In order to supply content to the average website, experienced web designers need to code it from the ground up and test to see if it is working. With the exception of site creation wizards, just about all of the standard websites require manual editing for content to be added. Even if a template is used to make things easier, you still need to fill it with content and that means more coding or using a webpage editor.

Not everyone knows how to do this even if the one wanting to host the website has the necessary webpage creation tools installed in their computer. Hiring a professional or web design company is the only option, but that costs money and whenever updates are needed, they need to be contacted again unless a content management system is used instead. A content management system (CMS) provides an interface for users who do not know how to edit websites to add, remove, and edit content in their website easily.

The Existence of Drupal

This is where Drupal comes into the picture because Drupal is one of the earliest content management systems available for free. Because custom content management systems can take time to develop, Drupal gained a lot of attention in the web community and evolved into one of the most reliable packages out there. It is written in PHP so it can be used in different platforms for easy deployment.

The Main Features of Drupal

In addition to the standard features of an ordinary CMS, Drupal has its own registration system where users can have their own individual user accounts that the administrator can manage. Similar to a forum, administrators of a Drupal powered site can give special privileges to users such as access to areas that are not viewable by public. RSS feeds are supported as well making it ideal for setting it a news portal or blogging site. There are some forum capabilities as well so there is no need to install a separate forum solution. All of these elements can be set up without any knowledge in programming or web design.

Drupal’s default layout is nice, but the different themes that are offered in the Drupal site can also be used to give any site some taste. There are also a number of modules that can be hooked on to Drupal to add new features for special purposes.

The System Requirements of Drupal

Because Drupal is written in PHP, your webhost must have at least PHP version 4.3.5 although version 5.2 is recommended. The latest version – Drupal 6 requires MySQL 4.1 or greater and Apache web server 1.3 or Microsoft IIS 5 or 6 must be present.

If your host meets those requirements, you should be able to install Drupal on any webhost by following the instructions on their website.

This guide is made to make things a bit easier so you have a single reference to look to. It also highlights an easier method if your host supports it.

The Easy Method

Some web hosting providers like Media Temple and HostUpon have what is called a “One Click Install”. As the name implies, all it takes is a single click to install the entire Drupal website so you can proceed in adding content to your site and setting it up for public launch. This means that you don’t have to do any steps like downloading Drupal, setting up an FTP account to upload the files, creating a MySQL database, and going through the wizard.

While this is a great method for people that want to rush a Drupal site, there are a few things that you should know before choosing this option. First of all, check the version of the Drupal that is offered on your web host and then head to Drupal’s homepage – http://drupal.org and see if the version matches. If there is a minor difference in the version number, see the change log and check if the update is critical. If it is, download the latest version instead and use the standard method because the one click install version may not be upgradable. Contact your host to make sure because they might consider updating their one click install to the latest version so you can install it immediately.

Some one click install methods disallow the editing of any files so installing new templates and extensions may not be possible. On the upside, the one click install may have a large selection of different templates that you can use so you don’t have to look anywhere else. There is also no risk in doing this method and if ever you aren’t satisfied with the limitations, you can easily uninstall Drupal and try the regular method.

The Regular Method

Installing Drupal the ordinary way should work on any host as long as the server requirements are met. Check any of the support, FAQ, or help pages for information regarding your server statistics. Then see if it meets the requirements provided below:

• Apache 1.3/2.x or Microsoft IIS 5/6

• PHP 4.3.5 and above (not supported for Drupal 7) or PHP 5.2 and above

• MySQL 4.1 (not supported for Drupal 7) and above or MySQL 5.0

For better chances of a smoother installation, check your php.ini file and make sure that the register_globals value is set to off and the safe_mode value set to off as well. Also, make an empty MySQL table because that will be used in installation too.

Once you are certain that your host supports Drupal, download the latest version at Drupal’s download page if you haven’t done so yet and then extract the files to a temporary folder (preferably your desktop) using a compression software like WinZip or WinRAR. Before you upload the files to your host, go to the “sites” folder inside the folder where you extracted the Drupal package and then open the “default” folder. You should see a file named “default.settings.php”. Make a duplicate of that file (copy/paste on the same location) and then rename the file to “settings.php” This file will be read during installation. If you miss this step, you should be reminded to do it anyway.

After that, upload all the files via FTP to your root folder if you planning to set up a portal or any other folder if you have a different homepage set. Then simply enter the address of your Drupal installation and you should see the install wizard.

If you did all the preparation steps, you should be able to go through the wizard easily and proceed to setting up your content. If you still have problems, there are a ton of resources located at Drupal’s help page at http://drupal.org/getting-started/install.