For the past 3 years I have been a PHP developer writing and creating websites in a "Vanilla" fashion (no CMS). When I created or altered a site I would write my own html, php, css and js files. I just started a job this week as a web developer at a small company that exclusively uses Drupal7/8 and Wordpress.
I was assigned, what in my mind is a simple task, of creating a landing page with a carousel and a form on it. In my past vanilla life this would take me all of two hours to have it live. This site however was created in Drupal 7 by a developer no longer at the company.
I have been through both Lynda.com courses on Drupal 7&8 development and have a good grasp on the concepts, but still don't know where to even begin.
Is there anyone out there who has come from a similar background of web development outside of a CMS and has since moved into it that can give me some advice on where to begin?
Thanks!
I followed the step in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsLA7n9fknc
and here was the output I got on the page:
here
You should try to install and use drupal contrib modules to create the carousel and the form, for example:
Create a view with Views Slideshow module, you could start following this example:
https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/modules/views-slideshow/creating-a-slideshow
Use the webform module to create a simple form, please see the following tutorial: https://www.ostraining.com/blog/drupal/webform-module
Related
I have a webapp that I created using OnsenUI and hosted on AWS. My company website is based on WordPress and now I would like to combine the two, if you will, to use one domain. That would require me to somehow transfer my webapp, if possible, or at least the html files and all required libraries/files (CSS, JS, etc.) to my WordPress site - NOT replacing current Wordpress site, just wanting to add the webapp as a page. The motivation behind moving the webapp to WordPress is so that I am able to implement a paywall. Any suggestions? I’ve never programmed in PHP and overall still a novice with WordPress. Please help, pretty much at end of rope.
I'm trying to integrate a web conferencing tool, called Big Blue Button into my drupal website. I have downloaded a php script that will allow integration between my site and the Big Blue Button API.
In the readme, it says 'stick the entire directory into somewhere that can host php'. So the directory includes, for example, 'index.php', 'assets', 'css' and a few other files. So were do I put this and how can I access this Big Blue Button from a new page on my website? In my drupal folder, I have lots of different folders such as 'modules', 'profiles', 'sites' etc.
Can anyone help me to get this working?
Thanks
I would advise you to do it the Drupal way, i.e., create a custom module. If you're developing with Drupal, you may as well learn to do this.
You will find a lot of free Drupal tutorials here:
http://codekarate.com/daily-dose-of-drupal
Creating a single page is fairly easy. You will need to look at hook_menu. Download the examples module and look at the Menu examples go create a simple page.
Create a subfolder in your custom module to hold the Big Blue Button files and try calling your php script from your menu callback function.
If you've never done this sort of thing, it may seem daunting at first, but have a try & you will find out it's not that difficult.
I would first try putting the entire folder on the same level as the Drupal folder, not within.
you need to create a page w/in Drupal and then link to the index.php of the tool.
That's the kind of thing I have done before, though not with this specific tool... in other words, I just used an iframe to pull it in. That or I've just opened it up in another window.
Integrating actually 'within' Drupal would take more and be creating a custom module which, judging from your question is probably more than you want or can do at this moment.
Try pulling it into an iframe... or possibly loading that index.php into a div via jquery using load().....there may be a newer method but have a look.
My questions about Wordpress
From what I can gather, Wordpress is fast becoming the norm for building content managed websites. Up until now, I have used my own CMS systems to allow my clients to manage their sites content etc. However, I was recently asked to build a Wordpress driven website, and as the client insisted on using Wordpress, I subsequently lost the contract...
Resultantly, I am very keen to learn how to build and program a Wordpress site from scratch. I am not interested in templates provided when you install Wordpress on your server, I am only interested in building a fully bespoke website, with the ability to update the content using the Wordpress management engine.
I therefore have the following questions with regards to how Wordpress works (I am completely new to this).
Can I build a completely bespoke designed website and have Wordpress manage the content?
Are there any limitations to using Wordpress to manage the content?
Can I specify which content is editable?
Are there any 'from the ground up' tutorials on starting to build bespoke Wordpress driven websites?
Where can I find the documentation for the Wordpress API (if there is one)?
Do I install Wordpress in the same way that I would if I was using the built in template engine? In other words, do I still install Wordpress as a package in Plesk for the particular domain?
Does the code have to be in a specific format, or structure?
I effectively would like to find (or be pointed to) an article that clearly explains how Wordpress works and how advanced web developers can make the most of it.
I appreciate that this question is not really related to programming, if it needs to be moved then please advise as to where I can re-post it.
My Research
I appreciate that the answers to these questions will be located somewhere on the web, but thus far, I have been unable to find any really helpful tutorials on this specific topic.
