Hi, my name is Steve Todd [more about me] and you've reached my website. Here, I plan to provide details regarding some of my development interests. It will include a lot of "this is how I actually did it" items, as I've found these very useful. The web is full of folks with loud opinions about how things "should" be done, but I'll go with actual experience every time.
Below, I list some of the sites I've created recently. All of them have a few things in common:
- Drupal-6-based (with CCK, Views, TinyTinyMCE, IMCE, Backup/Migrate, Taxonomy....)
- Selected themes should have Suckerfish or CSS-based dropdown menus
- Configured for simple maintenance and addition of content pages and menus by non-technical content editors.
- Automated daily backup of Drupal content and files using Backup/Migrate and Backup/Migrate Files, pointed to a separate server.
- Carefully configured TinyTinyMCE and IMCE, plus my custom Image_Caption_Lightbox module, to greatly simplify the insertion of images complete with auto-captions and Lightbox feature. (such as the thumbnails on this site). The user uploads an image using the wizard, checking the box for desired thumbnail size, then selects the correct class and the rest is automatic.
- "Structural" items (themes, modules, custom code) are maintained by myself, lowering the entry point for the admins and content editors.
- I pay careful attention to making these sites search engine friendly (SEO) by using PathAuto, XMLSiteMap, and by using Google's webmaster tools to verify Google "likes" the site, and to find searches that do NOT result in visits.
- I use Google Analytics extensively to analyze the actual hits and traffic patterns (using the Google Analytics module).
- I tweak the selected themes using a site and theme-specific custom module, which loads a custom stylesheet to override CSS as needed. For more about this, see my how-to page with actual code to use as an example.
- I create a few key graphics (logo, buttons, etc.) using The Gimp. I am not an artist, but I am able to recreate things seen on other sites effectively.
- All colors on a site should work "together". Here is a very useful site with color tools and theory.
- When possible, I like to get a "real" artist to create a banner for a site. I then pick colors from that banner to use throughout.
To setup a new Drupal site, I have a standard "template" site that I backup, then restore to the new site. I then adjust the site name and setup a new theme and I'm in business. I copy the custom sitehelper module and its associated override CSS and enable for the new site.
The template features a "Content Editor" role that allows those users to create and maintain all content pages, menus and blocks, without getting them involved in the "structure" of the site. I create a required "Site Section" taxonomy and create a view for each section, that forms the primary menu. The users just assign the appropriate category and the pages show up in the view. Really simple but effective.
If you'd like more details, just contact me using the link at the bottom of this page.
If you're new to Drupal, here are some thoughts on getting started.
Note: this site features the Plutado Green theme, and is currently hosted on a "free tier" Amazon EC2 instance, created from a Bitnami EBS-backed image.