Joomla - CMS Notes
1. Basics of Drupal
- Drupal is a free and open-source CMS written in PHP.
- Known for its flexibility, scalability, and robust architecture.
- Widely used for enterprise, education, and government websites.
- Has a modular design and supports multilingual content out-of-the-box.
2. Drupal Architecture
- Drupal has a modular architecture: core, contributed, and custom modules.
- Content is stored as nodes and categorized using taxonomy.
- Uses a templating engine (Twig) for theming and layout control.
3. Installation and Configuration
- Requires a web server (like Apache), PHP, and a database (MySQL/PostgreSQL).
- Download Drupal, upload to the server, and follow the web-based installer.
- Configure site name, admin user, database connection, and default settings.
4. Content Management
- Content is created as nodes, which are instances of content types.
- Content types can have custom fields (text, image, date, etc.).
- Views module is used to create dynamic content listings.
5. User and Role Management
- Users are assigned roles, and roles have specific permissions.
- Common roles: Anonymous, Authenticated, Administrator, Editor.
Joomla - CMS Notes
- Fine-grained control allows detailed access settings for different users.
6. Menus and Navigation
- Menus manage navigation links throughout the site.
- Drupal provides Main menu, Footer menu, User menu, etc.
- Custom menus can be created and placed in blocks.
7. Blocks and Layout
- Blocks are boxes of content that can be placed in theme regions.
- Managed via the Block Layout system.
- Help organize content visually and functionally.
8. Modules and Extensions
- Extend functionality with modules (similar to plugins in other CMSs).
- Core modules (built-in), Contributed modules (downloadable), and Custom modules (user-created).
- Popular modules: Views, Pathauto, Webform, Token.
9. Themes and Customization
- Themes control the look and feel of a site.
- Can use contributed themes or develop custom ones using Twig templating.
- Themes define regions for blocks and layout structure.
10. Security and Maintenance
- Regularly update core and modules for security.
Joomla - CMS Notes
- Use strong passwords and configure permissions properly.
- Use tools like Backup and Migrate module for backups.
11. SEO and Performance
- SEO modules: Pathauto (clean URLs), Metatag, XML Sitemap.
- Performance: Caching, Aggregating CSS/JS, and using CDN.
- Drupal supports clean URLs and customizable meta tags.
