Drupal Uni Learn to use Drupal

Before we start with your first lesson, let me give you a very short background about running Drupal.

Drupal is a content management system designed to run on a web server which is accessible through the internet to anyone interested. To run your Drupal site you will need a hosting provider which can run your website for you. There are many to choose from. One of the biggest and cheapest ones that offer easy Drupal installation is Dreamhost.

However for the sake of learning Drupal you don't need to have a server. You can install Drupal on your machine. The disadvantage of this setup is that your site will not be accessible from other computers on the internet. On the upside your local Drupal installation will be much faster than running it on the internet and you don't need internet connection to access your site (ex. on the road).

When you decide you want to move your local Drupal site to your server to make it accessible for the public you will be able to do so.

As a first lesson let's create your Drupal installation and do some basic settings on your website. There are several settings and installations to be done on your Mac to make it into a local webserver and install Drupal on it. I could take you through all that, but it's lengthy and it's unrelated to learning Drupal. Also, there is a very simple solution that will do everything for you.

Download Acquia Drupal

There is a company called Acquia, which is run by the creators of Drupal and it offers many free and payed services that make using Drupal easier. Acquia created a simple installer for Mac users that you can download and run to set up your site within minutes. Download Acquia Drupal here: http://acquia.com/downloads

Once downloaded run the installer application and fill in the required settings:

1. Site name is the name of your local Drupal site.
2. Username is the name of the user who will manage the Drupal site, it is also called user 1 or admin user.
3. Password is the admin user's password.
4. Email is required in case you want to recover your admin password.

All these settings can be changed later on your site settings.

Once you are finished with the installation, run the Acquia Drupal Control Panel application. This shows you the status of your local server and allows you to visit your local website. You can also create new databases and change other settings, which will be discussed later. Click go to my site.

Your browser will open this address: http://localhost:8082/ This is where your local Drupal website is located on your Mac. And you will see an empty website with just the basics of Drupal. Log-in so we can create the very first piece of content on your brand new site.

Create the first post on your Drupal site

Once you logged in you will see a black bar on the top and a menu bar in the left. Let's not worry about the top menubar for now. Click the create content link in the left menubar. You will see two options. Story and Page. Click story to get a form.

Don't worry about the yellow message for now. Enter some title such as First post and some copy such as below:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam aliquet pellentesque ligula eu consequat. Sed orci nisl, ultrices sed mattis quis, vestibulum sed enim. Sed sit amet nisi at libero egestas pellentesque quis sed ipsum. Nam fringilla ornare tincidunt. Curabitur auctor tortor in mauris placerat sagittis. Vivamus odio ipsum, consequat eu ullamcorper at, pellentesque quis dolor. Pellentesque vulputate nibh nulla. Donec mattis diam non tellus dignissim ac gravida nisi rhoncus. Suspendisse tortor sapien, iaculis id sodales et, luctus sit amet erat. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Donec luctus lacus quis tortor egestas vitae tristique nibh mattis.
Save the story post by clicking save on the bottom of the page.

Click the name of your website to return to the front page and see the very post your created on your Drupal site. Congratulation!