The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
(DrüG: Drupal User’s Group - users, not
developers)
This is an introduction to Drupal for site maintainers
and beginning users; for people without any coder/
programmer/ developer background.
Originally developed by Greg Beuthin, with
subsequent edits from: [?]
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Version History / CC License
Version History Creative Commons License
– 2007.02.11 - Original draft by • The text and images are licensed
Greg Beuthin under the Creative Commons
consultinggoat@sbcglobal.net Attribution-Share Alike 2.5
License
• Attribution: Any derivative work
must contain “Originally developed
by Greg Beuthin”
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Menu path conventions
• The location/ path of many configuration settings are
described in <these brackets>
• Nested menus are shown with a vertical line
<administer | content>
• The following items - after a colon (:) show what’s on a
page of the selected menu
<administer | content: {specific thing on the page here}>
– A specific tabbed item is shown with [square brackets]
<administer | access control: [roles]>
– Items within a closed page view use a “: @”
<administer | settings: @date>
– Items within a normal page view use a “:”
<create content | page: input filters>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Menu example
• Simple menu path:
<administer | settings |
menus>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Menu example: expandable
• Menu path w/
expandable item:
<administer | settings:
@General Settings>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Menu example: tab
• Menu path with tab
item:
<administer | url alias:
[add alias]>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Register
• Register yourself on
the Drupal site
• Check email for login
info
• Login
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Your profile
First things first
• Look for “Edit” tab
• Change your password
to something you’ll
remember
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Safeguarding
We recommend you add a new admin user that is
not the the root admin user (I.e. not user #1)
Add new user
<administer | users: [add user]>
• Give new user pwd you’ll remember
• Log out and log in as this new user
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Quick look around
• Navigation menu
• Main column - the content area
• Sidebars
• Top: Site name, slogan, and mission
• Bottom: Footer
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Quick look around II
Primary Links - by theme
Site Name
Mission
Navigation Menu
Primary links
In sidebar
Main content window
Footer
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Basic site settings
• Site name, slogan and mission
<administer | settings: @General Settings>
• Site email (for admin purposes)
<administer | settings: @General Settings>
• Site logo
<administer | themes: [configure]>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
More site settings
General settings
<administer | settings:
@General Settings>
• Test and set clean
URLS
• Custom homepage (if
you want custom
“splash” page)
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Looking at Themes
• Themes list -
<administer | themes>
• Configure global settings vs
theme-specific
• Display options - enable or
disable themes for
individual users to select
• Display post information -
displays author, timestamp,
etc
<administer | themes:
[configure]>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Briefly: Users, Roles and
Permissions
Access control
<administer | access control>
• Permissions are set here
Roles
<administer | access control:
[roles]>
• Permissions are grouped by
roles
User profiles
<administer | users> - and select
“Edit” for user
• Admins can assign a user one
or more roles
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Recommended modules
<administer | modules>
• Path
• Upload
• Statistics
• TinyMCE*
• (others?)
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Process for installing modules
• Download / copy modules from
http://drupal.org/project/Modules to your
Drupal /modules directory
• Turn on modules
<administer | modules>
• Give permissions to appropriate roles
<administer | access control>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Creating “content”
Select content type
• Page
• Story
• Book page
• Blog
• Other common types: event; podcast;
image;
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Typical content options
• Title • Comment settings
• Body (with • URL Path settings
WYSIWYG* editor) • File attachments
• Input formats / filters • Authoring information
• Log message • Publishing options
• Menu settings
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: WYSIWYG Editor
• Typically, TinyMCE
• “Disable rich text” to turn
off
• Can insert images and
links
• Site wide editor settings
<administer | settings |
tinymce> - select a user
role to edit
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: Input formats
Filters out unwanted
HTML
Typical options:
• Filtered HTML
• PHP Code
• Full HTML
• Settings
<administer | input
formats>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: Comment and Menu
Settings
Comment Settings Menu Settings
• Use node-specific • Can only add this page as
comment settings to a new menu item into an
override site-wide existing menu; can’t
<administer / comments: create a new menu
[configure]>
• “Read only” useful to
keep old comments
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: URL Path Settings
• Used to create natural language URL paths
– www.mysite.org/about
vs
– www.mysite.org/node/165
• Full settings: <administer | url aliases>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: File Attachments
• Files must be attached while still on page.
• Page will refresh, showing:
– Delete
– List
– Path URL
• Uncheck “list” if inserting image
• File upload limits are set here:
<administer | settings | upload>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: Authoring Information
• Author’s name
• Date / timestamp
• Editable if you are a admin
• Authoring / timestamp display on/off here:
<administer | themes: [configure]>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Content: Publishing options
• Published - Visible (according to access control
rules)
• In moderation queue - Awaiting moderation (if
moderation is activated)
• Promoted to front page - Added to “river of news”
blog list
• Sticky at top of lists
• Create new revision
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
More on content
• Full content list is available here:
<administer | content>
• Can filter content by status, type, category
• Can apply limited actions to groups of posts
(e.g. delete, etc)
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Customizing block (sidebars)
• Blocks - <administer | blocks>
• Visual display of page areas
• “Enabled” turns block on or off
• Weight and placement determines location
– More options in “configure”
• Creating custom blocks
<administer | block: [add block]>
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Customizing menus
• Menus - <administer |
menus>
• Default: Navigation, and
Primary links
• Ordering menus / items -
“Edit” and select order
within hierarchical list
• Displaying menus
– Every menu gets own block
(see customizing blocks)
– Expanded / collapsed
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Customizing menus II
• Menu configuration
– Add new menu
(container)
– Add new menu items
(single links)
– Any new menu adds
subsequent block
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
File upload settings
• Turn on "upload" module <administer | modules>
• Give roles access control <administer | access
control>
• Configure settings <administer | settings | upload>
– Max. file upload size - for gen users, and admins
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
Suggested additions to guide
• How to enable/ disable public registration
2007.02.11 The DrüG Book:
An Intro to Drupal
