Although several books have been written about Drupal 7, most have been written
for developers to help them program sites using Drupal coding standards, enhance
sites by using custom modules, and change the appearance of Drupal sites by using
themes. In this book, we take a different approach. Throughout the book, we will
develop a website for a (fictional) business and meet the needs of this business.
We have included an explanation of all the key features in Drupal that most
small-to-medium-sized businesses would want to use on their sites. A thorough
a step-by-step description of how to integrate each piece of functionality into your
website is included, along with an explanation of the business need that is being
satisfied by using the functionality.
After reading this book, you will be able to adapt the techniques used in this book
to either develop a site for your company on your own or work with a development
firm to create a website that truly meets the needs of your business.
In this chapter, we will introduce our client, the Artisan Bakers Collective, and
discuss their plans to build a website. We will also introduce Drupal 7 and describe
why it is a good fit for our client's website.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
• Plans for the Artisan Bakers Collective website
• The advantages and disadvantages of simple, static web pages
• Advantages and disadvantages of customized PHP and MySQL sites
• Deciding on Drupal for building the website
• Getting started with Drupal development
Artisan Bakers Collective
Baker James is the owner of the Artisan Bakers Collective, a popular artisan bakery,
café, and store. The past few years have been very good, and he has expanded from
one bakery to three. Each bakery is decorated in a retro theme and Baker James is
extremely proud of the decor. The Artisan Bakers Collective offers a wide variety
of bread and baked goods but specializes in creating sourdough bread using
traditional European-style slow-rise recipes handed down over generations.
Baker James wants to add an e-commerce component to his business, so that he can
reach a larger clientele, which he feels will bring in additional revenue. He also gives
baking classes and would like to promote this.
Plans for the Artisan Bakers Collective website
Baker James had a website designed for him several years ago, but it has proven to
be difficult to maintain and is, therefore, several years outdated. James would like to
build a new website for his businesses that is easy to update and maintain. He would
like to provide a destination for his customers where they can visit his bakery online,
learn more about the bakery, find out about classes, events, and the featured bread,
and receive discounts if they are loyal customers.
Baker James has several key goals for his site, which are as follows:
• The site must provide an easy method for updating its content so that it's
always current
• Baker James should be able to make updates to the website without having to
pay a consultant to do so
• He should be able to run a secure and stable website that uses current
website development standards
• The overall website should be easy to maintain in terms of keeping Drupal
modules updated and keeping the site secure and stable
• It should be possible to add new functionalities to the website without
requiring a complete start over
After Baker James came to us expressing his desire to have a new website built,
we sat down with him to determine what pages and sections should be added to
the website, so that we can plan our development. Based on these discussions, we
decided on the following features for the site:
1. Home Page: This includes links to other areas in the site, current events, and
sample menu items. Baker James may want the home page to have a design
and layout different from the rest of the site.
2. Pages: This includes pages highlighting bread, other baked goods, and
coffee. There will be one method for creating pages—a simple method where
each page is developed independently, using a form (in Drupal), that is
simple to complete.
3. Search: This allows visitors to search the menu for the bakery's goods, based
on a variety of criteria.
4. Ratings: This allows visitors to rate items on a scale of 1-5.
5. About Us Page: This page provides contact information.
6. Guest Book: This allows visitors to comment on the bakery and give
feedback. Baker James can see when new comments are added, and he can
optionally remove comments if they do not meet the site's standards.
7. Map: This helps the visitor find all of the Artisan Bakers Collective bakeries,
using Google Maps.
8. Polls and Surveys: From time to time, the bakery will have polls to see what
items patrons want to be added to the menu, and what they think of the new items
on the menu.
9. Photo Gallery: This shows the pictures of food on the menu as well as
pictures of the restaurants.
10. Monthly Newsletter: This is a newsletter that visitors can subscribe to. Baker
James will be able to create the newsletter content on the site. Customers can
also view the previous editions of the newsletter.
11. Event Calendar: This showcases events occurring at the bakeries.
12. Member Rewards site: This gives details of the discounts for members who
have visited the bakery a specified number of times.
13. Online ordering: This will allow visitors to order bread and sign up for
classes through an e-commerce ordering system.
14. Forum: This is a forum to solicit suggestions and ideas for improvement, to
discuss policies, and so on.
15. Blog: This will be used by Baker James and his employees for discussing
topics important to them, including information on new menu recipes,
running a bakery, and more.
16. Administration Area: This helps Baker James optimize his website, so that
the visitors can make the most of it.
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