Tag: websites

Staying in Touch

I have not written in forever so it is time to make a post. How are you all doing? I am fine, just busy. I recently attended a Drupal programming class and this has helped me understand Drupal so much better. I can’t believe how powerful a CMS can be, or how cool Drupal is with all its great tools.

So now I am dreaming even more about building bigger and better Drupal sites. The only hesitation I have at the moment is in waiting for Drupal 7. It should be out soon, but not soon enough. Even with saying that I have to admit that I will never have the time to devote all the time I would like to my Drupal projects. One can dream though!

Another nice thing that is up and coming is a project that I am now starting that will involve getting volunteers to write content for a site that I think should be pretty darn nice. It will be a local nature site, including species accounts, habitat treatments and lots of pictures. This will be my second such site and I am pretty excited to see what is possible. The first site I did like this was not set up to handle volunteers. It was a static HTML based site so allowing others to participate, and assign them specific roles, was just not possible. This site will be created outside of a web publishing framework, so not exactly Drupal at the moment, although I may port the data into a newly built Drupal site. I will just have to see how it goes. All of these things are just ever expanding experiments anyway. My hope is doing all this is to continue to learn, to build my skills, and to provide as much useful information to others as I can.

Acquia Drupal Website, Part 4

Acquia Drupal Website Housekeeping

The following steps are in no particular order but are some must do steps to get my website ready for use. The site is already live now but has no content other than the generic Acquia Drupal pages that come with the install.

Administrator Pages and Navigation

There are many pages that facilitate the management of your Drupal website. These are called administration pages and they are organized in a hierarchy. If you have never used Drupal before the organization and names of things are likely to be confusing. The reason for this is because there are a lot of functions you can control and each of these needs to have a name so we can easily refer to each thing by a common Drupal name.

There are two ways to access the administration pages. One is to click on the Adminstrator link found in the sidebar. The other is to use the adminstrator menu found at the top of the site. This top menu is a Drupal add on module that is included in Acquia Drupal. It does not show up if you are not logged in as an administrator nor does the menu you see on the sidebar.

My instructions are set up so that you do not need to understand the names and function of everything you are configuring. This is helpful in some regards and unhelpful in others. Why?

You do not want to build my website – you want to build your own. You can see what I have done here but there is some or lots that you want to do differently. You can at least follow my instructions and get a site you can work with up and running. To take things further though you do need to learn more about Drupal. It will do you a lot of good to at least read this document, especially if you have never worked with a Content Management System (CMS) before.

I will be referring to the pages I am making changes with by giving the administration hierarchy of where each page is located. It is important to remember that almost everything you do in Drupal needs to be completed by clicking on a button that saves your changes. If you make a change and navigate away before you click on “save” or whatever similar button is given, you will lose your changes.

Change the Theme to Acquia Marina

This is pretty straightforward.

Site Building> Themes

Select both enabled and default for Acquia Marina. Then go to the bottom of the page and click on “save configuration.”

Shut Off Acquia Notices

There are numerous messages that come up on the administrative pages about Acquia sign-up and connectivity. I want to get rid of this “noise.”

Site Building> Modules

I am specifically interested in the “Acquia Network Connector.”

modules1

The process of shutting off this module needs to be done in two steps. First I uncheck the “Acquia Site Information” box. Since it is dependent on the Acquia Agent it must be shut off first. Next I go to the bottom of this page and click on “save configuration.”

This turns off that function in this module. Then I return to the module again and uncheck “Acquia Agent.” After going to the bottom to save my changes the Acquia agent and its notices are turned off.

New Users Only Added by Adminstrator

I do not want new users to be added by anyone but me.

User Management > User Settings

The first set of choices you see on the page are for controlling how this is set up. I checked “Only site administrators can create new user accounts.” As usual, I have to go to the bottom of the page and click on “save settings.”

If you look at the other options on this page you will begin to see how powerful and comprehensive the controls can be in Drupal. One of the many functions of a CMS it the ability to have many different, and many different kinds, of users. For example registered users can have various levels of permissions set and you can send out email messages to an end user and the administrator when a user signs up. For my purposes, for now, I don’t want to let anyone sign up as a registered user.

