The document discusses Drupal as a highly versatile content management system (CMS), highlighting its modularity and adaptability for various use cases, including data-driven websites. It addresses the challenges of managing the complexity of modular systems and emphasizes the importance of distributions and installation profiles for different user needs. The document also outlines tools for configuration management and provides links to resources for both novice and advanced users to better navigate and utilize Drupal.

1. UKOLN is supported by: Doing Drupal: Quick Start Deployments via Distributions Thom Bunting, Web Manager IWMW 2011, University of Reading 27 July 2011

2. Drupal: framework / CMS Like many possibilities of (5890+)* Lego pieces Photos source: www.flickr.com/photos/jacob-davies/ * Number of contributed modules in Drupal version 6: July 2011

3. Drupal: framework / CMS And versatility of a Swiss army knife Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/thedalogs/ Fundamentally modular in design (and getting more so), Drupal can adapt to a wide range of use cases and interface with diverse systems: economist.com data.gov.uk university websites high-profile sites in many categories (And it does blogs well too.)

4. Drupal: framework / CMS Versatility adaptable to new contexts Drupal data-driven website: data.worldbank.org Drupal is significantly extending capacities for consuming and producing dynamic data sets / data-driven content Range of managed 'content' is expanding: large-scale aggregation / analysis of data is becoming a first-class citizen in CMS universe Recent developments increase scope for managing and presenting large / disparate / previously hidden datasets

5. Drupal: framework / CMS High versatility suits web-scale dynamics Graphic source: www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/8632.aspx Drupal community actively developing highly modular framework as best approach long-term A typical view: Site Unseen: Shopping a CMS? Consider what you haven't seen, not what's hot now

6. Drupal: framework / CMS Versatility risks complexity Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/ With so much going on, how to make everything manageable?

7. Drupal: framework / CMS Paradox of modularity Cartoon source: http://www.xkcd.com/659/ Adrian Rollett and Adam Jensen from University of North Texas (where Drupal was selected as “official campus CMS”) consider how highly modular systems present the age-old Gestalt paradox: the whole > sum of parts how to maintain integrity of the whole (vis-à-vis disparate pieces)?

8. Drupal: a crucial challenge Managing integrity of highly modular systems Illustration source: www.scribd.com/doc/22671613/Automating-Drupal-Deployment-with-Drush-Make-and-Features/ For those technically inclined, Rollett and Jensen’s presentation offers concise, helpful guidance on ‘rolling your own’ Rollett and Jensen explain how developers can manage automated deployments of Drupal sites using drush-make , installation profiles , and features

9. Drupal: a crucial challenge Three configuration tools can help: drush-make (command-line tool) extending drush command-line tool into utility that can create a ready-to-use Drupal site, pulling sources from various locations features (automated configuration sets) providing UI and API for taking different site building components from modules with exportables and bundling them together into a single ‘features’ configuration installation profiles (pre-configured installation packages) providing site features and functions for a specific type of site as a single download containing Drupal core, contributed modules, themes, and pre-defined configuration

10. Drupal: a crucial challenge Who can use configuration tools? Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/elsie/ Techies Configuration management normally requires considerable technical expertise

11. Drupal: the crucial challenge Distributions moving beyond high-tech silos Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/eirikref/

12. Drupal: the crucial challenge Advanced technology, packaged with care drupal.org discusses state-of-play in the Drupal distributions: “ Something we seem to utterly lack is an easy way to find a list of Drupal distributions. For vocabulary purposes (since this is how average people think of these terms), distributions are polished "products" with Drupal under the hood, like: http://usecod.com/ [Conference Organization Distribution, events platform] http://openatrium.com/ [Open Atrium, team collaboration platform] http://openpublishapp.com/ [Open Publish, on-line media publishing platform] http://acquia.com/products-services/acquia-commons-social-business-software [Acquia Commons, open social business platform] http://videola.tv/ [Videola, enterprise-level video management / delivery platform] “ The target end-user for these distributions is often someone without any Drupal experience at all; a lot of the rough edges are smoothed over, and lots of care is given to user experience.”

13. Drupal: the crucial challenge Distributions as a primary download option? drupal.org discusses ‘distributions’ vs. ‘installation profiles’: “ Installation profiles (which we do have a list of), on the other hand, are ‘Drupal with some other stuff bundled in and pre-configured for convenience.’ This is useful, too. For example: http://drupal.org/project/commerce_kickstart [Drupal Commerce base configuration] http://drupal.org/project/drupalorg_testing [replication of drupal.org for testing purposes] http://drupal.org/project/l10n_install [base site for setting up local translations] http://drupal.org/project/media_dev [quick install of Drupal 7 media project modules] http://drupal.org/project/planet [jump start for Planet-style news aggregator] “ But these two things [installation profiles and distributions] are not remotely the same. And everywhere we talk about them, we seem to treat them as they're the same. Heck, the group that's focused on this is even called Distribution Profiles. Ugh.” “ I think there's a lot of value in creating a listing of distributions that's separate from a list of installation profiles, and promoting this as a primary download type. Because for people for whom Drupal is too hard, distributions [are] a lot of times what they need.”

14. Drupal: the crucial challenge Distributions easy to use, even for newbies Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/

15. Drupal: the crucial challenge Distribution benefits if you are Drupal newbie Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/ Highly advanced ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality, installed within (~5) minutes Admin / user-interfaces well developed and tested Helpful support / documentation sets

16. Drupal: the crucial challenge Distribution benefits if you are technical guru Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/ Fully developed examples of best practice from which to learn (typically at ‘cutting edge’) Extensible via ‘contrib modules’ installed via drush or ‘features server’ add-ons

17. Drupal: the crucial challenge Distribution challenges for everyone Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/ How closely does a distribution fit your specific requirements? How easily can you tweak a distribution? Is a distribution well maintained with functionality and security updates?

18. Drupal: the crucial challenge Session activities: exploring distributions ‘ Open Atrium’ http://iwmw-atrium.ukoln.info/ (private demo site for IWMW conference session participants)

19. Drupal: the crucial challenge Session activities: exploring distributions ‘ Managing News’ http://iwmw-mn.ukoln.info/ (demo site for IWMW conference session participants) See also: http://iwtb.ukoln.info/

20. Wrap-up discussion Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/

21. References: Drupal & distributions Basic information Drupal FAQ http://drupal.org/drupal-faq Drupal Distro Watch http://drupaldistrowatch.com/ Open Atrium http://openatrium.com/about Managing News http://www.managingnews.com/about More technical information Quick install for developers (command line) http://drupal.org/documentation/install/developers Drush Make: Drupal Distributions Packaging Automation Tool http://drupal.org/node/625094 Drupal Distributions with Drush Make http://developmentseed.org/blog/2009/oct/27/drupal-distributions-drush-make

22. Contact details Dr. Thom Bunting UKOLN University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY Email: [email_address] Tel: +44 (0)1225 386 066

23. More information about UKOLN Web: www.ukoln.ac.uk Email: [email_address]