By bramscolnick on

Hi there,

I've got a hosting account with MediaTemple. They offer Drupal 4.7.6 as one of their 1-click installations. I'd like to have a versatile website with which I can customize home page, templates and perhaps even have a listing system based on templates (details, photos, downloads such as floor plans).

How easy or complex is it to do this with Drupal? I *WAS* going to do a quick site with Dreamweaver and build templates from there, but then it takes lots of planning to work in other features. I've read a few postings which chastise Drupal for being bloated.

I'm a bit lost and confused on how best to proceed. One web developer was going to install a content management system which is why I am looking at Drupal.

I would greatly appreciate any and all insight. Thanks!!

⋅ Categories: Drupal 4.7.x, Drupal 5.x, Drupal 6.x

Comments

gausarts’s picture

gausarts commented

Try home or rlisting module.
Good luck.

love, light n laughter
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love, light n laughter

behindthepage’s picture

behindthepage commented

Version 4.7.x is no longer supported and the newer versions 5 and 6 are much better. So I would recommend version 5.7 that you manually install. The one click installations have had lots of problems in the past.

Drupal is infinitally customisable. It can do whatever you want. I chose it because there are no limits and I found it easier to do the complex stuff. When I tried other CMS I quick came up against limitations. Some of them are easier right out of the box but then customisation is harder and often impossible. Most people find Drupal has a steep learning curve but the time and effort to learn it is well worth it.

Calling Drupal bloated is ridiculous. Big and powerful is different from big and weak. If you only need the functions of a smaller less powerful CMS then you don't need Drupal. But if you want a powerful, customisable framework there are few that can rival Drupal. It is modulor in its design and construction so if you don't need a certain feature you turn it off or even delete the module. If you need extra functions you add extra modules.

So the Pros are: will do what you want
The cons are: will take some time and determination to learn how to use it.

The best thing to do is try it. Put up a site and play around with it.

gpdinoz
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

Regards
Geoff

bramscolnick’s picture

bramscolnick commented

I have a web design background and have a close friend that's a programmer who has offered to help out where needed. When you say Drupal has a steep learning curve.. how steep? what's hard to learn? And is it hard to learn as a novice or even as someone with some CMS experience?

Also.. do I want to go for 5.7 or the latest, 6.x? OR does using 6.x mean I don't have all the modules??

Thanks for the quick replies!

Bram Leland Scolnick
Broker
Alterra Realty Group, Inc.

bramscolnick’s picture

bramscolnick commented

Thanks! I looked at rListing. It looks interesting. How would you say it compares to Open Realty? I will need to look at Home again.. but I am a Commercial Real Estate Broker.. so HOME may be too customized (Based on the title...)

Bram Leland Scolnick
Broker
Alterra Realty Group, Inc.

bramscolnick’s picture

bramscolnick commented

I've been reading through Drupal forums. I know I will WANT a home page that is different from the rest of the site; I will want various content pages, and I will also want rListing.

So far, this is what I see that I would want or need:

- CCK (Content Construction Kit) -> Use it to define custom content types (i.e. "House For Sale")
- Views -> Use to display and sort Houses OR Buildings OR Land For Sale
- Imagefield -> An add-on module for CCK. Allows you to upload images as CCK fields.
- Imagecache -> Useful for resizing uploaded images.
- Content Templates -> Handy to change the look of your custom content type nodes.
- Pathauto -> Use it to automatically generate Clean URLs for all your nodes.
- Frontpage module - to make it look exactly as I want.
- Gmap module will offer google maps
- Google sitemap module will submit the listings to Google
- Categories

Also - do I want to start with a theme (http://drupal.org/project/Themes) and then customize or is it better/easier to take the standard templates and customize from there? My home page would be 100% custom anyway.

Anything else?

Bram Leland Scolnick
Broker
Alterra Realty Group, Inc.

behindthepage’s picture

behindthepage commented

How complex is Drupal is a difficult question to ask. If you are competent in HTML and CSS then that helps a lot. From your analysis of the modules you need (which is spot on) you sound like you will be OK. Part of being successful with Drupal is having the right attitude. If you expect everything to work first time without having to read anything and have a site up in 1 week then you will be frustrated. However if you are willing to read (and read), learn new skills in MySQL, a bit of PHP, maybe pay for some help if you need something quick or customised then you will get a site that you will enjoy using.

Do you have a deadline?

Make sure you build your site bit by bit. Get the simple stuff working then add another feature/module, get that working then go on to the next thing. You are working with PHP, HTML, CSS, javascript and multiple modules all interacting so sometimes it can be hard to work out what is causing the problem.

I am still developing with 5.7 because not all the modules are ready for version 6. There are many who are using 6 but they have the skills to solve any bugs that appear. In your situation I would reccommend Version 5.7 because you will have less problems.

The category module duplicates the functions of the core "taxonomy" module so you may not need that one.