Performance Settings

The purpose of tweaking some settings here is to prevent unnecessary bottlenecks when  user is accessing and loading your webpages. All of this is behind the scenes stuff and is a good way to set things up for now. If you have a very large and busy site you will likely have a Drupal pro to help you configure your site so its performance is optimal.

Site Configuration > Performance.

Going through the performance settings page I set Page Caching to normal

perform1

and enable CSS and Javascript optimization

perform2

After making these changes they need to be saved by going to the bottom of the page.

Rather than get into an explanation about what this does, I will mention one of the effects of these settings. All of your CSS files (and there is a CSS file for many different parts of your Drupal site) will be loaded into the cache of any web browser that looks at your website. This goes for your browser too. If you make any changes to the CSS of your site you will not see those changes unless you flush the files form your cache.

You can do this from this page by clicking on the “clear cached data” button. It can also be done by finding this same thing on the administration menu at the top of your website.

clear-cache

These are just a few basic changes for now. What has been accomplished?

  • The website is now locked up a little better. New users cannot be added by anyone but me (user 1, the administrator account).
  • The serving and viewing of the website is improved through tweaking a few simple performance settings.
  • I am now using the Acquia Marina theme.

From here we need to go on to make our own homepage and tweak some of the other settings to change both the look and functioning of the website.

Acquia Drupal Website, Part 2

These directions are just another way of explaining what is found at the Drupal Acquia site.

Domain Name and DNS

My domain name,  learnlocalhistory.com (go here to see the learn local history website), was set up so that the DNS server names listed by my domain name registrar were pointed to my host server. If you need help understanding how to buy a domain name this domain registration explained page might help or you can search the web for a better/different explanation.

Host Server Set Up

I need to do a few things on my host to start the process of setting up Drupal. The host serve I am using has a user interface called Cpanel.  I am not going to go through all the details of CPanel. There are different ways of going about these steps, depending on your user interface or if you use a command line, so I will cover these in a general way.

It is important to record some of the information that results from the host  server set up. You will need to write them down, in a secure place, for future reference and for some of setting up of your Drupal install.

Set Up a New Domain

I need to enter my domain name and set up an ftp user. This is a necessary part of the Cpanel domain creation process. Other ways of doing this may allow you to use an existing FTP user. I needed to record my

  • Ftp username
  • Ftp password
  • the directory location for the domain’s files (this is where I will FTP the Drupal program files)

You will also need to know the URL for accessing your host files, which you will be accessing via a FTP client that you run from your desktop. If you do not know how to FTP to your host server then you have some homework. Contact your hosting company or look through their documentation to figure out what you will need to do.

Set Up a Mysql Database

I created the database and a user that can access the database. The user needs to be assigned “all” privileges (read, write, etc., it is not important for you to understand what this means but it is important that this is done this way). Make note of the

  • database name
  • the username/password for accessing the database.

You will also need to know how to call the Mysql database. This is the location where the database is served from. On some hosts this will simply be “localhost” and on others there will be a URL address (an example of what I have seen in some places would be something like: mysql.learnlocalhistory.com).

As with all this information you are writing down, it is important that these usernames and passwords be kept secure. The user that has all database privileges or FTP access has a lot of control over your site.

Email Address Creation

I set up an email address for this domain. You are not required to have a domain specific address to install Drupal. An email address is required as part of the installation process but it can be from a any domain. You could use a gmail or yahoo email address, for example.

Download Acquia Drupal

Go to the the Acquia website and download the latest build of Acquia Drupal. I chose the full install zip file to download to my windows desktop. The file will need to be unzipped. You may want to change the robots.txt and .htaccess files before you go on to the next step.

FTP Drupal Files to Your Host

You will need to use your FTP client, point it to your host’s FTP server and sign in using the credentials you previously created. The Drupal files need to go into the main directory for your domain. This location was specified when you set up your domain on your host server.

