book

Beginning Drupal®

by Jacob Redding

April 2010

Beginner

480 pages

11h 33m

English

Wrox

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Who This Book Is ForWhat This Book CoversHow This Book Is StructuredWhat You Need to Use This BookCONVENTIONSSOURCE CODEERRATAP2P.WROX.COM
1.1. HISTORY OF DRUPAL1.1.1. Why is the Name Drupal?1.1.2. Who is Drupal?1.2. THE DRUPAL COMMUNITY1.3. WHERE IS THE COMMUNITY?1.4. PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT1.5. THE DRUPAL ASSOCIATION1.6. SUMMARY
2.1. GETTING STARTED WITH DRUPAL2.2. INSTALLING A SINGLE DRUPAL WEBSITE2.3. INSTALLING DRUPAL2.3.1. Installation Profiles2.3.2. Installing Drupal in Different Languages2.4. ACQUIA'S STACK INSTALLER2.4.1. Breaking It Down2.4.2. Don't Hack Core2.4.3. Core Files2.4.4. Sites Folder2.4.5. What's in a Site's Folder?2.4.6. Inheritance and Overrides2.5. SUMMARY
3.1. ADDING CONTENT3.1.1. Differences between Articles and Pages3.1.1.1. Nodes Are Content3.1.2. Content Summaries3.1.3. Modifying the Defaults3.2. MODIFYING YOUR MENUS3.3. ADDING BLOCKS TO YOUR WEBSITE3.4. GETTING IN CONTACT3.4.1. TRY IT OUT: Adding the Contact Form to Your Main Menu3.4.2. Summing Up the Contact Form3.5. EXPLORING YOUR SITE'S PERMISSIONS3.6. CREATING A MEMBERS-ONLY SITE3.6.1. Exploring Roles3.6.1.1. For Members Only3.6.1.2. Access Denied? Create an Account3.6.1.3. Lonely? Add a Few Users3.6.2. Wrapping up Users and Permissions3.7. TIME FOR A NEW LOOK3.7.1. Time for Something Different3.8. CRON3.8.1. Manually? No Way! Let the Computer Do It3.8.2. A Need for Speed3.9. SUMMARY
4.1. CONFIGURATION4.2. SYSTEM — SITE INFORMATION4.2.1. System — Actions4.2.2. Regional and Language — Settings4.2.2.1. Time Zone Issues4.2.2.2. Time Zones When Creating Content4.2.3. Regional and Language — Translate4.2.4. Media4.2.5. Media — File System4.2.5.1. Public vs. Private Files4.2.5.2. The Private File Tax4.2.5.3. Put Your Files on Lock Down4.2.5.4. Set It and Forget It4.2.6. Temporary Directory4.2.7. PHP File Size Limitations4.2.7.1. settings.php4.2.7.2. .htaccess4.2.7.3. php.ini or php5.ini4.2.8. Media — Image Toolkit4.2.9. People and Permissions4.2.10. Web Services4.2.11. Web Services — RSS Publishing4.2.12. Web Services — Feed Aggregator4.2.13. Content Authoring — Text Formats4.3. EXPLORE THE FILTERED HTML TEXT FORMAT4.3.1. Modify Text4.3.2. Add Text4.3.3. Remove Text4.3.4. Interpreting Text4.3.5. Choosing Roles and the Importance of the Order4.3.6. Configuring the Filters4.3.7. The Order Matters4.3.8. Additional Filters4.3.9. Writing Your Own Filter4.3.10. Search and Metadata - Clean URLs4.4. APACHE4.5. A NEED FOR SPEED4.6. IIS4.6.1. Search and Metadata — URL Aliases4.6.2. Alias Your Way to a Better Search Ranking4.6.3. Maintenance Mode4.6.4. IP Address Blocking4.7. SUMMARY
5.1. BLOCKS5.1.1. Block Visibility5.1.2. Block Visibility Using PHP5.2. MENUS5.2.1.5.2.1.1. Reviewing Menu Links5.2.2. Adding a Menu Link Directly on Content5.2.3. A Word On Permissions5.2.4. Menu Settings5.2.4.1. Default Content Menu5.2.4.2. Main and Secondary Links5.2.5. Related Modules5.3. URL ALIASES AKA CUSTOM PATHS5.3.1. A Word on Permissions5.4. THEMES5.4.1. Theme Administration5.4.2. Theme Global Settings5.4.3. Theme Settings Summary5.4.4. Installing New Themes5.4.4.1. Watch the Version5.4.4.2. Theme Location5.4.4.3. User Specific Themes5.4.4.4. Custom Theme per _____5.4.5. Administrative Theme5.4.6. Post Information5.5. SUMMARY

