Drupal 4.5 New User Guide

A guide for those that are new to Drupal and want to get going quickly. This guide should provide most user with enough knowledge to use Drupal and feel comfortable in exploring the user capabilities of the software. Users wanting posting to their blogs, forums of contributing articles should be able to do so after reading this document. They should also be able to find information that has been posted by themeselves and other website users.

Table of contents

table of contents

Overview

An Overview of Drupal

What Is Drupal?

Drupal is the product of an open source project devoted to the development of a dynamic web site platform. A community of developers works to constantly update and revise the project. This platform allows an individual or community of users to publish, manage, and organize a variety of content and information. This ability to manage information makes Drupal a content management system (CMS). Users utilize Drupal's browser-based interface to communicate openly with one another. This enhances the revision process of documents or projects on the site because of the centralized location.

Using Drupal, users and administrators can design unique websites that promote collective information exchange. This is made possible by configuring and enabling Drupal's individual modules. By editing and configuring the modules, one can create a website that is perfectly fitted to meet one's business or personal needs.

What is "content management"?

Drupal is a “content mangement system,” a software application for managing website content--like articles, photos, or other files. Drupal is a "dynamic" rather than a "static" system. Instead of being in pre-generated (static) files, content like the text on pages is stored in a database. When visitors bring up a page, a script runs on the web server, querying the database and putting the content of the page into a template. (Sometimes, to save time and resources, these scripts are run ahead of time and the resulting pages are "cached" or stored on the server instead of being generated afresh with each visitor.)

So to create or edit pages, you as a user don't have to write web pages. You don't have to know HTML (the language web pages are written in). Instead, all you usually have to do is:

• register with a Drupal site

• log in (type in the user name and password you got by registering), and

• type content (articles, etc.) into forms that you submit.

This user guide explains the steps and gives you other

background info.

Features and Functions

The following are four main features common to many Drupal websites. Within these four features, there are multiple functions and modules that can be configured to each site's individual needs.

• User Management : One of the most vital functions, of any content management system, is its ability to manage its users. Drupal allows individual users to ["register" Drupal user registration and personal account information] and authenticate locally or by using an external authentication source. By requiring users to register, Drupal allows for ["private messaging" Private Messaging & Notification] and other forms of private communication with other registered users.

• Also, registered users can be given specific rights and permissions. This adds an extra layer of security to the system, by allowing the administrator to pick and choose which individuals can view and edit specific information.
• Weblog : One commonly used feature on Drupal is the weblog. A single installation can be configured to create a personal site or a website with multiple individual weblogs. Weblogs allow communication between members of the community. As opposed to e-mail or private notification, weblogs allow the entire community to view and respond with their own thoughts, ["comments" Creating and editing nodes and comments], and ideas. Drupal employs Blogger API support, content syndication, ["a news aggregator" Drupal News Aggregator and RSS Documentation], and permalinks to assist in managing a weblog.

• Discussion Based Community : The primary advantage of Drupal, or any content management system, comes from its ability to allow users and members of the community to reply to weblogs or posts made by other users. This ability can also be expanded to include comments and possible revisions for information stored in the content management system. By allowing users to

utilize the Forums Module to create discussion boards, Drupal empowers individuals and gives them a unique voice.

Online content management systems utilize asynchronous communication. In this way, users from all over the world can have conversations over certain material, while still being able to post at their convenience.

Another advantage, to having an online discussion based community, is that the postings allow for the whole revision process of projects and information to be shown. This means that users can become involved in a project at any given time throughout the revision process. The environment remains controlled by administrator(s) so that comments and updates are constructive and relevant to the task at hand. Administrators also have the ability to let the community moderate the content management system.

Collaboration : Enabling collaboration is a primary feature of Drupal. Many features and functions of the Drupal are focused on user and community interaction towards a common goal. Through the use of the weblogs and the discussion based community, information and thoughts from individual users are focused on single or multiple projects. This input helps to dramatically improve the quality of any collaborative project. By providing a centralized online location, Drupal breaks down geographical barriers between people.

Using Drupal, time restrictions are relaxed because of users' ability to post their thoughts at any time that is convenient for them. Drupal was designed specifically with open source programming and documentation projects in mind, but any collaborative project can benefit from the features Drupal has to offer.

Why Use Drupal?