A simply mistake that some people make is to FTP the Drupal directory into their root directory:

directory1

This is wrong. You should install the files so that when you open your main (root) directory of your domain’s website, you see what is inside of the directory that is shown above. What you should FTP and then see in your main directory is:

root-directory

Once you are able to get the FTP transfer underway it is time to go get a cup of coffee. It took at least five minutes for my files to be transferred.

Begin the Drupal Installation

Beginning the Acquia Drupal installation is just like any other Drupal install. Being by typing in this URL: http://example.com/install.php (do replace example.com with your own domain name).

Database Information

This will open a page where you need to enter your database name, database username and password. I entered my information and clicked on the “save and continue” button.

My database is served from “localhost” so I did not need to make any other changes to this page. Click on the “advanced options” link if you need to specify any additional details about your database server. If you open the advanced options you will see a few more entry boxes, one of which allows you to enter the database host server name. Replace the localhost entry with the correct information.

Clicking on the “save and continue” button should bring you to another page that asks for more information. There are two problems I have encountered in that past that may prevent you from moving forward.

There is a file in your Drupal install files that may need to have its permissions changed. The file is: /sites/default/default.settings.php. You have to figure out how to use your FTP client to change the permissions on this file to 755. If you do not know what that means and are having this problem you have some homework to do. If someone has a good resource that explains how to do this, please leave a comment with the URL.

The second potential hangup can happen if you try to cut and paste your database or user information into the entry boxes. For some reason when I try and do this on my computer it does not work. Clear all the entry box information you pasted in and type in all the entries anew.

Site and User Information

The next page of input includes things like your site name, an administrative email address and an adminstrative user.

The email address you enter here will be used as the sender address to any messages your website sends out via Drupal’s normal operations. I used the email account I set up for this domain. Drupal will send an email when things like user registrations, comment posting notifications and other operations are requested. You can change this email address later but you must enter something her to go onto the next step.

If you have an Acquia account you would enter that information here. I do not have an account, at least not yet.

An administrator account must be set up. Try to come up with a fairly complex, and hence secure, password. This user is also what some documentation refers to as user 1. Be sure to write down the user / password information and store it in a secure place.

The last portion of this page involves selecting your time zone, Clean URLS (leave them on) and your decision about update notifications. It is a good idea to keep updated so I would recommend leaving the update settings turned on.

Next I hit the “save and continue” button, some processing takes place, and I am told that Drupal is now installed.

My new Acquia Drupal site is up and running!

Domain Name Registration

I have a domain name and hosting account on a remote server. What the heck is that? This first part will cover the domain name part. Let’s begin.

You buy a domain name from an domain reseller. I used Moniker for buying my domain name for this website.

The domain is a com. Com and other ending domain names are what are called the Top Level Domain or TLD. So my website address or URL is my chosen domain name plus the TLD:

floodhammermedia.com

On your browser (once the site is up and running) you will see it as http://www.learnlocalhistory.com/

Don’t worry about the http://www part. You can type in floodhammermedia.com to your web browser and it will find this website, so the rest of the address, while important, is a side story for now.

I have used Moniker for purchasing my domain name because they are a good company that does not try to sell you a bunch of extra junk that you do not need. Moniker also has very good registration prices.

If you buy a domain at someplace like GoDaddy they try to get you to add on a bunch of products that have no purpose and will not help you. They will also try to sell you hosting.

I don’t recommend people buy hosting services from their registrar. Registrars and domain hosting services should stick to one or the other of these tasks. There are good registrars and good web hosting services. Most people will tell you, me included, that there are few companies that do both of these well. Another reason for separating these services is if you become unhappy with the way you are being treated by a company. You can move your registration to another registrar. You can also move your website to another hosting company. Moving your registration and hosting from a single company, well lets say that most companies that bundle these services are reluctant to lose your business and may not make it easy for you to smoothly transition away from them.

