CustomerCentrix

We have done a number of installations, but not really standardized as we probably should on needed settings and modules. I think that Drupal would be a better product, or maybe just more appealing to businesses, if it had a different set of defaults and simpler process for getting started. So, here is an attempt to define the basics for a simple business web site starting with Drupal version 4.6.3.

• Assumed prerequisites - see also Drupal Installation - domain created, web server configured, files copied, database created with new tables, Drupal configured in settings.php (/sites/default/) and finally initial user created (admin)
• Get rid of that ugly favicon.ico and replace it with something else. Tools for doing changing an image into an icon are available here. If you don't know what this is, Wikipedia has general information about favicons.
• On the administer settings page, change the site name, add email address, enable clean URLs, discard log entries after 4 weeks, change the time zone and date formats. I like to add a footer here too which is commonly a copyright and possibly a link to site creator (us). Other nice-to-have recommendations are to create a site slogan and mission statement. Both are good to clarify what the web site is for (mission) along with a phrase that describes it or subtitle that goes with the site name (slogan). Technically, these are needed to export the site to the drupal directory of sites via the drupal module. Also, the slogan is exported as part of the rss title.
• Administer modules by enabling (checking) the aggregator, archive, contact, comment, drupal, help, node, page, path, search, statistics, story and taxonomy.
• Administer access control is used to make features available to different users by role. Some of these do not seem logical as defaults such as having a search block available to all users but not allowing all users to search. In addition to the defaults, I allow (check) anonymous users to access news feeds, access comments and search content. Authenticated users may also access news feeds, administer news feeds, search content and create and edit own stories. Although it is not obvious at first glance, the first user added to the system is automatically a superuser who can administer everything. Additional roles can be created and customized beyond the defaults of anonymous, authenticated and administrator but this does not seem necessary for most small installations.
• Your Drupal installation can promote itself. This is a nice idea, but I don't think that it is working. If it is, then it is well hidden and thus not useful. If you are wanting to create an automatic listing on the Drupal site (easy publicity), make sure your site name, slogan and mission are appropriate for publication, then administer, settings, drupal and set the Drupal Directory to Enabled.
• Theme needs to be changed. I don't like the default theme and logo, so almost anything else is better. Uncheck the default logo on the themes, configure tab and upload if you have nice one available. Uncheck the page content type for "Display post information on"; this makes the page more like a static web page and appropriate for an about or contacts page. Uncheck the Toggle display of secondary links and any others that you do not wish to use. Edit the primary links or turn off.
• Administer users - config to improve on the email that new users receive. Update the appropriate email templates, removing references to Drupal and adding anything else that would be nice to have. Enable picture support while on this page.
• Administer input formats and click configure next to the Filtered HTML. Then click on the configure tab and edit the Allowed HTML tags, so that these are available: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <strike> <sup> <sub> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <span> <div> <table> <caption> <tbody> <tr> <td> <br> <hr> <font> <br/> <p> <tt> <u>
• Administer comments - config to change the Preview comment from required to optional. I can understand the reason for this setting, but it still seems a bit awkward to force previewing.