What is a content management system?
- Software tool that lets users add, publish, edit or remove content from a website using a web browser.
- Written in scripting language, scripts run on computer with database and web server installed.
- Content and settings stored in database & for each page request that comes to web server, scripts combine information to build pages of website.
What stack is Drupal based on?
LAMP stack
- Linux OS
- Apache web server
- MySQL database
- PHP scripting language
What is Drupal?
Flexible CMS with modular design allowing features to be added and removed using modules, and allowing the look and feel of the site to be changed using themes.
What does the Drupal core download contain?
PHP scripts needed to run the basic CMS functionality, optional modules and themes, JavaScript, CSS and images assets.
Which web servers can Drupal run on?
Apache, Nginx or IIS
Which databases can Drupal run on?
MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite or MySQL compatible replacement eg MariaDB or Percona
Can you use another scripting language?
No, the scripts the software uses are written in PHP, so that cannot be changed
Why might you choose to use Drupal CMS?
- Online editing, uniformity, and more complex features requiring a database
- General purpose CMS, if your site falls outside intended purpose of special-purpose CMS it may be complicated to adapt.
- Better than building own CMS-type software. Drupal has thousands of developer hours behind it, including many years of user testing, bug fixing and security hardening.
- Drupal is free and has a less restrictive software licence than other CMS.
What is a module?
A set of PHP, JavaScript and/or CSS files that extends site features and adds functionality. Each module installed adds to the time needed to generate pages on your site.
Where can you view modules on the site?
Manage -> Extend
Which core module manages basic content?
Node module
What is a theme?
A set of files that define the visual look and feel of the site. Determines the HTML markup and CSS styling that wraps the site content.
What are distributions?
Distributions provide site features and functions for a specific type of site as a single download containing the core software, contributed modules, themes and pre-defined configuration.
What are the two types of distributions?
- Full-featured distributions
- Quick start tools
What is a full-featured distribution?
Complete solution to set up a site for specialised purpose i.e. academic, business, government, social etc.
What four types of data are held on the site?
- Content: Information meant to be displayed to visitors, relatively permanent but can normally be edited
- Configuration: Used to define how site behaves or is displayed. Relatively permanent. Sometimes displayed to visitors (e.g. field labels).
- State: Temporary about current state of site e.g. time cron last run
- Session: Information about individual visitors’ interactions with the site e.g. whether logged in, cookies. Technically subtype of State as temporary.
What is Free and Open Source Software?
FOSS is software that is developed by a community of people, released under a non-commercial license and whose source code is freely available.
What is the Drupal Project?
A FOSS whose purpose is to develop the core CMS software as well as modules, additional themes, translations, documentation, and special-purpose distributions.
What is the Drupal Association?
Non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the Drupal project and community.
What license does Drupal fall under? What does this mean?
GNU General Public License (GPU) version 2 or later. Means free to download, reuse, modify, and distribute any files part of a project on Drupal.org. Can also run the core software in combination with any code with a license compatible with version 2 or 3.
Which guidelines should Drupal contributors follow?
- All files part of a project on Drupal.org have to be under GPL v2 or later
- All contributors can retain copyright of their code, but agree to release it under the same licence as Drupal.
- Drupal modules and themes are a derivative work of Drupal, should be distributed under the terms of GPL v2 or later.
- All content on Drupal.org is copyrighted by its origin contributors and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license 2.0
- Sample code on Drupal.org also available under GPL v2 or later.
What is a region?
Each site contains a set of named regions where site builders may place their content e.g. Header, Content, Sidebar. The regions available depend on the theme design, however the Content region is always required.
Which regions are provided in the core Bartik theme?
Secondary menu, Header, Primary menu, Highlighted, Featured top, Breadcrumb, Content, Sidebar first, Sidebar second, Featured bottom first, Featured bottom second, Featured bottom third, Footer first, Footer second, Footer third, Footer fourth, Footer fifth.
What is a content entity?
An item of content data, consisting of text, HTML markup, images, attached files or other data intended to be displayed to visitors. Can be defined by core software or modules.
