Table of Contents

1  Drupal Explained     1
The What, When, Where, Who of Drupal     2
Why Drupal?     2
How Much Is Drupal?     3
What Does Drupal Mean?     3
How Many Versions of Drupal Are There?     4
Who Uses Drupal?     4
This Book Explained     7
  What You Need     7
  What This Book Covers     7
  This Book Is Small     8
  This Book Is Active     9
  This Book Uses Specific Examples     9
  Things in This Book May Have Changed     9
What’s Next?     10
2  Drupal Planning Explained     11
Drupal Site Planning Explained     11
  Website Plan     12
  Project Management Plan     13
  Development Plan     14
  Maintenance Plan     14
Our Drupalville Website Plan     15
  Content Requirements     16
  Communications Requirements     16
  Navigation Requirements     16
  Feature Requirements     17
  User Requirements     17
  Design Requirements     17
Our Drupalville Project Management Plan     21
Our Drupalville Development Plan     22
Our Drupalville Maintenance Plan     23
What’s Next?     23
3  Drupal Installations Explained     25
Hosting Your Drupal Site Explained     25
  A Local Server Installed on Your Computer     26
  A Web Server That You Own or Rent     26
  A Web Server That’s Hosted by Drupal Specialists     27
Installation Recommendations Explained     28
Automatic Drupal Installations Explained     28
Manual Drupal Installations Explained     35
  Step 1: Create a Database     35
  Step 2: Download the Drupal Files and Upload Them to Your Web Server     39
  Step 3: Complete the Drupal Installation by Connecting the Database and Files Together     43
Getting Help with Installations     49
What’s Next?     49
4  Drupal Administration Explained     51
The Administration Menu Explained     51
  Home Icon     52
  Dashboard     52
  Content     55
  Structure     59
  Appearance     60
  People     61
  Modules     63
  Configuration     64
  Reports     66
  Help     67
  Hello     69
The Administration and Visitor Areas Explained     71
Log Out     71
What’s Next?     73
5  Drupal Content Explained     75
Content Types     75
Default Content Types Explained     76
  Creating an Article     76
  Creating a Basic Page     84
  What Have We Learned?     91
Extra Content Types Explained     92
  Creating a Blog Entry     92
  Creating a Poll     96
  Creating a Forum     99
  Creating a Book     104
Custom Content Types Explained     110
  Creating the Events Content Type     111
  Creating an Events Content Item     116
  Creating the Sites Content Type     117
  Creating User Groups     119
  Creating Companies     120
  Editing Content Types     123
  What Have You Learned?     123
What’s Next?     126
6  Drupal Fields Explained     129
Planning Your Fields     129
Sites Fields Explained     131
  Editing a Field: Title     131
  Editing a Field: Body     132
  Reusing a Field: Image     133
  Reusing a Field: Term Reference     136
  Adding a Field: Boolean     137
  Adding a List (Text) Field     139
  Creating New Sites Content     140
Companies Fields Explained     143
  Editing a Field: Title     144
  Editing a Field: Body     144
  Reusing a Field: Image     144
  Reusing a Field: Term Reference     145
  Adding a List (Text) Field     146
  Adding a Link Field     147
  Creating New Companies Content     151
  Editing Fields     153
Events Fields Explained     155
  Editing a Field: Title     156
  Editing a Field: Body     156
  Reusing a Field: Image     156
  Reusing a Field: Term Reference     156
  Reusing a Field: Link     157
  Adding a Field: Decimal     157
  Adding a Field: Date     158
  Adding a Field: Entity Reference     161
  Creating Content: Events     164
  Editing the Default Field Display     165
  Editing the Teaser Display     168
User Groups Fields Explained     172
  Editing a Field: Title     172
  Editing a Field: Body     172
  Reusing a Field: Term Reference     172
  Reusing a Field: Link     172
  Adding a Field: Entity Reference     172
  Adding a Field: Address     173
  Creating Content: User Groups     174
Taxonomy Explained     176
  Understanding the Term Reference Field: Terms     177
  Arranging Terms in a Simple Hierarchy     180
  Arranging Terms in a Complex Hierarchy     184
What’s Next?     186
7  Drupal Modules Explained     189
Adding Modules Explained     190
  Sharing Drupal Content     190
  Printing Drupal Content     196
  Bookmarking Drupal Content     200
  Voting on Drupal Content     203
  Changing Drupals URLs     205
  Creating a Form     210
  Showing Weather     213
  Showing Maps     217
  Text Editors for Drupal Explained     219
  Image Management     228
Finding Modules Explained     233
