Setting up Drupal

Here's a quick guide for Drupal installation and configuration with a minimum of useful base components.

To exemplify, I'll use Lampp, but for Xampp it won't be much different.

Before you start, go to your php.ini file and increase the memory_limit parameter to, at least, 16 megabytes and restart your webserver in order to apply the changes. This amount of memory is usually enough, but when in trouble, use a bigger value, like 24 or 32.
The php.ini file location depends on your system. In Lampp, for instance, it is in /opt/lampp/etc/php.ini, in Windows it is somewhere under the apache directory.

First, get the latest version of Drupal, currently 6.10.

Uncompress the .tar.gz using tar -zxvf drupal-6.10.tar.gz and copy its contents into the web server web site location.
From now on, the Drupal install location is referred only as {install_location} and the web site will be referred as {mywebsite}.
A Lampp/Xampp example of the {install_location} would be {lampp}/htdocs/{mywebsite}.

If you want Drupal in diferent languages, get the necessary translations for your Drupal version. Uncompress the files and copy the contents into the Drupal install location. Using the previous example, the file contents go into {install_location}.

Copy the {install_location}/sites/default/default.settings.php file to {install_location}/sites/default/settings.php, i. e., make a copy of the file in the same directory and rename it to settings.php.
In the same location, create a new directory named files and make it writable.
Under Linux, both settings.php file and the {install_location}/sites/default/files directory must be writable, therefor perform a chmod +w to both.

Access your database engine, currently MySQL and PostgreSQL and create the database and correspondent user and password for the created database.
This has to be done because Drupal installation does not perform the database creation.

Assuming there's a web server already running on localhost, install Drupal by pointing your browser address to http://localhost/{mywebsite} and just follow the installation wizard. In the database configuration remember to refer the previously created database and user.

After the creation of the database fill in the site configuration information and save the changes.

The installation should finish without trouble. At the end, there is a link pointing to your new site. Just click on it and you will be redirected to the web site using administration credentials.

But that is raw Drupal installation. Usually one wants a nice template a WYSIWYG editor, an integrated content media management, so that one can upload videos, pictures and other documents.
Some of these modules actually should already be part of the Drupal default modules and should already be configured for default usage.

The add-on modules and themes go into a special directory, they are not mixed up with the default modules nor themes, and they have a standard installation procedure. The themes go into {install_location}/sites/all/themes/ and the modules go into {install_location}/sites/all/modules/. These directories do not exist on a new Drupal installation. When using Linux, do not forget to give the appropriate access permissions to these directories and its contents.
When in doubt, read to the module or template documentation.

Start with the template, get a template for your Drupal version and download it. Uncompress it and copy its contents to {install_location}/sites/all/themes/{newtheme}. It is possible to and install as many themes as necessary.
To select a new theme, go to the menu option Home › Administer › Site building, mark the desired template as the default nd press the Save configuration button.

Installing a WYSIWYG HTML editor requires two modules, the base WYSIWYG API module and an HTML editor, like FCK Editor. Uncompress the WYSIWYG API module file and copy its contents into {install_location}/sites/all/modules/wysiwyg. As a curiosity, the {install_location}/sites/all/modules/wysiwyg/editors directory have all the supported HTML editors, there is an .inc file for each supported editor.
To install the FCK Editor, uncompress the file and copy its contents into the editor directory inside the WYSIWYG API install directory, {install_location}/sites/all/modules/wysiwyg/fckeditor.

To activate the HTML editor module, go to the menu option Home › Administer › Site building, enable the Wysiwyg user interface module and press the Save configuration.

To configure the HTML editor, go to the menu option Administer > Site configuration > Input Formats, press Add input format. Name it Default HTML Editor, select both roles, and disable HTML filter, Line break converter and URL filter. Press Save configuration button, go back to Administer > Site configuration > Input Formats and select the Default HTML Editor as the default HTML editor.

Now setup editor profiles in Administer > Site configuration > Wysiwyg menu option.
Select FKCEditor (version) for all Input formats and press Save.

There are many available modules for many extra functionalities. A recomended administration module is the Administration Menu, witch provides easy and fast access to administration items.

For instance, if you're looking for an e-commerce solution, check out Ubercart. To set it up, check the How to make an online store look great with your new theme from TopNotchThemes and the Ubercart User's Guide for a quick start.

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