Install Drupal 7 in one-minute (or Drupal 6) Using Webhost Control Panel Script

2011.04.06 - Working Draft. 04:11-gmt

You can fully install Drupal 7 (D7) or Drupal 6 (D6) in less than one-minute once you know how. All you really need to know about computers is how to use a keyboard and mouse.

If you follow these instructions, you can easily install your new Drupal 7 or Drupal 6 website even if this is your first day of using a computer.

And then do it again for fun and time yourself. At a semi-leisurely pace you can do it in one-minute.

What are your two passwords? Never-mind that question for now, though, if this is your first time reading this page.

Oh In case you did not know: Drupal is free as it always has been.

HowTo Get your new Drupal 7 (or D6) WebSite

Get a Free GMail (by Google) eMail account; or any eMail account you might already have will do fine.
Get a webhosting account that features automated scripts; I highly recommend "SimpleScripts" (a free and common WebHost feature).
Log into your webhost account.
Go to the "Control Panel" (CPanel) page.
Click the link for the automated "Scripts" page.
Click the link for "Drupal".
Complete the few simple installation steps.

Drupal 7 baby. There is nothing else that compares.

Here are the automated-script Drupal installation steps in more detail.

Get a Free GMail (by Google) eMail account.
You need a webhosting account.

It would be nice if you only needed your computer to have a website, but what you really need is a webhost. You can get yours for less than $10.00 dollars a month.

I know of at least one top-notch webhosting provider (BlueHost.com $6.95 per month) that offers you "unlimited storage" space for your pictures, music, and videos.

They also offer "unlimited band-width" which means you can have as many people as you want visiting your site without worrying about limits of that kind.

Drupal.org also has a hosting information page (Marketing) on their website on which they list many webhosting companies that are compatible with Drupal.

It is important when you shop for webhosts that you pick one that features an automated script service that installs Drupal 7.

Most commercial webhosting providers do, but make sure before you buy; and make sure that they provide Drupal 7 "script installation" service.

My webhost provider uses "SimpleScripts", and it works beautifully for Drupal installations of either Drupal 7 or D6.

When the time comes to update your Drupal site with an newer version of either Drupal 7 or 6 released by Drupal.org, SimpleScripts works easily and flawlessly, and does the update for you with only a click or two of your mouse ( from the CPanel).
Log into your WebHost Account.

Once you have you new webhosting account, will will receive loggin information. Most likely you will get this information in an eMail.

Log into your WebHosting account.
Go to your CPanel page.

By default when you log into your webhost account you may automatically be re-directed to the control panel (CPanel) page. If not, go to your CPanel page using the CPanel link you are likely to find on whatever page loads after you loggin. And if all else fails, go to your webhost's home page and find the CPanel link there.
Click the link for the automated "Scripts" page.

Somewhere on your CPanel page your are going to find the link for "SimpleScripts"; or whatever automatic script-installation service your webhost provides.

In the case of my webhost, the scripts link is under the heading "Software/Services"

Click the link that will take you to the automated script-installation page.
On the scripts page, find and click "Drupal".

In the case of SimpleScripts, their Drupal link is in the "Content Management" section. But, since that Drupal link only displays "Drupal > 7.0 Popular", it may give you the impression that D6 is not to be found but in fact that "Drupal > 7.0 Popular" link is for both D7 and D6.

Click the Drupal link.
Complete the few simple Drupal installation steps.

Decide upon either Drupal 7 or Drupal 6 to install first.

You can install as many occurences of either version of Drupal 7 or Drupal 6 as you like. You may want to install both D7 and D6 versions, and test them out first before deciding which you want to use for you main site.

Each of Drupal 7 and Drupal 6 will be installed with only a "Core" set of features.

D6 is far more mature than D7 in terms of the number of available extra features which you can add to its core via add-on-later "Modules".

Also, you can confidently install Drupal 6 as it has a well proven track record exemplified by the fact that the White House is using D6 for their public site.

D6, at this point in time, is easily a better choice if you are in a hurry to get a professional site requiring non-core modules that are not a part of the D7 basic "Core" default installation.; given the present state of many D7 modules' development; presently. #2011.04.05

However, if you use D6, you will need to learn to download modules from drupal.org onto your computer.

If you choose D6, you also need to learn to upload those modules to your website via..

D6 Module and Theme Installation (Not needed for D7).
1. CPanel - Cumbersome for uploading; but nice for the needed module "De-compression" step; as all modules come in a single "compressed/ archive" file containing multiple folders and files.
2. FTP - Slick file transfer. A file transfer protocal (FTP) program is very very easy program to use. It gives you a window with all of your computer's files on one side of the window, and all of the files and folders on your website on the other side of the FTP program window. In the middle are two button. One pointing left, and one pointing right.
  As to using FTP to "de-compress" module-archived-aka-compressed files, I do Not know how; or even if it possible with my FTP program. For Drupal-module-file-de-compression I use the CPanel at my WebHost.
Drupal 7, however, already has many features in its "core" default installation that D6 never will.

