By dealmaker on

Hi,
I am a new Drupal user. I realized that Drupal is too much Forum and Blog oriented. I am trying to make a site that has layout like Paypal.com's that has nothing to do with forum or blog, but I can't find a easy way so far and I got stucked. Any tips?
thanks.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 4.7.x

Comments

zoon_unit’s picture

zoon_unit commented

You'll need to research Drupal in more detail to realize the true power and flexibility of the system.

But please, don't make flippant remarks just because you don't know anything about the software!

jeanmichel-1’s picture

jeanmichel-1 commented

Its true.

Drupal is a really powerful tool.

Provided that your able to walk on your hands with boiling hot soup bowls balanced on your feet trying to cross the fifth ave in NYC at 5 in the afternoon.

;)

vm’s picture

vm commented

define "easy" way ?

my best advice (tip) is to read through the handbooks, and do your best to try and understand and implement some of the ideas already presented. use google as much as you can with regards to answering questions you may have. Also these forums are a great resource.

There are many styles of templates to get you started. If you arent up on your advanced HTML and CSS youll want to visit http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp and undestand how those languages work.

kristi wachter’s picture

kristi wachter commented

I know how daunting it can be to get started in Drupal - there are a lot of features, and sometimes it takes a while to find information on the features YOU want to use.

None of my sites use blogs or forums - I promise, it's possible (and even pretty easy!) to set up a Drupal site that provides information rather than interaction, if that's what you want.

Looking at the Paypal site, I see a menu across the top and blocks along the right side. Try using the Blocks feature to set up a block or two (you can just type text and links into the blocks to start with) and the Menu feature to set up a top-level menu.

Blocks: http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/block
Menus: http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/menu
Lots more info about these kinds of core features: http://drupal.org/node/258

Lullabot has some great demos here: http://www.lullabot.com/podcast?page=3

That page even has a demo on using menus.

When I was starting to learn Drupal, I found the Bryght tutorials a big help:

http://support.bryght.com/adminguide

They focus on 4.6, though, so they might not work as well if you're using 4.7.

I hope these pointers help get you started.

Good luck!

Kristi

˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚
Kristi Wachter
Drupal consultant, evangelist, and enthusiast

carlmcdade’s picture

carlmcdade commented

You don't have to activate the forum or blog modules. Then:

Stick with the "page" content type.

Make sure you have Full HTML activated as default.

Try the front_page module or learn PHP and use phptemplate to arrange things.

Get a decent three or four column theme to start out with, blix or channel nine might work.

The rest is just graphics and HTML. I doubt that you will have to learn how to make a module to accomplish this but I do recommend that you learn everything you can about using phptemplate and overrides.

If you want to make sure no one ever activates forum or blog modules then remove them or rename them.

Hiveminds Magazine
http://www.hiveminds.co.uk
for web publishers and community builders

drupalnesia’s picture

drupalnesia commented

I am also new on Drupal. Like you, at the first time I feel Drupal is very difficult compare to Mambo/Joomla, but once I downloaded all of the handbooks and print all of them, about 2.000 pages! Then I know that Drupal is too superior compare to Mambo/Joomla. Drupal can help me, as web developer, from simple site to complex site.

So, back to the tips you need: simply go to administer-modules then find forum and blog then disable these 2 modules (don't check the checkbox) then click Save Configuration. That's all.

If one day in the future, you need a blog or forum feature on your site then simply enable them again.