Review and expand Basic Configuration page of Cookbook

"dcor" from the same Galway session mentioned above also had some things to say about the Basic Configuration page:

FIRST ITEM:

"Whether you run one site or several, there are some basic things you should do right now. Here's what I do right off the bat; the advantage to doing it in the "root" database is that when I make copies for my other sites this has already been done. I'd give you a link to something on the Drupal site, but I never found anything like this."

WHAT?

Maybe should say "The following are some basic configuration steps that should be done initially while in the "root" database. The advantage of this is when creating multiple sites (by copying settings), the copies will already be pre-configured."

SECOND ITEM:

Add a suggestion: install the Admin Menu module "since that's an essential tool that I think everyone will/should be using!!!" [dcor actually suggested adding that to a couple of places in the cookbook, and I am not sure where it belongs, but it is a good suggestion] -- http://drupal.org/project/admin_menu for reference

THIRD ITEM -- these suggestions refer to the numbered section at the top of the page:

4. While you're there, go ahead and set what the "authenticated users" (logged in) and "anonymous user" (not logged in) can do, such as using your contact form. This is not engraved in stone; you can change it any time you want. [There is no contact form enabled at this point.. so I don't see it - looking from acquia installation of drupal 6.10]

5. Maybe explain what these things mean... and in the Acquia visitor.. it's already set to node.. does not explain why it has to be 'node' and why I can't change it to something else.

6. Maybe include a list of modules that are recommended to turn on if you're making 1. a blog, 2. a information website 3. a photo gallery... etc. Or link to something that gives you that type of advice and feedback on what works and what doesn't. Acquia seems to come with a package of modules they recommend.. If you want to disable the acquia settings.. what to do...

7. where are themes? In the Admin menu it's Sitebuilding >> Themes ... but again, what am I doing? and why?

FOURTH ITEM

NEEDS TO BE RE-WRITTEN: FOR DRUPAL 6... AND NOTE SECURITY RISK BY TURNING ON FULL HTML.
* Turn on "CLEAN URLS" to make your site more user friendly. Go to Administration >> Site configuration >> Clean URLs. At the bottom of the verbiage there is a link to run the "Clean URLs Test." If it passes, then the "Enable" radio button will un-dim. Click on that. (If the URLs stop working for some reason here are instructions to unset clean URLs.)
* In order for me to create any kind of content, I go to Administration >> Site configuration >> Input formats and set "Full HTML" as the default until I get the site ready to go live. Then I still allow administrators (like my other ID) to use that format. Do this now and you will avoid a very common problem with building your site.
* I don't like having "Promoted to front page" as a default for content, so I go to Administration >> Content management >> Content types and turn that off - in each format.
* While you're there, decide on your default comment mode. Go to Administration >> Content management >> Comments >> Settings (Administration >> Content management >> Post settings in Drupal 6) and set the comments to be entered on a "separate page" and make sure that "Preview comment" is set to "Required."
* Now, let's turn on the Contact form so your users can send you a message. Go to Administration >> Site building >> Menus and locate the "Contact" item (it should listed be under the "Navigation" menu). Click on the "enable" link. Remember that later on you will want to go to Administration >> Site building >> Contact form and finish setting that up.

FIFTH ITEM

Add a note re: Cron and what it does.. what it's for.. and that you will see a message about cron not having run.. link to page explaining it all.

MGParisi: I do not have time to work on this today, and dont' have much little interest in collaborative editing, but thanks anyway. The reports above were from other people's comments, in any case, so I don't really have much input on how the pages are edited.