Anyone use Drupal for website building?

[Old Man of UO]

Drupal is a free open-source dynamic website builder. My parent organization just switched to Drupal, and made a very nice website but had to purchase a template to get started. I currently use a tables based website creator (NetObjects Fusion) which works okay, but has some limitations because of the tables. I'm trying to build interactive maps without Flash (which I know nothing about) and not having great luck, but not sure if Drupal is the answer either.

Before I invest a lot of time learning a new software program, wonder if anyone has had any experience with Drupal.

 

[Shamus Turlough]

Look around you my friend. The entire stratics website (other than the forums) is written and managed in Drupal.

 

[Old Man of UO]

Look around you my friend. The entire stratics website (other than the forums) is written and managed in Drupal.

THAT is what I thought! Thanks for that info.

I'm finding it impossible to keep my company website up to date, and Drupal seems the way to allow others to add their own content without destroying the look of the site.

I think I'll create a new subdomain and try installing it there for trials... any caveats before I do?

 

[Shamus Turlough]

I am by no means the Drupal Guru.

*pages Petra to this thread*

 

[Old Man of UO]

I've spent the last four hours trying to configure a local server on my home Windows computer... there are free packages for Ubuntu, but Windows is all manual. The PHP configuration is giving me fits!

 

[Shamus Turlough]

In my past experience, trying to configure php and mysql to run on windows is like putting a turbocharger on a skateboard. Neat in theory but darn near unusable.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Petra don't know much more than how to put stuff in it.

and don't ever, ever copy/paste from Word.

I didn't set it up, and can't edit the design. My coding knowledge doesn't extend much beyond very basic html.
For some reason the way Stratics is set up none of the Drupal content is searchable. A source of extreme frustration for me as that means no one can 'google' any page made in the last 12 months

They can only be reached through the links I've put in the two index menus on the main page.

I wish I could tell you more, but I don't understand it. php is still used I believe in conjunction with the pages. None of the older pages, or calculators are Drupal, they're all done in .php. The menus aren't drupal either. If I put java script in a page then try to edit it the script gets wiped out and I have to re-enter it.

I don't know whether it's Drupal itself or the way ours has been set up, but for me it's a source of endless frustration and compromise.

 

[Old Man of UO]

...

and don't ever, ever copy/paste from Word.

...

I wish I could tell you more, but I don't understand it. php is still used I believe in conjunction with the pages. None of the older pages, or calculators are Drupal, they're all done in .php. The menus aren't drupal either. If I put java script in a page then try to edit it the script gets wiped out and I have to re-enter it.

...

So far, I have Apache server and ApachePHP running, but Postgres SQL is stuck... pretty sure that Windows MYSQL wouldn't install on their own Vista machine. I found an appliance builder from EnterpriseDB that is working so so... it looks like I'll have to re-install parts of the build, but the PHP and server have built-in setup.

Notepad works for almost everything! I don't know what I would do if the Find function wasn't included. I would try building a library of java scripts, and most anything else, and then cut and past from Notepad. That way you can edit it in Notepad and cut/paste from there and not worry about it being wiped out.

At this rate, it will take a week or so to get everything working. Gone for a week, but I'll be ready for it when I get back.

 

[Lefty]

So far, I have Apache server and ApachePHP running, but Postgres SQL is stuck... pretty sure that Windows MYSQL wouldn't install on their own Vista machine. I found an appliance builder from EnterpriseDB that is working so so... it looks like I'll have to re-install parts of the build, but the PHP and server have built-in setup.

Notepad works for almost everything! I don't know what I would do if the Find function wasn't included. I would try building a library of java scripts, and most anything else, and then cut and past from Notepad. That way you can edit it in Notepad and cut/paste from there and not worry about it being wiped out.

At this rate, it will take a week or so to get everything working. Gone for a week, but I'll be ready for it when I get back.

If you have IIS 7 (can also download it at IIS.net) It comes with a platform installer. It will install drupal, php, mysql without any pains if that is your choice.

 

[Old Man of UO]

If you have IIS 7 (can also download it at IIS.net) It comes with a platform installer. It will install drupal, php, mysql without any pains if that is your choice.

AHH... thanks for the info. PHP just isn't working for me, and manual install/config is driving me nuts.

As far as IIS 7, will this work as a local install? I think you are saying it will. My webhost server is Unix driven; does that matter if I have a different locahost setup than the live host?

 

[Shamus Turlough]

Can't run IIS on unix

 

[Nexus]

http://www.easyphp.org/

That should solve the issues....