Drupal for use on only part of my site?
I've been developing hand coded html/javascript sites since 1998 ... my main web site gets a fair amount of web traffic (with no promotion - all organic traffic) ... as it has a fair amount of unique hand coded content.
I've purposely avoided adding a message board/forum section to my web site ... simply because I dont want to spend the extra time admining the potential personality conflicts between users, and the constant spam.
I looked at some CMS's approx. 4 years ago... and I wasn't very impressed ... however, I've recently looked at CMS's again... and I can clearly see some CMS technology has advanced considerably over the past few years.
What I'm was wondering is;
Can I continue to use my old web 1.0 directory site... but install Drupal in the background to run the forums/message board type content... and possibly some other types of 2.0 content that can be linked back and forth between the 1.0 content?
The reason I want to keep my 1.0 site up is; there's alot of content there, and it would take me approx. 6 - 12 months to copy over my hand coded info... maybe after installing and successfully operating some 2.0 features in the background, I'd slowly be able to plan & fully implement the 1.0 content to 2.0 content.
work the .htaccess
Since I don't really know what kind of web site you've currently got, I'm not sure this is feasible, but here goes..
If I get it right you've got a lot of static content, and you want to install a drupal next to this without drupal messing with your static content. My suggestion is you move all the static content to a folder /static/ on your site, and install drupal in the / dir of the site. Now all you have to do is add an exception to your .htaccess file which defines /static as a static folder (look at the provided examples).
Depending on the kind of static content you've got, this just might work.
re: realjose
Yes... I've got a bunch of static content ... and yes, I dont want Drupal to mess it up ... however, I know that some complimentary 2.0 features could add value to the static content.
I wouldn't want to move the static content to a new folder ... as many of the existing static URL's rank very highly in Google ... so moving the URL's to a new folder might be counterproductive in regards to the existing search engine ranking.
I did add a PHPBB.com message board system to a different web site last year ... but I found that I had to do some hacking to some of the PHPBB files to add the Adsense code, and web site logo ... but I also wanted to add an existing side-bar navigation to the PHPBB system (and some other features) but I found/felt it involved too much hacking on various files (and I probably wouldn't get the final "quality" results I wanted) ... my research on Drupal so far (which is fairly limited) seems to indicate that it is very powerful, and custom amendments to the code can done through control panels (as opposed to hacking various files like I did with the PHPBB.com system).
_
Also note that although drupal doesn't have 'folders' per say, if you do import the content into drupal, you can use path and pathauto to create page aliases so that the content appears to be at the same url as far as google is concerned.
_
Don't be a Help Vampire - read and abide the forum guidelines.
If you find my assistance useful, please pay it forward to your fellow drupalers.
_
I know you can do it as a subdomain: in other words, forums.example.com can be drupal.
You may also wish to consider http://drupal.org/project/import_html. It's only for d5, but you could setup a bare d5 site, import your site, and update it to d6 pretty easily.
_
Don't be a Help Vampire - read and abide the forum guidelines.
If you find my assistance useful, please pay it forward to your fellow drupalers.
RE: WorldFallz
Thanks ... I'll look into the sub-domain possibilities ... and I'll keep the d5 thing in mind when/if I approach a static content conversion.
Do you have any feedback on the Drupal message board/forums administration?; IE: ease of admin, etc.
_
I find drupal forums to be more than adequate-- however there are those that complain because it's not a 1 for 1 feature comparison to something like phpbb. But the main advantage of using drupal's core forums is for integration into the CMS-- which, since you're not going to be doing that, doesn't apply to you. You might actually be better off, forum feature/admin wise, with something like phpbb-- however, that will just add another level of complexity (having to import your phpbb content in addition to your static content) in the future should you decide to go the CMS route.
If it were me, I would probably just bite the bullet and try and go the complete CMS route-- one solution, one technology, one product to learn and maintain. but to each his own ;-)
_
Don't be a Help Vampire - read and abide the forum guidelines.
If you find my assistance useful, please pay it forward to your fellow drupalers.
Given where the CMS's were 4
Given where the CMS's were 4 years ago... where they are now ... and where they'll likely be in another 4 or 5 years into the future... leads me to conclude that the top CMS's might eventually become the elite tools for web development, because they simply offer so many built-in features/modules/options ... an individual web developer will not be able to compete with rapidly expanding technology toolbox offered by the top open source CMS's... and it looks like Drupal has a very solid technology/support/community base, and is among the forefront of CMS's... which fits into a "one solution, one technology, one product to learn and maintain" philosophy (which definetely has its benefits).
Given the above... I'm leaning towards learning/implementing a Drupal message board/forum system ... even if doesn't currently beat PHPBB on a 1-to-1 basis.
Instead of using a sub-domain
Instead of using a sub-domain of the TLD (top level domain) (IE: forums.example.com) can I use a folder off the TLD instead? (IE: example.com/forums).
For those looking for an
For those looking for an intro video on Drupal Forum configuration ... I found this helpful video at Youtube this afternoon ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmYu7tKEkh4
... you may find the author of the video a little difficult to understand (I researched him... he has Cerebral Palsy) ... but he seems quite knowledgeable about Drupal ... he has over 30 Drupal video's on his YouTube channel...
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=tomrogers123&view=videos&query=drupal