Getting Started http://drupal.org/getting-started Is the “Before you start” a bit too technical to throw at newbies straight away? Documentation > Getting Started > Before you start > lots of scary tech background. It's useful but perhaps rename it so newbies dont get scared off feeling they have to understand this all right away e.g. “Drupal technology”, “Background Drupal information”, “Drupal fundamentals”, “Drupal technology concepts”, “Drupal concepts and technology” etc? *** Before you start http://drupal.org/getting-started/before Would it be a good idea to change the text so it doesnt imply you have to read/understand this all before you get stuck in? OLD This section of the Getting Started handbook provides background information that will help you prepare for your first Drupal site. NEW This section of the Getting Started handbook provides background information to help you understand the concepts and technology that underpin Drupal. *** Understanding Drupal concepts http://drupal.org/node/21951 “Propose”? So it doesnt actually help you? OLD Before you install Drupal and begin playing with it, it’s a good idea to get an overall sense of what it is, and how it works. This section proposes to give you the big picture, helping you to frame how you think about Drupal, and assist you in determining whether it’s a good fit for your project. This small investment of time up front will help you immeasurably in the long run. NEW Before you install Drupal and begin playing with it, it’s a good idea to get an overall sense of what it is, and how it works. This section gives you the big picture, helping you to frame how you think about Drupal, and to assist you in determining whether it’s a good fit for your project. This small investment of time up front will help you immeasurably in the long run. *** The Drupal overview http://drupal.org/getting-started/before/overview Earlier, the text explains how you arent constrained by specific approaches to handle tasks but can mix and match your own solution, specifically mentioning the example of a block that displays news and blogs. When you reach the “The Drupal Flow” the block-menu layer text is rather proscriptive ignoring the earlier example. Consider rewording to reinforce the idea: OLD 3. At the next layer, we find blocks and menus. Blocks often provide the output from a module, and can be placed in various spots in your template (theme) layout. Blocks can be configured to output in various ways, as well as only showing on certain defined pages, or only for certain defined users. NEW 3. At the next layer, we find blocks and menus. Blocks often provide the output from a module or can be created to display whatever you want, and then can be placed in various spots in your template (theme) layout. Blocks can be configured to output in various ways, as well as only showing on certain defined pages, or only for certain defined users. *** General concepts http://drupal.org/node/19828 The introduction to nodes mention creating custom content types with CCK and then goes on to list the fundemental fields/attributes a node must have, including a Body field which is optional? This could be a source of confusion later on when people what to create their own Content Types and feel that they have to have a body field. OLD What is a Node? The main building block of Drupal is a node. The word 'node' does not suggest that it is a part of some network. On the contrary, you should think of a node as a single puzzle piece that is placed onto the site by one of your users, or even yourself. A node can be part of a forum, a blog or a book, and by using the Content Construction Kit, you can create as many custom node types as you want. Remember that each node has a type, referred to as a Content Type. It also has a Node ID, a Title, a Body, a creation date, an author and some other properties. It is stored together with all other nodes in one big "shoe-box" known as a "table" in your database. NEW What is a Node? The main building block of Drupal is a node. The word 'node' does not suggest that it is a part of some network. On the contrary, you should think of a node as a single puzzle piece that is placed onto the site by one of your users, or even yourself. A node can be part of a forum, a blog or a book, and by using the Content Construction Kit, you can create as many custom node types as you want. Remember that each node has a type, referred to as a Content Type. It also has a Node ID, a Title, a creation date, an author and may also have some other properties such as a Body in the case of Pages. It is stored together with all other nodes in one big "shoe-box" known as a "table" in your database. The Menus and Blocks section is a bit confusing e.g., menus are blocks, but are blocks aren't regions? Also there's some extra info slipped in regarding the default home page that might be better elsewhere? OLD Menus and Blocks Menus are displayed in blocks. Blocks are the columns at the left and/or right site of your web page. First be sure to enable the menu module (blocks module is always enabled). You will get a menu item in the admin menu. As of 6.1, menu module is enabled by default. All modules come with default menu items. Often you only will need to enable them. You can change its location in the menu tree by setting its parent and you can change its title if you wish. In all cases it will only show up when you have rights to view the content. E.g. the admin item is not shown to visitors. You can also create custom items (add menu item tab). You will need to provide a path to the content. Go to the page you want to link to (e.g. via recent posts) and look at the address bar. By default the address next to the domain name will begin with '?q='. When 'clean URLs' is enabled you will see a directory structure. Anyway, you need to copy-paste the right part of the address without the domain name and without the "?q=". This is called the local or relative path. (But as I mentioned, it's a database query mimicking a directory structure.) By the way, if you change your settings to 'clean URLs' you may also want to change the "default front page". That can be your forum main page 'forum' or a custom made page 'node/15'. 'Navigation' is the default menu, but you can create more as you like. You will need to activate a menu in the blocks settings to tell if, and also where, you want those menu to be displayed. Next you can move menu items to it by changing the item's parent property. You also can create custom blocks. You can type the html code yourself so you have complete freedom. You will soon discover the menus and blocks will not give you all you need. The main problem is that a menu item can point to a single node or to a list of nodes of one type, organized by date. In other words, you only can create links that have a fixed meaning, defined by the modules. And you want more of course! For that reason you will need modules that create structure. Examples are: - books - stories - search - taxonomy - archive NEW Menus and Blocks Blocks are discrete chunks of information that are displayed on a page in alongside it's main content. They can take the form of Menus (which are concerned with site navigation), the output from modules (e.g. hot forum topics), or dynamic and static chunks of information that you've created yourself (e.g. a list of upcoming events). Blocks are displayed in regions, which are the columns at the left and/or right side of your web page. All modules come with default menu items, often you only will need to enable them. You can customise menus, be it reordering them by setting a menu item's “weight” or simply dragging it into place, you can also rename them and change the popup tooltip that appears when you mouse over a menu item. You can also create custom items (add menu item tab). You will need to provide a path to the content. Go to the page you want to link to (e.g. via recent posts) and look at the address bar. By default the address next to the domain name will begin with '?q='. When 'clean URLs' is enabled you will see a directory structure. You need to copy-paste the right part of the address without the domain name and without the "?q=". This is called the local or relative path. In all cases a menu item will only be shown to a visitor if they have the rights to view the page it links to e.g. the admin menu item is not shown to anonymous visitors. 'Navigation' is the default menu, but you can create more as you like. You will need to activate a menu in the blocks settings to tell if, and also where, you want those menu to be displayed. You can also move a menu item between different menus by changing the menu item's parent property. You are not limited to the blocks provides by modules, you can create custom blocks, either displaying custom html code or dynamically generating the block content using Views. You will soon discover the menus and blocks will not give you all you need. The main problem is that a menu item can point to a single node or to a list of nodes of one type, organized by date. In other words, you only can create links that have a fixed meaning, defined by the modules. And you want more of course! For that reason you will need modules that create structure. Examples are: - books - stories - search - taxonomy - archive