Thinking about the process of building a Drupal website-without knowing the true colors of the mountains, just because you are here

Using Drupal is essentially the same as using Drupal without it! Therefore, when using Drupal to create a new website, we always need to think about how we design and develop it without Drupal.

When Drupal is not used, we usually design and develop a website as follows:

1.Static Page design.It mainly includes three types of pages: Home Page, list page, and second-level content page. the creation process is generally: PS-> cut-> html/CSS/JS static pages. Generally, an excellent artist/front-end engineer can handle all this, such as our Xiaolu kids shoes.

2.Static Page Sorting/page layout sorting-block and split the code.During Self-Development (such as using PHP or ASP. net MVC Technology Development), we usually split the shared code into small files (or partialview, user control, etc ), HTML code such as banner and footer, and shared CSS and JS Code are split into small files for other pages to include.

When using ASP. net mvc technology for development, we will design one or more _ layout pages in the view so that these _ layout pages can be applied to subsequent development pages. Layout-"layout", "Framework", "Parent Board", and "template! Generally, we need at least one homepage layout and one level-2 layout.

Note: In a pure Static Page environment, we can use the jquerytechnology (for example, javas?divid=#.load({footer.html ") to load the shared HTML code pages on the page.

An ideal front-end engineer should also handle everything in this step, so Xiaolu kids shoes should be refueled!

3.Database Table design.The information to be dynamically released is designed as a data table, such as news, books, and enterprise information. manually enter some test data. (Data with complex business processes is not considered here)

4.Programming of dynamic content display pages.The dynamic content display pages, such as news lists and news content, are programmed based on data tables. Generally, the corresponding _ layout "layout template page" is automatically applied to these dynamic pages ".

5.Programming of the background management function.It is not the focus of this article. I will not go into details here.

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Drupal has the following advantages:High AbstractionAndSubstitutionProgramming, no programming is required! This works with someAutomatic Code Generation ToolEssentially, there is no difference, but it is more comprehensive and better than those tools in website construction!

From this perspective, when using Drupal to build a website, the previous steps 1st, 2, and 3 should be the same (infinitely similar ), steps 4th and 5 are configured in the Drupal background.

Of course, in light of Drupal's own characteristics, we will summarize the steps for using Drupal to build a website:

1.Static Page design. (Same as above)

2.Static Page Sorting/page layout sorting. (Same as above)

3.The static page layout is converted into a Drupal topic.Subtopics are generally created based on Zen themes. If Step 1 is done well, this step will be relatively easy! This step is actually the division and design process of the region/block in Drupal. How is it similar to Step 1!

4.Content type design (essentially equivalent to database table Design). Adding the corresponding content type and adding some content are equivalent to inputting some test data.

5.View Design.In Drupal, the concept of "View" is similar to that of "View" in databases. It can be understood as the list presentation of data in a data table. For the added content type (data table), add the corresponding views (data view) respectively, and the views are finally presented to the page in the form of blocks.

6.Block settings.Place the View Block or some static blocks in the appropriate area.

7.Set the background management function.Configure and open an appropriate account to the customer to manage the published content. There are also many beautiful third-party themes available for downloading in the Drupal background. The background management function is not studied in depth for the moment.

Note: For detailed website creation process of Drupal, see how to convert a common website to a Drupal website.

 

To sum up:

(1) Steps 5th, 6, and 7 are part of the replacement for manual programming. In particular, steps 5th and 6 can be understood as an automatic code generation tool.

(2) Pay special attention that 2nd steps must be done in place. Do not omit them! Don't rush to convert a Drupal topic without having a static page!

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Summary:

(1) Major splitting problems.We tend to ignore Step 1"Static Page sorting", And I think it is too complicated to convert a static website to a Drupal topic. The problem is often caused by a high degree of coupling in the implementation process, a large granularity of steps, and a huge step, it feels messy. If the process is organized in a clearer and more detailed manner, and the steps are smaller, the problem may not be so difficult to solve. Big problems can always be split into two smaller problems, which can always be split. If you have no clue about the problem, split the problem!

(2) Check the problem.Sometimes we can't see the nature of the problem. Just as we always want to solve all the problems with Drupal, It is confused by the powerful and numerous functions of Drupal. Put Drupal down and think about how we can do it without it, and then how we can do it. Shi Yun "does not know the true colors of the mountains, only because of the identity in the mountains", poetry cloud "not afraid of the clouds to cover the eyes, only because of the highest level ". If you can draw and stand above Lushan to see Lushan, You can naturally see clearly and clearly.

 

 

 

Xia chuntao

2014-07-31