I have a weekly newspaper site that has been active for a year+ - using the Newswire theme. Lately I have been looking at modifying the site/theme and have just started to do research. I see this package called OpenPublish and, since this is a newspaper web site, I am intrigued.
My question is, can this be installed on my current domain and played with in the background or, will just installing possibly cause issues with the current site that is operating due to the "hacked" modules that are mentioned as part of the OpenPublish package?
I guess I would like to use this tool since it seems like it could save me some time with the learning curve to modify/change things, but I am worried about the migration later and the possibility of ending up with a nicer-looking site that is not working correctly rather than the current, uncomplicated site which works fine.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Comments
Or maybe I should use
Or maybe I should use ProsePoint - now I am twice as confused...
SubDomain Perhaps?
I have used sub domains for testing in the past. You should be able to set one up fairly easily through your web hosts control panel. You will end up with something like MYTEST.mydomain.com. This URL will point you to a folder inside you main domains folder. In the example above the folder would be called MYTEST. You will also need to create a new MySQL instance to support a second copy of Drupal but your host should be able to help you do that. Once you have a new blank SQL database setup and an empty folder attached to a sub-domain you can just install the OpenPublish distribution into the MYTEST folder and away you go. Everything will be completely separate and you can play with whatever you want on your MYTEST.mydomain.com site without interfering with the main mydomain.com site.
As for migrating your existing site onto a new OpenPublish site... that will take a little more doing. ;) If you get in over your head there are always many individuals, consulting firms, and resources available to help you through the rough spots.
Good Luck.
I operate a news site using
I operate a news site using OpenPublish. Because the OpenPublish Drupal profile is tightly-woven, to get its benefits (the back-end is stupendous for publishers) you'll want to follow the previous advice and create a subdomain from which you can stage your publication. Luckily, OP's maintainers and users are a helpful bunch and ready to answer your questions.
As for OP versus ProsePoint, it depends on your situation. OP is built from the ground up for online news. ProsePoint is good if you have a dedicated Drupal design staff and editors that can manage layouts and multiple editions.
Sounds like OP is what I want
I do not have a staff to help, I am the staff - so I guess OP wins.
Would the migration be easier if I have a test site on a subdomain versus another domain? Or basically the same?
Easier
Setting up one or more subdomains would allow you to bring your new site up to speed without affecting your main site. Then when you were ready to pull the trigger you could just transfer everything over to the main domain.
Whether a subdomain or full
Whether a subdomain or full domain, it is the same; you want a different location than your production site for testing. Another suggestion is to download the backup and restore module, which you can use to transfer your test OP installation to your production site.
I would recommend OP
OP has helped me tremendously in offering a solid starting point to build my company's news site. There are some finer points to watch in regards to upgrading modules and working with themes, but the package gives you a great running start.
I just launched our Business Journal site using OP 1.7.
www.scvbj.com
Signal: I really like the
Signal: I really like the scvbj layout. I was testing a somewhat similar design. Are there instructions on how to make an outside theme (not sharing OP's design or CSS) OP compliant?
I'm sure there are somewhere.
I'm sure there are somewhere.
Thank you.
I am definitely no pro. I just tweaked some of the regions in the page-front.tpl.php and page.tpl.php files to allow for 3 columns and then tweaked the CSS.
Thanks for the comments
Thanks for the comments. I am going to install Open Publish onto a separate domain while I learn about it and figure out what I want to do. When I get to a point, I will go the subdomain route to (hopefully) make the migration easier.
I am sure I will have more questions here and also for OP support/users.
I attended the OpenPublish
I attended the OpenPublish training at Drupalcon this year, and I have to say, I think it's going to be a pretty nice Drupal distribution for people who want a very fast jump start.
I was amazed at how similar their module selection was to what I'm using on my site now. A lot of the exact same things, without the headaches of picking and choosing.
As far as I can tell right now, their More Like This module that helps create related content based on Calais tagging terms just doesn't work, and I'm not sure when or if it ever will, but for the most part it's a pretty simple install that configures a lot of the options for you with very little work involved.
If I get to use Drupal on more of our sites into the future, I'll be giving strong thought to OpenPublish as an alternative to what I did to get our current site up and running.
I built thetriton.com on OP
I built thetriton.com on OP 1.5 after I striped it down of most things. Because the site is custom, I've been adding features that I really like of OP2.0 slowly. I have the benifit of being able to test and add modules one at a time. So I can experiment with FeedAPI and Feeds Module or seeing how Context 3 functions in the environment.
Marine job board with Drupal 7 at http://windwardjobs.com
Nice site!
Nice layout, clean. I actually have started a list of sites to use as examples to try and get what we want to do by picking and choosing what others have done. I have three OP sites plus one ProsePoint on the list so far - and yours actually was already on my list.
I ended up putting a fresh install onto a separate domain and have started to explore. I am not comfortable putting it on the subdomain yet - and as it was I had to up the memory allocation for php to even get OP to install and initialize. Not sure if that would have affected the live site or not while I figured out what to do, but I would rather err on the side of caution at this point.
I am using open publish for
I am using open publish for our website;
www.blissfieldadvance.com
It is terrific and offers more than I can even use at the moment.
First, I got this error. user
First, I got this error. user warning: Table 'p25lh170_advance.ad_owners' doesn't exist query: SELECT oid FROM ad_owners WHERE aid = 716 and uid = 0 in /home/p25lh170/public_html/sites/all/modules/ad/owners/ad_owners.module on line 564.
Second, you can use the ed classified module instead for the classified section.
Marine job board with Drupal 7 at http://windwardjobs.com
How much customization was required to build your site?
www.blissfieldadvance.com
My installation is not going beyond the first point in the process: "Choose your Language".
What am I missing?
Jacob