drupal creating blogs forums portals and community websites

Drupal Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites How to set up, configure, and customize this powerful PHP/MySQL-based Open Source CMS David Mercer BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Drupal Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites 2006 Packt Publishing Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book. Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. First published: May 2006 Production Reference: 1040506 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. 32 Lincoln Road Olton Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK. ISBN 1-904811-80-9 www.packtpub.com Cover Design by www.visionwt.com Credits Author David Mercer Reviewers Jason Flatt Kobus Myburgh Technical Editors Niranjan Jahagirdar Maria Menezes Editorial Manager Dipali Chittar Development Editor Louay Fatoohi Indexer Mithil Kulkarni Proofreader Chris Smith Production Coordinator Manjiri Nadkarni Cover Designer Helen Wood About the Author David Mercer was born in August 1976 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Having always had a strong interest in science, David came into regular contact with computers at university where he minored in computer science. A programmer and professional writer who has been writing both code and books for about seven years, he has worked on a number of well known titles, in various capacities, on a wide variety of topics. This has afforded him a singularly unique oversight into the world of programming and technology as it relates to furthering the goals of business. David finds that the challenges arising from the dichotomous relationship between the science (and art) of software programming and the art (and science) of writing is what keeps his interest in producing books piqued. He intends to continue to write professionally in the future. David balances his time between programming, reviewing, writing, and furthering his studies in Applied Mathematics. When he isn't working (which isn't that often) he enjoys playing guitar and getting involved in outdoor activities ranging from touch rugby and golf to water skiing and snowboarding. Visit www.contechst.com for an overview of articles, books, and other projects by David. A big thanks to the team at Packt for giving me the opportunity to work on this book. Thanks to the excellent contributions made by the reviewers as well as my family and friends who have supported and encouraged me over the last six months or so. "Ad astra per aspera." About the Reviewers Jason Flatt is a computer solutions provider, specializing in Linux systems and Drupal websites, living in his hometown of Las Vegas, NV with his wife and five sons. Jason can be contacted at drupal@oadaeh.net. Kobus Myburgh is an IT consultant, working at a large university in South Africa, focusing on IT innovations particularly useful to the students of the university, as well as keeping the student IT facilities in mint condition, including software, hardware, as well as network and internet connectivity. Kobus obtained his Honors B. Sc. degree in IT at the same university and is also a part-time lecturer, currently teaching third-year students about Expert Systems, with a strong focus on this sub-section of Artificial Intelligence. He also has extensive knowledge and experience in web design and development, particularly in PHP, HTML, and CSS, and has been involved with the Drupal project since its inception in 2001. Table of Contents Preface 1 Chapter 1: Introduction to Drupal 5 Drupal—An Overview 6 How Drupal Came to Be 7 What Drupal Has to Offer 8 Uses of Drupal 9 Building a Drupal Site 10 Planning Your Site 11 Analyzing the Proposed Solution 12 Feasibility 12 Phone a Friend 12 Critical versus Desirable Criteria 13 The Demo Website 13 The Drupal Community 16 Support 17 Handbooks 20 Forum 21 Downloads 24 Contribute 26 Contact and Community 27 The Drupal License 28 Summary 30 Chapter 2: Setting Up the Development Environment 31 The Drupal Environment 32 Obtaining and Installing PHP, Apache, and MySQL 34 Obtaining and Installing Drupal 37 Upgrading Drupal 41 Troubleshooting Common Problems 44 A Short Tour of Drupal 46 A Couple of Important Settings 46 Creating an Administrative User 47 Table of Contents Using the Administrative Panel 49 A Sample Drupal Page 51 Summary 53 Chapter 3: Basics I: Site Configuration 55 Before We Start 56 General Settings 58 Error Handling 62 Cache and File System Settings 66 RSS Feed Settings 68 Date Settings 68 Site Maintenance 69 String Handling 70 Summary 70 Chapter 4: Basics II: Adding Functionality 71 Adding Modules 72 Third-Party Modules 72 Downloading Modules 73 Installing Modules 74 Configuring Modules 75 Forum 75 Locale 78 Comments 79 Content Types 82 Search 84 Upload 84 Menus and Primary Links 85 Using Modules 90 Working with Blocks 92 Adding Blocks 93 Configuring Blocks 95 Summary 97 Chapter 5: Users, Roles, and Permissions 99 Planning an Access Policy 100 Roles 101 ii Table of Contents Permissions 102 Setting Permissions with Taxonomy Access Control 105 Users 110 Administering Users 110 Configuring Users 111 Access Rules 114 Summary 117 Chapter 6: Basic Content 119 Content Types 119 Working with Content 122 Content Options 122 Administering Content 127 Content-Related Modules 130 Aggregator 130 Archive 140 Similar Entries 140 Taxonomy Block 143 Summary 145 Chapter 7: Advanced Content 147 HTML, PHP, and Content Posting 148 Input Formats and Filters 148 HTML 154 Creating a Feature-Rich Page 156 Posting a Feature-Rich Page 162 Categorization 164 What and Why? 164 Implementing Taxonomies in Drupal 166 Introduction to