“Building on and realizing relevant standards and open source technologies, Drupal supports and enhances the potential of the Internet as a medium where diverse and geographically-separated individuals and groups can come together and collectively produce and share

rich bases of information and expression.”

-Drupal Mission Statement

As seen in the mission statement, Drupal is a powerful tool for collaborative projects. Drupal utilizes open source technologies to meet a variety of user needs, both business and personal.

Drupal separates itself from the hundreds of other content management systems by being more than just an open source alternative. The system was designed with the end-user and the community in mind, with increased support for discussion forums. With a strong focus on user interaction, Drupal offers many additional features that other content management systems overlook. For example, offering session management controls empower administrators by allowing them to create more intuitive website designs for their users. Drupal's focus on discussion based communities also targets collaborative projects by offering advanced product management features.

Another thing, that seperates Drupal from other content management systems, is that Drupal users can make use of its online support features. Drupal offers an online public forum so users can post questions for other users and developers to answer. In addition to this, third-parties can contribute in the development of Drupal. These third parties recommend features that need to be improved or added to the product. Through third party involvement, the product can be tailored to one's specific needs. Additional support features include:

• Online Documentation
• Support Mailing List
• Suport Channel on IRC
• Bug Reports
• Professional Services

Finally, Drupal has a strong focus on security. Drupal allows the administrator to control the flow of information into the content management system through the use of content approval. User accountability is also taken into consideration by tracking user login history and creating an audit trail. This results in a moderated public forum that encourages the free exchange of ideas while maintaining user privacy and accountability.

1. Finding your way around

Finding your way around Drupal

A Note on Drupal Navigation:

Drupal is a dynamic web publishing platform that can create a variety of internet and intranet sites. These partner sites make up the Drupal community. Drupal partner sites are not strictly defined. Consequently, they can be configured to look and act differently. Navigation features used on one site may not be active on others. Therefore, this guide is not exhaustive, but can be used to explain navigational basics as well as provide information on commonly used navigational tools.

Basic Navigation



Figure 1

Header Links and Footer Links

On almost every Drupal website, there are navigational links at the top, and sometimes bottom, of the page. These are usually links that go to critical elements of the website. For example, on the home page of drupal.org there are navigational links to:

• Home
• Downloads
• Handbook
• Contribute
• Forum
• Contact

These allow quick access to commonly visited areas of the site. It also allows you to quickly return to the home page if you get lost.

The Search Box

The search box provides a way for the user to search the site by topic. Simply type in the term or phrase that is to be searched for and click the Search button. The results (if any) will be listed on the new page that comes up when the search is complete.

The Sidebar and Navigation blocks

The Sidebar

The sidebar is a collection of Drupal blocks, some of which are used for navigation. Normally, this is where the Navigation block is found, along with other modules listed below.

The Navigation Block

Figure 2 (navigation.png) The navigation block allows for easy movement throughout the site.

The navigation module, usually placed on the sidebar, displays links to website contacts in a nested format. This top down framework for displaying content works on the same basic principals as the file manager on your computer.

• First is a list of topics, in a collapsed view. An arrow next to the topic indicates that there are sub-topics under it that can be seen by clicking on the topic. If there is a block next to it, the topic does not have any sub-topics under it.
• Clicking on one of these topics expands the content under that topic, listing many sub-topics of the main topic.
• Clicking on a sub-topic will expand it to show content listed under that sub-topic.

This provides a simple way to see what information is available under a given topic or sub-topic.

Categories

Figure 3 (drupal_talk.png) The Drupal talk feature lists content by category or grouping.

This block may take on other names, but the purpose is the same. It simply lists groups of content by category or grouping. It usually takes a main topic as the title of the module, and then lists the sub-topics. Common Examples include:

• Web Links
• Drupal Talk

Recent Comments/Blogs/etc.

Figure 4 (recent_comments.png) All of the most recent comments posted can be accessed through the recent comments sidebar.

As the name implies, these blocks link to the most recently posted content. On content driven Drupal websites (like drupal.org), knowing what information is new is of great

importance. This aids in pointing out new or updated content on

a website. Common examples include:

• Recent Comments
• Recent Blogs
• New Forum Topics

Forum Topics and Active Forum topics

Figure 5 (forum_topics.png) This menu lists all active forums of the site allowing users quick access.

