Stayed up late ('til 1AM) and installed Drupal last night. (Eyes are burning.) The word installation is deceptive, cuz Drupal really installs itself.Simply upload the files to your server, point your browser to the directory where you uploaded Drupal (in this case, to newly created subdomain > http://cms.radified.com), and a screen pops up, asking for 3 bits of information:
- Name of your MySQL database
- User name for your MySQL database
- Password for the MySQL user
Enter the data Drupal wants, click the Install button and Drupal installs itself. Too cool. Downright elegant.
Gives you a screen that says > Drupal installation complete. I'm thinking, "You gotta be kidding. Can't be *that* easy."
Next screen looks like this > Welcome to your new Drupal website!
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I also installed Drupal on my local machine last night, using WAMP, as mentioned yesterday. No problems there, altho today I had to uninstall & re-install WAMP, cuz I created new root password for database and could no longer log in. =/
Small problem > Drupal 5.1 system requirements specify MySQL 4.1 or 5.0. My server uses 4.0.25 (close, but no cigar). Drupal works fine with 3.23 and 4.0 (which my server has), BUT .. "it is strongly suggested you use 4.1 or 5.0 for future compatibility with Drupal 6 which will drop support for older versions of MySQL."
So I called my web host (Lunarpages), and asked if they were planning to upgrade my server anytime soon. They said it didn't work that way, cuz they have "thousands of servers." And that I need to submit support ticket to move the site to a NEW SERVER, which (already) has MySQL v4.1 or 5.0. (So I did.)
They first want me to back-up all my databases (7) plus entire site, prior to the move. Also asked me a crapload of questions about site config, such as "Do you use dedicated IP addresses?" (I do) and "Do you have add-on domains?" (I do.)
They said move should be painless .. everything done on their end, site should experience no downtime. (My fingers are crossed.) If you find the site missing, you'll know it didn't go well. =/
So I might re-install Drupal after they move the site to the new server, so I can start fresh, with new (upgraded) database. Less likely that way to run into trouble when upgrading to Drupal 6 (which is supposed to be cool).
I also asked for a server with FastCGI, cuz Movable Type can take advantage of that. (Runs faster.)
I was surprised to see Drupal has so many themes. Not all support latest version I'm using (5.1), but there are plenty to play with. Only 1 however comes with black background (called Gunmetal), but it doesn't support 5.1. (Rats!)
The one I used (for now) is called .. well, I forget what it's called right now. New Drupal site is here > Rad Drupal. Feel free to play. I still have more configuring to do, and need to brush up on Drupal terminology, so not sure if everything works for new users.
I already tested a few things, such as the Drupal blog, Drupal's Poll feature, the Drupal Story feature, and the Drupal forum, all of which seemed to work okay. I might have to enable permissions for you. (Not sure yet.)
Believe I enabled users to be able to select their own theme. (There are a dozen-or-so to choose from.)
Cool thing > My server supports something Drupal calls clean URLs, (which contain no question marks). I think this is better for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Drupal feels like it has high cool factor. Digging around in the back-end, I get a feel that they folks who built this CMS put a lot of thought into it. Everything looks well-organized & intuitive. Has a solid feel.
Again, the install was remarkably simple. (Podcast walks your thru it. Another podcast at lullabot.) Both the Movable Type blog and the forum installation were more complicated (especially the forum). Let me finish configuring this thing, so I can play around with it some more (new toy).
By the time I get up to speed with Drupal, maybe Joomla will release its first Release Candidate of Joomla 1.5, which I could install and compare with Drupal (on a first-hand experience basis).
One more thing, the guy who founded Drupal, Dries (a bona fide Wikipedia BDFL, or Benevolent Dictator for Life), read my comparison of Joomla vs Drupal and left a comment, saying he thought it unfair to compare Drupal 5.1 with Joomla 1.5, since Joomla 1.5 is still in development. Thought a fairer comparison would be with Drupal 6, which is (also still ) in development. He makes a valid point.
For more along these lines, here's a Google search preconfigured for the query > drupal 5.1 installation server database