I have read through pages such as the following, and whilst they were helpful, they do not really explain 'in brief' what Wordpress is and how it can be manipulated:
Where to start
Features and Functions
I below is my answer.
Can I build a completely bespoke designed website and have Wordpress manage the content?
Yes you can. Here you can find some sites that are built on wordpress. You can get an idea of what kind of stuff can be done.
http://designwoop.com/2011/12/best-wordpress-themes-of-the-year-2011/
http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2012/07/wordpress-websites-examples.html
Are there any limitations to using Wordpress to manage the content?
According to my experience building wordpress websites, plugins and widgets, I would say you will rarely come across where you want to do something and you can't. If you know well enough php and understand OOP you can basically build whatever you want. In fact there are so many plugins that most of the time you could even get away with not writing anything (in your case this is irrelevant as you want to learn).
Can I specify which content is editable?
Yes. Other wise there is no point of using any CMS. I am sure this would be the most basic feature of any CMS out there.
Are there any 'from the ground up' tutorials on starting to build bespoke Wordpress driven websites?
Here are few tutorials you can start with.
nettuts
css-tricks
wptuts
And of course the best way to learn is the starter theme that comes as default with wordpress installation. You can find more themes here.
Where can I find the documentation for the Wordpress API (if there
is one)?
The wordpress documentation is quite detailed covers most of the things. While learning or even further this will be your best resource. I usually tend to read the code itself if I want to know how the function works and other details which of course documentation won't cover.
Do I install Wordpress in the same way that I would if I was using
the built in template engine? In other words, do I still install
Wordpress as a package in Plesk for the particular domain?
Installing wordpress is as simple as copying it to your server and accessing it via the browser. You will get on screen step by step instruction. It could not be easier than that. And if somehow you got stuck, there are hundreds of tutorial online or you can visit the wordpress codex site.
Does the code have to be in a specific format, or structure?
Of course you would be following the wordpress coding style (not necessary for but recommended for sake of being consistent). Depending on your skill level you will fairly pick up the standards.
If you are building plugins or widgets, which I assume if you want to build sophisticated websites, you must follow the coding standards.
By the sounds of it, you need to learn about writing a theme from scratch. A Wordpress theme gives you absolute control over the HTML that's outputted by the engine. You can therefore customise your site to look however you want it to look. My company website, tec20, was designed this way without any themes used from wordpress.com. Obviously the themes are aimed at writing blog sites, but you don't have to include any of the commenting hooks, for example.
These tutorials may help:
http://rockablethemes.com/wordpress-themes-tutorials/
We have a website containing a page http://www.openehr.org/downloads/modellingtools whose link "Download and Help Pages" in the first table row just goes to more PHP content - the documentation of a tool, in the same visual style as the main website, including top panel, menu and bottom menu.
Ideally this sub-tree of pages for the tool would live in the GitHub repo for that tool (rather than being directly part of the website), and the main website would proxy the content from GitHub - that way we would achieve two goals:
tool doc is maintained by those who work on the tool
but it is visually integrated into the central website.
I've messed around with various Apache proxy & rewrite rules on the main site server to do this, but no luck so far. I can't be the only one who wants to do this, so hopefully there is a known strategy out there.
We're planning on setting up a website for student group - most of the content is fairly static but certain portions such as events and members would turn up from the database. I've never worked with PHP much, and was wondering would a CMS system like Drupal or PHP Nuke be appropriate for this kinda work?
Is there anything else that would allow me to go about creating a template and then reusing it across the website?
Drupal would be a very good choice for this. It has its learning curve, - anything you choose will. But eventually the light bulb will go off and you'll see how logically its organized and how flexible it is to extend.
And there are vast resources available to help you get up to speed quick. Tutorials and videos touching all angles of how Drupal works. And then there are uncountable quantity of themes, hundreds of add-on modules of every kind.
With a handful of additional modules added to the core distribution (cck certainly, maybe views and taxonomy too) you can configure basically everything and not ever touch a line of PHP code.
It is extremely simple to install and get started with. I have both Drupal 5 and 6 running under xampplite on a lil MSI netbook! .. Downoad and be up and running in under 15 mins.
You can try out all of the CMS available # http://php.opensourcecms.com.
I've never used PHP Nuke before, but Drupal can easily do the job.
Check out the Calendar module in Drupal for the event function.
Try out Joomla! works the best not just in content management but also theres extensions that you can use to allow users to book meetings and schedule events. Easy and simple.
Try out the +Joomla! instalation and hosting and just worrie about contents! They will put the rest working for you for super cheap price.
I recommend Joomla 1.5. It is easy to use and tons of resources on the web. Good for newbie.