In this first step of the Learn Drupal Ladder we will install Drupal on our computer. This follows the instructions to Install Drupal locally on learndrupal.org. We start by getting and installing the Dev Desktop, which is an all-in-one web server which comes with Drupal 7. We then install our own Drupal 8 site in Dev Desktop.
If you do not wish to use Dev Desktop as your local web server, we have videos for three other web servers, based on operating system:
- Installing WampServer (for Windows)
- Installing MAMP web server (for Mac)
- Installing a web server on Ubuntu
Additional resources
More information on Development Environments
Drupal User Guide
GuideChapter 14: Final Thoughts
CourseThis guide was written, and is maintained, by Drupalize.Me. For more high quality written and video Drupal tutorials created by our team of experts, check out the collection of Drupalize.Me Guides.
What Is Drupal?
FreeTo learn more about how to get started with Drupal, also see our Introduction to Drupal guide.
In this lesson we take a look at Drupal, the open source Content Management System. We learn about the major components of a Drupal site and the library of constantly evolving tools available for working with Drupal. We find out how to see who uses it, by looking at DrupalShowcase.com and Drupal case studies on Drupal.org, among others. We look at Drupal's major features, such as Modules.
With this overview we have some context as we move forward into the series.
Additional resources
Before we jump into building our first Drupal 7 site, we should also take a look at the great resources you have out there to help you on your journey. Being an open source project, Drupal has an amazing community of people who have paved this road before you. In this lesson we're going to look at the free community resources that you can use to not only find answers to your questions, but also connect with thousands of people around the world who are working in the same space you are. -- We are going to take a tour of the communtiy documentation, various Drupal forums, project issue queues, where you can glean a lot of useful information and help, Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, for real-time collaboration, and getting in touch with user groups of like-minded people around the world.
Additional resources
Drupal.org Troubleshooting Guide
Drupal Answers on Stack Exchange
Drupal Groups Site (groups.drupal.org)
The Learn Drupal Ladder
CourseIn this series we introduce the Drupal Ladder project, and walk through the lessons in the Drupal Ladder.
In this video we'll be looking at some background on this project, and then we'll be looking at how you can actually get involved and progress to becoming a contributor yourself.
The Drupal Ladder Project was a community initiative that started in 2011. The purpose of the project was to get more people contributing to Drupal Core, by teaching people the skills that they need, exposing them to the tools that they need to use within the Drupal Community, and teaching people not just Drupal best practices in terms of code, but also how to actually interact and work with the community.
Additional resources
Install Git
FreeIn this video we walk through getting Git version control installed, and then show how to do a few basic things, including how to get a copy of the latest Drupal development code. This video follows the instructions found in the Install Git lesson on learndrupal.org.
This video is installing Git on Windows, because it has the most steps involved. Installation on Mac and Linux is very simple, in that they do not have a wizard to walk through, so they are not demonstrated. All commands used on the command line in the video work on Windows, Mac, and Linux, because Windows is using the Git Bash shell which is part of the Git installation.
Additional resources
In this step we turn our attention to Drupal.org and the community issue queue. This is where all of the active work for Drupal core takes place. We will look at the queue and create our issue to see how it works. This video follows the instructions for the Getting started in the issue queue lesson on learndrupal.org.
Test Patches
FreeIn this video we will walk through the process of testing existing patches in the Drupal.org issue queue. We will read an issue, download and apply the patch with Git, and then test it to see if it works. This video follows the instructions on the Test patches lesson on learndrupal.org.
The lines that I have in my .bash_profile (shown at the end of this video) to add the Git branch to my command line prompt is:
function parse_git_branch {
git branch --no-color 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
export PS1="\h:\W \u\$(parse_git_branch)\$ "
I'm using a Mac, so your mileage may vary on other systems.
Write a Patch
FreeIn this video we will write our own patch to resolve an issue. We will take a screenshot of the issue before and after our patch, and upload the images and patch to the Drupal.org issue queue. This video follows the instructions in the Write a patch lesson on drupalladder.org.
Drupal 7 co-maintainer Angie Byron gives a overview of some of the new Drupal 7 features, themes and user interface. She is joined by Nate Haug, Jeff Robbins, Jeff Eaton and Kent Bye who also provide a lot of insights through dynamic conversation, questions, and a fast-paced, hands-on tour of the major highlights of the new Drupal 7 release.
By far, the best way to keep up-to-date on which modules are the most useful, and to ensure that those modules do what you need, is to actually get directly involved and help. The Drupal community offers a myriad of ways for everyone, from the person who just installed Drupal for the first time yesterday to the person who has been coding since she was in diapers, to give something back. In this tutorial we'll look at all of these options and explain how you can dive in.
Additional resources
An overview of some of our favorite Drupal documentation resources.
The Drupal Community
TopicDrupal has an amazing community of people who create the software and help each other make the best use of it. This is one of the main benefits of using Drupal — and everyone should take advantage of that.
Contributing to Drupal
TopicAs an open source project, Drupal depends on community contributions in many forms including documentation, code, translation, speaking, organizing events, mentoring others, and even donating money.
Do you want to know how to contribute translations to Drupal core or other contributed modules and themes? Have you ever wondered how translations are managed in Drupal? It all happens in the community at localize.drupal.org. This tutorial gives a tour of localize.drupal.org and then teaches you how to join translation groups and contribute translated strings back to the Drupal community.
Additional resources
This tutorial teaches you everything you need to know about using the tutorials on Drupalize.Me.