Student Union

Drupal is a content management system used to quickly create portals, blogs, and other websites; it comes preloaded with common website functionality such as a menu system, user management and authentication, content management, data collection, and much more. The SU Drupal install wizard is the quickest way to get started on a professional, secure site.

Why Drupal?

This site (http://su.wustl.edu) is made entirely from Drupal 6 and is shaped by custom modules. WIth the custom functionality, why isn't it easier to just build a site from scratch? We'll let Advomatic, a Drupal development company explain it for us:

Why we [Advomatic] like Drupal so much +

This guide will lead you step-by-step on how to get a Drupal site up and running ASAP. Once your site is up, there are a number of tutorials out there that can get you started on any type of site. See the Drupal section of the tutorials page for more information.

1. Go to the student group web hosting / email account portal.
2. Click on the Install Drupal » button unter the Web Account / New Account Information / Drupal Installation section. If you do not see a Install Drupal » button, then your site already has Drupal installed. If you believe this to be a mistake or if you would like a Drupal site reinstall, please create a trouble ticket.
3. Fill out the form.
   • Site Name: the name of the website - this will be displayed in the browser window title for every page on the site as well as on the site header/banner.
   • Site Email Address: the email address of the person who will be managing the site. This will also be the from address from any site-generated emails (e.g. password reminders).
   • Installation Path: the subfolder of public_html in which you would like Drupal to be installed. By default, the installer will put the installation directly in the public_html folder, which means that it can be accessed by going to http://[groupname].wustl.edu. If you would like your site to be accessed elsewhere (e.g. http://[groupname].wustl.edu/blog), then enter that into the installation path textfield without the trailing slash (e.g. blog).
   • Account Password: enter your SU site password.
4. The site will then copy the necessary files and database entries to your account. Once it completes, the Drupal Installation section will contain links to access your new Drupal installation.