Vocabularies 166 Dealing with Descriptors 168 Posting Content with Categories Enabled 169 Hierarchies 170 Content Structure 171 Summary 176 iii Table of Contents Chapter 8: Drupal's Interface 177 Planning a Web-Based Interface 178 Visual Design 178 Language 179 Images 179 How Drupal's Interface Works 181 CSS 183 Themes 184 Choosing a Base Theme 184 Configuring Your Themes 188 Customizing Your Theme 191 Images 194 Colors 198 Page Modifications 200 Summary 202 Chapter 9: Advanced Features and Modifications 203 Flexinode 204 Downloading and Installing Flexinode 204 Creating a Custom Content Type 206 Adding Structure 208 AdSense 209 Installing and Configuring AdSense 209 Adding Google Ads to Your Pages 216 Adding Google Ads to Your Content 220 Advanced Site Modifications 222 Scrolling News Ticker 223 Obtaining the Ticker 224 Creating the Content 225 Dynamic Content Page 226 Incorporating the Application into the Theme 226 Building the Content Page 228 Summary 232 Chapter 10: Running Your Website 233 Backups 234 phpMyAdmin 234 The mysqldump Utility 236 iv [...]... standards and open-source technologies, Drupal supports and enhances the potential of the Internet as a medium where diverse and geographically separated individuals and groups can collectively produce, discuss, and share information and ideas With a central interest in and focus on communities and collaboration, Drupal' s flexibility allows the collaborative production of online information systems and. .. trial and error associated with learning any new technology and provide you with a methodical and efficient learning process so that you become a knowledgeable and competent website creator and administrator Preface What This Book Covers Chapter 1 introduces you to the world of Drupal and looks at where Drupal comes from, where it's going, and what it can offer you Because it is important to understand... created with Drupal As mentioned earlier, any enterprise that requires a fair amount of working with content is a likely candidate for Drupal Due to its extensibility and flexibility, you are really not very limited in what you decide to do with Drupal The following list shows the most common uses at present and comes from the case studies page (http:/ /drupal. org/cases) on the Drupal site: • Community. .. book and the Drupal site to see if you can learn anything new If you are absolutely stuck, then get on the forums and lists and ask for help One of the great things about Drupal is that it is a community- driven project, which roughly translates into: There are generally people around who are happy to help Bear in mind that this is not a one-way relationship, and once you have some experience and knowledge... you need help, are provided under the Forums and Support section, as well as archives and a Tips for posting to the Drupal forums link • 18 Documentation and help facilities are provided in the Online documentation section, and include help on some common problems as well as installation and general information If you are not an English language speaker, or your community predominantly speaks some other... maybe keep an organized collection of links • Aficionado Sites: Drupal flourishes when it powers a portal website where one person shares their expertise and enthusiasm for a topic • Intranet/Corporate Websites: Companies maintain their internal and external websites in Drupal Drupal works well here because of its flexible permissions system, and its easy web-based publishing You no longer have to wait... Introduction to Drupal • Resource Directories: If you want a central directory for a given topic, Drupal is the right tool for you Users can register and suggest new resources while editors can screen their submissions • International Sites: When you begin using Drupal, you join a large international community of users and developers Thanks to the localization features within Drupal, there are many Drupal sites... find out what type of environment Drupal can provide is to go ahead and check out the Drupal home page at http:/ /drupal. org You should probably register an account and become active in the community (believe me, it will be of great benefit to you in the long run) anyway So perhaps, treat your registration process as a quick and easy way to see a bit of the site It stands to reason that if you can easily... we will also get our hands dirty by ensuring we have properly structured the site's content using the taxonomy system provided by Drupal We will also look at how to add some dynamic additions to the site using third-party scripts and even AJAX The Drupal Community One of the most important resources you will need in the coming days, weeks, months, and years is the Drupal online community Unlike other... ahead, it also discusses how to plan and build your website, taking a sneak preview of the book's demo website in the process Finally, we scrutinize the Drupal community and learn how to make the most of Drupal as an organized, living entity and not just a piece of software Chapter 2 deals with how to get everything you need up and running on a development machine and also briefly looks at how all the . Drupal Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites How to set up, configure, and customize this powerful PHP/MySQL-based Open. Source CMS David Mercer BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Drupal Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites 2006 Packt Publishing Every effort has been made in the. discussion on the following: • Drupal an overview • How Drupal came to be • What Drupal has to offer • Uses of Drupal • Building a Drupal site • The Drupal community • The Drupal license One of