You can register a domain name (a string of letters and numbers with an ending TLD) that is not in use for a small annual fee. Once you have your domain name no one else can use it, provided you keep your registration current, in other words you pay your annual fee. This makes your registration fee seem like a rental payment. It is sort of like that. The domain register is maintains a record of the domain name, who owns it, and where to direct someone that requests each name in their database. This is what you are paying for when you pay your domain registration fee.

You can pay for a year or many years of domain ownership when you first register your domain. It does not matter how long you sign up for just that you make sure you renew it before your registration period runs out. The company I use, Moniker, sends me an email telling you when this time is approaching. It is not anything I need to track or write on my calendar.

It can be tricky to find a name you like. Many good names – short, descriptive words, or two or three names strung together- are already owned. You should strive to get a name that is easy to tell someone, is relevant to your website’s topic, and is easy to remember. You can go to Moniker and check out some possibilities. Just fill in a name in the search box there that says Find Your  Domains. It will do a quick search and tell you if a name is already owned or if it is unregistered.

Disclaimer: This is clearly a simplistic explanation about how domain registration works. You can probably find more technically correct and elegant explanations somewhere else. My aim is to explain this to someone like my Dad who has no idea about how the internet works.

Any Questions?

Acquia Drupal Website, Part 1

The is the beginning of an N part series about setting up an Acquia Drupal website.  I am using a remote host and my own domain name. My purpose in doing this is to have a record of what I am doing and, if anyone finds this and they find some value in my writing, to provide some help to someone that is in my shoes. These posts will be raw and will even include, most likely, some mistakes. Any mistakes I do make will be cleaned up and noted, at least once I am aware of them and have a solution.

My qualifications coming into this are:

  • I have been using Drupal for a few years but would not consider myself anywhere near proficient with its use. I am not a web programmer but do have some experience building websites using HTML.
  • I am a hack, meaning that my technical skills are scant. I make things work by pure brute force most of the time. Part of what this means is that you should be a bit skeptical of my advice and way of doing things in some cases. I am just doing the best I can to make things work.

If anyone reads this and what I have written strikes you as being wrong, or right, or has some advice to offer about what I have done please leave a comment. It would be great to have some other voices that  alert, entertain or advise anyone that reads about my experience. Hopefully I will not be that embarrassed by any errors of my ways!

It is true that there is more than one way to do a lot of things. Often I find with website work there is the technically correct way, other ways that work but are inelegant, bad ways that work but are dangerous or real difficult (open up security problems or are hard to work with, for instance) and really wrong ways that can or do break stuff.

The website to be

I want to use this new Drupal backed website as an education tool. I have some ideas that will push me way past my limits of what I know how to do. It will be necessary for me to get help with some of the functions I hope to put into place. I may even have to pay for that help, which may or may not come to pass depending on how well the project does. More on this as things develop.

So there you have it. Lets begin.

Online Communities

I have been talking to a friend lately about creating online communities. They are interested in exploring the possibility of a walled garden. A central feature of this type of website, which may or may not be set up as a business model, is to have an interactive community communication system. What this usually comes down to is a forum.

Today I was looking at some information about website forums and the issue of moderation. Moderation in the respect of policing the forum so that the conversation remains civil, helpful and supportive. I know from a few projects that I was involved with in the past that any form of internet attention is quick to draw trolls. Trolls are folks that are negative, destructive and can be downright nasty. Kind of like talk radio today. Rush, Hannity, Bortz and Beck types that spew hatred, negativity and lower the discourse to a nasty base level. On a lot of levels that approach and style is so disturbing but I do freely exercise my right to not listen. There is nothing constructive being offered so I keep it away from me. This is the same thing that is done in moderating a forum, if one chooses to do so.

I can only wonder what busy websites that allow comments to be added have to deal with. I have seen the tiniest tip of the iceberg when it comes to this stuff. I would never allow such stuff to be a part of any online project I have a hand in running. If I was to expand and try such a thing where I was to build a site that was at least paid attention to by more than a few folks, so was to have another site besides this one where there was more interaction, I would definitely keep the discourse civil and police what people contribute.

Other thoughts:

here