Drupal terminology

Site building basics

Modules
Modules are plugins and core functionalities for Drupal that provide functionality and
features while extending Drupal’s core functionality. Third party modules must be uploaded, enabled, configured, and then permissions set for users/access; core modules must be enabled, configured, and permissions set. One example of a module is the forum module.

Themes
Themes are overall site design and some basic layout which are driven by template files,
generally tpl.php files. Recently, themes have been created which support CSS (aka Zen Garden)
and more traditional coding.

Blocks
Blocks are the how the actual components of the website are displayed: categories, webpages, login information, etc. Blocks are generated by the modules; however, blocks can be greated manually, too. Blocks are NOT content; just the framework for the content.

Menus
Menus function in the same way as blocks, except there only goal is to provide an easy means of setting up navigational elements. Navigation can be broken down into mini-menus
which can be then weighted or hidden from users not able to use them.

Contact Form
Contact Form is a built in basic form generator for creating a contact form. It generates both the content and parameters for use.

URL aliases
URL aliases changes your site's URL paths by aliasing them.

Content management

Nodes
Nodes are the actual content container, similar to a website folder or individual webpage.

Categories
Categories create vocabularies for organizational purposes.

Comments
Comment management lists, edits and moderates comments (if applicable).

Content
Manage the actual content: view, edit, and delete site content.

Content type
Content type allows different kind of content to be assigned different functionalities. Content in a book page format will be hierarchical. Content in a page format is just a traditional webpage.

Posts settings
Control content behavior, such as teaser length, requiring previews before posting, and the number of entries (posts) on the front page.

RSS Settings
Configure the number of items per feed and whether feeds should be titles/teasers/full-text.

 

Screenshots:

http://www.drupal.org

Drupal library examples:

http://drupalib.interoperating.info/

another one:

http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/

Drupal and accessibility

http://drupal.org/node/217066

Kona vs. Drupal

http://blog.anchorarchive.ath.cx/?page_id=14

Drupal system requirements

Basic parts of drupal

• Apache web server
• MySql database with user (Techsupport/Admin permisisons)
• Drupal software with base modules
• Additional modules, as needed
• Themes
• php, templates, CSS
• web based site administration/user authenticated
• web based content generation/user
  authenticated

Drupal system requirements in more detail (from http://drupal.org/requirements)

Web Server:
recommended: Apache

• Drupal will work on Apache 1.3 or Apache 2.x hosted on Unix/Linux or Windows. Clean URLS can be achieved through mod_rewrite [note: OR pathauto module. PathAuto allows an authorized user to choose their url at the time of publishing.]

Microsoft IIS

• Drupal core will work using IIS5 or IIS6 if PHP is configured correctly. Suggested: IIS6.

PHP: recommended PHP 5.2 or higher
Required: PHP version 4.3.5 or higher

• PHP 5.2 or higher is only supported by Drupal 4.7.5 or higher and Drupal 5.1 or higher.
• PHP 5.2 or higher will be a requirement for Drupal 7.
• PHP memory of 16MB or higher for a default Drupal 6 installation (8MB or higher may be sufficient for default installations of earlier versions). Depending on your site's use of customor contributed modules, your PHP memory limit may need to be increased beyond 16MB.
• PHP XML extension (for blogapi, drupal, and ping modules). This extension is enabled by default in a standard PHP installation; the Windows version of PHP has built-in support for this extension.
• An image library for PHP such as the GD library is needed for image manipulation (resizing user pictures, image and imagecache modules). GD is included with PHP 4.3 and higher and enabled by default. ImageMagick is also supported for basic manipulations in Drupal core but support in the contributed modules repository is much less developed.
• PHP needs the following configuration directives
  for Drupal to work (only directives that differ from the default php.ini-dist / php.ini-recommended):
• session.save_handler: user
• error_reporting set to E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE. Work is ongoing to change this to E_ALL for
  Drupal 6.
• In addition, we recommend the following setting: session.cache_limiter:
  nocache
• Some of these settings are contained in the default .htaccess file that ships with Drupal, so you shouldn't need to set them explicitly. Note, however, that setting PHP configuration options
  from .htaccess only works:
• with Apache (or a compatible web server)
• if the .htaccess file is actually read, i.e. AllowOverride is not None
• if PHP is installed as an Apache module
• See the PHP
  manual for how to change configuration settings for other interfaces to PHP.