6.1. NODES6.1.1. What is a Node?6.1.1.1. Why Nodes?6.2. CREATING CUSTOM CONTENT TYPES6.2.1.6.2.1.1. Before You Begin Consider Your Options6.2.1.2. Machine Name6.2.2. Submission Form Settings6.2.2.1. Text Formats6.2.3. Publishing Options6.2.4. Display Settings6.2.5. Comment Settings6.2.6. Menu Settings6.3. ADDING AN IMAGE UPLOAD FIELD6.3.1. Multiple Fields for Multiple Images?6.3.2. The Power of Image Field6.3.2.1. Image Styles6.3.2.2. Image Style Requirements6.3.2.3. Maximum Upload Size6.3.2.3.1. settings.php6.3.2.3.2. .htaccess6.3.2.3.3. php.ini or php5.ini6.4. PERMISSIONS6.4.1. Revisions6.5. DIGGING DEEPER INTO FIELDS6.5.1. Fields6.5.2. Field Types (Type of Data to Store)6.5.3. Widgets (Form Element)6.5.4. Allowed Values List6.6. CONTENT CONSTRUCTION KIT (CCK)6.7. VIEWS6.8. ADMINISTERING NODES6.9. CONTENT MODERATION6.9.1. Quick and Easy Moderation6.10. NODES IN A NUTSHELL6.11. COMMENTS6.12. PERMISSIONS6.12.1. Comment Administration6.12.2. Comment Administration Page6.12.3. Comment Approval Queue (A.K.A Comment Moderation)6.12.4. Comment Form6.12.5. Allowing Rich Text Comments6.12.6. WYSIWYG6.13. SPAM6.14. RSS AGGREGATION6.14.1. Displaying the Feed6.14.2. Configuring the Aggregation Settings6.15. SUMMARY
7.1. CREATING USER ACCOUNTS7.1.1. People7.1.2. Anonymous Users7.2. CREATING ACCOUNTS7.2.1. Approving Accounts in Moderation7.2.2. Setting a Password During Registration7.3. CANCELING ACCOUNTS7.4. SETTING UP ACCOUNT E-MAILS7.5. USING OPENID7.5.1.7.5.1.1. What If a User Doesn't Have an Account?7.5.1.2. What If Your Users Don't Have OpenIDs?7.6. CREATING ROLES AND PERMISSIONS7.6.1. Administrator Role7.7. CREATING CUSTOM USER PROFILES7.7.1. Profiles in Drupal 77.7.2. User Profiles vs. User Fields7.7.2.1. Give It to Me Straight7.7.3. Using Fields for Profiles7.7.4. Using the Core Profile Module7.7.5. Controlling Access to User Profiles7.7.6. Hidden Fields7.7.7. Visibility Options Summarized7.8. TRACKING USER ACTIVITY7.8.1. Using Views to Create Custom Tracking Pages and Blocks7.9. CUSTOM ADMINISTRATION PAGES WITH VIEWS7.10. USER SESSIONS7.10.1. Forcing Sessions to Expire7.10.1.1. The Short Answer7.10.1.2. The Longer and More Detailed Answer7.11. SUMMARY
8.1. IN SIMPLE TERMS8.2. TERMINOLOGY8.3. VOCABULARIES8.4. TERMS8.4.1. Advanced Options8.4.1.1. Weight8.5. USING TERMS ON YOUR CONTENT8.6. TAXONOMY TERM FIELD SETTINGS8.6.1.8.6.1.1. Requiring a Term to be Selected8.6.1.2. Allowing Multiple Terms8.6.1.3. Allowing Users to Freely Add Terms (freetagging)8.7. A TERM'S PARENT/CHILD RELATIONSHIP8.8. USING VIEWS TO DISPLAY TERM PAGES8.8.1. Display Multiple Terms on a Single Page8.9. API8.10. THEMING CONSIDERATIONS8.10.1. Customizing Each Section8.10.1.1. Fields8.10.1.2. Individually Themed Landing Pages8.10.1.3. Views8.11. USEFUL CONTRIBUTED MODULES8.11.1.8.11.1.1. Menus from Taxonomy8.11.1.2. Interface8.11.1.3. Administration8.12. SUMMARY
9.1. SEARCH9.1.1. Indexing Your Content9.1.2. Advanced Search Settings9.1.3. Indexing Settings9.1.4. CJK Handling9.1.5. Content Ranking9.1.6. Faceted Search9.1.7. Outsourcing Search9.1.8. If You Don't Want to Outsource9.2. PERFORMANCE9.2.1. Caching9.2.2. Cache Blocks9.2.3. Page Cache for Anonymous Users9.2.4. Minimum Cache Lifetime9.2.5. Bandwidth Optimization9.2.6. Clearing Cached Data9.2.7. The Need for Speed9.3. REPORTING9.3.1. Status Report9.3.2. Recent Log Entries9.3.2.1. Syslog9.3.2.2. Using Syslog for Database Logging9.4. STATISTICS9.4.1. Access Log9.4.2. Content Views9.4.3. Performance Considerations9.5. SUMMARY
