6 Tips for Drupal Beginner

inShare One can say that Drupal is flexible and sophisticated, safe and fast. Many people admire it, but not all choose to implement it in their projects. To achieve performance the developer will have to work hard. So take into account the following tips that will help you to conquer Drupal. Tip #1: Each Drupal to Each Project Drupal is suitable not only for web-sites construction, but also for web-applications development. These applications are often developed for internal use. Such projects have very different requirements and a typical Drupal may not be enough. One can advise BrainstormBlogger and Open Atrium alternative versions. Tip #2: Log in using OpenID Websites with their own system of authorization are losing their primacy. It will raise the usability of your website if it supports OpenID, so that users can enter a single username / password for authorization on various websites, including yours. Tip #3: Select advanced template systems Unfortunately, by default Drupal uses its own template system, but you can easily connect another one. One of the best template systems for PHP is Smarty. The main of its advantages are flexibility, convenience and greater opportunities. Tip #4: Where to start construction of the first Drupal theme? Theming is one of the most complex and confusing things. To make development more smoothly you should: Read manuals; Study the Zen theme. All themes’ code is well commented and it is a pleasure to work with it. Tip #5: Initial optimization Drupal is fast, but if it is possible to speed up things, it should be done. Drupal optimization process can be divided into three groups: Basic. The first thing to start optimization is to enable cache. It’s better to choose a “normal” mode. This is the best mode for a website with a large number of registered users. Extended. For Drupal specific modules have been developed which can enhance the overall performance of the system (for example, through advanced caching). You can also learn our Tips to Improve Drupal Performance. Server. Server optimization means setting of the server components interacting with Drupal. Settings of PHP are the most important ones. The php_value memory_ limit directive is particularly important for Drupal. It is responsible for the amount of memory allocated for the script. Tip #6: Load Testing It is desirable to spend time on load testing at once and determine any possible failures on the early stages. To conduct these tests proved popular service loadimpact. Conclusion Drupal is not the easiest CMS, which can be set up with a few mouse clicks. To make the most of Drupal and pick up an unusual project will cause trouble. However, after the first successful project Drupal would not seem so scary and strange.