Update Get Started page for Drupal 7

braindead for tonight but subscribing, as i think i may do some drupalling tomorrow... ;)

As mentioned on the other thread, I think the idea solution would be to make this page all about Drupal 7 but to have a very visible 'switch' to change it over to Drupal 6 content.

We would need to find a way say something like 'drupal 7 is the latest version but there are also lots of sites running on version 6' so that 'outsiders' are able to understand why we have two versions visible and which one to choose for themselves.

From what I heard mentioned on the other thread it doesn't sound like this is going to be particularly difficult technically (tho, could easily be wrong!), it would be a matter of whether we have sufficient D7 content for a D7 version of the page. From what Catch suggested on the last thread it seems that perhaps we do have enough?

How does this sound?

@leisareichelt: I think its not hard technically at all to make two pages on separate URLs and just crosslink them. Eg. make a /start6 page as well, and redo /start with Drupal 7 in mind.

I think that having a switch might be too confusing to outsiders, actually. A hybrid page might be best for now.

Here's my thoughts on what the steps would probably need to have, then:

1) Download -

Make the big link Download Drupal 7.0 (I like the sound of that.)

Below say, "Many sites are still using Drupal 6. Drupal 6.20 is the latest version."

Link to the Drupal 7 upgrade guide.

Possibly have a link to a page called "Which version of Drupal is right for me?" (Is there such a page or could it quickly be created from the content on one of the upgrade pages, or from extracting content from D7's UPGRADE.txt?)

(Is the install profiles section relevant for D7? I don't know if there are any stable D7 install profiles yet...So that may need to be removed for now.)

2) Extend -

Limit the list only to modules and themes that have Drupal 7 versions? (Possibly have a statement about how to find modules for the correct Drupal version.)

(What is the status of translations?)

Would this be a good place to put the Module Update Grade/Theme Update Guide, under a "For Developers" heading, or is that going to be too technical?

3) Documentation -

Link to the guides that were previously on the release announcement that don't obviously fit under one of the other steps (like the Upgrade Guide would under Download, and the Module & Theme Update Guides under Extend).

Links to screencasts could probably go here as well, under a different heading.

Remove links to guides that don't have a D7 equivalent yet, if there are any.

4) Get Support -

Probably keep this the same.

@EvanDonovan it sounds to me as though you're describing a single Get Started page that is dedicated to Drupal 7 but has a link to Drupal 6 that would presumeably take people to the appropriate project page. (So, basically what we have now but switched for versions and with your text replacing the 'test Drupal 7 now' text on the current page.

This to me assumes a few things:
1. we want most people who go to this page to choose D7 and not D6 now
2. most people who go to this page will want to choose D7
3. people who choose D6 instead can still get access to the supporting documentation relevant to that version from wherever we send them from this page.
(ack! why are we linking to a new release instead of the Core page of Download and Extend... although, looking at that page now, that seems clear.... ooh, this whole area needs some work, doesn't it... that would another issue tho)

anyway - of the three assumptions above are correct then I think @EvanDonovan's suggested approach is a good one.

@Leisa:

Yes, as I described it in more detail, I realized that a strict "hybrid" page would probably be confusing, so I ended up listing things with a focus on Drupal 7.

I am not sure if all the implicit assumptions you listed are true, though. We'll have to think about this more.

I'm not sure what you mean by "why are we linking to a new release instead of the Core page of Download and Extend"? You mean you don't want the direct download link on this page, either, or something else?

(Sorry, I did this work without reading the comments here; I'll go back and catch up after.)

Here's a possible mock for the new /start page based on a discussion between ariane and I at her kitchen table:

Here's where I'm struggling.

As the Drupal community, we want to promote Drupal 7 far and wide. We want developers developing new modules on D7. We want site builders building sites on Drupal 7. We want case studies, etc. to focus on Drupal 7. Drupal 7 is "the way" and everything else is crap. etc.

However.

This page is targeted explicitly at new users. (Though it's also the only download page we have, so it ends up getting hit by experienced users as well.) And totally new users more than likely do not want to use Drupal 7 right now. Probably not until mid-2011, when the contrib modules and themes have caught up a bit. Because otherwise, their first impression of Drupal is this thing that only has a handful of modules for it, throws errors every once in awhile for no reason, and is generally pretty limited. That's not good.

So... I don't know. Wearing my community manager/Drupal 7 maintainer/"future of Drupal" hat, I want to completely minimize the presence of D6 on this page. But wearing my more practical hat, it seems like we do a disservice to new users to push them at technology that's still pretty bleeding edge. On the other other hand, not pushing everyone to Drupal 7 is in the long run going to do our community an even more huge disservice. We need adoption to be as high as possible, as quickly as possible.

So please help me with my schizophrenia. ;)

Nice!

The only counter-argument I'd have is about this sentence:

"If you are new to Drupal, you may want to start with Drupal 6, and upgrade your site later on. Looking for documentation on upgrading to Drupal 7?"