Start with a theme and change the CSS. Some themes are better than others. The zen theme is a good one to use. The front page module allows you to have a 100% custom HTML front page

gpdinoz
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

Regards
Geoff

bramscolnick’s picture

bramscolnick commented

That was very helpful. It sounds like I need to find a theme that will also have a design set I like which is probably a good thing b/c It takes the thinking out.. I've seen quite a few themes I liked. I am familiar enough with CSS. I'ved used Top Style before soI can always go back to that if I must. I would like a site up SOON.. so I will probably cover myself with a quick Dreamweaver site (I'll design it nicely and put it up) then toy with Drupal in the backend for larger stuff.

I have no interest in learning PHP, MySQL or Javascript. I have close friends for that and if need be, I will pay. My job is selling real estate. That I have experience (extensive) in building web sites and have connections to get stuff done - it doesn't make sense to pay a company $5000 or more to do what I can do or get done. Plus - as much as I have been fighting building my own site, I'm kind of excited to do it and I know it will be as I want it. I have lots of plans and dreams and I think I can do it better myself with the help of my friends.

Back to Themes: The themes are a core design and I would guess I can change design aspects such as image headers, colors and various styles... but I need to choose a theme, regardless of current colors, that I like enough to only "tweak" cosmetics and not rework the entire layout.

Thanks again for your feedback. I'm very happy to see that there's so much friendly support out here. I don't feel alone in my endeavor :)

Bram Leland Scolnick
Broker
Alterra Realty Group, Inc.

behindthepage’s picture

behindthepage commented

Making a quick html site before building your Drupal site will mean that when you come across a problem or something you need to learn you won't have the pressure of having the site finished yesterday. You will be more relaxed, enjoy it more and be able to learn and problem solve better.

If you can find a theme that is close to what you want that will save you some time however some of the themes are buggy and can cause problems. So you have to be careful. Check out their issues and try them out with different content before you commit.

All the best
gpdinoz
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

Regards
Geoff

drupal user-2’s picture

drupal user-2 commented

I am making a site of real estate .Half of it I have Made Please see it:

www.apartments2villas.in

I want the following .So Please help me so that I can make the following changes:

* Contact details of the users should be visible only to registered users...If there is a way for us to enable users to give a choice of whether they want the details to be public or private thats even better.

* Ability of user to shortlist properties and store it in his profile.

Which module I should use and how should I make it more user freindly .I am using drupla acquia. Please help me in making this a complete real estate site.I am eagerly waiting for your response.

For this kind of your act,I shall be always pray.

behindthepage’s picture

behindthepage commented

I would start a new Forum post or maybe two - one for each feature that you seek.

Search Drupal and Google for modules related to "access control" or "access user profile"

For shortlisting try "bookmarks" module
http://drupal.org/project/bookmarks

Some other advice
add your logo to the background header image or use logo with transparent background.
Replace the woman on background image with something related to real estate
"We search home for you" needs improvement.
Maybe
"Find your dream home"
"Looking for a home?"
"Online Home search"

You have made a great start. Keep up the good work.

Regards
Geoff

Regards
Geoff

drupal user-2’s picture

drupal user-2 commented

k

vako’s picture

vako commented

The following links might help you improve your website:

a theme:
http://drupal.siteground.com/siteground4/

modules:
http://drupal.org/search/node/type%3Aproject_project+real+estate

drupal user-2’s picture

drupal user-2 commented

I want Drupal 6 module all these are for drupal 5 anyway thanks any more link u know for drupal 6 please tell me thankyou

vako’s picture

vako commented

What modules have you used so far with Drupal 6.x?
I am interested in Real Estate and would like to get as many modules as possible, hopefully for Drupal 6.9.

drupal user-2’s picture

drupal user-2 commented

I hv used views gmap light box etc Now wat modules to use please tell me for drupal6 if u knw

avior’s picture

avior commented

HI
I need to build a real estate site , i am trying to find the latest info about that

i found this module - http://drupal.org/project/rlisting , but i can see that it's been abandoned

i have found this site - http://drupalrealestate.com/ first i was glad , i have tried to contact both of them and got no response

any info will be appreciated

Avior

gausarts’s picture

gausarts commented

If I am not mistaken rlisting is now released commercially. Try googling around

love, light n laughter

avior’s picture

avior commented

this is what i have found for drupal 6
http://www.netrift.com/content/ulisting

vako’s picture

vako commented

I thought this is an open-source project. How can they still use Drupal templates and code and sell their modules?
They should sell the services not the modules!!
Scary, does this mean that all other modules might eventually become commercial and our sites stale and obsolete?!

WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

See http://drupal.org/licensing/faq -- you can sell or try to sell whatever you want. All drupal modules must be released under the GPL. No one can all of a sudden close source drupal or drupal modules. And under the terms of the GPL there's nothing preventing someone from purchasing a gpl module and distributing it on drupal.org -- except integrity that is. That's generally why drupallers sell services, as opposed to code, but it's by no means a requirement.

vako’s picture

vako commented

Thanks for the reply, now I know better but not very happy...:(