CONTENTS OF THIS FILE
---------------------

 * About Drupal
 * Use and configure your Drupal site
 * Change the look and feel of your Drupal site
 * Write code for your Drupal site

ABOUT DRUPAL
------------

Drupal is an open source content management platform supporting a variety of websites ranging from personal weblogs to large community-driven websites. For more information, see the Drupal website at http://drupal.org/, and join the
Drupal community at http://drupal.org/contribute.

USE AND CONFIGURE YOUR DRUPAL SITE
----------------------------------

Drupal core (drupal-X.XX.tar.gz) includes everything you need to get started including several "modules" providing additional functionality such as image uploading, search, and content translation. You can add more functionality via contributed modules (not core) available from the drupal.org. *Never hack core*

 * Install, upgrade, and maintain Drupal:
   See INSTALL.txt and UPGRADE.txt in the same directory as this document.
 * Enable additional modules included with core
 * Learn more, create and improve your Drupal site:
   http://drupal.org/getting-started
 * Add functionality (what you can do & have on your site) by extending core with additional modules:
   http://drupal.org/project/modules
   http://drupal.org/node/70151
 * Move beyond the basics of Drupal:
   http://drupal.org/handbook/customization
 *Best practices install additions to core in sites/all/
   sites/all/modules
   sites/all/themes

CHANGE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR DRUPAL SITE
--------------------------------------------

Drupal contains a theme system, separate from the functionality and content. By default, Drupal uses the "Garland" theme for displaying content to users, and uses the "Seven" theme for the administrative interface. You can change how your site looks by changing the theme and theme files. *Never hack core*

 * Change the default themes with those provided in core.
 * Download additional themes for Drupal:
   http://drupal.org/project/themes
   http://drupal.org/getting-started/5/install-contrib/themes
 * Change Drupal's appearance ("theme") with HTML, CSS, and PHP: 
   http://drupal.org/theme-guide
 * Collaborate with other Drupal themers:
   http://drupal.org/contribute/themes
 *Best practices install additions to core in sites/all/
   sites/all/modules
   sites/all/themes

WRITE CODE FOR YOUR DRUPAL SITE
-------------------------------

Drupal contains an extensive API to allow the creation of new modules to extend Drupal's core functionality. Nearly any part of Drupal's functionality can be modified and overridden by additional modules by implementing Drupal "hooks".
There are thousands of contributed modules available on the Drupal website. Before writing a new module, be sure to search the Drupal website for a module which meets your requirements.

 * Don't modify core Drupal files ("hack core"):
   http://drupal.org/node/144376
 * Write modules for Drupal using PHP:
   http://drupal.org/getting-started/5/install-contrib/modules
   http://drupal.org/developing/modules
 * Use Drupal's API and hooks:
   http://api.drupal.org/
   http://drupal.org/node/326
   http://api.drupal.org/api/group/hooks/7
 * Contribute to the community by helping build Drupal itself:
   http://drupal.org/contribute/development