I am trying what I was trying to find out about, and after many hours of searching, didn't find.
What it is like going from using regular HTML pages with some PHP applications and Javascript games to using Wordpress and later Drupal.
Background
First of all, I am not new to using the internet, computers or websites.
I made my first web page in 1995 or maybe 1994 on a free site. I used HTML and I coded it in a basic text editor. It had hyperlinks and photos and some profile info. It was on a university server.
After leaving the university I didn't really make an effort to have a website since for one hosting was very expensive and 2. I didn't have an internet connection at home. I did try once to have an Angelfire free site but the URL was so confusing I would keep forgetting to log in and I didn't bother giving it out so I forgot about it in only a few months.
I am as I said not new to computers. I first used them around 3rd grade. My parents bought an Apple IIgs when I was in either middle or high school (I can't remember), and I got my first computer, an Apple Powermac, when I was 18.
I even had two jobs in the computer industry more than a few years ago. I worked 18 months for Apple Computer when I lived in Austin Texas doing Technical Support. After that I worked for Dell Computer, now just Dell, doing technical support. First in telephone support, then in e-mail and internet based support and I finally got bored and quit and moved to Mexico City where I've lived since January, 2001. I've been teaching English as a second language. I also do the occasional Spanish-English translation.
I put up a website a year ago to promote my classes and mostly to have an e-mail address as a 'company' which I legal have, even if there are only 3 of us working. I have been using Dreamweaver as an editor along with free opensource applications I find and later adapt. So far it has worked well but I decided to make some changes.
1. Getting back to making a website
For a basic website a normal editor and HTML files along with a PHP send mail script are really perfectly adequate if not exciting, but over time things got difficult to update. In fact it was fun at first. I felt like a 18 year old again! :-)
Later It got frustrating. I eventually stopped using tables and started using CSS with DIVs. Keep in mind that CSS and DIVs didn't exist when I started. I now use CSS for everything. It does make things easier but not dynamic.
2. Website programming languages and their frustrations
I looked into Java, Javascript, and PHP but I really am not a programmer. If you don't make it perfect a PHP file just gives you a blank page! I don't see how checking for the missing quote or misspelled variable or extra bracket is supposed to be fun.
3. The need for more dynamic content that can be updated more quickly and easily
I really started to want something more dynamic
I noticed that we have CMS and LMS, and blogs... .whatever those are. I know that they existed but the first time I heard blog was around two years ago when once of my students asked what they were. I thought they were just glorified profile and picture pages for teenagers ... and I was right...
However I was also wrong. Blogs can also be independent programs used for many topics not only your rantings and trip journals but also news and review sites, etc.
4. Choosing Wordpress
I finally took the plunge only a few days ago and I decided to install Wordpress on my hosted server. I did it because I was posting updates to my website on a table which at first sounded good but really it became a pain. I'd have to add a row, type the date, save it and upload the file using FTP through Dreamweaver. First of all that is a slow process and second, it doesn't look very nice.
I thought I could do this with a blog!
5. Taking the blog plunge with Wordpress.... absolutely no regrets
So I had read up on different types of blogs. I knew I didn't want it to be hosted separately. I want to be in control and I want to be able to change the configuration as needed. I also didn't want to have to pay more for it since my funds are limited. I am very happy I went with Wordpress.
6. Wordpress is easy to install and configure. Use widgets to save time and write more!
Wordpress is easy to install and setup. You literally can be 'blogging' in minutes with only minimal configuration. The theme templates use CSS fil es, and there are lots of free themes available on the Wordpress website.
Wordpress also uses widgets. Widgets allow you to add special plug-in programs to modify the code and make it more dynamic. Widgets are great because it means you spend less time editing files and more time doing what you want to do.
It would have taken me all year programming to set up a working blog with many plug-ins in what took only a couple days using Wordpress. Best of all it is free! Using the blog I can post the 'updates' to my website and they automatically appear with the date and the category I choose.
7. Wordpress allows you to make 'pages' which you can link to your main page.
I noticed that you can also create 'pages' with static information and links which got me thinking.... If I can change the appearance, organize my pages, and make it more dynamic using Wordpress, why don't I see if I can do that for the rest of my site?
8. Wordpress has limitations, and other CMS, Content Management Systems, exist.
While I love Wordpress, I can see that it is limited when it comes to website development. I started looking into CMS, Content Management Systems (which also didn't exist years ago). I see that most people use either Joomla, Mambo, or Drupal. Yes, I know there is others, but if you use one that isn't popular, you'll have to wait longer to get updates and plug -ins supposing you get any at all.
9. Joomla, Mambo, and Drupal ... oh my!
I read that Joomla came from Mambo and that they are very similiar but that the new version is different. Unfortunately the 'new' version that is supposed to fix all the problems I kept reading about, is only in beta. That leaves me with Drupal. Who names these things?
10. Joomla will have to wait since it is still in beta.
I really wasn't convinced by what I read online either. It really sounds like the developers don't care. There isn't a plug-in for integrating it with Wordpress either. I did read it is flexible and small and like Joomla there are many plug-ins. I can try Joomla CMS when the 'new' version is finally released.
The installation
1. Drupal installed using Fantastico
I used the fantastico installer provided by my webhost and it went well. I did have to download the update from the Drupal website and ran the upgrade.php as instructed. This is because the fantastic installer was one minor version off.
2. Minor upgrade and modules were installed.
The minor upgrade went without a problem.
I made sure I could log in and then started looking at the different modules (plug-ins) available for download.
I saw the ones I needed. I needed one for paypal, for donations and for translation payments. I needed one for google adsense to more easily work with that and I needed one for Amazon since I love reading.
I still have to test those to make sure they work. I'll let you know in another post how they go.
The modules seemed to more or less install and I went on to looking for themes. Those seemed to install ok too.
3. The lack of Drupal themes
There aren't many themes if your compare Drupal with Wordpress.
I couldn't really find a theme that I liked much for Drupal whereas Wordpress has many wonderful themes to choose from. I want my blog and my website content to match even if they aren't integrated.
4. Chosen theme doesn't match but at least the colors do ... for now.
I picked one theme I had installed and stared playing with the CSS using Dreamweaver and I changed the colors to match a blog for the same site. The Theme's layout doesn't match at all. Only the colors match.
I edited the pictures to make a custom picture for the name of the site.
5. Which site is being used for the Drupal test?
I forgot to mention that I am testing Drupal on my new page http://crucialbusiness.com
Don't bother going there yet (if you aren't already) . I'm currently only using it for testing blog plug-ins and Drupal.
If it works, I will configure it Drupal for use on my main website which is http://portallanguageservices.com
which has activities for helping people learn and practice English.
6. Drupal's administrative panel is not very intuitive compared to wordpress.
One thing I don't like is the way you manage Drupal. While Wordpress has an intuitive administration panel that is very fast. I found Drupal's administrative options to be unorganized and unintuitive. It was like going from A Macintosh to IBM compatible computer all over again.
7. Adding links and categories is much more complicated using Drupal compared to Wordpress
While it is very simple to add a link or page to Wordpress I saw that I had to choose more options to add a link to Drupal.
What link? I linked The blog to the Drupal page. I will have to do the same later in Wordpress.
I noticed that Drupal doesn't have a WYSIWYG editor. What is the point of using it if I still have to edit my pages in Dreamweaver?
There was a module for installing one but It seemed awfully silly that one wasn't already integrated.
This message was written originally using Drupal's blog option but I copy/pasted it to my Wordpress install since I actually know how it works :-)
I couldn't find a way to put in categories for the article in Drupal while Wordpress made it easy to add Drupal as a category.
No comments:
Post a Comment