Upgrading major versions of Drupal core is not for the feint of heart. I'd say it more depends on what they're trying to do with Drupal and on what timeframe than it does whether they're "new" to Drupal. If they're new, but not launching a site until Q2 2011 or later, they're actually probably much better off to start with D7, just noting that it'll be a bit rocky for the first couple of moths.

Hmmm.

Still agreeing with the single page approach, focussing on D7
We will need to make sure that we do get the linking text to D6 right though...
I agree with @webchick that that saying "If you are new to Drupal, you may want to start with Drupal 6, and upgrade your site later on. Looking for documentation on upgrading to Drupal 7?" is problematic but I'd suggest this is mostly because it raises the question of which version I should choose without helping me answer that question.

I think we should be brave and point people to Drupal 7 - getting more people using it is the best way to get it working as well as possible, as quickly as possible, right?

Perhaps replace 'if you are new to Drupal' with something like:

'Many Drupal sites currently run on Drupal 6' and include the Drupal 6 button under that?

Remember that despite the fact this page has a download button on it, really we're hoping that most non-tech/drupally people *won't* actually download from this page - that they'll go learn more about Drupal and the community and get someone technical, who knows how to handle it, to download (from wherever they like).

I was going to take a screenshot of http://d7.redesign.devdrupal.org/start but it's showing me:

"Fatal error: Call to a member function has_filter() on a non-object in /var/www/dev/d7.redesign.devdrupal.org/htdocs/sites/all/modules/drupalorg/drupalorg_search/drupalorg_search.module on line 69"

However, that doesn't sound like your problem. :) I'll ping someone in #drupal-infrastructure.

The solr issues on the staging site are resolved now, and I've applied that patch from #14, updated the major version and API compatibility for Drupal 7 links on the Start and Download & Extend, and I've updated the books image to reflect the D7 version.

Please review at: http://d7.redesign.devdrupal.org/start

I didn't explain this, but we should also double check the Download & Extend page since updating the variables to switch the download button to D7 will affect the download button and links there as well.

http://d7.redesign.devdrupal.org/download

I think the Get Started page is pretty good; I think the install profiles text is a bit lengthy though. Are the most popular modules, etc. actually accurate or is that just because it is the dev site.

The Download page is getting cut off but I think that is because of the -rc4.

My take on the first paragraph. I'm using the word "extensions" instead of "modules and themes", as I consider it more newbie-friendly. The different types of extensions are explained in the "extend drupal" paragraph.

1. Download Drupal

To get started with Drupal you first of all need to install the base system: "Drupal Core".

The latest version is the brand new Drupal 7, which is recommended for most new websites. A large number of extensions are already available for it, and more are being added every day.

Drupal 6 is still available. This older version is recommended if you need certain extensions which are not available for Drupal 7 yet.

Installation Profiles

Drupal installation profiles are pre-packaged website solutions for specific use cases. They include Drupal Core as well as a number of modules and allow to set up a complex website in minutes. Most installation profiles are for Drupal 6.

2. Extend Drupal

Hundreds of modules are available to extend the functionality of your website. Change the look of your site with one of our large number of free themes.

I (mostly) like pfressen's suggested amendments there and would amend slightly to:

1. Download Drupal
To get started with Drupal, you'll need to install the base system files for the [Drupal core].

The latest version is the brand new Drupal 7, which is recommended for most new websites. A large number of modules and themes are already available for it, and more are being added every day.

Many Drupal sites currently run on [Drupal 6]. This older version is recommended if you need modules which are not yet available for Drupal 7.

Installation Profiles
Drupal [installation profiles] are pre-packaged website solutions for specific use cases. They include Drupal Core as well as a number of modules and allow to set up a complex website in minutes. More Drupal 7 versions will become available in the near future.

2. Extend Drupal

Hundreds of [modules] are available to extend the functionality of your website. Customize the look of your site with one of our large number of free [themes].

D'oh! mikey_p just pointed out #1015110: Update Download & Extend page for Drupal 7 too. :\ It needs a similar treatment.

I agree actually on the Extensions thing, was just an idea, but actually this will be more confusing for newbies.

I understand that it is a bit late, but the current text makes me a bit sad. I feel that Drupal is more than just a bunch of files ;)

Edit: I did not mean to leave out the links to the different examples of installation profiles, apologies!

I can supply images if needed.

couple more notes:

- i didn't even notice this before, but "Many modules and themes have already been upgraded to Drupal 7." it should be "updated" or "ported" (not upgraded) as per http://drupal.org/node/338208#upgradeupdate
- and i thought we were starting to use 'distributions' rather than 'install profiles' but maybe i'm crazy? (forgot to mention that - i'll see if anyone on irc knows)
--> nope not yet, ignore this, i'll file an issue

ignore this...

Applied all the notes from Bojhan's comments in #25 (except for the image, I'll start on that soon) and both points form arianek in #26

there you go

Done! :D http://drupal.org/start