for a single user. inexpensive themes themes—but zen theme
Extensible to a controlled encourages custom design
group of users • Great for a controlled group
of users with publishing rights • Great for multiple types of
• Go from zero to an attractive users with various permissions
working blog with your logo • Structured layouts mean you —up to community sites
in hours; more complex sites can go from zero to a working
will take longer to set up site in a few days • More flexibility = longer
development time
12. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
WordPress vs. Joomla vs. Drupal
WordPress Joomla Drupal
13. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL:
WordPress vs. Joomla vs. Drupal
WordPress Joomla Drupal
14. DRUPAL: A BRIEF HISTORY
• Created by Dries Buytaert as a bulletin board for a College student and his
friends.
• “Drupal” is an English-language rendering of the Dutch word for word
“drop” (as in water droplet).
• Open sourced in 2001.
• Maintained by about 800 developers worldwide.
• Now powers 1% of the web
• Soon to release version 7
15. ANATOMY OF DRUPAL
• Node/Content
• Content Type
• Taxonomy/
Vocabulary • Core
• Menu • Contrib
• Path • Module
• Region • User
• Block • Role
• Theme • Permission
Anatomy of a Drupal Page Theme
16. MODULAR STRUCTURE
• Don’t hack core. Ever.
• Over 6500 “contrib” modules in Drupal CVS
• Little concrete information on what they do
• Most start as solutions to specific problems
• Also 570 contrib themes
• CCK/Fields
• Views
17. LET’S TAKE A LOOK:
A Browser View of a Fresh Drupal Install
18. LEARNING MORE
Using Drupal Front End Drupal:
Designing, Theming,
Scripting
Building Powerful and Pro Drupal
Robust Websites with Development
Drupal 6
19. LEARNING MORE
• Online
• Drupal.org - http://drupal.org/
• Getting started - http://drupal.org/getting-started
• Drupal handbooks - http://drupal.org/handbook
• The APIs - http://api.drupal.org
• Groups.drupal.org - http://groups.drupal.org
• #drupal, #drupal-support and #CDMUG on IRC
• Live
• Chicago Drupal Meetup Group - http://cdmug.org/
• DrupalCon Chicago - March 2011 - http://chicago2011.drupal.org/
20. LEARNING MORE
• Video Tutorials:
• Lullabot DVDs on Views, CCK, Theming and more
• Learn by the Drop:
http://learnbythedrop.com/video
• Got Drupal: http://gotdrupal.com/
• Mustard Seed Media: http://mustardseedmedia.com/
21. REFERENCES
• Comparison Articles:
• The Open Sourcery: “Best Open CMS: WordPress vs Joomla vs
Drupal” http://www.theopensourcery.com/keepopen/?p=2211
(May 2010)
• Slayerment: “Drupal VS Joomla VS Wordpress - Which Is The
Best CMS?” http://www.slayerment.com/blog/drupal-vs-joomla-
vs-wordpress (December 2007, updated March 2010)
