Converting To Drupal, Need Help!
Dear Drupal Community,
I've been thinking for a long time about switching some of my websites to drupal, but I don't want to spend a fortune to do it. So I will allow the readers of this forum to give me their observation about how this can be accomplished. First of all the websites are located at Black Conscious News.com http://www.bconnews.com and Black Conscious Network.com http://www.blackconnet.com
Black Conscious News.com is a content based website, while Black Conscious Network.com is an Online Community.
Black Conscious News.com
The website operates underneath a CMS (now defunct) and uses SSI language to syndicate content. It is one of the few sites you can copy syndicated code and embed it into your website. There is a lot of flexibility in how you can use this code. For instance, you can have headlines with or without pictures. You can make headlines bold, italic or regular. And the amount of formating that is used is endless.
Another interesting thing about this website is that anyone can register to become a writer or content distributor. All that is done is that a person register's and log into their account.
It is a basic CMS and it works very well. For instance, when a writer submits an article, they are confronted with a "Subject" box, "Summary" box and "BODY" of the story. Below is the category you will like to place your article and if you want it to have a picture. There is also a set of tools that makes putting pictures in your article easy.
Then if you want your article to be posted later, you can click the show more list.
There's more (on the homepage, syndication is from many other websites (blog/forum/third-party websites), but I'm sure you all get the point. It is a great CMS for posting articles. However, I will like to expand the functionality of the CMS and it will probably be too expensive. So I'm now at the point of considering DRUPAL as an option to this scenario.
First of all, if you notice, there is no advertisement embedded in any of the articles. I was thinking of an advertisement panel that will make it easy in put banners inside certain sections of the article. I should also be able to put google ads inside the article as well.
Second, the CMS is just slow. I need something that will pop up so my readers and writers don't get frustrated and leave.
Third, if you are registering to become a writer, there is no way to choose a category. This is still an administration function and I don't always remember to limit what category that writer's can submit articles to.
Any other suggestions regarding functionality, please let me know.
Black Conscious Network.com
This site has been lacking since I created. First of all, the forum is not attached to the cms. The forum that I'm using currently is a phpBB. It is syndicated on both the Black Conscious News.com and this websites. Although it provide a valid function, if it was part of the Black Conscious Network.com it will draw more interests.
The biggest obstacle is the inability for members to create their own webpages. I also will like to see a live chat incorporated into the structure (similar to ebonyvoices).
Other aspects of the site includes uploading pictures, a calendar scheduler, a module for events, weather and other features. Black Conscious News.com is syndicated on the Black Conscious Network website. Soon or later, I will like to syndicate my myspace accounts onto the website (since this is a major traffic generator).
So as I close this chapter, I hope you can all give me some suggestion on how to incorporate DRUPAL with my website goals.
Thanks for reading and I hope I hear from you soon.
Chris/Qolspony
Install and test
I think you'll have more luck getting responses to your questions if you install drupal and try some stuff out, and then post more specific questions based on the problems and challenges you face. Having looked at your sites, I can tell you that drupal can definitely do what your asking for.
If I download Drupal, what do I do?
Are there any developers of Drupal sites that charge reasonable fees? If so, please let me know who they are. I also want to know if I can create an online community with Drupal. What modules and templates do I use?
I operate 4 websites, several forums and webrings. Lets network!
Sounds to me like this will
Sounds to me like this will do what you want. It's free to use so grab it and go nuts, and yell loudly if you get stuck ;)
I have to be sure, because time is of value
If I download drupal, what do I do? How long will it take me to figure out how to use this CMS? If I have trouble, who can I contact.
Chris
I operate 4 websites, several forums and webrings. Lets network!
http://drupal.org/node/43767
http://drupal.org/node/43767 -- install guide
How long depends on you, if you can handle other CMSs or forum software you shouldn't have too many dramas. If you have trouble search these forums or post in them.
dramas...
Well. guys I can handle lot of other CMS's. But they don't suit my needs :-( I like e107 but it misses desent shopping card/e-commerce module :-( So I tried drupal and I liked it a lot. Personally I had some troubles with whole that "module depends on another module" stuff but I remembered my old good Linux times and those linux distro's PRM - same principle. So I think I'll like drupal. I have tried to use ubercart and I added some products by hand - it works at least. Still figuring out how to use imagecache module to make thumbnail pictures though... But my biggest problem is migrating to drupal our real huge product catalog and I need to be able to import csv files from our sales database...
import
http://drupal.org/project/importexportapi
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
importexportapi doesn't work with ubercart
I don't think the importexportapi module works with ubercart - at least, not out of the box. My products in ubercart are cck-defined. Would I need to write a module to use the importexportapi to import data into my cck'd products? Or is there something already available? (There is a non-tested version available on the ubercart site, but it's been down for the last 2 days...)
options
You have a number of options here around drupal.org. What you get is random depending on how you phrase the question, time of day, who is online, etc. You can advertise for services. In some areag you can network with your local Drupal user group. Check out Drupal Dojo for lessons and screen casts.
So, how long.... I generally say to get a solid handle on getting started is 3 weeks to 3 months depending on how complex your goal is, module availability and if you need to code a module.
I would suggest getting a copy of Pro Drupal development and stating with Drupal5. Have fun and good luck.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
Very Helpful Information. Thanks!
Sepeck,
Thanks for your post in this thread. I will check out everything you wrote in your post. I'm pretty much leaning towards an Online Community Formula. I know they are packages out there and servers dedicated to this area, but I'm very confident that Drupal can fulfill this purpose.
Anyway, the site shouldn't be that complex. I don't expect that many people to sign onto it. If I do hire a developer, I expect to minimize the cost and the functions as much as possible. This really isn't the kind of site that generate income, so I must be very careful how much time and effort that is put into it. However, it must be good enough for those individuals who want to become members. Repeat visitors has always been an issue and that was due to the lack of features and the inability to create webpage.
With that said, I appreciate all the post and hope that in the coming months, I would have been able to use Drupal for this functionalities.
Chris - Qolspony