These blocks are specific to the Forums area of a site, allowing users quick access to active or popular forum topics.

Browse Archives

Figure 6 (calendar.png) Allows you to browse archives according to date.

This block is set up as a calender, displaying the current month. It allows users to look up content on the basis of when it was posted to the website. Clicking on a certain date will bring up a

list of all content posted that day. It also allows for searching

previous months by clicking the arrows.

Who's Online / Who's New

Figure 7 (whos_online.png) This menu provides a list of people currently logged onto the website.

These blocks allow a user to see who is logged into the website and who recently joined. If enabled, clicking on the name of a user will bring up the publicly viewable information on that user. From the profile page, there is also a Track option which presents a record of the posts and contributions of that user.

2. How to log in

How to Login

On most drupal based websites there is a login form shown on the front page. This login form is used for both user and administrative login. Those that have administrative previleges will see the items concerning administration in their menu blocks.



Frequently a site will have a link to the main login form which can be found by typing http://www.domain.com/?q=user/login. When you are not logged in you will see this login form



If you are logged in then you will be shown your user page. There is also a possibility that you my see only a login form upon entering a secure members only site.

Once you have logged in for the first time it is suggested that you change your password to something that is easier to remember. Instructions for changing your password are below.

3. Managing your account

How to change your password and edit your account information

After you have successfully logged in to Drupal you may want to change your password to something that is easier to remember. To change you password follow the follow guide.

• Select the "My Account" link on the right side of the page (see below).

Figure 4 (myaccount.png) The my account link allows access to personal account.

• Click the edit tab and in the Password field(s) enter the password that you wish to use (see below). (Make sure that the spelling and capitalization is the same in each box entry.
• Click the "Save Account" button at the bottom of the screen.

Figure 5 (editaccount.png) Edit the account setting to meet the user's personal needs.

There are several options when setting up your personal account. To access these options, log in and then select the my account link on the on the top right of the page. You will see view, edit, track (optional), and contact (optional) tabs on the top of the page. Under the edit tab in the account settings, you have the option to change your username, e-mail address, and password. You can also configure the account to include Drupal Talk, Firefox, and Who's New options. Your personal signature can also be created and time zone can be edited.

The personal information section of the edit tab allows your to display more information about yourself, including your homepage, interests and gender. Further more, the work section of the edit tab allows you to describe your professional history.

The track tab organizes feedback from other Drupal users concerning your posts.

4. Preparing and creating content

Choosing the Content type



There are various different categories of content that a user could create in Drupal (as seen in the above screenshot). This option can be accessed by navigating to the personal user menu on the side from the main Drupal page.

The different content options basically have standard field options that need to be filled in. There are a few optional fields that are only present for specific create content page types.

• Standard Fields
• Title: what will be displayed on the main page
• corresponding to the content
• Input Format: specifies if it will be limited HTML or full HTML published
• Body: the information that is presented from the user
• Submit/Preview buttons: sending the request to post for publication
• Optional Fields
• Parent: used in book pages - specifies which book this page will be created on
• Log: used in book pages - an area of where you can describe or make comments to the material that is presented in the Body
• Link Name: used in pages - enables the page to show up in the navigation link
• Link Description: used in pages - shows when the mouse is hovering over the page's link
• Category: Select from administrator defined categories in pulldown menu
• Attach New File

Preparing Content

When posting a shorter content types like a forum posts or comments users can enter the information directly into the text area provided. The site administrator may have also provided an online HTML editor to make formatting of the post easier and faster for the user.

When posting large articles and stories the author may want to start by using a word processing program. Potential advantages include:

• Saving time online. This is a particular consideration if you're on dial-up.
• Access to spell-check and other editing features.

Depending on how much formatting you wish to do, you could also consider using an HTML editor. These include, for instance, the "composer" that comes with Mozilla and Netscape. Steps:

• Type or copy and paste your text into the HTML editor.
• Apply formatting as desired (e.g., bold, italics).
• Bring up the HTML (encoded) view of the text.

This HTML is what you'll copy and paste into Drupal's input form, to have formatted copy. There may also be an online editor that can clean up the word processors HTML to make it more standards compliant and make the posting show as well formatted in more web browsers.

