We're looking at using Drupal as the main baclbone of our new church website. The site is going to be small enough that we won't require the ability for visitors to interact with the site (ie no need for log ins, article submissions, comments etc), however we still need the ability for people whose computer experience is restricted to typing up an article in Microsoft Word to be able to update the website with news, events, photos and progress reports.

The main features we hope to include in our website are:

*A news page which can be updated by senior members of the church
*An events calander page, which can also be featured in a sidebar on the front page
*Progress reports on our Hall redevelopment project - this might simply be 4-5 photos being uploaded a week to a comphrensive report each month about the progress made
*The ability to accept donations (method to be decided depending on the options available to us) for the above project and other charities that we're part of
*Contact and Links pages which can be updated as needed
*The ability to upload PDF copies of our monthly newsletter in chronological order

Preferably all of above would be achievable without the need for extensive technical know-how on the part of the contributers.

So is Drupal suited to this kind of website or is it using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

Comments

sepeck’s picture

I can't remember now, but there have been several church web sites that use Drupal. Drupal is perfect for this, because you know that after they get accustomed to it, they're going to want a newsletter (such a module exists) through email.

News page: Story or page module, depends.
Events page: events module, there are several complimentary modules that can allow you to organize volunteers and such.
Progress report: back to Story or page module with the addition of image module and img_assist to help with input.
Donations is 'doable' but outside of my scope of experiance.
Contacts and links page: Page type probably. There are seevral approaches depending on what you want to do. Including using the profile module to add bio's.
Why use pdf copies? Just use simplenews and offer an email option. This way, the newsletter content becomes part of your site content and will be searchable by your members.

Random additional module: http://drupal.org/node/10236 you might be interested in.

There is a lot of work, but once it's up, it becomes very easy for the customer to manage content.

Also, you may want to consider the CivicSpace distribution as it has some of this packaged already. Paticularly the event module stuff which is easy enough, but not necessarily intuitive for Drupal neophytes.

-sp
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Drupal Best Practices Guide - My stuff Black Mountain

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

marchmontstgiles’s picture

We already have a paper based monthly newsletter/magazine that's created using Serif Page Plus which we would like to upload for more people to read (hence why we intend to use the PDF format for compatibility) or download. The magazine is nothing professional - it's all black and white clip art printed using a risograph - but it does contain a lot of information about the church, the people invovled, whats happening as well as many other bits and pieces.

sepeck’s picture

I understand that, but think about it. Over time newsletters will build up. If it is not in pdf, but a node in the site, the content is searchable. It is part of the website without the annoyance of having to use a pdf. Now, you could still have the pdf download (use upload module)

-sp
---------
Drupal Best Practices Guide - My stuff Black Mountain

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

ñull’s picture

If you want to make documents available for download, then this can be done by activating the upload module. This allows you to "attach" documents to any content type that has this enabled. The attachments would appear in a list at the end of a story or page.

If you would use site membership, you can make them invisible for visitors who are not logged in, which could be used for internal newsletters.

There is also the PDF module, that can produce a PDF version of a page. So you could just cut and paste your newsletter to Drupal and people who want, can have it in PDF.

echelon99’s picture

I've tried enabling this module, and it's not working. An additional interface appears at the bottom of the page to allow uploads, and I can browse and try to upload, but it takes 25 seconds to upload. Then I submit, and it doesn't actually appear at the bottom of the page. Am I missing something?

ñull’s picture

I just am looking at the ecommerce module. Although it seems not very related, it does allow you to create donation and auction "products". If I am not mistaken it would even allow site members to create their own auctions and I could imagine church members organize on-line garage sales toward a charity or mission project. Could be a great means to get members enthousiasticly involved.

Of cause you don't need to install the ecommerce module for simple donations. It can also be done simpler, by adding a Paypal button (or alike) to a story, page that describes the project or special projects can be highlighted in the menu using a custom block. The choice is yours!