By hito_kiri on
I am needing to build an e-commerce website, or at least build as much as I can before paying someone else to do it. I am really new to web design. What all can I use Drupal for exactly? Are there any tools for designing the graphical part of the pages or do I have to use HTML and CSS? I know I am going to have to find someone to do the database programming for me, but I am hoping to get a lot of the other parts out of the way myself. I get the basic idea of CMS but I don't really understand all that I can use it for.
Comments
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The whole point of a cms is so you don't have to do db programming. The presentation is handled by the theme (see the themes area for some examples) but you can also convert any psd or html/css layout to a drupal theme. The best thing to do would be to install drupal where you can play with it and see how far you can get with one of the ecommerce modules (ie ubercart or commerce) before making a decision about hiring anyone.
..can it deal with customised 'clones'?
So, I'm in a similar position. I'm looking at a site development which will have video, text, pdf documents and customised sites for different customers. My designers have just presented me with a .NET CMS system with a very nifty way of managing the presentation layer....months of development. .NET, Oracle, etc., Looks great - even I'd love to code it...
Errrr hang on I say - hasn't this nut been cracked before? So I happen upon Drupal.
It seems to do most (if not all) of the things I want - forms, workflow, content management, etc. My outstanding questons are:
1. Can it manage sites that aren't too 'Social'-focussed?
2. I'll have a base 'vanilla' site which is then copied and customised for different clients. Not too sure how well it will manage that.
Like me, do a bit of research.
Jemb
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yes to both. In fact, i would say social sites are actually in the minority. For #2 see http://drupal.org/project/og, http://groups.drupal.org/aegir-hosting-system, and core's built-in multisite functionality.
Property listing
Hi,
I need help. I'm trying to see if i can get kind of a property listing module for real estate site or how to go about it.
Thanks
Check out Drupal Gardens
Drupal Gardens - http://drupalgardens.com is a SaaS version of Drupal 7 that includes an in-browser site design tool we call the ThemeBuilder. It is very easy to use, requires installing no software and is free. It already hosts over 30,000 Drupal 7 web sites. If you ever exceed what you can do w/Drupal Gardens you can even export all of your code, site and database. We call it OpenSaaS.
Since you have full control over JavaScript and CSS in Drupal Gardens many folks have added ecommerce stores to it too - for example http://cashie.drupalgardens.com
Have fun!
O.K. I have checked those
O.K. I have checked those sites out and they seem promising, but I have a few questions and would like to clarify more about my site.
With drupal gardens can I simply use the free version to design my site and move it to my current host? I am rather happy with my current host and already have paid for a year so I don't really need the hosting part.
My site is going to be selling custom products, so the basic premise is that a customer will click on a product and then select various options they want from different categories. So not just clicking add to cart on singular items. Then preferably when they place the order I will receive something with the details, preferably in an organized manner. Am I going to need to learn a lot of code to accomplish this with Drupal and/or Drupal gardens? I have seen several shopping cart/e commerce extensions (or whatever they are called) but they all seem more focused on selling singular products, like a clothing store.
I don't have a problem with learning some code (I have a a small amount of experience in other forms of programming) but if I am going to have to spend a year learning the ins and outs of HTML and PHP, as well as mySQL, I should probably have someone else build the site for me. I would prefer to do it myself not only because it is ridiculously cheaper, but I do want to learn more about web development techniques. I don't have a problem with taking 3-4 months working on the site, learning some about whatever I need along the way, but I don't have enough time to take 6 months or a year to get my site up and running. I am hoping Drupal can help me achieve that.