In the "Installation guide" (http://drupal.org/getting-started/install)

The introduction could be improved by offering a step by step overview (pretty much like http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress) so that the user, depending of his skills, will skip directly to the section he needs. Proposal for that could be :

1. Download and unzip the Drupal package.
2. Transfer files on your webserver.
3. Create a database for Drupal on your web server.
4. Run the install
5. That's it !

Then, perhaps we can add directly a summary of requierements. Proposal for that could be :
- An access to your web server (via shell or FTP)
- A text editor
- An FTP Client
- Your web browser of choice

And finaly, perhaps, the user could be oriented towards a page dedicated to his distro. Proposal for that could be :
Want to install Drupal localy ?
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Linux
- Mac OS

Comments

leehunter’s picture

leehunter commented

I actually find that Wordpress page to be very poorly organized and badly written. I would hesitate to use it as a model for Drupal.

burningdog’s picture

burningdog commented

What I like about the Wordpress page is the "5-minute install." This assumes that someone already has their database set up and has downloaded core and wants to know the bare minimum to getting drupal up and running.

If you're unfamiliar with drupal and read through the installation guide, it'll take a while! I'd suggest some kind of "5-minute install" section - written for someone who wants the basics (and of course, the drupal install is pretty self-explanatory). Something like this:

  1. Download Drupal from drupal.org unzip it to your install location.
  2. Create a database for Drupal on your server.
  3. Run the install.
  4. Set up cron to point at http://www.example.com/cron.php
  5. That's it!

Drupal fills in the details during the install.

leehunter’s picture

leehunter commented

We would also have to explain about copying the default.settings.php file

burningdog’s picture

burningdog commented

@LeeHunter: actually, drupal helpfully explains this during the install process - but I've added in below. How's this:

  1. Download Drupal from drupal.org unzip it to your install location.
  2. Create a database for Drupal on your server.
  3. In your sites/default folder copy the default.settings.php to settings.php and make it writable.
  4. Point your browser at your install location.
  5. Set up cron to point at http://www.example.com/cron.php periodically.
  6. That's it!

Drupal will give you enough information during the install to guide you through it.

bryan kennedy’s picture

bryan kennedy commented

@LeeHunter and @burningdog, please reference this page - http://drupal.org/getting-started/6/install/set-permissions - which goes through detailed (if confusing) instructions about how to do the settings copying and permissionification (yep, just made that up). I spent a teeny bit of time trying to clean that page up the other day.

bryan kennedy’s picture

bryan kennedy commented

Please slap my wrists if I am getting off-topic here. But on the permissions front, I did a bit of digging around and found several pages that duplicate these instructions in several places:

Maybe the best way to improve this step of the installation docs is to consolidate these in one section and say, "In your sites/default folder copy the default.settings.php to settings.php and make it writable." [quoting burningdog], and just give a link to the more technical information about how to actually do that. I'm not sure what would be best. This step can be really confusing to newbie web folks who've maybe never used the command line before and sure don't understand what octal unix permissions are.

burningdog’s picture

burningdog commented

Drupal already links to http://drupal.org/server-permissions to explain how to deal with server permissions when it comes to settings.php and the file folder. Maybe it's a good idea to add in the links to how to do this that have been mentioned on this thread?

So how about these steps:

  1. Download Drupal from drupal.org unzip it to your install location.
  2. In your sites/default folder copy the default.settings.php to settings.php and make it writable.. Also create a "files" folder and make it writable.
  3. Create a database for Drupal on your server.
  4. Point your browser at your install location.
  5. Once Drupal is installed, configure it, following the steps on the "Welcome" page.
  6. Modify the permissions on settings.php to make it not writable.
  7. Set up cron to point at http://www.example.com/cron.php periodically to ensure that Drupal runs its maintenance tasks (or if you don't have access to cron, install poormanscron).
  8. That's it!

In these steps I've pretty much mirrored the steps in D6 INSTALL.txt:

1. DOWNLOAD DRUPAL AND OPTIONALLY A TRANSLATION
2. CREATE THE CONFIGURATION FILE AND GRANT WRITE PERMISSIONS
3. CREATE THE DRUPAL DATABASE
4. RUN THE INSTALL SCRIPT
5. CONFIGURE DRUPAL
6. REVIEW FILE SYSTEM STORAGE SETTINGS AND FILE PERMISSIONS
7. CRON MAINTENANCE TASKS

add1sun’s picture

add1sun commented
Status: Active » Closed (duplicate)

Even though this is an older issue, I'm going to close this as a dupe for the current install issue: #538054: Review and update the Installation guide