10.1. TRIGGERS AND ACTIONS10.1.1. Working with Actions10.1.2. Working with Triggers10.1.3. Next Steps10.2. WORKFLOW10.3. RULES10.4. FEATURES OF THE RULES MODULE10.5. CONDITIONS10.6. SCHEDULER AND RULE SETS10.7. INPUT EVALUATORS10.8. SUMMARY
11.1. ADVANCED HELP11.2. OVERVIEW OF VIEWS11.3. THE FRONTPAGE VIEW11.3.1. Explore the Frontpage View11.4. DISPLAYS11.4.1.11.4.1.1. Page Display11.4.1.2. Feed Display11.4.1.3. Why All Displays Are the Same11.4.1.4. Overrides11.5. STYLE SETTINGS11.5.1.11.5.1.1. Row Style11.5.1.2. Style11.6. CREATING A PHOTO GALLERY11.7. ARGUMENTS11.7.1.11.7.1.1. Link the User's Name to Their Photo Gallery11.8. EXPOSED FILTERS11.8.1. Exposed Items in a Block11.8.2. Making Your View Accessible via a Tab11.9. RELATIONSHIPS11.10. PERMISSIONS11.10.1. All-Views Permissions11.10.2. Per-View Permissions11.11. CACHING (AKA PERFORMANCE)11.11.1. Caching11.11.2. Block Caching11.11.3. Best Practices11.12. ADVANCED VIEWS11.13. SUMMARY
12.1. A BIT OF TERMINOLOGY12.2. LOCALIZING12.2.1. Regional Settings12.2.2. Date and Time12.2.3. Localizing Your Site's Interface12.2.3.1. Portable Object (.po) Files12.2.3.2. The Current State of Drupal Translation12.2.4. Your Site's Primary Language12.2.4.1. Accessing Your Localized Site12.2.5. Language Negotiation12.2.5.1. URL12.2.5.2. Session12.2.5.3. User12.2.5.4. Browser12.2.5.5. Content12.2.6. Completing Your Site's Localization12.2.6.1. Notes on String Translation12.2.7. Making Translation Easy with the L10N Client12.3. TRANSLATING YOUR CONTENT12.4. BEYOND THE BASICS12.5. SUMMARY
13.1. ADMINISTERING THEMES13.1.1. Installing New Themes13.1.1.1. Administration Theme13.1.2. Configuring Your Themes13.1.2.1. Theme Settings13.2. CUSTOM THEMING13.2.1.13.2.1.1. Look Ma, No HTML!13.2.2. Template Files13.2.2.1. Learning How to Override13.2.2.2. The Theme Registry13.2.3. Theme Functions13.2.3.1. How to Override Theme Functions13.2.3.2. Template.php13.2.3.3. Preprocess Functions13.2.4. Reviewing the Last Five Exercises13.3. SUB-THEMES13.3.1. Zen Base Theme13.4. .INFO FILE13.4.1. Removing Theme Settings13.4.2. Style Sheets13.4.3. JavaScript13.4.4. Regions13.4.4.1. Creating Custom Regions13.5. TEMPLATE FILES (.TPL.PHP)13.5.1. page.tpl.php13.5.2. node.tpl.php13.5.3. comment.tpl.php13.5.4. block.tpl.php13.5.5. Template Suggestions13.6. PREPROCESS FUNCTIONS13.6.1. Adding New Variables13.6.2. Template Suggestions13.7. SWAPPING THEME FUNCTIONS AND TEMPLATE FILES13.7.1. Moving a Theme Function to a Template File13.7.2. Moving a Template File to a Theme Function13.8. THEME REGISTRY13.8.1.13.8.1.1. Template Variables13.8.1.2. Theme Registry13.9. THEME ENGINES13.9.1.13.9.1.1. Which Engine Does Your Theme Use?13.10. SUMMARY
14.1. CONTRIBUTED AND CUSTOM MODULES14.2. DETERMINING YOUR NEEDS14.3. FULFILLING YOUR NEEDS14.3.1. Lullabot Podcast14.3.2. Top Drupal Modules14.3.3. Showcases14.3.4. Planet Drupal14.4. FINDING MODULES14.4.1. Search Drupal.org14.4.1.1. Filter by Compatibility14.4.1.2. Sort by14.4.1.3. Recommendations Block14.4.1.4. Projects14.4.2. Google14.4.3. Drupalmodules.com14.4.4. IRC and the Drupal Community14.4.5. RSS Feeds14.4.6. Twitter14.5. IS IT THE RIGHT MODULE?14.5.1. Project Page14.5.1.1. Issues Queue14.5.1.2. Bug Reports14.5.1.3. Usage Statistics14.5.1.4. Developer's List, CVS Commits, and Reputation14.5.2. Google14.5.3. Coder Module14.5.4. Tests14.6. BE A FOLLOWER14.6.1. Take It Slow14.6.1.1. Take Your Time14.6.1.2. Uninstall, Don't Just Delete14.6.2. Set Up a Development Environment14.6.3. Avoid the Buffet14.7. SUMMARY
