How to change the default Drupal theme?

The default Drupal installation comes with several themes which can be changed from your administration area. Log in as an administrator,click on Administer -> Appearance and choose which theme you want to use for your website.

How to install new Drupal themes?

Drupal keeps its skins in the themes subfolder. To install additional themes, you can get from the Drupal official theme resource. Extract the files under the themessubfolder. This can be done through cPane l -> FileManager.

If you don't have cPanel or you prefer using an FTPclient, you can extract the archived theme to your computer and then upload the theme's files to the themes folder in your Drupal installation directory.

You should now be able to see the theme at your Drupal Administration Area -> Appearance. Enable it and set it as default.

The Update t ab allows to view the outdated themes and get the new versions.

In the Settings section you can manage the global visualization settings for your web site. You can also overwrite them per each theme.

How to install/enable Drupal modules

You can enable/disable Drupal Modules from the Drupal Administration area -> Modules section.

The default installation of Drupal has many useful modules, and there is a brief description of what each one of the modules does. If you need more modules, you can freely download them from the Drupal Modules official website.

On your site, Drupal modules are stored in the modules subfolder within the Drupal installation directory. You can install additional modules by simply unzipping them in that folder. Alternatively, you can use the Install new module functionality.

How to install/enable the Nice Menus module?

We will demonstrate the module installation process in Drupal by installing the Nice Menus module.

Visit Drupal Modules website and find the Nice Menus module. Download the corresponding version to your local hard-drive. Then upload the archive in the modules folder of your Drupal installation and extract it.

Make sure its dependencies are enabled. Then enable the Nice Menus module and save the new configuration.

You can also check for the modules that need update in the Update tab.

The Uninstall section lists the disabled external modules that can be uninstalled from your system.

How to use Drupal?

In this tutorial we will show you the basic actions you need to take in order to start a new Drupal-powered website.

How to start a Drupal site?

All you need to do is sign up for a hosting account where you can have the Drupal application installed.  If you already have a hosting account and would like to change your host, we offer free website transfer of your Drupal site.

How to create new content?

In order to add content for your Drupal web site, you need to click on the Add content link under your administrator area.

• The Article option is suitable for a blog, news or other time-sensitive content.
• The Basic Page option allows you to create a static page;

Content Management

In order to manage the content structure elements of your Drupal web site, you need to navigate to the Structure section under your administrator area.

In the following lines we will give a brief description of the options under this section:

Blocks - This functionality allows to manage the content that will be visualized through blocks on the sidebars and other regions of the web site. The blocks can be situated on the themes regions through a drag-and-drop interface. They are configured separately per each theme due to the different visualization setup.

Content types - Manage content types, including default status, front page promotions, comment settings and more. You can include new content types besides Basic Page and Article.

Menus - Allows to add new menu, edit existing ones, manage them, list, add and reorganize the menu links. You can also define the menu sources.

Taxonomy - You can manage the tagging, the categorization and classification of your content.

How to Install Drupal On Your Hosting Account

In order to install the Drupal CMS application, please follow the step-by-step instructions below:

STEP 1Download the installation file from Drupal.org by choosing the latest stable version and clicking on the download link next to the package.

STEP 2Upload it in the public_html folder of your account. You can do that through an FTP client like FileZilla or via cPanel -> File Manager -> Upload file(s). This way, after the installation is completed, the script will appear once your write something like http://yourdomainname.com in your web browser. Or you can create a subfolder there and upload the file in it. The Drupal installation will be available at: http://yourdomainname.com/subfolder.

STEP 3Once you are in the File Manager, please navigate to the uploaded file and extract it by clicking on the Extract link. It will create a subfolder: drupal-x.x.x., where instead of x.x.x. is the current version. So you can move the files one level up in the desired directory. The other option is to extract the file in your computer and then to upload the content in the desired folder via FTP.

STEP 4Once the files are extracted in the desired folder, you should create a MySQL database for Drupal. You can do that from cPanel -> MySQL Databases. There you should create a database and add a user to it - click here to learn how to create a MySQL database and user.

STEP 5Navigate to the URL of your Drupal site and run the install.php file (for example http://yourdomainname.com/install.php). Pick the default profile option for your Drupal application.

STEP 6Pick the default language for the Drupal web site.

STEP 7Enter the database details for the database which you have created in Step 4. Click on the Save and continue button to continue.

STEP 8The installation procedure is finished. You will see the following screen:

Enter the site information and the administrative login details. Click on the Save and Continue button.

STEP 9Well done! The installation is completed and you can proceed to your web site.