Nancy's Web If you don't know where you've been, how do you know where you are?

Whether you run one site or several, there are some basic things you should do right now. Here's what I do right off the bat; the advantage to doing it in the "root" database is that when I make copies for my other sites this has already been done. I'd give you a link to something on the Drupal site, but I never found anything like this.

1. Go to Administer>>User management>>Roles< and create an "administrator" role.
2. Go to Administer>>User management>>Users< and create a user entry for yourself. This allows you to test the site by changing your role to meet your needs.
3. Go to Administer>>User management>>Access control< and allow the "administrator" role to do everything.
4. While you're there, go ahead and set what the "authenticated users" (logged in) and "anonymous user" (not logged in) can do, such as using your contact form. This is not engraved in stone; you can change it any time you want.
5. I don't know about everyone, but I don't like, when I visit a site, being called "Anonymous" so I change the designation (Administer>>Site configuration>>Site information>>Anonymous user<) to "Visitor." As long as you're on this page, set basic defaults for the other fields.
6. If there are any modules (core or contibuted) that you use on all sites, go ahead and enable them now ((Administer>>Site building>>Modules<). For example, you will probably use "Page" on all sites, and maybe "Story." I am finding more and more uses for "Book."

I do recommend turning on (enabling) the "Path" core module so you can use "normal" names for your pages.

7. The same goes for themes.

There are a few things I recommend that you do in all your databases, so this is a good time to do it:

• Turn on "CLEAN URLS" to make your site more user friendly. Go to Administer>>Site configuration>>Clean URLs<. At the bottom of the verbiage there is a link to run the "Clean URLs Test." If it passes, then the "Enable" radio button will un-dim. Click on that.
• In order for me to create any kind of content, I go to Administer>>Site configuration>>Input formats< and set "Full HTML" as the default until I get the site ready to go live. Then I still allow administrators (like my other ID) to use that format. Do this now and you will avoid a very common problem< with building your site.
• I don't like having "Promoted to front page" as a default for content, so I go to Administer>>Content management>>Content types< and turn that off - in each format.
• While you're there, decide on your default comment mode. Go to Administer>>Content management>>Comments>>Settings< (or Administer>>Content management>>Post settings< in Drupal 6) and set the comments to be entered on a "separate page" and make sure that "Preview comment" is set to "Required."
• Now, let's turn on the Contact form so your users can send you a message. Go to Administer>>Site building>>Menus< and locate the "Contact" item. Click on the "enable" link. Remember that later on you will want to go to Administer>>Site building>>Contact form< and finish setting that up.