Summary
Highlights
The instructor announces a complete re-recording of the Drupal course for Drupal 10.0, to be live by end of May 2023. The existing course will be available until July 2023. Students are encouraged to provide suggestions for improvement. The course officially begins by defining Drupal as a free, open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP, enabling website creation without coding. Drupal powers over 2.3% of internet websites, including sites for major entities like weather.com and The Economist.
To install Drupal, a local server environment like MAMP is required. MAMP bundles Apache server, MySQL database, and PHP, all essential for running Drupal applications. The installation process for MAMP is straightforward and involves downloading from mamp.info and following a few clicks. After MAMP, Drupal's software package needs to be downloaded from drupal.org by navigating to 'download and extend' and selecting the .zip version.
Start MAMP and ensure Apache and MySQL servers are running. Copy the downloaded Drupal zip file into MAMP's 'htdocs' folder (C drive on Windows, Applications on Mac). Extract the zip and rename the folder (e.g., 'Drupal course'). Access Drupal's installation page via 'localhost:8888/your_folder_name'. Choose your language, select 'Standard' installation, and create a MySQL database using phpMyAdmin via the MAMP start page, providing 'root' as both username and password. Complete the Drupal installation by configuring site name, email, and user credentials. Ensure the 'Publish' checkbox is ticked to make content visible.
To access the Drupal site, ensure MAMP servers are running. Log in using the site's URL followed by '/user/login'. The admin toolbar, visible only to logged-in users, provides various options to manage and customize the website. This includes 'Content' for content management, 'Structure' for layout customization, 'Appearance' for theme management, 'Extend' for module installation, 'Configuration' for site settings, 'People' for user and permission management, and 'Reports' for site updates and analytics.
To create content, go to 'Content' > 'Add content'. Differentiate between 'Article' (time-sensitive, comment-enabled like blog posts) and 'Basic page' (static, no comments like 'About Us'). For a basic page, enter a title (e.g., 'About Us') and content. Optionally, provide a menu link title and set its weight to control its position in the navigation bar. For articles (blog posts), in addition to title and content, add tags and an optional featured image. Enable comments and decide whether to promote it to the front page or stick it to the top of the list. Always remember to 'Save and publish'.
Content can be edited in several ways: via the 'Content' page, using 'Quick Edit' on the front end by hovering over an element, or through the full edit form by clicking the pencil icon and then 'Edit'. For tracking changes, enable revisions by checking the 'Create new revision' box when saving edits. To revert to a previous version, go to the content's edit page, click 'Revisions', and then 'Revert' on the desired version. This feature is crucial for managing content history and undoing unwanted changes.
To create a new user role, navigate to 'People' > 'Roles' > 'Add roles'. Give the role a name (e.g., 'Author') and set its hierarchy. Then, assign specific permissions by clicking 'Permissions'. For an 'Author' role, permissions might include creating/editing their own articles and basic pages, accessing full HTML text format, and viewing the administration theme. It's crucial to be cautious when assigning permissions to avoid compromising the website's integrity. Users can then be assigned to these new roles.
Blocks are content groupings displayed on a Drupal website. Anything visually presented on the site is typically within a block, identifiable by a pencil icon on hover, which allows configuration. Blocks can be restricted to specific users or pages. For example, advertisements can be shown only to anonymous users. Blocks are managed under 'Structure' > 'Block layout'. From here, blocks can be reordered, disabled, or completely removed. Rearranging blocks, like placing the toolbar above the search bar, impacts the site's layout.
Drupal sites often have multiple menus (e.g., main navigation, user account menu). To edit an existing menu, click the pencil icon next to it and select 'Edit menu', or go to 'Structure' > 'Menus'. To add a new link, specify the 'Menu link title' and 'Link' (e.g., '/contact' for a contact page). 'Weight' determines the link's position. To create an entirely new menu, navigate to 'Structure' > 'Menus' > 'Add menu'. After creation, links can be added, including hierarchical links (parent-child relationships). Finally, place the new menu on the site by configuring a block in 'Block layout' and assigning it to a region (e.g., 'Sidebar First').
By default, Drupal assigns numerical URLs (e.g., '/node/1'), which are not user-friendly or SEO-optimized. URL aliases allow for creating clean, descriptive URLs (e.g., '/about'). To create an alias, edit the content, scroll to 'URL Alias', and enter a human-readable path. The Pathauto module automates this process for new content. Install Pathauto (and its dependencies, 'Token' and 'Ctools') from drupal.org, then enable it in 'Extend'. Configure Pathauto under 'Extend' > 'Pathauto' > 'Configure' to define URL patterns for different content types (e.g., '/article/[node:title]' for articles, '/basic-page/[node:title]' for basic pages).
The default contact form can be customized from 'Structure' > 'Contact form' > 'Edit'. You can change the title and set an auto-reply message. To add new fields, go to 'Manage fields' and 'Add field'. Select the field type (e.g., 'Plain text' for 'Full Name', 'Number' for 'Mobile Number'). Fields can be made 'Required'. To rearrange the fields, go to 'Manage form display' and drag and drop them into the desired order. Saving these changes will update the contact form's appearance and functionality.
A theme determines the visual design of your Drupal website. To change the theme, go to 'Appearance' > 'Install new theme'. Themes can be installed from a URL or by uploading a file, similar to module installation. Visit drupal.org/project/themes to browse for themes; use filters like 'Drupal 8 compatibility' and 'actively maintained'. The 'Bootstrap' theme is demonstrated as an example. After installation, set the new theme as default by clicking 'Install and set as default' on the 'Appearance' page. This instantly transforms the website's design.