By thewebguy on

hi all.

this is my third time trying to build a site using drupal, and i'm getting sort of frustrated.

every time i come back to the same places on this site and i don't seem to be comprehending anything. i write php every day and somehow i am just not getting the concept of drupal. the last time i set up an install i had a theme that somewhat resembled what i was going for, but i couldn't seem to get anything i wanted to happen.

i would really like to start using drupal for major projects, but i am so lost. is there a guide anywhere that can start me from absolute zero and bring me up to speed?

i mean don't get me wrong, i can get it installed just fine. i just have no clue what to do from that point. i wade through documentation and the administration like i am in a alligator filled swamp. i get the feeling that i have to construct my layouts based on drupal, instead of customizing drupal to my needs.

sorry for the jumbled post, and thanks for any help!

Comments

towninco’s picture

towninco commented

My site just "blew up" - so I'm not one to offer technical advice, but the two books that got me to an acceptably operating site were:

"Building online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress" by Robert T.Douglass

and "Drupal:Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals and Community Websites"

Of the two, I prefer the latter for its very specific point-by-point flow and its relative lack of jargon.

Town in Common

bart@drupal.energybulletin.org’s picture

bart@drupal.energybulletin.org commented

More on the two Drupal books:
http://drupal.org/node/66199

Before I read the two books, I was just spinning my wheels. The online documentation is good for an Open Source product, but I find I need a book to get a general idea. After that I can understand the online docs much better.

The IBM articles are very good:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html

Good luck!

Z2222’s picture

Z2222 commented

Where are you stuck?

For layouts, start with the default Bluemarine theme. Begin with the files page.tpl.php and style.css. Look at page.tpl.php and notice the php embedded in the template.

For example:

<td id="logo">
      <?php if ($logo) { ?><a href="<?php print $base_path ?>" title="<?php print t('Home') ?>"><img src="<?php print $logo ?>" alt="<?php print t('Home') ?>" /></a><?php } ?>
      <?php if ($site_name) { ?><h1 class='site-name'><a href="<?php print $base_path ?>" title="<?php print t('Home') ?>"><?php print $site_name ?></a></h1><?php } ?>
      <?php if ($site_slogan) { ?><div class='site-slogan'><?php print $site_slogan ?></div><?php } ?>
    </td>

It says "If there is a logo, print the logo. If there is a site name, print the site name. If there is a site slogan, print the site slogan". Now strip out the table cells and just keep the PHP and the CSS classes and IDs (convert to divs if necessary).

Build your own X/HTML template and insert the PHP from Bluemarine into your new template.

Load the template in the browser and use the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar Extension to view the CSS class & ID details on the web page. Go into style.css and make the required modifications, or start a new style.css from scratch.

The other files handle the layout of the nodes (node.tpl.php), comments, etc.

For an introduction see also http://tips.webdesign10.com/how-to-make-a-drupal-theme

It can get more sophisticated than that, but it's a good place to start.

Other ways to get familiar with Drupal:

* Go through every menu item and option in the admin panel after installing your site. Configuration will be second nature after a few Drupal sites.
* Learn what nodes and taxonomy are.
* Learn how to install modules.

thewebguy’s picture

thewebguy commented

this is exactly the start i needed. thanks a ton!

circus’s picture

circus commented

Great post, now...

have you got a good link that explains "nodes and taxonomy" are and how to use (hack) them -- clearly and simply?

Z2222’s picture

Z2222 commented

Node = a piece of content. There are different types of node: page, book, story, image, blog post, etc. Each type of node has different features. For example, blog posts are listed on each user's /blog/ page in reverse chronological order. Books are regular pages that are arranged in a hierarchial arrangement, with some special navigation links added. Image nodes include images.

Taxonomy = categories. A "vocabulary" is a container for categories. In the following example there are two "vocabularies", each with some "terms" under them. In this case the taxonomy is being used to separate the site into different sections. Taxonomy could also be used for creating blog tags. If you also wanted blogs on that site you could make a vocabulary called "tags", assign it to blog posts only, and check the box that says "allow freetagging".

News
  - world
    - country1
    - country2
  - local


Entertainment
  - movies
    - action
    - drama
    - comedy
  - music
    - classical
    - rock

I posted a few other things about taxonomy and pathauto in this thread. I'm not sure if that is what you are looking for.