[drupal-docs] I'd like to add an drupal UI architecture overview document, but I have questions

[Benjamin Slade]

I'm a newbie to Drupal.   As part of figuring it out, I figure I might 
as well writeup a brief user interface architecture overview document 
and add it to the handbook documents page.

But after reading the existing admin guide, I still have questions about 
the basic architecture of how things work.   Ie. the definition of 
nodes, vocabularies, terms, categories, blocks, modules, sidebars, and 
so on.

I've posted a copy of the Admin Guide (copied from the printer friendly 
HTML output) with my questions embedded in the document at:

  http://www.benslade.com/misc/drupal/AdminGuideWithQuestions.html

Here are some of the questions I lead off the document with:

> +++ This is my first pass at reading this document and using Drupal.  
> I've embedded my comments starting with +++ and colored red throughout 
> this guide.  Ben Slade (Jan 22)
>
> +++ The chapter levels (eg. <h1> <h2>, etc) are completely screwed up 
> in this  "printer-friendly version" of the document.  It looks like 
> most of what are supposed to be subchapters are actually top level 
> (h1) chapters.  That makes it hard to read.
>
> +++ Where does someone explain the basic architecture of Drupal?  
> Examples of the questions I'm talking about are: What are Nodes?  How 
> do I create a node?   What are Modules?   What's a taxonomy and is it 
> different or the same as categories?   How do Modules know where to 
> display on the screen?   How do modules use taxonomies?  How does the 
> Taxonomy module know to display into the Categories block?  Is a 
> content type of "page" a term in a taxonomy?   Is it typical to create 
> a new taxonomy for a new module type?   Ie. is there a mapping be 
> between taxonomies and modules?   This admin guide has some of this 
> info, but it's distributed amongst a sea of advanced/detailed sys 
> admin stuff.  There's no architecture overview document that I can 
> find.   
>
> +++ The first real architecture intro is way down by the "Putting 
> blocks with content in the sidebars" chapter.
>
> +++ From reading through lots of  stuff below, I think I've figure out 
> the following:
> +++ A taxonomy is a classification system, aka a group of categories.  
> A taxonomy is made up of "terms" which are also called categories.   
> Each taxonomy has one or more "types" associated where "types" seem to 
> be to modules.  Modules are modular chunks of functionality which can 
> be added to a Drupal website (eg. page, story, survey, forum)
>
> +++ The screen is organized into sidebars and other unnamed areas 
> ("center column"?).   Blocks are subareas of the sidebars that can 
> have module output directed to them.    Some module output goes to 
> blocks in the sidebar, some seems to go to the main center unnamed area.
>
> +++ Some taxonomies seem to be hard coded to certain modules which are 
> hard coded to appear in certain blocks on the screen.   Specifically, 
> a taxonomy with types (aka module types) of  "page" and "story" 
> checked seems to show up in the categories block on the screen.
>
> +++ A node is a term for a generic piece of content.  Eg. an posting 
> in a forum, a story in a story module.

All help is appreciated.  If somebody wouldn't mind taking the time to 
talk on the phone, I'd be glad to make the call to you (ie. to pay the 
long distance charges).

Thanks
Ben in DC
PublicMailbox at benslade dot.com
(append 030516 to the subj to bypass spam filters)
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://drupal3.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/attachments/20050123/847c60b7/attachment.htm