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By mikek7580 on
Hello
I am new to this website and have been reading some of the people are talking about, but I dont understand any of the terminology.
I want to create a myspace style website for small social club that I belong to, but I dont know anything about creating websites or programming. Do you think it will be hard for me to learn drupal and use it to create the website?
thank you
Comments
Learn Drupal By doing
just for my experience try and error for learn drupal
Depend with ur project create a myspace style website for small social club ,install module community
http://drupal.org/project/Modules/category/56
and dont forget to read http://drupal.org/handbooks
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PAPERNAS
If you are unfamiliar with
If you are unfamiliar with creating websites, then the hardest part will probably be getting started. I wouldn't worry about not knowing programming, though HTML and css would be useful, if you want to customize a theme or create your own.
Before starting you should check the modules and see if you can find several that give you the functionality you want. I know there are some myspace style modules, but I don't have much experience with them.
Getting started you may need some help getting the database setup. You will also need to upload all of the drupal files and modules and configure your settings.php file. If you are using a built in theme, then that will be easy. If you want to have a custom theme, then you can try and alter and existing one, which is probably the way to go. If you are doing simple thing like changing colors, then this can be done just by changing the correct fields in the css files.
Once you have that set up everything else can be done through the web user interface. You can upload logos, configure user permissions, configure modules for the behavior you want them to have and much more. There is a lot of custimization that can be done.
And the site has a lot of great information and the forums are great for help.
XeQUae
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http://www.xequae.com
Thank You
Thank You for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it.
Is there a like a user guide that explains how to create the database and all the other things I need?
And also, would I need to have a server to run my site off of?
Thank you again for all the help.
Mike
=-=
of course you would need a server to run your site off of.
local setup
For a testing environment (local) you can setup your computer. You will need to install the Drupal requirements such as; APACHE, MYSQL, PHP - Depending on what platform you have you can look at XAMPP, APACHE2TRIAD.NET, or WAMP
Sure thing. When you
Sure thing.
When you download the drupal files, they contain install instructions for drupal and the databases and are pretty good for getting started.
You can get hosting pretty cheap for probably $3-$4 a month. Check out the hosting forum for ideas:
http://drupal.org/hosting
XeQUae
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http://www.xequae.com
It's hard if you say it is
But if you keep saying "I can" you will.
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
NancyDru
to share my experience and before you can create your myspace...
I was introduced to Drupal almost a year ago version 4.7. I was confused with all the terminology. I know nothing about web development and CMS at that time. At first look Drupal was very intimidating and frustrating. So I switched to other CMS like wordpress and joomla but only to find that it does not have the Flexibility of Drupal. So I took upon myself to learn Drupal and the contributed modules. I really put in the time, browsing and reading the forums. You will need to put in your time, it will be daunting but in the end you will have fun.
Where to start?
1. http://drupal.org/handbooks - read about Drupal. All I can say is read, read read read.
2. Once you have read, learn by doing - Setup your testing environment - Trial and Error. I probably installed Drupal 100 times before moving on to the next step. Once you have Drupal installed and configure properly, browse around,
3. Make a list of your what functions your site needs and browse the module section, read what each modules does and also read what bugs have been reported, then select the module that you think will work.
for example if you want to implement a way of preventing spam bots, you can look at some Captcha modules (reCaptcha, Captcha, Captcha Riddler, My Captcha,)
4. Install and configure the module. Test and make sure it works. Once this has passed your testing environment implement it on your site. Document everything.
Good Luck,
Mark
Alas
Unfortunately, most open source software is not designed for the non-technical user. As you can see from the replies, you have to do a lot of learning to use Drupal. The functionality is there, but unlike Microsoft Word or suchlike, the people who write open source software don't make them easy for the average user who doesn't know what 'html' stands for.
One option is to simply go for a hosted CMS solution. One example is www.squarespace.com. They take care of the background stuff. There are others that take the stress of configuration of you.
Another way to minimise the pain is to get a web host that offers cPanel. It's a simple user-friendly program that includes something called Fantastico. This enables you to install Drupal (plus the database) with the click of a button, so you don't need to be a geek or bother yourself about database configuration, etc. I'm no geek, but was able to do this. After this, it should take you no more than a week to learn how to customise Drupal. This is still more challenging than going for a hosted option, but it is your best option if you want to DIY.
Good luck.