Down and Dirty with Drupal: CPU's Drupal Development Practices for Non-profits

Since Drupal 4.1, we have been deploying drupal sites for non-profits. What have we learned since then?

This will be a step-by-step guide in developing your drupal site; from convincing your “clients” to use drupal, selecting modules, using cck + views and taxonomies efficiently, multisite installation and tools you should always have.

Below are some points we will discuss.

1. Most non-profits and clients only need a blog site and not a drupal site. Will you use drupal or wordpress instead?
2. Determine content types first. Use CCK. Pull data with Views.
3. Organize content with taxonomy.
4. Have a bucket of modules ready. Create your own “Acquia Drupal” installation for easy maintenance later.
5. Maintaining drupal sites. Multisite installation is your best friend.
6. Themeing tips. Look for a volunteer web designer then implement in drupal using Zen or Genesis theme base.
7. Questions.