The Drupal Cookbook (for beginners)
http://drupal.org/book/export/html/120612
As for making Drupal easier and more logical, you're welcome to submit feature requests or explain why something is not done in the most logical manner. But don't demand it, or threaten to abandon Drupal if you don't get it your way. And certainly don't resort to name calling or derogatory comments.
A. Getting Started There are a number of ways to set up a test environment on your own local computer. Numerous applications and tutorials for a variety of operating systems are located in the Setting up a development environment section of the handbook. Reasons to run a local development server: Developing locally allows you to work when not online. Getting your local server running, even if it is with a simple installation like WAMP, will help you start thinking in terms of server processes and databases. As you get deeper into Drupal that knowledge will pay off. Everything you put on the web is searched, archived and hangs around for a long time. Do you want your inevitable learning mistakes displayed for the world to see on Google? This tutorial uses the example of building a site on a PC with Windows using the DeveloperSide.net package. This package has already integrated the following things: Apache 2.2 HTTP Server MySQL 5.0 Database PHP 5.2 and Perl 5.8 Scripting Languages GUI WAMP-stack Controller Dynamic DNS Client Tomcat Servlet/JSP Container mod_aspdotnet ASP.NET Host Interface OpenSSL Cryptography Toolkit mod_security Web Application Firewall phpMyAdmin MySQL Administration Joomla Drupal WordPress MediaWiki phpBB
Do note that any package, like the DeveloperSide one, that includes Drupal for you may not always have the latest secure version of Drupal. It is, therefore, recommended that you check the version immediately and upgrade Drupal if needed when using these packages. I followed their instructions, which built me a working system! For more instructions see the Web.Developer page in the development environment section. I don't remember if it was automatic or not, but you will find it useful to have the "Web-Developer Controller" icon on your desk top.
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06.09.2008 21:25