By Unsetdeuxs on

So I am looking to make my own site, it will be documenting my sailing trip circumventing the world. I have no experience with any sort of web development but need a tool to do it my self or with one other person. Drupal seems like a good option. I features I defiantly need are: blog, forum, advertising, community sign up, and possible e-commerce, among others.

Questions...
Do you think Drupal is a good option for a site like this? I will have a computer with me but not always access to the internet.
Do you know of any similar sites that use Drupal?
What sort of learning curve is there and is it worth the undertaking?
I need to have some revenue generating aspects of my site... what would you recommend?
Is there anyone out there that is interested in assisting me with the management of the site?

I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Take care,
Adam

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

Unsetdeuxs’s picture

Unsetdeuxs commented

I would also like some GPS tracking features so visitors of the site can see the path I have taken, probably utilizing Google Maps or the sort. Doable?

Adam

nevets’s picture

nevets commented

Some answers

Re: Do you think Drupal is a good option for a site like this?
Yes

Re: I will have a computer with me but not always access to the internet.
If you want to post to a website (regardless of the tool) you will need access to the internet to do the posting.

Re: What sort of learning curve is there and is it worth the undertaking?
Given your background and you list of features (in particular e-commerce) there is going to be a learning curve.
But the same can be said for any framework/tools used to develop a web site.
Only you can determine if it is worth the undertaking.

Unsetdeuxs’s picture

Unsetdeuxs commented

Thank you. Any idea on the GPS?

Wayne_Luke’s picture

Wayne_Luke commented

For the GPS you can use a custom content-type created using CCK fields that hold the latitude and longitude. For this to be done automatically on a timed interval you would need a satellite/cell phone, an Internet Connection and a computer that can use XMLRPC to insert the custom content on a regular basis.

Google Maps to Go can do the lookup for you either based on your proximity to cell towers or from GPS in your phone. You just have to have something that gets that information from your cellphone to the computer. Since most phones run off of Java then you could use it to program something up or there might be an application available already. You would need to be in signal range though for it to work. Though with a bluetooth enabled phone, you could probably use a laptop to store points in a file or spreadsheet and then batch upload them when you get into signal range. A satellite phone with internet capabilities would put you in signal range at all times.

The other way would be to take GPS readings periodically and input those manually as content-types to be entered manually in your database and used as points on your map.