Most notably, D7 lets you install additional modules (and themes) with only a module's-web-address-download-url "Copy"ed to your computer system's always-present invisible clipboard.

I feel D7 is easier to Administer, but most assuredly, D7 will eventually surpass D6 in terms of everything.

And so, per my thinking, if you are going to learn something new, learn the best.

I believe in the future, and that is D7. (Not discounting D8's eventual arrival.)

As to actually HowTo install either the Drupal 7 or Drupal 6 version and in the specific case of SimpleScripts, this is what you do:
1. Click the green "Install" button.
2. "Step 1: Installation Preferences".
  - Which version of Drupal would you like to install?
    This field-box will by default be displaying the most recent version of Drupal 7 seen in the form of "7.x (Stable)".
    
    Leave "7.x (Stable)" as it is if you want to install D7.
    
    If you want to install Drupal 6, click the downward-pointing arrow on the right of that field-box, and then in the drop down menu that appears, click on the first and highest Drupal version 6.x available.
  - Where would you like Drupal installed?
    There are two field boxes here separated by a "/".
    
    Note: The forward-slash character ("/") simple marks the separation of a parent-folder name from its child-folder's name following the forward-slash.
    
    (A "folder" is also known as a "directory".)
    
    By default, your main web site address is in the left field-box. Leave this as it is.
    
    Specify where you want Drupal installed on your website
    
    I highly recommend that you install each Drupal installation in a sub-folder (sub-directory) on your site; and not yet (if ever) at you website's upper-most level.
    
    Then later if you decide upon a Drupal installation you would like to use for your domain name, you can go to your webhost CPanel and simply direct all incoming traffic to your domain name to that Drupal installation via your CPanel link to your "Domain manager" page.
    
    If, however, (against my recommendations) you want your first Drupal installation to be installed at the highest possible level on your website, then you want to leave the left field-box as it is displaying your default domain entrance point; and also, then, leave the right field-box blank.
    
    I recommend that you type any new name into the right field-box and that new sub-folder will be created, and Drupal will be installed in that new sub-folder on your site.
    
    For example, ###zzr_cjfr 2011.04.05 11:36-gmt
3. Step 2: Advanced Options. The advanced options are not showing, but I recommend you click the link "Click here to display>" and that will slightly expand the page down and show you the advanced options.
  
  That will give you the immediate ability to create your "master" name that you will use to loggin to your website. (also known as "user 1")
  
  Additionally, you will be able to create a password of your liking immediately instead of your getting a randomly generated password which is likely to be hard to remember although you could change it later anytime.
  
  Leave Un-Checked the box in front of "Generate a random Administrator username and password for me."
  
  Change the username to one you like using as little as only one character if you want.
  
  Type a password. The password I recommend be eight characters and can use either numbers or letters (If you use upper case-letter characters now, you must use upper-case letters when you loggin. You can also use the characters above the numbers "1" through "0", called "special characters" if you like.
  
  REMEMBER what your username is; and remember what your password is. If you do not remember them later when you try to loggin, you will Not be able to access your site.
  
  Essentially you can use the same 8-character password for everything you do on the internet since the chances of someone guessing it correctly is one out of over 200 billion; and that is just considering the 26-letter alphabet.
  
  I use only two 8-character passwords for everything. One I use for general public sites created by individuals like you and I. Public sites are not always as secure as those individuals would like them to be and occasionally their databases are compromised by hackers or disgruntled friends of those site's owner.
  
  The other 8-character password I use for my personal sites, since I trust myself, and I use it for my banking and other sites where my money is involved. Those sites I am confident are highly unlikely to ever be compromised.
  
  Some public and financial sites will require you to use at least one capital letter, at least two numbers; and on one occasion I was required to use a special character in addition to a capital letter and at least two numbers. I think it may have been BlueHost now that I think about it. And while I am on the subject, I know that BlueHost will not let you again use any password that you have used before if you ever change it to something else but that only applies to your master website account and has nothing to do with your Drupal site.
  
  If you want to be assured of never having to create a new passwords in your lifetime, design two 8 right now. One for you and your money and one for playing at public sites.
  
  For example:
  - Aqua22**
  - End(2011
  - 88*Great
  - Ace*High
  - &Now1234
  Be creative but make sure you remember them. I personally do not write them down because paper gets lost, and besides, I might be at home when I need my password.
4. Put a chek in the check-box for "I have read the terms and conditions of the GPLv2 license agreement".
5. Click the green "Complete" button.

You are now an expert at creating Drupal websites.

In the case of my webhost, I can create as many Drupal sites as I want.

I recommend you return to your webhost script tool page and create another site in a different folder, just for fun, and tell me how long it takes the next time you see me.