15.1. WHAT IS A MODULE?15.2. HOOKS15.2.1. More Information15.3. MODULES STEP BY STEP15.3.1. Step 1: Choose a Name15.3.2. Step 2: Create the .info File15.3.3. Step 3: Create the .module File15.4. CREATING A PAGE15.4.1. Capturing Custom URLs with hook_menu15.5. MODIFYING EXISTING MODULES15.5.1.15.5.1.1. To Modify or Not to Modify, That Is the Question15.5.2. Patching15.5.3. Creating a Patch15.5.4. The Value of the Patch15.5.5. When to Modify15.6. SUMMARY
16.1. HOOKS: A MODULE'S STARTING POINT16.2. COMMUNITY DOCUMENTATION16.3. THE HOOKS16.3.1. hook_menu16.3.1.1. hook_permission16.3.1.2. hook_node_*16.3.1.3. hook_block16.3.1.4. hook_user16.3.1.5. hook_filter_info16.3.1.6. hook_form_alter16.3.1.7. hook_help16.4. MAKING YOUR MODULES THEMEABLE16.4.1. The t() Function16.4.1.1. format_plural16.4.2. Theme Functions and Template Files16.4.2.1. Theme Functions16.4.2.2. Template Files16.4.2.3. hook_theme16.5. SUMMARY
17.1. THE MODULE17.1.1.17.1.1.1. Before You Build That Module17.1.2. Beginning Your Module17.1.3. Implementing a hook17.2. ADDING CUSTOM CONFIGURATION SETTINGS17.2.1. Custom Module Settings17.2.2. How Did it Become an Option at Configuration?17.2.3. How Did the Settings Form Appear?17.2.4. Where Are the Settings Saved?17.2.5. Filtering on Multiple Words17.2.6. A Quick Review of the New PHP Code17.3. HELPING YOUR USERS17.4. PERMISSION HANDLING17.5. STORING DATA IN A CUSTOM TABLE17.5.1. Database Abstraction Layer17.5.1.1. Schema API17.6. DRUPAL QUERY FUNCTIONS17.6.1.17.6.1.1. Recording the Count17.7. DISPLAYING THE RESULTS ON THE USER'S PROFILE17.7.1.17.7.1.1. Recap of db_select17.7.1.2. Why db_select?17.8. DATABASE SUMMARY17.9. CREATING A BULLETPROOF SITE WITH SIMPLETEST17.9.1. Test Driven Development17.9.2. How SimpleTest Performs Its Testing17.9.3. Writing Your Own SimpleTest17.9.4. SimpleTest Assertions17.9.4.1. Naming Test Functions17.9.4.2. setUp()17.9.5. Adding the Tests to Your Module17.9.6. Summing Up SimpleTest17.10. SUMMARY
18.1. DRUSH18.1.1. But Wait There's More!18.2. USING CVS TO MANAGE DRUPAL18.2.1. What is CVS?18.2.2. What is SVN?18.2.3. Installing CVS18.2.4. Installing and Upgrading Drupal using CVS18.2.5. Understanding CVS Tags18.2.6. How Does This Relate to CVS?18.2.7. Branches and Tags18.2.8. Installing Modules from the CVS Repository18.3. ONE DRUPAL, MANY WEBSITES18.3.1. Example 1: Multiple Independent Websites18.3.2. Example 2: Multiple Related Websites18.3.3. Sites.php18.4. SETTINGS.PHP18.4.1. $databases18.4.2. Scalability18.4.3. $db_prefix18.4.4. $baseurl18.4.5. $ini_set18.4.5.1. Killing the White Screen of Death18.4.6. $reverse_proxy18.4.7. Variable Overrides18.4.8. String Overrides18.4.9. IP Blocking18.5. SUMMARY
19.1. PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST19.1.1. Site Information19.1.2. User Settings19.1.3. Site Maintenance19.1.4. SPAM19.1.5. SEO19.1.6. Search19.1.7. Performance19.1.8. Disaster Recovery19.2. SEO19.2.1. SEO Best Practices19.2.2. The Importance of URLs19.2.3. XML Sitemap19.2.4. Submitting Your Sitemap to Search Engines19.2.4.1. Adding Your Sitemap to Google19.2.4.2. Keeping Your Site's Information Up-to-Date19.3. ANALYZING YOUR SITE WITH GOOGLE19.3.1.19.3.1.1. Google Analytics Module's Configuration Settings19.4. DASHBOARD19.5. SUMMARY
A.1. CHAPTER 1A.2. CHAPTER 2A.3. CHAPTER 3A.4. CHAPTER 4A.5. CHAPTER 5A.6. CHAPTER 6A.7. CHAPTER 7A.8. CHAPTER 8A.9. CHAPTER 9A.10. CHAPTER 10A.11. CHAPTER 11A.12. CHAPTER 12A.13. CHAPTER 13A.14. CHAPTER 14A.15. CHAPTER 15A.16. CHAPTER 16A.17. CHAPTER 17A.18. CHAPTER 18A.19. CHAPTER 19

