- Drupal is an open source content management system (CMS) written in PHP that allows users to build sophisticated web applications and websites. - It has a modular architecture that can be extended through modules and themes. Core functionality can be added and customized through contributed modules and themes available on Drupal.org. - Content in Drupal is managed through nodes, which are the basic building blocks. Different types of nodes like pages, articles can be created. Non-node elements include users, taxonomy, and blocks. - The document provides an overview of Drupal's system requirements, basic structure and components, and outlines the initial site building process for setting up the site and adding users and roles.

1. An Introduction to Drupal An overview of the architecture, features and basic site-building workflow of the CMS. By Vipulika Sharma

2. What is Drupal? Open Source software written in php. A CMS or content-management system. A sophisticated web application building tool.

3. System Requirements WebServer: • Apache: Drupal will work on Apache 1.3 or Apache 2.x hosted on UNIX/Linux, OS X or Windows. • Microsoft IIS: Drupal core will work using IIS 5, IIS 6, or IIS 7. Database: • MySQL: Drupal 6 supports MySQL 4.1 or higher. Recommended by drupal.org PHP: • Recommended: PHP 5.2.x

4. Drupal Structure Drupal is a database-driven (‘dynamic’) application. It requires a database. Drupal has a core filesystem whose functionality can be extended using modules and themes. Although Drupal offers a sophisticated programming interface for developers, no programming skills are required for basic website installation and administration

5. Modules Packages of files in a directory that you upload into drupal’s module space (/sites/all/modules) Add functionality to drupal ‘ Core’ Modules come shipped with drupal ‘ Contributed’ Modules are downloads from http://drupal.org/project/Modules

6. Themes Packages of files in a directory that you upload into drupal’s theme space (/sites/all/themes) Themes adjust the site layout and style. Like ‘skinning’ your media player. ‘ Contributed’ Themes are downloads from http://drupal.org/project/Themes

7. Nodes A node is the primary form of content in a drupal site. At a minimum it is a title and a body, and can be ‘specialized’. A ‘page’ and ‘story’ for example are node types that have a specific node settings. A node type is a blueprint for creating instances of content of a particular type.

8. Nodes (cont) Not everything in Drupal is a node. This is important!! Ex: A user is not a node. A taxonomy is not a node. An account is not a node. Knowing this is important for evaluation of what can and cannot be easily done through the UI, without additional programming.

9. Blocks Blocks are added by modules. Blocks can contain views, menus, nodes (in special circumstances), and panels. Blocks can be moved around through the UI Blocks can be styled individually.

10. Change Site Information In Administer > Site Configuration > Site Information: Change the information to suit your site following the help text. Don’t change the ‘Default front page’ just yet. Click ‘Save configuration’

11. Change Date and Time In Administer > Site Configuration > Date and Time: Change the timezone to the correct time for India/New Delhi Change the time formats Click ‘Save Configuration’

12. Clean Urls Clean URLs remove the ?q= from the location bar in your web browser. In Administer > Site Configuration > Clean Urls: Tick ‘Enabled’ Click ‘Save Configuration’

13. Add a user Go to Administer > User Management > Users Click ‘Add user’ Choose options. Click ‘Create New Account’

14. Add a user A user can also add themselves by registering, if the root user has allowed this option. Go to Administer > User Management > User Settings Tick ‘Visitors can create accounts and no administrator approval is required’ Click ‘Save Configuration’

15. Add Roles You will note that ‘anonymous’ and ‘authenticated’ users are there by default, undeletable. Type in the box below the roles in the ‘Name’ column. Click ‘add role’. That’s it.

16. Edit / Delete role Click ‘edit’ next to the role name. Here you can change the name or delete the role. Warning: If you click ‘delete role’, there is NO confirmation. This can be bad.

17. Assign multiple roles to User In Administer > User Management > Users: Click the ‘edit’ link under operations for a user Under Roles, Tick an additional role you created. You will notice ‘authenticated user’ is locked. Scroll to the bottom and click ‘Save’

18. Most Useful Contributed Modules Administration menu CCK Views String Overrides Backup and Migrate SEO Checklist SEO Compliance Checker Pathauto Path Redirect Global Redirect Search404 Meta Tags Global GEOurl Html Purifier Page Title Menu Attributes New XML Sitemap Site Map Taxonomy Manager Token Auto Assign Role (+patch) Ubercart Date Mollum / Spam Captcha WYSIWYG API FCKEditor IMCE Chaos Tools + Delegator Panels Actions Triggers Notify Scheduler Addthis / Diggthis/ Sharethis Guestbook Simplenews GoogAnalytics