Drupal Tutorial

Introduction

Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the

world. Individuals and companies have used Drupal to create award-winning

and highly functional websites, from blogs to corporate intranets and

everything in-between. With its hundreds of add-in modules, Drupal boasts a

broad range of capabilities that allow you to create dashboards, forums, e-

commerce sites, and more.

Among its many features and benefits, Drupal provides:

▪ Easy collaboration capabilities

▪ User authentication

▪ Role-based permissions

▪ Full-text search

▪ Permalinking

▪ Content syndication

▪ Database independence

▪ Detailed administrative interface

▪ Reporting and analysis tools

▪ Large, active community
In this tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of how to:
▪ Add new users

▪ Create a new account

▪ Change themes

▪ Modify content b

▪ Customize site in

▪ Add modules

▪ Add a forum

▪ Create a page

▪ Post content

Adding New Users

Although users can self-register, you may want to create user accounts

yourself. If you’re creating an intranet site, you may have a list of user

accounts from an LDAP server or Active Directory, for instance. Or you may

want to add and configure a few key users, such as administrators or

authors.

1. Login to Drupal using the administrator credentials.

2. Click the Administer link on the left side of the page.

3. Scroll down, and under User Management, click Users.

4. Click Add User in the menu at the top.

5. Enter username, email address, and password.

6. Click Create New Account.

Create New Account (Users)

Although an administrator can create new users, users can self-register and

set up an account.

To create a new account if you’re a user:

1. Click the Create new account link on the home page.

2. Enter a username.

3. Enter an email address.

4. Click Create new account. Drupal sends you a confirmation email

containing the password for your new account.

5. Login to your account using your new account.

Changing a Theme

There are two ways to change themes. If you’re just logged in as a regular

1. Click Administer.

2. Under Site building, click Themes.

3. Find the Pushbutton theme and select the Enabled option.

4. Select the Default option for the Pushbutton theme.

5. Click Save configuration.


You’ve now changed the theme that is displayed to the visitors to the site.

But the administration theme will still be the default.

To change the administration theme:

1. If you’ve just changed the user theme, you can immediately click the

administration theme link in the note on the user theme

confirmation page.

2. Otherwise, click the Administer link.

3. Under Site configuration, click Administration theme.

4. Select a new theme from the Administration theme drop-down list

box.

5. Click Save configuration.


Changing the Blocks on Your Site


Blocks are page elements that you can rearrange to customize the look and

functionality of your site. Blocks include elements like site navigation, user

login fields, forums, comments blocks, polls, and other items.

To change blocks:

1. Click Administer.

2. Click Site Building > Blocks.

3. Click and hold your mouse on the small cross icon on the left side of

the Navigation block.

4. Drag the Navigation block below the heading Right sidebar.

5. Click and hold your mouse on the small cross icon on the left side of

the User login block.

6. Drag the User login block below the heading Right sidebar.

7. Click Save blocks.

Customizing Site Information

One of the first things you want to do is change your site information, such

as your site’s name, slogan, footer, and so on.

To customize your site information:

1. Click Administer.

2. Under Site configuration, click Site information.

3. Enter a new Name for your site.

4. Enter a valid email address.

5. Enter a Slogan, Mission statement, and Footer, if you like.

6. By default, users who comment or visit without registering will be

tagged as “Anonymous.” If you want to change the name to something

like “Guest,” enter that new label in the Anonymous user field.

7. Click Save configuration.

Adding Modules

Modules can provide a wide range of additional functionality to your site. In

addition to standard Drupal modules, you can find hundreds of community-

supplied modules.

1. Select Site building > Modules.

2. Under the Core – optional area, select the checkbox next to the

Search module.

3. Click Save configuration.

Managing Content

You can manage your content, such as blog entries, stories, forum topics, or

pages, easily from one consolidated console. This Drupal page lets you edit,

delete, publish or unpublish, make content sticky, and move content.

To manage content:

1. Click Administer.

2. Under Content management, click Content.

3. In the Show only items where box, select published from the status

drop-down menu. This shows you everything that’s currently published

on the site, including blog entries, sample stories, forum topics, and

pages.

4. Click Filter.

5. Click the Title link of any entry to see the text for that entry.

6. Click the edit link to open the item in edit mode.

7. Click any of the entry management links below the edit window in a

specific content edit page to make changes.

8. Click Save when finished, Preview to see how your changes affected

the content, or Delete to get rid of the content.

If you make bulk changes, be sure to click the Update button.

Adding a Forum

Forums are a great way to build a community, whether it’s among visitors to

your site from the general public, or among employees for an intranet.

Drupal makes it easy to build a forum. Drupal come pre-configured with the

Drupal Forum, which is nothing more than a sample. You can just rename

this forum, or build a new one from scratch.

To add a forum:

1. Select Administer.

2. Under Content management, click Forums.
3. First, add a container. A container is a way of grouping multiple

forums. Click the add container tab.

4. Enter a Container name.

5. Click Save.

6. Click the add forum tab.

7. Enter a Forum name.

8. Add a Description, if you like.

9. From the Parent drop-down menu, select the container you created.

10. Click Save.

11. Click Forums near the top of the navigation links list, under the

Admin heading.

To enter forum topics:

1. Click the forum name to enter the forum.

2. Click Post new Forum topic.

3. Enter a Subject.

4. Enter the content in the Body field.

5. Click Save.

Creating a New Page

Use pages to publish information that doesn’t change often, like an About

page.

1. Under the Admin navigation links, select Create content > Page.

2. Enter a Title for your page.

3. Enter a Menu link title, if you want a link to this page in one of your

menus.

4. If you entered a menu link title, select a parent item from the Parent

item drop-down list. This inserts a clickable link in a menu.

5. Enter the content you want to appear in the Body field.

6. Click Save.

Create a New Blog Entry

You’ll want to add blog entries or stories. This is the content that most

visitors will come to your site to read or view.

To create a new blog entry:

1. Under the Admin navigation links, click Create content. You’ll see a

list of content types, along with descriptions of how best to use them.

2. Click Blog entry.

3. Enter a Title.

4. Enter the body content.

5. If you want, enter authoring information, select publishing options,

change comment settings, or add the item to a menu.

6. Click Save.