Drupalace's blog

I've previously blogged about using MarsEdit with Drupal – and the unfortunate shortcomings that keep me from using this otherwise great blog editing software for all but a few specific types of Drupal posts.

I've stumbled across a suggested change online, from a writer who seems much happier using the combination. Oddly enough, he has his MarsEdit posting settings specify Movable Type, not Drupal, as the blog software. Hmm, I don't see why that should be or why one would even think to try that… but for fun, I'll try it here.

Will report afterward on what I find…

Following my first look at Drupal 7 and my notes on building a "sandbox" Drupal 7 site, here's a report of my next stop in going 7: upgrading a site from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7.

Someday you'll likely want to do the same. But this is a major upgrade, not a trivial "Drupal 6.19 to Drupal 6.20" kind of affair. "Yeah, one of these days I need to get around to that", you say... while your poor D6 sites fidget anxiously... like nervous freshmen huddling outside the gym locker room... fearing the gauntlet of cackling seniors daring them to walk on in.... 

Oops, sorry; serious flashback. Anyway, a major upgrade is a can't-avoid-it-forever exercise, so let's charge in. I ran into problems during my experience (gee, there's a surprise : /  ), but I managed to fix them as outlined below. If you've got a Drupal 7 installation running and are ready to uplift an old site or two, read my tale and let me know if it's of any help!

Following up on my review of the book Drupal 7 First Look, here's a closer look at the creation of my first Drupal 7 site: a generic "sandbox" site to be used as the base for future sites. While every Drupal site you or I create will call for its own unique setup, there are parts of a Drupal configuration that I'll likely want to replicate on any new site, such as installation of key modules, or creation of useful roles and vocabularies that I always end up using. I'd prefer to do those things just once, rather than from scratch every time; hence the sandbox site. 

Here's what I did. Drupal beginners, see whether there's something useful in there for you.  

The world is going Drupal 7, and Drupal Ace is right on top of... er, nothing. Although D7 hit its official release in January, I'm only now exploring its features and building a test site. 

Learning a new version of a CMS can be a challenge. Fortunately, quick-acting authors are there to help with documentation and books. I'm accompanying my first look at Drupal 7 with, appropriately enough, Packt Publishing's Drupal 7 First Look. The book begins with a look at what's new in D7, moves on to overviews of installation and upgrading, site building, and administration, and then plunges into the deep nuts and bolts of theming, database changes, and other information for developers. So far, the earlier sections have been a helpful guide as I set up a D7 site from scratch for the first time.

I've been taking notes as I go, and will have a review of the book posted here shortly. I'll also have plenty to say in the future about Drupal 7 itself, which has surprised me with some great improvements in ease of administration, flexibility of content planning, and overall refined organization of features. Upgrading my sites to D7 (or at least those relying on D7-ready modules) actually sounds fun.

In the meantime, here are some links to get you started with exploring the latest and greatest Drupal. Anything in D7 you're loving (or not so loving) already?

• Drupal 7 home | drupal.org
• Drupal 7 - Easier and more powerful than ever | drupal.org
• Make an Upgrade Plan | drupal.org
• Drupal 6 contributed modules that are in Drupal 7 core | drupal.org
• Drupal 7 First Look | Packt Publishing (Also see link to free sample chapter, "Site Building with Drupal 7") 

One common Drupal beginner question is "What kind of site can I make with Drupal?" – followed quickly by "How do I make that kind of site?". It's not hard to find answers. In addition to great Drupal.org resources like the Site recipes page, the Web abounds with lists of inspirations and how-to recipes for your next Drupal creation. 

I recently ran across 8 types of sites you can build with Drupal – not a great resource with hands-on detail, but a nice pointer to some of the modules you'll find useful for a news portal, video-sharing site, and so on. I took some time to update my Links page with that article and even better resources. Take a look, especially under the directory and showcase headings; you'll find enough Drupal ideas and blueprints to keep you busy for a long time.

Are there more recipe and blueprint sites I should add to the links?