Tutorials

Creating a custom home page in Drupal 7 using Views (part one)

by Liam McDermott, 23 June 2011 - 2:11am

Having installed Drupal, one of the first questions people ask is, ‘How do I change the home page?’ By default the front page of Drupal has a blog feel, with the latest posts shown in date order, but it does not have to be like this! These two articles will show how a front page can be customized using Views.

Get more sign-ups from Drupal 7: make ‘Create new account’ eye catching

by Liam McDermott, 16 May 2011 - 3:12pm

According to our analytics software between 60 and 70 percent of visitors going to the new user registration page on the Webmaster Forums do so by clicking the Create new account link in the user login block.

SSH: Allowing multiple users to edit the same files and directories (shared folders)

by Liam McDermott, 24 November 2010 - 9:00am

Often multiple users will need to have access to edit, delete and create files and folders on a server. To illustrate this we will use the example of two users who need access to the same files on a Web server.

SSH: Managing file permissions using CHMOD

by Megan McDermott, 17 November 2010 - 9:00am

When installing scripts on your website you will often be asked to change the permissions, or CHMOD (change mode). The instructions for doing this often include cryptic sets of numbers, such as chmod 775 There are actually two ways of setting permissions using chmod, using numbers or words. Use whichever method works best for you.

How to create a Drupal 6 theme from scratch

by Megan McDermott, 16 March 2010 - 4:38pm

Drupal theming can seem complicated and overwhelming. Even basic starter themes are filled with confusing PHP and convoluted CSS. What's a designer to do? Never fear, there is a simple way to create your own theme from scratch. This article will demonstrate a step-by-step process for creating your own Drupal theme, including a .info file, page template, regions, and CSS.

SSH: It's really not that scary

by Megan McDermott, 29 October 2009 - 12:50am

For a long time, I avoided using ssh. As a designer, I thought it would be too complicated and difficult to learn. As it turns out, I was wrong! For the most part, ssh (and the shell commands needed to perform tasks) isn't that difficult to do. Being able to use SSH will make it easier and faster for you to perform many common tasks on your web server. Even if you're on a shared hosting account, you may be able to access your website using SSH (check with your hosting provider to find out).

How to create a multi-column, widgitized footer for Wordpress

by Megan McDermott, 13 June 2009 - 7:14pm

Multi-column footers are a big trend in web design these days. It's a great way to provide more information and links to visitors without cluttering up the top part of your layout. On content pages, this information appears just when the user has finished reading your article, leading them to find more great content on your site and other ways to interact. This article will show you how to make a 3- 4- or more-column, widgitized footer in Wordpress.

How to automatically include your header, navigation, and footer on every page

by Greg Sanderson, 8 March 2009 - 5:28pm

Have you ever wondered how large websites handle those repetitve elements that appear on every page? The navigation menu, header, and footer usually stay the same on every page of a website. But what happens when you want to change something? Do you have to edit every page and change it separately?

PHP offers a wonderful method to resolve this with the include() statement.

How to Build a Home/Small Business Web Server in no Time

by Liam McDermott, 19 September 2008 - 10:45am

This article goes through a quick and easy process for building a home or small business web server. The finished server will have Web server software, PHP, Perl, Ruby, MySQL, PostgreSQL, quotas, e-mail server software, anti-spam and anti-virus software, and a lot more good stuff. To top it off it will have a Web based GUI to control it all. Read on to learn how.

How to Choose a Great Colour Scheme for Your Site

by Megan McDermott, 8 September 2008 - 1:52am

One of the most important parts of the initial design process is the choice of colour scheme. If your client or topic of interest already has a set of preferred colours, your choice is easy. However, there are many occasions where the choice is entirely up to you. For many people, deciding on the colours can be a difficult task. Armed with a little colour theory, some great online tools, and your own design sense, you can create attractive and unique colour schemes for your website designs. This article will show you how.