American Webmastery Logo
 

 


 

 

 
 

Using Drupal Content Management System: Open Source Drupal CMS

January 3rd, 2010

Using Drupal is easy if you have a video tutorial from which to learn. Drupal is an open source CMS (content management system), which can be sued to create websites, blogs, social networking sites and so on. In fact there is virtually no limit to what you can be using Drupal for, and it's free.

What that means is that the source code is free to anybody that wants to use Drupal, although you can purchase various forms of customization, including themes and modules to offer specific effects and website components. Drupal is written in PHP and works with a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, MAC and others, and a database system such as MySQL can be used for data storage - in fact a database of some form is essential.

Most of the content in Drupal is made up of what are referred to as 'nodes'. A node is intrinsically a piece of information, and they can come in a variety of content types. Among the predefined Drupal content types are 'page' and 'story', although you can also define your own. There is virtually no limit to the type of website you can develop using Drupal, but it can be heavy on use of resources.

For that reason you are advised to use a Virtual private server (VPS) or a dedicated server if you intend using Drupal to develop a large website such as a community or social networking site. If you are simply developing a small website for yourself, then you should manage with shared hosting, but otherwise you are best to get a dedicated hosting account.

Although learning Drupal is not difficult, you should learn the right way. By far the best way is to have private tuition, but that can be far too pricy for most people. You can also just play about with it, and pick it up as you go. However, if you are serious about using a Drupal content management system, then a Drupal video course is likely the best solution.

Drupal core is the standard installation of Drupal that contains a taxonomy system that enables content to be tagged with keywords, so that it is easily accessed. It includes a number of modules that enables the functionality of the system to be customized. Among the standard modules in the core download are search functions, a multi-level menu system, access statistics and logging, comments, polls and forums, RSS feed and aggregator and many more.

There are also several core Drupal themes, that allow the look and feel of the sites to be customized, and also supports a large number of languages.

If all this sounds complex, it is not as difficult to learn as you might think. A Drupal video tutorial is probably the best way of learning to use Drupal, since you can watch and copy, and replay any part that needs special attention. Using the Drupal open source CMS enables you to put your ideas for unique websites into practice, and also to immeasurably improve the functionality of the blogs, forums and social websites that you will learn to design.

About the Author:

Using Drupal can offer you many advantages, and an excellent Drupal video tutorial is available on Drupal Tutorials - Available for both beginner and advanced levels, this will enable you to learn how to use Drupal the best possible way - by example.

Author: Peter Nisbet

 

American Webmastery Logo

Feedback / Report a Post

 

Being a webmaster is a much more important job than most companies would dare admit. Webmasters are responsible for the company web presence on every level, from the website copy to the web and email server administration. Additionally, webmasters are often tasked even more duties that should be considered unrelated responsibilities for the position of webmaster. These extra duties often will include online as well as offline promotion and marketing, search optimization, advertising, application programming, graphic design and/or brand management. The role of the webmaster has grown over the years and webmasters need to grow with the company's expectations or the website will not succeed. For instance, it is easy to get banned from the search engines for not knowing the correct methods to use to optimize a website for a better results ranking from the search engines for any particular search phrase.

This is why Webmastery is here, not just to offer direction and assist webmasters, but to do so masterfully, as you expect of yourself, or as your company expects out of you.
 

Since I am an American and know only American English and SEO methods, I specialize in American Webmastery. Hence the domain name, Webmastery.US.
 

However, please note that often both sides of the coin are presented here. Some webmasters swear by Linux and we offer articles by such authors to give insight to their creativity. Others are die-hard Microsoft software fans and use Windows based servers. Despite the bias, each system has its own advantages, and such articles are reprinted here for their positive contribution to those platforms, not to enforce their bias. It is we that have to make the final analysis.
 

This difference is even more apparent when I am showcasing and promoting white hat SEO (search engine optimization) and a black hat SEO article is published here, which method if followed could get a website banned from the search engines. The reason I allow it a small platform is to showcase its apparent and obvious idiocy in contrast to white hat SEO techniques. And as I cannot edit these articles in order to correct them, I let their illogicality and stupidity stand on their own for a time without any edits. But in case their spaminess is not apparent, I often do not let such articles stand long.
 

 


 

 

Related Webmaster Information & Resource Sites:
Domain Buffs     Parking PPC     PPC Ad Income: Website Monetization     Apache Website Hosting     Design: CSS Websites     foo site: Website Coding     php Web Development     Target: Page 1 Search Result Rankings     Ad Working     Yahooter?