5. Using the forms and controls

Basic Drupal Interface

The basic Drupal interface is fairly easy to navigate when it comes to creating and editing content and comments. After you login to the site, you are able to go to Create Content which brings you to a page where you can choose what kind of content node you want to create. Once you click on the content type you will get a form. The form is marked with the minimal required input to enter content but you should fill out as much as you can. In the part of the guide you will gain an understanding of the purpose of the form items and how they work. If you are familiar with this already then you may want go to a more advanced topic like understanding taxonomy and nodes

The form

Step-by-step

6. Understanding taxonomy and nodes

Understanding Taxonomy and Nodes

Drupal sites can use taxonomies (categories) to organize the content of the website. By organizing the nodes according to a specific taxonomy system, content is easily accessed and built upon by users. Nodes are specific content types that can be classified under each systems taxonomic system.

Definition of Nodes

Nodes are almost any form of content--excluding comments--that is posted on a Drupal website. For example,

• Blogs or weblogs: An informal online journal where users of the site can write their ideas and comments.
• Book page: designed to be part of a collaborative book.
• Forum topic: are used as online bulletin boards usually dedicated to a particular topic or question.
• Page: are typically linked into the main navigation bar.
• Story: are generally used for information which is only relevant for a period
  of time and is expected to eventually be pushed off the page because
  new stories are being added.
• Polls
• Images

Definition of Taxonomy

Taxonomy is a classification system devised of vocabulary and terms used to organize content. In taxonomy vocabulary is a category group that contains category entries called terms. Within any Drupal website there is the ability to create its own taxonomy using a variety of vocabulary and terms relating to the website's content. Users can locate the website's vocabulary on the either the left or the right of the page which will allow the user to navigate the site efficiently.

Note: One of the hardest things to understand about taxonomy is the fact that a vocabulary cannot exist without terms. To give an example. Let's say "French" is a language but there are no words in it. You can not speak "French" because without adding words to the language saying that you speak "French" is meaningless. Trying to speak the language without words is impossible. This applies to vocabularies and terms also.

If you are the sites owner or administrator then you probably will want to know more about how to use taxonomy to form and control your website. Greenash has some very good thoughts, ideas and explainations of taxonomy and using it in Drupals CMS.

An example of taxonomy

In this example, the vocabulary Sports could include the

following categories and subcategories:

• Water Sports
• Swimming
• Water Polo
• Surfing
• Field Sports
• Football
• Flag Football
• Tackle Football
• Baseball
• Soccer
• Court Sports
• Tennis
• Basketball
• Volleyball

Creating and Editing Nodes

Creating and editing nodes and comments is actually a fairly simple concept to understand. The way that Drupal organizes a site is by using nodes. Users can make suggestions by posting comments to these nodes and simply selecting the Add New Comment option while viewing a specific content node.

Basics of Nodes and Content

Before you begin to create and edit nodes and comments, it is necessary to understand a few things.

What is a node? On a Drupal site, a node is the content on a page, which can take on various forms like books pages, forums, personal blogs, etc. This will become more clear as you start working with the system and its components.

• Ways to View Comments for Node
• Threaded: allows you to view both the conversation and the sub-conversations
• Flat: displays the comments in a chronological order
• Expanded: shows the title and the text attached to a specific comment
• Collapsed: displays only the title of the comment

Because of the choices in website design and layout, there is no standard view; but it will be one of the four mentioned above. Each comment board has a control panel to customize the comment view. The administrator gives comment permissions to users and groups allowing them to edit the last comment if no others have been posted since.

Drupal sites also have an option that allows users to be emailed when new comments are posted to a topic that interests them. Other administrative options allow users to view comments, have total control over comments, have the option to rate comments, and post comments without approval. The permissions that you have will vary depending on the Drupal site and what the administrator chooses to do.

Content can be defined as anything you post to a Drupal site. This can include personal blog entries, stories, forums, pages, book pages, and collaborative books pages. Drupal displays the comments attached to each node.

7. Contacting users with email

Users are given the option to accept or deny emails sent from the website by other users.

The website administrator may have provided an email form for contacting those that are in charge of running the website.

There are other types of email notifications and email dependant adminstrative services on a Drupal site so a user is required to have a real email address available the site administrator in their account profile.

8. Contacting users with private messaging

conacting users with private messaging

9. Using the rss feed aggregator to read news

Using the rss aggregator to read news