Content preview from Beginning Drupal®

Chapter 19. Preflight Checklist

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER:

Using a basic checklist for site maintenance, users, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), performance, and disaster recovery to cover all your bases before going live
Overview of SEO
Setting up and optimizing SEO for your site
The importance of clean URLs and URL aliases
Setting up XML Sitemap
An introduction to Google Analytics, and installing the module to monitor your site's activities
Configuring your dashboard

You are nearing the end of your Drupal journey. In the previous chapters, you went from the basics of installing and configuring your site to the challenges of theming, custom development, and advanced installations. You're now set to show the world your creation. Follow the preflight checklist in this chapter to get your site ready for launch.

In this chapter, you will explore the best ways of putting your website before a potential audience of millions. With SEO, you can increase your site's visibility by optimizing your site's content and correctly submitting it to search engines. The chapter introduces you to the SEO Checklist module for Drupal, which helps you properly implement SEO techniques. This chapter also covers the XML Sitemap module, which catalogs your site to help search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing crawl your site more efficiently and retrieve more accurate information.

The chapter ends with an overview of the new Dashboard feature, a function that comes with Drupal 7 in which users can ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470438527Purchase book

Beginning Drupal®

by Jacob Redding

Chapter 19. Preflight Checklist

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

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Drupal® 7 Bible

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Publisher Resources

Chapter 19. Preflight Checklist

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,and much more.

You might also like

Drupal® 7 Bible

Pro Drupal 7 Development, Third Edition

Drupal’s Building Blocks: Quickly Building Web Sites with CCK, Views, and Panels

Drupal™ User’s Guide: Building and Administering a Successful Drupal-Powered Web Site

Publisher Resources

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.