Updated (09/26/2012): this tutorial has been released as an ebook. Please download the "Master Drupal in 7 hours - Drupal 7 version" ebook.

Alot questions you may think about now:

  • Are you kidding? I know Drupal is great, but it is hard to learn.
  • 7 hours to master Drupal is a joke
  • No way! Bullshit! *&^*#^&% and so on

First thing to say, we can NOT be a Drupal developer to build great Drupal sites in 7 hours. That is just impossible!

I am not a Drupal developer. I am just a Drupal newbie. I know some HTML syntax, some hosting operations, I can't even write PHP code. That's why I found difficult when I first learnt Drupal. It was a long way to get to the point when I can actually show a Drupal site to my friends. What I wished at that time is, if someone could build a completed site for me, I can change my logos, write some stuffs about myself, customize it a little bit then off we go, this is my Drupal site. 

During a couple of years working with my Symphony team, I still want to build a Drupal package, that a newbie like me, can actually launch a Drupal site in less than a day. I heard alot about Drupal design is not good enough, Drupal has high learning curve, Drupal is for developers only. But if we can lower the barrier, more people can join the Drupal community, and there will be no more myths like that. 

One day, I came up with an idea of an out-of-the-box Drupal package with a tutorial, which within 7 hours, a Drupal newbie can build a good Drupal site. Why 7 hours but not any other numbers? It is just an easy to remember number. Just to show that Drupal can be easier than most people thought. I discussed with my team, we came up with some solutions and we said "Yes, it is possible".

So together with my Symphony team, we have built some out-of-the-box Drupal packages, and the tutorial "Master Drupal in 7 hours". This is what I intend to do in this tutorial, to show you how to master a ready completed Drupal site, in 7 hours.  

Who this tutorial is for

Maybe you are a business owner who want to quickly build a Drupal site. Maybe you are a Drupal novice struggling with learning Drupal. You hold in your hands three free out-of-the-box Drupal packages that have thousands downloads from the community, and the knowledge that could master your Drupal site in less than a working day.  

What this tutorial cover

We provide you three free out-of-the-box Drupal packages. You can pick one of those to download and install. 

  • For blog or magazine style: Alphorn 
  • For organization or non-profit style: Conch
  • For business or corporate style: Octavin

Then follow this tutorial "Master Drupal in 7 hours"

  1. Hour 1: Hosting requirement, covers all requirements that you need to run Drupal sites in a hosting.
  2. Hour 2: Installation, explains how to set up a Drupal site from our out-of-the-box packages. It comes with the wizard, so you can setup the site by just clicks.
  3. Hour 3: Basic customization, covers all steps to upload your own content to the site. After that, you can launch it to public. 
  4. Hour 4: Advanced customization, presents more advanced techniques if you want to further customize the site.
  5. Hour 5: SEO, explores some basic rules before doing SEO and then Drupal SEO techniques.
  6. Hour 6: Ongoing administration, gives you neccessary routine work to keep your site healthy.
  7. Hour 7: Upgrade site, shows how to upgrade your site when the Drupal core or modules release new versions.

After these 7 guides, you can now master a Drupal site with confident. We wrote this tutorial using our best practices when working with many customers. We will release new version of this tutorial when Drupal 7 is ready.

About author

This tutorial is made by the Symphony team. We need your comments to make it better. We are appreciated your feedbacks to info@symphonythemes.com.

Comments

darksniper304’s picture

You can check out the "$100 Drupal site" series as well.

http://davehall.com.au/blog/dave/2010/12/28/100-drupal-site-series-part-...

tuthanh’s picture

Thanks. It could be a nice resource for me to have ideas to improve my materials.

IAmThatStrange’s picture

I would love this for Drupal 7. I'm hoping that you are assuming no experience with Drupal 6? I have none but keep finding all kinds of tutorials that assume you *know* drupal 6.

Thanks!

louarnold’s picture

Your article may be valuable to very beginners, but for others its simply trivial. The interest lies in more advanced changes to the layout of the website. All you appear to be doing is promoting the Symphony theme(s).

tuthanh’s picture

My targeted readers are Drupal beginners. I intend to solve a different problem than your point of view. Most of Drupal beginners feel difficulties when first learn Drupal, and I try to make it easier for them so they can explore other advanced techniques later.

And yes, we are promoting our themes. Do I force users to buy from us? NO.

There is nothing unethical about promoting business. I do not scam. Like some other great Drupal development companies, they also provide free solutions so they can promote business to have big contracts. We all do bring values to the community.

So what is wrong about that?

tuthanh’s picture

We have updated this tutorial as an eBook. You can download this ebook for FREE.

Please follow the link "Master Drupal in 7 hours - Drupal 7 version" ebook.

Jewell’s picture

Thank you for tutorial I am new for drupal

Astridur’s picture

Tuthanh, thank you for this easy to understand book. I recommend it for anyone who is managing and updating Drupal websites. It took me 4 hours to learn what I had been struggling for weeks to find here and there online.