FREE Introduction to Drupal Workshop by Exaltation of Larks

What is Drupal? For large and complex websites, nothing beats it! Where do you start? What is the best way to organize your project to get the best chance of success?

This workshop will help you turn your ideas into a concrete todo list — whether you're building the site yourself, handing it off to a developer to build, or something in-between.

At this workshop, you'll have access to Drupal experts at Exaltation of Larks (http://www.larks.la/) — a Drupal design and engineering firm with a team of experts in Los Angeles — learn about Drupal and have a fun day!

This is the perfect workshop for you if:

• You're new to using Drupal and need a jumpstart in planning a large project

• You're investigating Drupal's viability for your next project

• You're wondering whether to invest time in learning Drupal

• You don't have the time to learn Drupal but will be involved in a Drupal project

Registration

Registration is required. Sign up at http://www.larks.la/training to register and receive additional venue and parking information.

Be sure to arrive early to give yourself enough time to park, pick a seat, etc. We begin promptly at 12pm.

Classroom space is limited, so sign up early.

Pricing

This workshop is FREE! Register at https://www.larks.la/training to get started.

To make a donation to Droplabs (http://droplabs.net/), a learning community that provides low- to no-cost training, mentorship and entrepreneurship services, you may RSVP here on this event page ($45 suggested donation) or make a donation in any amount at http://droplabs.net/donations

What to Bring

This is a lunch and learn-style workshop. Come during lunch and learn about Drupal! You don't need to bring a computer unless you need it to take notes. Bring lunch!

Prerequisites

• An active interest in learning about Drupal;

• A basic understanding of the Internet and familiarity with how websites function;

• A conceptual understanding of Content Management Systems (CMS), HTML and CSS is beneficial (but not required).

What we've covered in the past based on the interest of our attendees

• When and why to use Drupal;

• Considerations when starting a Drupal project and how to organize your project;

• The basics of Drupal, from content management to membership ("user") management;

• An introduction to databases and queries;

• How to organize your site using Drupal Content Types, Taxonomy and Views;

• How to turn ideas for features and functionality into achievable tasks using user stories and use cases;

• Which tasks are crucial for a successful Drupal website and how to organize them;

• How to choose the right Drupal version and modules for your project;

• The basics of web hosting and getting Drupal running on your own computer;

• How to connect with the Drupal community, its meetups, conferences and job fairs and online discussion forums and chat rooms.

General Outline

Hour 1:

What is Drupal?

Terminology

Pages — it's a metaphor

Blocks Regions

Themes

Users

• UID / usernames

• Roles

• Permissions

Functionality

Modules

• Drupal core vs. modules

• Popular modules

• Views

Navigation - Menus Taxonomy

Best Practices

Hour 2:

Organizing your Drupal site

Wireframes? Not at first.

User Stories - think in workflows. This is dynamic!

Design thinking

Lifecycle of a site build

• Site definition and discovery

• Project plan

• Agile development

• MVP

Organizing your todo list

User stories

Content types

Views

Other functionality

Best Practices

Where to get help

Hour 3:

Hosting

Deployment strategies

Backup Strategies

Running your Business on Drupal