David Slack - Web developer

Latest content

Modules

First we'll download the modules for images:

php.ini

Chances are your hosing wont be exactly right for what you want, but that OK, you have the power to change it with php.ini...usualy!

Suggested Terms

Suggested Terms module will suggest terms that have been used before. Very helpful for keeping content linked up because any content with the same term is linked via the taxonomy (think of taxonomy as categories).

Install in the usual way

To configure log in to your website and go to admin

Image modules

If you've followed the tutorials you'll know IMCE is great for adding images to content, but what about an image that 'represents' a piece of content?

For example your user will upload an image and we have to make sure it is a nice large image, say a width of between 1000px and 2000px (if you don't know what a px is read on). From that we need to create 3 images

  • one at 600px width by 300px height for the main image
  • one at 950px width with any height for the full size image
  • one at 200px width by 200px height for the teaser image

WYSIWYG Module

WYSIWYG stands for 'What You See Is What You Get' and is basicly an interface for content that looks like Microsoft Word with bold, left align, Centre, etc, etc. This is great for formatting pages but can be a nightmare for security. Read on for how to set it up securely.

Modules

First install these modules (Click here for instructions on installing the module)

CCK Module

CCK stands for Contact Construction Kit and with it you can add new 'parts' into your content and display them.

Views Module

The first module to install is the Views module. This module will give you access to almost all of the DB through a front end and will output the results to a page formated as a table, list, divs, slidshow or many other things. So, if you want all the page titles and images on yours site, that are published and sticky at the top of lists output as a slide show then Views is what you need.

Backup your website

To backup, if you're on cPanel login

  1. Click Backups
  2. Click 'Download or Generate a Full Website Backup'
  3. Under backup Destination select Home Directory
  4. Make sure your email address is in the email address box if you want to know when it's done
  5. Click Generate backup

Installing a module

To install a module down-load it from drupal, upload it to your server, un-tar, then enable it. But, before you do this BACKUP! this can break your website.

To install a module:

Modules

We need a bit more power in our new website, so lets add some with the modules that come with Drupal.

A module in drupal is a bunch of files that change and add to the DB as well as adding new functions. They add new admin settings, new permissions and all sorts of other things. Adding user modules should be done with the greatest care as one bad user module can completely destroy your website! So before adding in user created modules you should always backup.

However, installing modules that come with the distribution is a simple, safe procedure so we'll add some now.

Admin

The first thing your going to want to do is to check your admin page, on the left hand side is a link saying 'Administrator', click that. You can read all the info that goes with each item (and probably should) but for now we want to check everything on the installation is ok. Click hide descriptions at the top left to hide the descriptions. On the bottom left click Status report and look for anything in red or yellow. Any problems are usually due to folder permissions not being correct.

Installation

At this point you should have all the files in place, the DB created with a user that can access it all and the DB connected to the files. If you've done this correctly you should be able to install Drupal on your hosting. To do this go to install.php in your browser eg www.example.com/install.php

You will see a screen asking you to choose your language if all is well, if you don't see this then redo the steps above or leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.

Link the Files and DB

Now you have the files and a DB you need to 'link them up'. To do this Drupal has a php page for the settings to edit. If you don't have cPanel copy default.settings.php to settings.php and edit it.

If you have cPanel open it up and log in

Database

Now you have all the files you need in the correct place you need to create a database (DB) to hold all the data. If you don't have cPanel create your DB and make a note of the DB name, username and password. If you have cPanel open it up and log in

Files

Now, if you've not followed along and don't have hosting from Dataflame you may not be using cPanel. If this is the case upload the tar.gz of drupal, untar it and make sure the files are in the host dir with wichever way you choose.

If You have cPanel open it up and login

Multi currency (multilingual ubercart)

If you have eCommerce and have translated your content you'll want to use multi currencies, using Drupal with Ubercart you're out of luck!

I've been looking for a way of making it so if a customer clicks on a flag everything translates AND the currency changes to their country's currency. The customer will then add everything to their basket and checkout. When the customer gets to Paypal, Worldpay, Google Checkout, etc they are charged in their own currency. Simple, but nothing works like this yet.

Content translation (multilingual)

Every page must be translated into every language you want to use on your site, so if you want French, German and Spanish translations that is 4 pages for every page of content on your website. That can't be bad for SEO!

User interface (UI) Translation (multilingual)

We can now start the actual translation of the website, finally!

Open up a translation website like http://translate.google.com in another tab. We know you can speak fluent languages but this site will help you check everything. NB Don't rely on this because the grammar will not be correct!

To translate the rest of the UI:

Taxonomy (multilingual)

Lets get the Taxonomy the way you want for translation. Go to www.example.com/admin/content/taxonomy and edit each Vocab one at a time and select 'Per language terms. Different terms will be allowed for each language and they can be translated.' and save. This should stop pages 'conecting' with pages from other languages, but does mean all your terms will have to be done separately for each Taxonomy

If your menu system or catalogue relies on taxonomy then you will have to recreate all the terms in each language or you wont be able to select anything when you create content.

Add a language (multilingual)

That should be everything set for your translations so lets add in the German language and start the translation

  1. Go to www.example.com/admin/settings/language/add
  2. Under 'Language name:' select German and hit [Add language]
  3. This will import all the translations and add the flag into the language block
    Might take a while so maybe have a coffee at this point

You will notice if you click the German flag lots of the site will be translated but the content is still in English and so is the Taxonomy and bits of the UI (User Interface).

Pages

Latest content

There are lots of developers out there with varying degrees of experience and expertise, some mid level, some junior and some senior. Some...
First thoughts are Symfony is ace!Only been using Symfony for 1 project but the amount of coding it has saved has been worth the time spent...
The Lost and Found website was built by myself (David Slack) and designed by Arm & Eye.The site was created to promote a bar and...

Social networks

Contact me here or catch me on one of
the social networks below


What I'm listening to

My blog

Wednesday, 2 August, 2017 - 06:56
There are lots of developers out there with varying degrees of experience and expertise, some mid level, some junior and some senior. Some developers...
Tuesday, 5 March, 2013 - 09:49
First thoughts are Symfony is ace!Only been using Symfony for 1 project but the amount of coding it has saved has been worth the time spent learning...
Monday, 3 December, 2012 - 10:07
As a web developer and web designer I need to take into account everything on a site from SEO, marketing, usability across devices, the look and feel...

Try this on your mobile

Use your QR reader to read this

You should be able to use this right from the screen

Latest tweets

Calendar

M T W T F S S
 
 
 
 
1
 
2
 
3
 
4
 
5
 
6
 
7
 
8
 
9
 
10
 
11
 
12
 
13
 
14
 
15
 
16
 
17
 
18
 
19
 
20
 
21
 
22
 
23
 
24
 
25
 
26
 
27
 
28
 
29
 
30
 
31
 

You are here

Back to top

Copyright David Slack - Web developer