  How to Search for Modules Explained     234
  How to Evaluate Modules Explained     238
  What to Do if You’re Really Stuck     244
  How to Test Modules     244
  How to Evaluate Modules     245
What’s Next?     245
8  Drupal Menus Explained     247
The Four Default Drupal Menus     247
Adding a New Menu Link: Site Map     251
Adding a New Menu Link: Blogs     253
Adding a New Menu Link: Forums     254
Finding the URL for a New Menu Link     255
  Using the Module Name     255
  Using the Pathauto Module     255
  Using the Search Module     256
Reorganizing Menu Links     257
Reorganizing Menu Links Using Weight     259
  Creating Parent and Child Menu Links     260
What’s Next?     265
9  Drupal Themes Explained     267
Bartik Explained     267
  Theme Settings     268
Enabling Themes Explained     274
  Set Garland to Default     274
  Set Stark to Default     275
Installing Themes Explained     277
  Installing the Danland Theme     277
  Installing the Zero Point Theme     278
  Installing the Company Theme     279
  Setting Up the Drop-Down Menu     282
Subthemes Explained     285
Finding Themes Explained     288
  Avoiding Starter Themes, Theme Frameworks, Base Themes     288
  Evaluating Themes     290
  Commercial Themes     295
  Artisteer     299
  A Final Note on How Themes Get Built     300
Installing the Final Theme for Your Site     301
What’s Next?     303
10  Drupal Blocks Explained     305
Theme Regions Explained     305
Placing Blocks in Regions Explained     313
Showing Blocks Under Certain Conditions Explained     315
Editing Blocks Explained     319
Block Settings     319
Creating Blocks Explained     323
What’s Next?     326
11  Drupal Views Explained     329
Plan     330
Installing the Views Modules     331
Generating Sample Content Explained     331
Creating Blocks with Views Explained     333
  New User Groups Block     333
  New Sites Block     336
  New Articles Block     339
  New Companies View Block     345
Creating Pages with Views Explained     352
  Articles Landing Page     353
  User Groups Landing Page     354
  Sites Landing Page     359
  Companies Landing Page     362
  Resources Landing Page     366
  Reorganizing the Main Menu     369
Creating a Calendar of Events Explained     370
  Install Calendar     370
  Configure the Calendar of Events Views     370
  Add Event Blocks to Events Page     374
Cloning Views Explained     375
  Enable and Clone the View     375
  Configure the Blog Archive Block     376
Creating a Slideshow Explained     377
  Create an Image Style     377
  Create an Image Style     378
  Create Views Slideshow Block     378
  Configure the Slideshow Block     379
What’s Next?     381
12  Drupal Layout Modules Explained     383
Display Suite Explained     383
  Installing Display Suite     384
  Using Display Suite     385
  Using Display Suite for Other Layouts     392
  Advanced Display Suite     395
Panels Explained     402
  Install Panels     402
  Panels User Interface     403
The Drupal Workflow Explained     409
What’s Next?     411
13  Drupal Users Explained     413
Drupal Permissions Explained     413
  First Example     414
  Second Example     423
  Third Example     424
Drupal User Profiles Explained     427
  Create the Profile Fields     428
What’s Next?     431
14  Drupal Site Management Explained     433
Updating Your Site Explained     433
  An Overview of Drupal Version Numbers     434
  What Version Do I Have?     435
  How Do I Get Notified About Updates?     436
  How Do I Update?     436
Updating Your Modules and Themes Explained     439
Uninstalling Modules or Themes Explained     442
Backing Up Your Site Explained     443
  Backups Made by Your Hosting Company     443
  Backups Made by You     444
Additional Measures to Protect Your Site     445
What’s Next?     446
Index 447

About the Author

Stephen Burge has split his career between teaching and web development. In 2007, he combined the two by starting to teach web development. His company, OSTraining, now teaches Drupal classes around the world and online. Stephen travels widely, helping people learn and thrive with open source software. Stephen is originally from England, and now lives in Atlanta.


Cindy McCourt is an experienced Drupal trainer, who coaches clients side-by-side to build internal Drupal capacity while planning and developing their Drupal solution. She specializes in user experience planning, configuration and code strategizing, site building, and project management. Cindy authored Getting Started with Drupal 7, a Refcard provided by dzone.com, and offers Drupal insights via her blogs on idcminnovations.com and ostraining.com.