Drupal Web Profiles

Demystifying one of the most popular content management systems in use today, Drupal Web Profiles offers a complete introduction to the installation, configuration, and administration of Drupal versions 6 and 7. Filled with worked examples, step-by-step instructions, and hands-on projects, it provides readers with the tools to develop effective business web solutions using Drupal.

The book supplies easy-to-follow instruction on the primary aspects of the Drupal framework—from basic installation, configuration, and administration to creating new functionality with custom modules and themes. Defining key Drupal terminology in a way that users and developers can easily understand, this project-based guide explains how to:

• Create an installation environment for Drupal as well as how to carry out the actual installation
• Build web applications using Drupal builds and profiles
• Add new content to a Drupal site and describe, classify, and organize content using the Taxonomy module
• Optimize Drupal performance with automatic throttling, bandwidth optimization, and page caching
• Customize Drupal themes and create, install, and debug modules

The first five chapters describe how to install, configure, and administer a basic site using Drupal version 6 or 7. The next five chapters introduce Drupal profiles and explain how to get them set up and running. Supplying in-depth treatment of web analytics, including Google analytics, parsing Web logs, and node tagging, the book arms you with time-tested advice on how to monitor, analyze, and optimize the performance of your Drupal installation.

Introduction to Drupal
What is Drupal?
Who is using Drupal?
How is Drupal different from other content management systems?
How much do you need to know to use Drupal?
What do you need to run Drupal?
What version of Drupal should you use?
     Drupal 6.x or Drupal 7.x 5
     What is new in Drupal 7.x 6
     What version of Drupal is used in this book?
The architecture of Drupal 
     Basic concept and features 
     Node 
     How nodes work
     Database
     Tables 
     Taxonomy 
     Module 
     User, Permission, Role 
     Comment 
     Path 
     Theme 
     Regions and blocks 
     Menu 
     Menus and blocks
     Themes and modules 
     Content types
Installing Drupal 
     Obtaining Drupal installation scripts
     Installing Drupal on a local computer
     Installing Drupal 6.x on localhost using WampServer 
     Installing Drupal 7.x on localhost 
     Installing Drupal on a remote live server
Learning Drupal
Summary

Adding, Classifying and Viewing Content
Adding your first posts 
     Add, post and link a menu
Viewing and editing a node
Drupal taxonomy 
     Drupal taxonomy functions 
     Planning taxonomies 
     General principles that apply to the Drupal taxonomy module 
     Guidelines for taxonomy design
Moving a static site to Drupal 
     Moving to Drupal 
     Enable clean URLs within Drupal 
     The Pathauto module 
     How to install and select new modules 
     The WYSIWYG module 
     Set up taxonomy/terms to reflect the existing folder structure 
     How to install and select a theme 
     Setting up a menu 
     Copying text from browser 
     Copying raw formatted html 
     Path to images and other web assets
Summary

Administering Drupal
Administration overview 
     The administrative toolbar 
     The Shortcut Bar
Basic site administration 
     Status reports 
     Site information 
     Site appearance 
     Contextual links 
     The Administrative overlay
Content management 
     Managing nodes 
     Managing comments 
     Managing URL paths 
      Automatically generating URL path aliases with Pathauto
User management 
     Registration and login 
     Open ID
Backing up and restoring a Drupal Site 
     Backing up a Drupal site using a GUI 
     Backing up a Drupal site using the command line 
     Backing up a Drupal database using the command line 
     Restoring a database backup using command line
Migrating a Drupal site (server to server) 
     Steps in migrating a Drupal site 
     Restoring a site
Performance and security 
     Performance
     User interaction 
     Security
Summary

Creating Drupal Themes
How a theme works 
     Theme Engines
     Theme hooks
Planning a theme
     The .info file 
     The .tpl.php template files 
     The template.php file 
     Sub-themes 
     Others
Building the theme 
     Creating the directory structure 
     Building the info file 
     Building the page.tpl.php file 
     Building other template files
     Menus and theme settings 
     Creating new theme regions
     Content to regions 
     The header wrapper 
     The style.css file 
     Adding a screenshot 
Summary

Creating Drupal Modules 
How modules function 
     Components of a module 
     The .info file 
     The .module file 
     General coding standards for modules 
     Comments 
     How the hook functions
Planning the module 
     Naming the module 
     Create a folder
Creating the .info file
Creating the .module file 
     Implementing the help hook
Other module files 
     .install files 
     .inc file
Testing and troubleshooting 
     Enable the module 
     Troubleshooting
Resources for module development
Summary

Building a Community Site with Drupal Commons
Acquia Drupal Commons 
     Corporate community sites 
     The benefits of Commons
     Drupal Commons support 
Installation
Features
Optional features
Themes
The installed site
Configuration 
     Changing the header graphic 
     Changing the home page introductory block 
     Adding a page to the website outside of a group 
     Changing order in the navigation menu
Administration 
     Subgroups 
     Activity streams 
     Creating a status message 
     Sending messages to other users 
     Posting messages to a group
Building Administrative Skills
Summary

Building a Conference Site with COD
Acquia COD 
     COD Benefits
Installing COD 
     Obtaining COD
Preliminary configuration 
     Changing the header graphic 
     Changing themes 
     Creating roles and permissions 
     Cart Settings
Features 
     COD Features
Content management
&nb

Timi Ogunjobi is a software developer, technical author, and open source evangelist. Timi has been developing web applications using a variety of frameworks for nearly a decade and has written on a broad range of topics for more than twenty years.

Mr. Ogunjobi balances his time between programming, reviewing, writing, and contributing to interesting community projects especially those relating to wildlife conservation. When he isn’t working, he enjoys playing jazz guitar and getting involved in outdoor activities—principally cricket, golf and swimming.

Mr. Ogunjobi is the Chief Executive Officer of Xceedia Limited (www.xceedia.co.uk), a software development and training company. Timi has written two other books on Drupal that are currently in print (Drupal 6 Site Blueprints and Drupal 6 Site Blueprints: Lite). He has also published several fiction and non-fiction books, and has been featured in several anthologies. One of his fiction books has been nominated for the Commonwealth Book Prize.