Database recommended: MySQL 4.1 or MySQL 5.0

• Drupal 6 supports MySQL 4.1 or higher.
• Drupal 5.x and earlier supports MySQL 3.23.17 or higher. MySQL 4.1 or higher is strongly recommended.
• NOTE: RIGHTS needed: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES

As of 6.x, Drupal core no longer requires CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES or LOCK TABLES, and can be installed without them. However some contributed modules may still rely on them.

PostgreSQL 7.4 or higher

• Note: Some contributed modules are not as abstracted from MySQL specific code as everyone would like. Currently MS SQL and Oracle are not supported but various efforts are underway to supply schema.

Most useful drupal modules

Most useful modules

Site design building/construction basics:

• Book: Built in (core) functionality to create a book-like structure with table of contents and linking pages. Pages can be hierarchical, too.
• BUEditor: HTML editor. Available at http://drupal.org/project/bueditor
• CCK (Construction Kit): Create new content types and more with non-standard fields. Available at http://drupal.org/project/cck
• Clone: Easily clone (could be useful if manually migrating a website). Available at http://drupal.org/project/node_clone
• Front: Create a splash page, flash based intro page, or create a front page which has a distinct and different feel from the rest of the website. Available at http://drupal.org/project/front
• Image: Useful in creating an image gallery; note content from third party applications (flickr, youtube, etc.) can be crosswalked via rss or modules. Available at http://drupal.org/project/image
• Metatags (aka Nodewords): Add meta information to a page. Available at http://drupal.org/project/nodewords
• Nodeteaser: Create a teaser for a node that's different from the standard "first paragraph" Drupal teaser.Available at http://drupal.org/project/nodeteaser
• Panels: Preformatted templates for the content areas in Drupal.Available at http://drupal.org/project/panels
• Pathauto: Specify URLs that aren't just node/xxx -- say, /2008/blog/title-here. Another option is using mod_rewrite in apache. Available at http://drupal.org/project/pathauto
• Sidecontent: Adds a sidebar to pages. Available at http://drupal.org/project/sidecontent
• Upload: Built in (core) functionality to control the type of uploading allowed.
• Webform: Create webforms to solicit feedback from users. Available at http://drupal.org/project/webform
• Views: Build lists of content and present them in whatever format and order you want. Create custom lists, tables and teaser lists. Available at http://drupal.org/project/views

Import HTML: import html from existing website. Information available at http://cvs.drupal.org/viewvc.py/drupal/contributions/modules/import_html/import_html_help.htm?view=text&revision=HEAD

Access control & users:

• Captcha (or Recaptcha) - Antispam. User types in the text of a word. Available at http://drupal.org/project/captcha
• Diff: allows a wiki-like comparison of revisions (Drupal does have a built in 'track' feature for each user). Available at http://drupal.org/project/diff
• LDAP Integration for authenticating using a LDAP directory. Available at http://drupal.org/project/ldap_integration
• Organic Groups: granularity of user privileges (access levels; restrict content) which could be useful in hosted blogging or a large scale website with multiple content contributors. Available at http://drupal.org/project/og
• Secure pages: Adds https to login, admin pages. Available at http://drupal.org/project/securepages
• TinyMCE: wysiwyg editor for creating content. Need TinyMCE editor (third party, opensource) loaded first; then module. Available at http://drupal.org/project/tinymce

Extras:

• Ad module: Rotating javascript ad banner. Available at http://drupal.org/project/ad
• Blog: Built in (core) blog functionality.
• Bibliography: Create and publish scholarly works. Available at http://drupal.org/project/biblio
• Community Tags: Allows users to create and assign their own tags to content. Available at http://drupal.org/project/community_tags
• Gmap: Build a googlemap for a single institution, library branch or a combined map with all of your locations. Available at http://drupal.org/project/gmap
• FAQ + fivestar: FAQ gives you a content type specifically for FAQs with the option to format how those questions are shown. Fivestar adds a a "rate this" block of stars underneath any content type you specify. It's an instant FAQ section, and if you always categorize your questions, you'll quickly put together a large FAQ section organized by topic. Available at http://drupal.org/project/faq and http://drupal.org/project/fivestar.
• Forum: Built-in (core) functionality for user forums.
• MARC: Import MARC formatted records (e.g., library catalog) into a node. Available at http://drupal.org/project/marc
• Nodequeue: Easily create lists of nodes, e.g., a list of book reviews which can incorporated into a block on the site. Available at http://drupal.org/project/nodequeue
• Poll: Built in (core) polling functionality. Easily create polls, surveys, quizzes, etc.
• Profile: Built in (core) fuctionality to create customizable profiles.
• ImageCache: Make as many copies of an image you want at any size depending on location or anything else you specify. Available at http://drupal.org/project/imagecache
• Scheduler: Publish and unpublish articles at a set time. Available at http://drupal.org/project/scheduler
• Tagadelic: Tag Cloud module. Available at http://drupal.org/project/tagadelic
• Thickbox: A jQuery plugin that gives you very sleek photo popup/slideshow functionality. Available at http://drupal.org/project/thickbox
• Workflow: Provides an alternate means of controlling information placed on the site, e.g., must be reviewed before published. Available at http://drupal.org/project/workflow

Drupal Modules Finder http://drupalmodules.com/module-finder

Thanks to:

Top 10 Drupal Modules http://webpodge.com/2007/02/22/top-10-drupal-modules/;
Drupal4Libraries
Listserv, Amy Qualls-McClure (Huntsville - Madison County Public
Library); Cary Gordon Cary Gordon (The Cherry Hill Company, http://www.chillco.com); Ken Newquist, (Lafayette College, https://ww2.lafayette.edu/~soapbox/blog/newquisk) and Leo Klein (The Chicago Librarian, http://www.leoklein.com)

See resources for more links.

Drupal examples

Examples:

LIS News: a classic drupal example (garamond?):

http://www.lisnews.org/node/30235

 

A library catalog with Drupal (III's Millenium + Drupal)

 

Fish4info

http://fish4info.org/

 

University of Calgary

http://www.ucalgary.ca/

University of Minnesota Library

http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/

 

more Drupal library examples:

http://drupalib.interoperating.info/

http://www.drupalsites.net

 

..and now for something different:

Croquis Architectura (This site is gorgeous!)

http://croquisarquitectura.com/site/

 

Indianapolis Museum of Art

http://www.imamuseum.org/

 

SkateTn (skateboarding website)

Online gaming (including virtual worlds) or sports websites (think: xgames) have some of the most inventive websites. Of course, there is a fair share of the worst designs there, too.

 

http://www.skatetn.com

 

Ackno Net

http://acko.net/

 

 

Drupal resources

Resources:

 

Featured Drupal websites: http://www.drupalsites.net/

Live Drupal Demo: http://www.opensourcecms.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132

Drupal Modules Finder (and reviews!): http://drupalmodules.com/module-finder
Top 10 Drupal Modules: http://webpodge.com/2007/02/22/top-10-drupal-modules/

Drupal Cookbook: http://nanwich.info/DrupalCookbook.htm

Drupal:http://www.drupal.org

Drupal and accessibility:http://drupal.org/node/217066

Drupal system requirements: http://drupal.org/requirements
Drupal4Libraries Listserv

Koha vs. Drupal

http://blog.anchorarchive.ath.cx/?page_id=14

Drupaled: http://drupaled.org/

 

Why Choose Drupal: A case for administrators http://www.vimeo.com/991273

Drupal and Libraries: http://www.slideshare.net/ellyssa/drupal-and-libraries
Drupal and Libraries, ALA Report (very good overview)
Drupal in Libraries: http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/drupal-in-libraries.html

 

My drupal resources:

http://del.icio.us/georgiawebgurl/drupal

 

http://www.robinfay.net/site (Drupal portfolio site version 6.2, utilizing books, tagadelic [tag cloud]) and custom created blocks with rss feeds).