One of the biggest obstacles to learning any content management system is the amount of upfront work you have to do to get started. You need to buy hosting, domain, configure email, database, install the software, debug the interactions between the software and the hosting provider's servers, wait for the domain name settings to propagate through the global DNS system, and do a whole bunch of little things just to get to the welcome page.
You can avoid that and hire a consultant who can do it for you, but what if you want to actually learn Drupal? You can spend hours trying to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, or you can use our Drupal Virtual Lab.
What's the Drupal Virtual Lab?
Our virtual lab is a Drupal training course kit that provides you the knowledge and the tools required to install, customize, and manage your own Drupal site. It is not just a simple "how-to install Drupal" course, but a series of over 60 lessons and excercises that teach you how to design and develop a site that you can publish on the Internet. It is accompanied by all software tools needed to get you started, including a server that you can run on your desktop or laptop. To make the package complete we are also including a full year's worth of hosting and a pre-paid internet domain. How's that for a complete package?
What am I going to learn?
- What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
- What is Drupal 6?
- What kind of web site you'd like to build?
- Selecting a hosting provider
- Installing and configuring support software
- Installing Drupal
- Configuring Drupal
- Managing users
- Managing content
- Monitoring site popularity
- Site security
- Using modules
- Using blocks
- Using forums
- Using taxonomy
- Side design
- Theme design and tweaking
- Building a corporate website
- Building a blog
- Adding E-commerce
- Working with graphics, audio, video, SVG, and Flash
- Publishing in local languages
- Building sites for mobile devices (iPhone, Nokia, eeePC)
- Beyond Drupal -- adding external services to support your site
- Running Multiple sites off a single Drupal installation
- Maximizing performance
- Updating Drupal
- Upgrading Drupal
- Migrating your site from one hosting provider to another
Study whenever and wherever you want
When you buy our Drupal Virtual Lab, you get a set of virtual machines with and without Drupal already installed, so you can train yourself in the art of installing and upgrading Drupal or, should you want to avoid that, you can get right to the fun part of customizing and managing your Drupal site.
A virtual machine is a piece of software that you can run on your Mac, Windows, or Linux machine. It does not mess with your system, you can always simply delete it when you're done with it.
You can use our virtual machines as staging servers for your site. When you're done developing your site and want to publish it to the world, you can simply transfer the database and the configuration files to your hosting provider and be up and running in less than an hour.
Software requirements
Our software runs on: Mac OS X (Intel), Windows XP and Vista, Linux
What about hosting?
You don't need to have a hosting account to use our course, but it is likely that this is what you will want to have after you complete it. To help you get started we worked out a great deal with DreamHost.com. You will get 500GB of storage, 5.0TB of transfer per month, MySQL databases, FTP and shell accounts, email, and plenty of other goodies for free for the first year! That's right, when you sign up, you will pay $37.40, which we refund as soon as you send us your username on DreamHost. So, the first year of hosting is free! The standard price for this package is $119.40. We will send you a special promo code that you need to enter when you pay for hosting with DreamHost.com
What if you already have a hosting package? Link to us and when you buy the Drupal Virtual Lab, we'll refund you $37.40.
Do I need to get a domain name?
You do not need a domain name to use the Drupal Virtual Lab, but you do need one when you want to publish your site. And you get one from us for free! It's a part of the hosting package we worked out with DreamHost.com.
Do I get any printed training materials?
Yes. The package contains over 200 pages of Drupal training materials plus a Drupal book of your choice:
- Pro Drupal Development, Second Edition (Beginning from Novice to Professional) by John K. VanDyk
- Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6: Build your own professional blog, forum, portal or community website with Drupal 6 by David Mercer
- Using Drupal by Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Nathan Haug, and Jeff Eaton
- Learning Drupal 6 Module Development: A practical tutorial for creating your first Drupal 6 modules with PHP by Matt Butcher
- Drupal 6 Themes: Create new themes for your Drupal 6 site with clean layout and powerful CSS styling by Ric Shreves
- Drupal Multimedia by Aaron Winborn
- Selling Online with Drupal e-Commerce: Walk through the creation of an online store with Drupal's e-Commerce module (From Technologies to Solutions) by Michael Peacock
Write to us after you complete the purchase to let us know which title you'd like to receive. It will be shipped separately from the main package. You need to send your choices to sales@devguide.net
Do I get the printed training materials in PDF?
Yes. No need to carry the whole box with you. The PDFs are shipped on the USB key and the CD discs we will send you.
What other tools do you provide
The package includes the software required to manage your site: text editors, FTP client software, free and trial versions of HTML and CSS editors, and free Drupal themes and modules.
What sort of support can I expect?
We provide support via our discussion forums and email. We try to answer all questions within two working days.
I'm ready to buy!
I want to order the Drupal Virtual Lab now... (pay via PayPal or credit card)
Price: 249 Euro. The price includes shipping. You are responsible for paying any import taxes and custom duties.
What are the delivery times?
Most of our packages arrive within 7 working days from the date of purchase. If your package hasn't arrived within 14 working days from the date of purchase, write to sales@devguide.net and let us know.
What is your return policy?
If you are not satisifed with our product, we will refund you 50% of the total price of the package. You have 30 days to return it to us from the date you receive it. Contact us first and we'll provide you with the shipping details.
Questions?
Write to sales@devguide.net
