Creating a Reusable Drupal Website for Higher Education - at USG Tech Day
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The document outlines the benefits and processes for creating reusable Drupal sites, highlighting ease of maintenance, training, and best practices. It emphasizes planning, the configuration of themes and modules, and the advantages of a multi-site setup. Additionally, it provides resources and details on upcoming Drupal trainings.
![FILE HIERARCHY
/sites/default
The default site that is served if no mapping is
specified
/sites/all
A shared directory that all sites will have access to
/sites/[sitename]
Site-specific files](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/drupal-reusable-site-presentation-april2017-170501162608/85/Creating-a-Reusable-Drupal-Website-for-Higher-Education-at-USG-Tech-Day-47-320.jpg)
Creating a Reusable Drupal Website for Higher Education - at USG Tech Day
- 1. Our expertise. Your digital DNA | evolvingweb.ca | @evolvingweb CREATING A RE-USABLE DRUPAL SITE For Higher-Education
- 2. SUZANNE DERGACHEVA • Drupal trainer • Co-founded Evolving Web in 2007 • Manage Drupal projects • Experienced site builder, themer, and developer • Follow me @suzanne_kennedy
- 3. Our expertise. Your digital DNA. .ca
- 4. WE MAKE DRUPAL WEBSITES FOR ALL TYPES OF CLIENTS
- 5. • Design & develop large-scale Drupal websites • Create flexible search interfaces • Content import and synchronization • Integration with external IT systems • Drupal training for individuals and teams WHAT WE DO
- 7. WHY CREATE A RE-USABLE SITE? • Easier to maintain • Less work to spin up a new site • Easier to train everyone • Best practices are reused by everyone • Easier to run updates for everyone at once
- 8. WHY CREATE A RE-USABLE SITE?
- 9. PROCESS TO CREATE A RE-USABLE SITE • Plan which configuration, themes, and modules will be part of your standard site • Plan which parts of the site will be able to change • Create sample sites with your standard install • Test & Iterate • Plan how you’re going to deploy your sites
- 10. HOW TO RE-USE A DRUPAL SITE • Copy/paste • Run a script • Create an install profile • Create a distribution • Set up a multi-site install
- 11. PLANNING YOUR SITE • Identify groups of sites (departments, research groups, administrative groups, labs, committees) • Consider making a separate standard site for each group • For each group, identify: • Common look and feel components (theme) • Content types and functionality (configuration) • Standard modules (modules in sites/ all) • Identify common deviations: • Theme variations (theme settings) • Variable configuration • Non-standard modules
- 12. CONFIGURATION
- 14. FIXED CONFIGURATION • Things that are identical for all sites: • Contexts • Views • Content Types • WYSIWYG profiles • Permissions
- 15. FLEXIBLE CONFIGURATION • Things that admins need to be able to change. • Set the defaults on install, but then expect them to change • Block Placement • Name of the site • Menu items • Theme settings
- 16. EXAMPLE: SOCIAL MEDIA BLOCK Add to Any block
- 17. EXAMPLE: MAIN MENU BLOCK Main Menu block
- 19. EXAMPLE: VIDEOS PAGE Video Content Type & Videos View
- 20. EXAMPLE: GLOBAL NEWS FEED Global News View Created by querying a json feed. There’s a module setting that will change per site
- 21. EXAMPLE: WYSIWYG
- 22. CREATING FLEXIBLE CONFIG • Drupal 7: • Default config that comes from an install profile, initial database, or script • Drupal 8: • Configuration Management (.yml files) • Track which configuration should change (modules like config_split or config_ignore)
- 23. CREATING FIXED CONFIG • Drupal 7: • Features • Drupal 8: • Features • Configuration Management (.yml files)
- 24. RE-USABLE THEMES
- 25. THEME SETTINGS • Use a single theme, but include variation • Banner height • Background image • Region placement • ‘Sub-title’
- 26. THEME VARIATIONS
- 28. MAIN THEME VS. SUB-THEMES
- 29. THEME SETTINGS • You might have some theme settings that you want to set in the install process: • Variable colour schemes • Banner image • Height of the banner section • Distinct themes for different use cases • Background images • Region placement
- 30. STYLE GUIDES! • Style guides for content • WYSIWYG Editor Format options • Use the styleguide module to anticipate content needs
- 31. STYLING VARIABLE CONFIG • Panels • Block placement • Out-of-control menu configuration • Webforms
- 32. HARD-CODED STUFF • Header/footer • Social Media links • Logo and branding • Breadcrumbs (what’s home?)
- 33. HOW TO CREATE A BUNCH OF SITES • Copy/paste • Run a script (write your own) • Create an install profile • Create a distribution (like an install profile) • Set up a multi-site install
- 34. CREATING AN INSTALL PROFILE
- 35. INSTALL PROFILE • Installs modules/themes by default • Creates sample content • Set variables • Allows admins to choose options • Creates consistent versions of the same site
- 36. BENEFITS • Deploying lots of similar websites • Be able to make changes to them quickly • Limit the variability between websites • Make it easier for content editors to get up and running
- 37. WHERE TO START? • Look at the minimal/standard install profiles in core • Your list of modules • Add custom modules and themes you’ve developed • Install your theme • Include the configuration you’ve developed (features or .yml files)
- 38. SELECTION
- 43. MULTI-SITE
- 44. MULTI-SITE…
- 46. MULTI-SITE sites/example.com/settings.php sites/example2.com/settings.php example.com example2.com
- 47. FILE HIERARCHY /sites/default The default site that is served if no mapping is specified /sites/all A shared directory that all sites will have access to /sites/[sitename] Site-specific files
- 48. MULTI-SITE PROBLEMS • Single point-of-failure • Errors across all sites • Performance issues across all sites • Running update.php simultaneously • Difficult to manage exceptions for unique sites (module and theme versions) • Difficult to test prior to upgrading
- 49. MULTI-SITE BENEFITS • Easier to upgrade code ONCE • Don’t have multiple codebases to maintain • Same documentation for everyone - how to do things • Easier to share best practices
- 50. COMPROMISE • Plan, plan, plan! If everyone is using one base, make it a good one • Use multi-site for very similar sites • Run unique sites separately • Use a tool to help manage your multi-sites
- 51. MUTLTI-SITE TOOLS • Aegir (aegirproject.org) • Pantheon • Acquia Site Factory • Build your own…
- 52. TOOLS FOR SUCCESS • Gather representative content to test your standard site • Create a migration to facilitate testing) • Create a list of sample URLs to test • Use a tool to track differences between sites when running security updates • Site Diff: https://github.com/evolvingweb/sitediff • Create standards • Content Style Guides • Design Style Guides
- 53. RESOURCES • https://evolvingweb.ca/blog/drupal-8-configuration- management-multi-site • https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/creating-distributions/how-to- write-a-drupal-7-installation-profile • https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/creating-distributions/how-to- write-a-drupal-8-installation-profile
- 54. UPCOMING DRUPAL TRAININGS • Content Strategy for Drupal - Online May 3-5 • Drupal 8 Theming - Online - May 8-12 • Introduction to Drupal 8 - Online - May 24-26 • Drupal 8 Module Development - Online - May 29 - June 2 • Drupal Essentials - Atlanta - June 12-13 • Drupal 8 Theming - Atlanta - October 10-11 • Drupal 8 Module Development - Atlanta - October 12-13