Drupal Basics
Drupal operates more as a framework for content management than a typical content management system.
The platform makes no assumptions about how the content is going to be used (or even what the content is), it just provides tools that allow you to control the process.
This gives Drupal an amazing amount of flexibility, but this flexibility also means that it requires more technical knowledge than some of the other systems.
How Drupal Works
Nodes: Any content entered into the system.
At the very core of any Drupal-driven site is the content itself. The content is stored in what’s called a node. Now, it doesn’t matter if it’s a blog post, an article, or an ad; to Drupal, it’s just another node of content.
Modules: Functional plugins that build the system’s functionality.
Above the content layer you have modules. Modules are a functional plug-ins that build on the system’s core functionality and control what you can do with the content. If you needed to create a blog, an event calendar, or even an image gallery, modules are what you’d use.
In fact, two of the functions that you use to build pages in Drupal– views and features–are themselves modules.
Blocks and Menus: Blocks are code snippets that store smaller sections of dedicated content which can then be used throughout the site. Menus allow you to control site navigation.
Two other core features–blocks & menus–round out the foundational elements of your pages. Blocks are ways to sort smaller sections of dedicated content that you can then just plug anywhere that you like.
For example, you could create a block to display a Twitter feed or a smaller upcoming events calendar and then place that block on any page in your site and in any location that you’d like.
Menus control navigation and are incredibly flexible in Drupal. You can have as many as you want, allow them to reference any path you want and then lay them out on any page as a block of content.
User Permissions: Control what features users can access on the site.
User permissions (or roles) allow you to assign specific permissions to a group and to fine-tune the security, use and administration of modules, therefore of Drupal in general. Users assigned to the role or group, are granted those permissions as assigned to the role.
Common examples of roles used with which you may be familiar include: anonymous user, authenticated user, moderator, and administrator.
Theme: Collections of templates and functions that control the site’s presentation, layout, and some parts of the site’s functionality.
On top of all of this is a theme that consists of templates and a set of functions that control not only the look of the site, but aspects of the site’s functionality as well.
As you can see, Drupal has a very modular workflow that gives you a high degree of control over the sites architecture and functionality.
In addition to its basic workflow, Drupal has a pretty impressive feature list including:
- Multilingual support
- Multisite support
- SEO- friendly links
- Taxonomy tools
- Powerful user management tools
Drupal Modules
Modules are the basic structural elements of the Drupal web sites we build. As in chemistry, every one of them has specific characteristics. This “Periodic Table” of Drupal Modules features 106 most popular modules, with its name, symbol, and ranking, based on the number of downloads from Drupal.org.
Drupal has over 30,000 modules so there is probably as module for almost any capability you can imagine.
Modules are such an integral part of Drupal, it’s helpful to imagine a Drupal install as one where the Drupal core is installed first, followed by the modules that you’ll need for the site’s specific functionality.
For example, the core Drupal install doesn’t feature a WYSIWYG editor. If you want one for your project, you are going to have to install it as a module. As you can imagine, this means that when creating a new site with Drupal, you’ll need to spend some time thinking about the best way to configure Drupal for your site’s specific needs.
Best Sites for Drupal
What type of sites are best managed by Drupal?
Drupal is best suited for larger complex sites that need the flexibility and functionality that Drupal provides.
Due to the difficulty to set up and configure a basic website, it wouldn’t be an efficient use of time to build a simple small site or a blog. It is best suited for larger high-traffic sites with complex content requirements
Drupal is definitely targeted more towards developers than designers or non-web professionals. Because of this, you might consider having an experienced professional help you, at least with your first Drupal site.
Drupal’s focus on developers has paid off in creating one of the largest communities of any CMS. There are hundreds of community- contributed modules that allow you to extend and improve Drupal’s capabilities, a large base of developers working to improve security and performance, and a deep pool of developers that you can engage to implement a Drupal site for your organization if you don’t want to do it yourself.
If you want to learn more about the Drupal community and the CMS itself, visit the following resources:
Drupal.org
User Guide
Documentation
Download
Local Development Guide
Evaluation Guide
Terminology
Modules