By markgriffith on

You say, "please read the documentation before you start". What if it is precisely the documentation I don't understand?

I built a couple of websites - including mine http://www.otherlanguages.org - in HTML. I'm hoping Drupal is going to enable me to make sites for a client that the client can maintain themselves without needing to write into the code.

However, I don't understand the jargon about modules, and the more I read, the more confused I get.

Are there well-written [ie comprehensible] Drupal tutorials anyone can point me towards?

Apologies and thanks!

Mark Griffith

Comments

markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

...and I worked a year writing user manuals, so I know what the process is that makes them so unreadable!

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

Awesome. It's comments like this that really let me know how supportive that people are of the volunteers contributing documentation to the project.

The documentation isn't perfect but it is volunteer and frankly I think it's pretty good. The problems you run into are the various level requirements of the audience. Beginner alone could be beginner to the web, to CMS from old index.html, beginner to PHP/experienced in ASP. That's just installing it and basic configuration. Once you get into development and advanced configuration it gets more spread out.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

Dear Steven,

thanks for the encouragement! I've got it installed, I'm just not sure where to start now...

Gratefully,

Mark

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

Ask specific questions about where you are hung up. It helps tremendously. Are you stumped on a Drupal specific thing or a MySQL database thing or a php thing?

In the beyond basics book, there is a link to some very detailed beginner tutorials

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

.

Dear Steven,

thanks for your kind suggestion - I shall come back with more specific questions.

Best wishes,

Mark

.

markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

Dear Steven,

I've just re-read your initial comment, and I certainly didn't mean to be _un_supportive or rude about the work of volunteers in providing documentation. I just have this problem with all computer documentation everywhere.

A specific question would be this :

Q. If the only desired change was to have the images load fast, how would I translate a website such as http://www.robinsperling.com into a site where server-side software enables the images to load quickly?

I wrote it in HTML for a free webhost with memory and traffic limits. Since this evening I upgraded the webhost to a paying plan, so there is now server-side PHP support.

There will be a proper redesign soon of course, but for now, how would I use Drupal to make use of this new PHP server-side support facility and speed up image loading?

Thanks! I hope that is specific enough as a question. My apologies if anything I've written there is not as clear as I thought it was.

I always read the documentation, but I just don't see where to start with a question like that.

Jeff Burnz’s picture

Jeff Burnz commented

Use a minimal theme,don't run many features (modules), etc etc, do everything you can to reduce server overhead and bandwidth.

Optimize your images (Adobe Image Ready is good for this) and perhaps, as a tip, use imagecache to load a lightweight smaller version of the image (if you are talking about on page images or galleries etc and not the theme).

Pimp your Drupal 8 Toolbar - make it badass.
Adaptivetheme - theming system for people who don't code.
markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

Thanks - that advice is very handy, Jim!

Is there anywhere I can see a gallery of Drupal sites alongside the code used to generate them?

Gratefully,

Mark

vm’s picture

vm commented

The problem with a question like that is that the question isn't drupal specific. on Drupal.org you will find a ton of information about the drupal code base, its modules and the like. That's not to say you can't ask about graphics compression here, but it is to say that reading drupal documentation expecting to find an answer about graphics compression will be fruitless.

What you are asking is a general question about images and the fastest way they can be rendered to a browser.

Google helps with this: how to optimize images for webpages = http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1...

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )

markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

I understand what you're saying, VeryMisunderstood, though my main goal in learning Drupal is to save myself having to learn lots of new things about each new problem instead of just solving it.

Is there a gallery of Drupal websites anywhere that gives the code used to generate each one? That would really help me learn how to use Drupal.

Many thanks,

Mark

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

Drupal templates main components (besides the head data) are php and css.
If you know css no sweat. You can learn the php from an included base install template.
If you know php it wil be even easier.

Depending on what you will want to design, this will greatly influence how long it will take you to learn (but this is for any cms). It is unclear if you have had asp(.net) or php programming in the past. If you don't it could be difficult to design a site in the beginning.

markgriffith’s picture

markgriffith commented

Dear Designer,

that's quite helpful. I have no ASP or .net experience. I have a PHP cookbook but no experience. I'm vaguely familiar with CSSs.

I'd first like to design a very simple site as an aid to understanding Drupal.

What does "included base install template" mean? I recognise the individual words...

I created http://www.otherlanguages.org and http://www.robinsperling.com in HTML, and that seemed pretty easy. The conceptual block I am having is this idea that PHP-written-in-Drupal doesn't mark up the site as such but loads it from somewhere else, such as a database?

Some people are telling me that seeing the Drupal code for a whole website, even a simple site, doesn't make sense as a request. I must apologise again - my questions must sound exasperating and deeply stupid to you folk.... but why doesn't it make sense?

Mea culpa,

Mark

vm’s picture

vm commented

base install template = default template distributed with Drupal core.
you can find them in your themes folder.

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )

vm’s picture

vm commented

Is there a gallery of Drupal websites anywhere that gives the code used to generate each one?

not quite sure what you mean here ? code used to generate what ? an entire website?
If so: not specifically, no.

There are code snippets in the documentation area, there are breakdowns of how other built sites, there are tutorials, videocasts, audiocasts, slide abound also. Google is your Friend.

To get specific answers from the forums, it is best to ask a specific question.
_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )