I'm still very new to Drupal and at the start of the rocky learning curve i had to confess to questioning my journey with this CMS.

Being a long time user of other CMS systems i had certain ideas i wanted to implement from the get go and Drupal didn't seem to have those in place (i mean a forum in drupal isn't quite the forum i had come to expect in Vbulletin). I'm glad to say that appearances are incredibly deceptive and i have, on numerous occassions had my jaw well and truly dropped.

Our website is just 13 weeks on now and i'm amazed not only on how it looks, how it functions, but by the shear wealth of options that i've managed to make available to my members.

Forums were, with the aid of flatforum, made to look like forums (in fact they look far better than any forums i've used before). Blogs were embelished with author information and made to look more akin to something far more commercial and events incorporated using flexinode and enhanced with calendars and various listing options, hell it even tells my members how many days left for a particular event.

I've added usuability with TinyMCE, used the book module to create article content with a proper navigation system and image galleries to great effect.

When i started i remember posting about why Drupal calls things silly names and the confusions it caused (Taxonomy was a classic example) but now thats just second nature to me. Indeed i never saw the need to use or indeed have Taxonomy, that was of course until i used it and now can't live without it.

My site is using pathauto and gsitemap and has gone from no ranking to top on most of our searches and a PR of 3 in google in just 12 short weeks. Man i'm loving this.

What has prompted me to put this down today is the constant surprises that i find with the system. Things like organic groups and why on earth would you ever want them only to find today my members asking if they could have a section of the site for themselves. Every time we reach a milestone and come up with an idea, there is the module usually waiting to implement the idea into practice.

What i'm basically saying is that finally i have found a system that i can adapt with and not get bogged down creatively. I'm no coder, no graphics artist, no website developer but i know what i want and Drupal has helped me achieve most of this in a very short period of time.

The members of the Drupal community are eager and always try and offer advice on every hurdle and without them the learning curve would be higher. You guys have helped me a lot and for that i give my thanks.

So i would just like to say that for every member on the site, every contributer to handbooks, themes, bug testing, modules, core and advice, you are appreciated and fully respected. What you do may sometimes be thankless but never forget that without you guys we would not have the most unique CMS system i've ever seen. I thank you all.

Comments

zoon_unit’s picture

You forgot to give us a link to your site so we can all admire your handiwork! :-)

ckeo’s picture

I think the site hes referring to his his home page: http://www.porttalbotchat.co.uk.

Nice site... good work.

Craig.

bugz_nz’s picture

It's great to see somebody take the time to post some postive feedback about Drupal. Maybe this will show through as a beacon for those stuck where you were, questioning their journey with Drupal.

Well done with your site too, an excellent example.

styro’s picture

It's a great example of what can be done with patience and an open mind. Although it may sometimes feel like it to newcomers, you don't need to be any kind of PHP and SQL guru to make Drupal work for you.

Nice work!

--
Anton
New to Drupal? | Forum posting tips | Troubleshooting FAQ
Example Knowledge Base built using Drupal

drupalnesia’s picture

Hi, to improve Drupal I have write an article about Drupal Disadvantage, here: http://drupal.org/node/81041

desm0n’s picture

Thanks guys and yes thats my site www.porttalbotchat.co.uk. The site itself is built on a free open source theme and it took around a day to convert using my limited knowledge and fits my needs perfectly.

This is the sort of thing i'm talking about with Drupal. Sure the learning curve is steep at times but its power is amazing and i've never got to the "Oh you just can't do that" stage at all. Its more of a "Now whats the best way to do that" implementation.

I think Drupal gets bad press sometimes from new members (myself included in that statement) and i just wanted the people that work hard on the system, in whatever format they do to help, to know that the positives far outweight the negatives and efforts are appreciated.

zoon_unit’s picture

I think your site looks fantastic. You've done an excellent job for a beginner and that has me inspired, since I'm a beginner as well.

Your forum looks great. You've got what I think is the perfect balance between a flat forum and the option to still view posts in a threaded view. Were you able to achieve that solely by using the flatforum module? Or did you have to do some extra programming to "re-allow" the threaded view option?

Your open source theme looks like Nifty Drupal. Am I correct?

Again, fantastic job. I'm getting a lot of inspiration from your example.

desm0n’s picture

Thanks for your kind comments. I'm no expert at anything and used tools available everywhere. I'm very happy with it so far.

The forum was created using flatforum only. Its quite versitile when you set down to it.

I wanted to have a forum that looked like a forum (vbulletin style) but had our own style to it. I loved the way Drupal forums aimed to be different but they did cause my members a little confusion, so i adjusted and adapted to reach a happy compromise. It works well for us at least.

The theme i use is called Internet Music by a designer called Solucja and i just love his work.
http://www.solucija.com/home/css-templates/ and i aim to put his name on site soon (in all honesty i had written it into the about us block and then lost it :). His themes are awesome and fully CSS driven, something i've tried to shy away from before now but knew i ad to step up to sooner than later. This theme of his was 100% perfect for our needs and molded the community. Feedback has been great since its inception.

The conversion went quite smoothly and the only realy troubles i had was with my limited CSS knowledge.

However i had the basic shell running within minutes and i was so surprised how easy that was to adapt.

Its when you get down and dirty you realise how amazing drupal can be. I was quickly, using snippets of code found here, able to add underlying features like quick user links when members log in and private message notification etc. I'm very very pleased with it and drupal.

zoon_unit’s picture

Since that web design is not a Drupal theme per se, how did you integrate it into Drupal?

I've been building my theme off of bluemarine, a phptemplate design.

How do you feed your content to the Style.css so the content tags match the theme styles?

sepeck’s picture

Drupal page.tpl.php doesn't care what you name the DIV's so much. It cares what php variables you put in.

For instance, it doesn't care if you use this

<?php if ($site_slogan) : ?>
<span id="site-slogan"><?php print($site_slogan) ?></span>
<?php endif;?>

or this

<?php if ($site_slogan) : ?>
<p><?php print($site_slogan) ?></p>
<?php endif;?>

to print your site slogan. In one case you have a span id, the other your site slogan is in a p tag. How you style it to your tastes with CSS is up to you.

I have a tutorial on converting Yahoo GRID CSS method on my site, but you can do the same process with virtually any template or CSS theme approach.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

zoon_unit’s picture

...changing the style tags in the CSS or changing the markup in the php code?

BTW, I really liked your articles on the Yahoo Grids. What I like about this concept is the option of having several different Drupal themes running off (virtually) the same php code. Question: Has anyone actually ported this over to a working Drupal template?

I'm very new to Drupal but not to good usability design. I've been dreaming of the ultimate theme, one that starts with a simple none graphical layout so a designer can try many different color combinations, then graduate to a "trimmed corners" approach with mountaintop coding:

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/mountaintop/

And then finally graduate to a full graphic theme once colors have been nailed down. If Yahoo Grids could be integrated, then you could essentially end up with one "universal" Drupal theme that would work for 80% of all layouts.

Then, just drop it into a theme generator.... (wonderlust is setting in)

sepeck’s picture

I advocate using what works for you. The Yahoo GRID CSS system works for me. But through it I am learning more about CSS in general. I myself have not released any themes but the page.tpl.php in the 3 column article is close to what I am running on a few sites right now and is attached. If I were better at design I'd have something released but design is hard. :D

There is no real ultimate theme. There is what combination works to solve your needs. Using the same method you can port over any number of the Open Web Design themes you think would work for you just converting the content in the DIV layout to drupal variables and tweaking the css as necessary to account for CMS content instead of static.

It's all about choice and flexibility. That choice and flexibility that gives Drupal it's power also adds to it's intial complexity and learning curve. However, once you get past it, you run into the experience desm0n did... if it doesn't already exist, there often is something that you can use as a starting point to solve your own needs floating around somewhere.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

desm0n’s picture

As steven has said its actually very easy to convert a non drupal theme into drupal. In fact i found it easier than using a stock theme and "theme'ing out".

As steve said drupal doesn't care about what you call your CSS style tags to a certain degree.

How i converted was grab a non drupal theme, the one i wanted, and renamed the index.html to page.tpl.php, copying other tpl files from other drupal stock themes.

This will get the system running almost immediately, although obviously with no functionality. Then just break the main page down into its elements working one section at a time. The logo being first, break it down so its editable in drupals admin system, then the slogan, the primary and secondary links, newsletter (in my case), search bar, main context area and side bars.

This way you progress very quickly and see instant results. If you theme has

<div class="maincontext">this is where your main context goes</div> you can quickly replace it with <?php print '<div class="maincontext"> . $content . "</div>"; ?>.

Its really that quick.

What i also did was take the bluemarine stock css class file and took a lot of the classes and put them in the new css file. This gives you flexability and a means to update elements to a page (node titles, links etc).

After finding here on drupal.org that you can theme individual blocks by refering to the divs unique ID i was all set and my mind went racing.

I do still have 2 issues i'd love to sort.

1. is that the serach bar seems to be one pixel heigher in Internet Explorer than in Firefox and i have no clue at this stage why.

2. I would like to make the comments on blogs full width without breaking the theme. I can do it with a hard coded width:760px but Internet Explorer doesnt like it and pushes the right side bars underneath the content.

But i'm sure these will come.

swallace@drupal.org’s picture

Thank you for sharing your excellent website.

Steve

maybourne’s picture

Like you my love for drupal grows daily. :) And I agree there's a definite learning curve with drupal but it's sooo worth it. I've been recommending it to my friends at every opportunity. Long live drupal!

My drupal site: - China Business News & Observer -

desm0n’s picture

Its a kind of love hate relationship but more with love than hate. Sometimes i hate my own abilities not to achieve something quickly, but its usually always achievable sooner than later. And this is why i love Drupal, its sheer power is in its flexability.

Muslim guy’s picture

Maybourne;

Your newspaper site is awesome too!

I had always wanted to do the layout like that.

If I or anybody here want to use Drupal for online magazines or newspapers, the layout is what the editors or owners are expecting to have (and they have a slight aversion to the `normal Drupal node')

The `normal' Drupal site is always two columns - 1 for node, 1 for site bar (left or right).

So tell us, do we need to have Custom HTML, or Flexiblock, or any other modules? Or PHP snippets.

BTW, the `RSS' thingy for cbnando.com will only enlist 5 news titles - I am using Firefox browser and I clicked on the RSS which comes from Drupal aggregator module (newbies - this is a Drupal specialty which come out of the box - other CMS have to use additional modules which might not be freely available)

I am actually `begging' you to share with us here please ! :)

maybourne’s picture

Thanks!

I used CCK module for the custom node (related articles, photos, etc) and Views module to display the content in the way I wanted. The rest are php snipplets. The front page mainly consists of views_get_view and views_build_view calls to get the nodes displayed.

The Views module is really awesome! :)

Early on I searched for the best (easiest) way to do multiple columns but in the end there wasn't an easy way. At least not for me so I just used html template, Views and CCK and stitched it all together. It was quite a learning experience with drupal but very enjoyable.

I started working with drupal in May and I am amazed at how fast I was able to get the web site up (in June). I don't think I could have done the same with Mambo. Probably still be scratching my head to understand their template system!

- China Business News & Observer -

Steve Dondley’s picture

I also admire what Drupal has become. I knew Drupal was great the day I found it, but it has far surpassed everything I thought it might end up being some day.

We should also be quick to credit to the genius of the social phenomena of free software and the GPL. Drupal woldn't be possible without this amazing collaborative framework. Cheers to everyone who contributes and participates in whatever way they can.

--
Get better help from Drupal's forums and read this.

Genbushi’s picture

Wowzers, really incredible work. In fact, is that theme going to be made available??

desm0n’s picture

Totally agreed that the original GPL concept has pathed the way for works like this and it has my utmost respect and Admiration

adrian’s picture

I knew Drupal was great the day I found it, but I also saw a lot of unrecognised potential.

Drupal hasn't even really started on the potential it still has. We've managed to accomplish a lot,
but there's a lot of cool and useful things that remain to be built for it.

Distributions will get us a lot of the way there.

--
The future is so Bryght, I have to wear shades.

krzysiek@palikowski.vel.pl’s picture

even if you consider some bugs or usability issues, drupal is most logical, and (more important) most stable system i've ever used. The quality of code is very high for an OS project. The coding standards, cvs, documentation and issuetrackers - all this translates into one simple thing - if i have 4.7 and install any module that is for 4.7, this module will work in 99%.

With other CMS it was a lottery - when i found module it was hard to tell if it will work, or maybe crash my whole site?

One more advantage - other CMS have modules that are coded with one particular target in mind - create gallery, create reviews database, product catalogue and so on.

Drupal is different - modules extend drupal possibilities, but also extend *other modules* possibilities. E.g. Upload can work for every module, taxonomy for every node (even if you install new type of nodes), image module is used to create galleries, and so on...

desm0n’s picture

Agreed.

The quality of Drupal contributed modules is first class and as you rightly says doesn't just extend with the module but interacts with other modules too. This is one part of drupal i love. If i add a "subscribe to this post" module for my forums i have the same capabilities across every content area including blogs, events etc. Sheer power.

This is where Vbulletin was always the better choice of the standard forum software. Its flexability and quality of third party contributed modules far outreached those of its competition. Drupal is the same.

The other great thing about Drupal is that its community is really truly focused on pulling together. Admins are busy working on their sites but always try and lend a hand here to others. This is what makes a good project great as support at any level is paramount.

StuartMackenzie’s picture

Just looked at your site.....wow......I love it.

I must be a complete dunce though, i've been struggling with drupal for a while now and can't get anything to look that good. Maybe it's just not in me : (

One thing that really interests me is your forum. i've messed around with flatforum for weeks now and cannot achieve what you've done there, that is exactly the layout I've been looking for but try as I might after many hours and copious amounts of coffee and swearing I can't get it. I'm a novice in all areas. Just a regular Joe. I'm percivere as much as I can but am struggling but it certainly is inspiring to see what can be achieved in a short space of time by someone who knows what they are doing...........

I don't suppose there is any chance you could share with me your wisdom on the flatforum things?, I'd be forever in your debt!!!

BuZZ the limey
www.weblimbo.net

desm0n’s picture

Certainly, happy to help.

Here is my node-forum.tpl.php

<?php
  if (!_is_forum()) {
    include('node.tpl.php');
    return;
  }
  $curr_user = user_load(array('uid' => $userid));
  $sig = $curr_user->signature;
?>

<div class="comment forum-comment comment-<?php print $row_class; print $comment->new ? ' comment-new forum-comment-new' : ''; ?>">
<?php print $picture ?>
  <div class="comment-left">
    <div class="author-name"><?php print $name . ' ' . $submitted ?></div>
    

    <?php if (module_exist('flatforum')): ?>
      <span class="author-posts">
        <?php print t('Posts:') . ' ' . $posts; ?><br />
      </span>
      <span class="author-regdate">
        <?php print t('Joined:') . ' ' . $joined; ?><br />
      </span>
    <?php endif ?>
      </div>
      
  <div class="comment-right">
  <span class="taxonomy"><?php print $terms?></span>	  	
  	    <?php if ($comment->new) : ?>
      <a id="new"></a>
      <span class="new"><?php print $new ?></span>
    <?php endif ?>
    <h3><?php print check_plain($comment->subject) ?></h3>
    <div class="content">
      <?php print $content ?>      

      <div class="links"><?php print $links ?></div>
      <br class="clear" />      
    </div>
  </div>

</div>
<br class="clear" />

I can't remember if i changed much here in honesty as this forum theme was created done some time ago and i just brought the old template and css into the new theme.

Heres the corresponding css entries

/* Flatforum structure */
.forum-comment {
}

.comment-left {
  padding: 5px;
  
}

.comment-right {
  padding: 5px;


}

.comment-left .author-name {
  font-weight: bold;
  background-color: #EEEEEE;
  font-size: 1em;

}

.comment .comment-left .picture {
}

.comment-right .title {
  font-weight: bold;
  font-size: 1.2em;
}

.comment-right .content {
  background-color: #fff;
  padding: 5px;



}

.comment-right .content .links {
 float: right;
}

/* Flatforum style */
.comment-left, .comment-right {
   background-color: #fff;
}

.comment-right, .comment-left {
   background-color: #EEEEEE;
}

.comment-even {
}

.comment-odd {
}

I liked the user picture floating into the content but you may wish to change that.

I plan on doing the same theme to the comments when i work out how to include the post and join date counts (flatforum is checking if its a forum first and i need it to check if its a comment too or it messes up the front page and node contents etc).

And i certainly don't know what i'm doing :) Just fumbling around and finding new ways to do things everyday :)

Hope this helps.

StuartMackenzie’s picture

Thanks you so much I really appreciate the help! so will my wife (i think she is getting slightly concerned about the contant swearing......it's bordering on ridiculous at times...LoL!). I love the versatility of drupal, I just wish I had a bit more common sense and patience......not to mention 1% of the knowledge of the folks that frequent this site!

I 2 like your floating user pictures (very neat).

Talented and modest........sickening....really really sickening....j/k........lol

Very kind of you. One more noobish question though if I can, How do you prevent the side blocks from displaying in the forum section of your site, i've been trying to do this on mine and for other sections of the site......I've always thought it must be easy but again I keep falling flat on my face.....

BuZZ the limey
www.weblimbo.net

desm0n’s picture

OK this isn't as hard as it looks.

Obviously use the drupal block visibility setting under each block.

Show block on specific pages:
Show on only the listed pages.

for instance for the active forum topics.

You could also have the block show everhwre BUT the forum by

Show on only the listed pages.
Show on every page except the listed pages.
forum
forum/*

Very easy.

The only issue i had was setting the div from one width to another depending on whether blocks were visable or not. In a tabled theme thats pretty easy by setting the main content area to 100% but in css i had a few difficulties.

Thankfully nevets replied here with a solution that works perfectly.

<div class="left-<?php print ($sidebar_right ? 'narrow' : 'wide'); ?>">

this loads up the relevant div tag depending on whether my side blocks exist or not.

Then simply style these in your CSS.

.left-narrow {
float: left;
width: 490px;
margin: 0 0 10px 0;
}

.left-wide {
width: 760px;
margin: 0 0 10px 0;
}

Left.narrow will be used when my right blocks are visable and left-wide when they are not. Perfect.

StuartMackenzie’s picture

ok, thanks sooooo much, I may have said this before but am really appreciating the help, i really have struggled with this up to now. Your right it was fairly obvious, I've obviously got to the not seeing wood for trees stage.......

Disabling the blocks worked like a charm until I got down to the post level and then they came back but I noticed that the url for post was just a 'node' url rather than 'forum' (hence they came back), so maybe I'm missing a module I need- I think u mentioned Pathauto - maybe this is what I'm missing?

I'm currently at work so can't play with things properly, You've certainly given me a boost from where I was at and am confident I should be able to get where I want to know you've dragged me from the rutt I had ended up in!!!

thanks again.

BuZZ the limey
www.weblimbo.net

desm0n’s picture

I am using path and pathauto yes so thats likely helping and i'd highly recomend it from a SEO point of view. We have gone from nothing to PR3 in 14 weeks in google. Thats pretty impressive.

Theres a php views snippet here
http://drupal.org/node/42802

That may help with your problem if you can't find a solution.

But ultimately i would recomend pathauto as you get good SEO and an easier way to disable or enable your blocks per content.

dtabach’s picture

You could also have the block show everhwre BUT the forum by

Show on only the listed pages.
Show on every page except the listed pages.
forum
forum/*

Very easy.

The default path when viewing forum nodes is site.com/node/xxx. So the settings above would only prevent blocks from displaying in forum containers or lists of forum posts, not the post nodes themselves.

But I realized in your site the forum posts have nice urls like site.com/forum/forum-name/post-title. How did you make it?

Durval Tabach

Durval Tabach

desm0n’s picture

I used pathauto to give my forum posts more human names.
It has a great knockon effect that dsiplaying blocks specifically in certain locations becomes easier.

Walt Esquivel’s picture

Just a short "atta boy!" on your web site and your hard work to have it looking so good. And thanks for all your helpful tips to help others with their respective web sites - very much appreciated! I know I'll come back to this page to go over some of your tips...and to your web site, of course, for ideas.

Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing

desm0n’s picture

I'd just like to say that when i posted this message my intent wasn't to promote my site or the theme, but to just let new members, like me, know that given enough time things are achievable with drupal. And that the learning curve is needed to appreciate the potentail of Drupal and what you and it can do together.

I'd also like to state that the theme i'm using was converted by me and adapted but certainly wasn't designed by me (i wish). The theme was designed at http://www.solucija.com/home/css-templates/ and he has some excellent designs available there. Theres loads there ready to convert.

I'm happy to pass on any knowledge i have gained so far but i just wanted people to know that this is more about an appreciation thing than a site promotion thing. And i was amazed to meet the drupal.orgs frontpage.

kweisblatt’s picture

I wanted to add something just in case other newbies out there are reading this in a time of great frustration :)

Before Drupal: For almost a year we had an idea for an online community but with my limited knowledge of php and databases, I didn't think it was possible. I started reading anything I could on PHP and MYSQL. I went through MANY moments of frustration... thinking "how the hell can I do this?" I downloaded just about every program out there... some were CMS, some were just database programs like PHP database wizard among many others that I tried. While trying to do it myself, I looked for help on specific topics through google. It was, to say the least, overwhelming. I gave up about 10 times.

When I found Drupal: I was already exhaused from downloading Joomla and failing. At this point I had picked up some basic PHP, MYSQL, and APACHE. I read some of David Mercer's Drupal Book and I think there is even a sample chapter on here somewhere that I reccommend any newbie reading (I think it was chapter 2). More expereinced users will get bored easily, but the book will guide you through the setup.

I downloaded CivicSpace, I uploaded, I used the installation wizard and configuration wizard and kazam!! I was almost in tears! LOL
I began playing around with the features because that's how I learn best...by doing it myself. (I uploaded on a seperate folder on my server so I could screw it up as much as I wanted without affecting my root). I went through the Modules, the admin section, themes, and I just played.

When I had questions on a certain feature I would come here and lurk at other members answers. At that point I didn't want to post my questions because I always found an answer. After feeling comfortable about setting it up on my site, I re-installed on my root and made some changes.

I ran into some problems with installing new mods with CivicSpace and I couldn't find any direct answers, so I posted a couple questions and within hours I had answers from more experience users. Not only do I get straight forward ansers here, I usually find step by step instructions. Honestly, you can't find a better community if developers and members in one place.

It only took me about a week to start feeling comfortable with Drupal. But I recommend to Newbies to learn a little PHP and MYSQL because chances are you will run into a few problems that a little knowledge will make things seem clearer. But, if you have no knowelge, you probably could still do it with this great community behind you!

BTW- After I figured out my problems, I posted them on my original posts so that I can start contributing what I can to this community. So, don't be afraid to ask those stupid questions or REALLY stupid questions... chances are you will get an answer regardless!

Thanks again DRUPAL and the DRUPAL community! I am standing in my living room in my jammies clapping at my laptop for you like a dork!! (Too much time on my hands this morning because drupal was too easy to set up!)

desm0n’s picture

Lol about the jammies :)

Sounds like we took similiar paths to enlightenment :) I have about 10 or so php and css books here and i'm starting to grasp rudimental php ideas. Granted i doubt i'll ever code the next great module but i'm getting to the stage of at least starting to understand what some of the code does.

Your dead right that "playing" is the only real and certain way to learn a system. You'll learn by your mistakes, what modules are best suited to your needs and when you do truly cock up (and you will), i assure you you won't make the same mistake twice :)

Having a local system as well as a live system is highly recomended (in fact its paramount) as when you do make a mistake its not costing your members time and you the the sheer panic of "OH MY GOD, THE WEB IS DEAD" attitude us admins take when our sites go tits up.

kweisblatt’s picture

Rawk on! I dream in DRUPAL!

andyscotuk’s picture

I too am geting to grip with drupal after investing a week of time to get my head round it. But it is worthwhile for the power. I have nothing worth showing (yet) but David mercer's book on drupal was excellent as was the drupal on a stick product (http://www.ratatosk.net/software/onastick/). This allowed me to experiment and break things without hurting my main site. I also installed phpmyadmin on the stick to test backups and restores. I now have Gallery embedded with content (including image insertion) created with TinyMCE edit. I think it is about another two weeks away from being something I am happy to use and show.

I'm new to all this but the Drupal Community seems a very friendly place. Hopefully I will be able to contribute to that with a record of my own experience.

Muslim guy’s picture

For those who installed Drupal 4.7.0 with Fantastico DeLuxe, be prepared for the worst :(

http://drupal.org/forum/fantastico-de-luxe

jacauc’s picture

Just love what you did with the forums.... didn't even know that it's possible to have drupal's forums look so close to vbulletin.

Good stuff!
jacauc

desm0n’s picture

Thanks, it really wasn't as hard as i thought it was going to be either :)

I aim to put omse of the profile info on there now but i'm struggling to find an acceptable solution to that so far.
Found a few ways of doing it but they seem a little over the top for me.

jlee’s picture

Beautiful site desm0n! I'm a new user...still trying to learn the ropes. I'm not picking things up as quick as I would like...but like you I see the power in this cms...the commitment of the community...and the passion that everyone brings to the project. That's all...I just like to compliment people on beautiful work!

desm0n’s picture

I wish it was mine to take :) but the layout was from an open source theme and i just converted it. It really fits in well with us though.

And these things take time to learn. I'm achieving more with drupal than failing with now so my learning curve is obviously on the up than the down. Its a powerfull cms and when i get some time i'll try and convert some open source themes to drupal to help establish it better. After all, the visual candy is what usually attracts us in the first place and although there are some themes that are excellent, theres some less impressive ones.

mcurry’s picture

I agree - I'm also a newbie, and I've been 'heads down' building sites using Drupal (and learning about it) - I've not yet dealt with the forum issue, but so far, I've been massively pleased with Drupal. Over the last few months, I've managed to get out of the 'culture shock' of making the transition from other systems to Drupal. My next step is to contribute some patches and modules (and maybe even a theme or two) just so it's not totally a one-way affair.

Here's to the Drupal crew.

---

Michael Curry
TwoGrunts - Exodus Development - RubyPowered - RoadCarvin'

AndieCZ’s picture

Did not you think about making your template and theme public? It looks very cool.

Thanks and Regards,

Luke
http://www.smilighr.com

pixor’s picture

You've done a really nice job Desmon, both with the theme and the way your site works. If you could make that theme available for others to look at, I'm sure we'd all learn a lot (especially when comparing your 'Drupalised' version with the original). It might help us convert a few more themes!

ambiance7’s picture

very, very nice site. I agree. The entire community could benefit from your code. We all would be grateful if it were public.

ambiance7

dvessel’s picture

Beautifully done! It's especially amazing considering your not a graphics person or coder. I love the color scheme.

The only people I've seen dislike Drupal are the ones with no patients -and with no taste.

Congratulations on the site!

–joon
http://www.dvessel.com

travischristopher’s picture

your site looks very nice, just remember to customize the favicon.

Anonymous’s picture

Your site just need a favicon. :)
Michaël

zoon_unit’s picture

This site makes favicons from photos. Very quick and easy. The trick is to find the right image to start with. But any image will do, even clipart.

http://www.htmlkit.com/services/favicon/

Walt Esquivel’s picture

http://content.websitegear.com/article/favicon.htm
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

The first one explains things quite clearly, but I have not used either. If anyone ends up using it/them, please post back here with a link so that I can see the results.

Thank you.

Walt Esquivel, MBA, MA
President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing

toma’s picture

to create a favicon, just with paint or whatever graphic editor, create a .bmp file and rename to extension to .ico and its done

---
Drupaldemo now 5.0
http://www.drupaldemo.org

sol77’s picture

I have just started to understand how taxonomy works. And let me tell you that I can hardly sit still because of the potential I see. I totally see why you love it! If it wasn't for the fact that drupal uses so much cpu time it would be the ultimate CMS, now it is only the best. :)

Muslim guy’s picture

*drupal uses so much cpu time*

Is it webhosting - I dont think Drupal has that inherently

If you said that Mambo is resource intensive - I'd believe you - because of the fact that many Mambo-powered sites are way slow and return blank pages

I'd suggest you search for that CPU - resource usage thingy here -

Dries even tested Drupal vs Joomla - check out his personal blogpage on this test

sol77’s picture

Well it is the impression I've gotten from reading these forums so far but maybe it isn't as bad as it seems.

I will check out the blog. Thanks for the tip.

Rosamunda’s picture

I agree 100%!
I have nothing to add to what you just said, but I felt the urgent need of saying that I agree, and I feel the same way.
BTW, I like your site very much!!

Rosamunda
Buenos Aires | Argentina
www.ligadelconsorcista.org

Artem Beloglazov’s picture

Agree,agree, agree!!!!!!

factotum218’s picture

I know this thread is ancient but what the heck, why not.

Drupal is rad.

I've spent about a year sort of dancing around it. Reading up about it, learning some basic in's and out's. Realizing that it's a foundation to be built upon with modules and plugins and it's exactly what I was looking for. I started with Wordpress a few years back, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I didn't want to buy a house only to demolish over half of it and rebuild. This is more like buying land and starting from scratch.

I'm only just starting out with the hands-on building and the learning curve is intense (for me at least) but it's all panning out to be worth it with the great results I can achieve. The limits are endless so it would seem. With great documentation and a great community with both free options like the forums and mailing lists, and paid services for education such as lullabot, it's a bright future.

Being in west Michigan I started to toy around with the idea of Expression Engine because there are a lot A LOT of Expression Engine developers out here. I just couldn't get into it. Theming in Drupal doesn't look bad at all in Drupal, especially with something like the Zen theme to start with.

It's very exciting!

almalino’s picture

I LOVE DRUPAL!

1 year ago I decided to create my first web site for mobile phones. I spent 3 months writing it in PHP manually and ended up with this one: http://malina.mobi
Granted, I didn't have any PHP experience.

3 months ago I decided to do something more fancy. Studied CMs reviews and (lukily) decided to try Drupal. since then I NEVER looked back.

Last site I created took me ONLY 3 weeks: http://MalinaMusic.ru

Before that site I could not imagine creating so feature reach site so fast.

Thank you DRUPAL!!!!