Drupal Web Design – Getting Started

Creating a web design for Drupal is really not that difficult, if you have a basic understanding of how the Drupal Content Management System works then you should not have any problems. When designing a website that is going to be built in Drupal, I like trying to push the boundaries a little, tying something a little different. All you have to do is remember not to go crazy (like some graphic designers can do) and make sure that what you are designing is actually possible to implement on the Web.

You may have come across some Drupal Theme templates that are pretty boring, but there are plenty of Drupal sites out there that have awesome designs. The reason for this is that Drupal is very flexible and you have a lot of control over your theme and how you want it to work , so chances are if you can develop the design you are doing as a static site (or using another CMS), then you should have no problems integrating it into Drupal.

The first thing I recommend if you are a newbie at designing for Drupal, is to learn how themes work in Drupal. The best place to start is on drupal.org’s Theme Guide. This will help you to understand working with things like CSS, Template Files and themes.  I would also suggest checking out sites like www.gotdrupal.com and www.lullabot.com which have some good resources along with the following links;

How to Customize Your Front Page

http://drupal.org/node/317461

Drupal Theme Makeover Video Tutorial

http://gotdrupal.com/videos/drupal-theme-makeover

How to Make a Drupal Theme

http://tips.webdesign10.com/how-to-make-a-drupal-theme

Video Screencasts on Theming

http://drupal.org/node/136502

To kick things off with your design, I would recommend starting with clean fresh Drupal Theme like the Zen Theme and create your own subtheme using its Starterkit. The Zen theme is a very nice clean theme and is the ultimate starting theme for Drupal and will make it a lot easier for you to implement your design.  Before you attempt your design, see if you can download and install Drupal and set up your theme first so you can have a bit of a play around with it. This will make it a lot easier when you come to starting your website design because you will know your limitations on what you can and cannot do with the theme and hopefully a basic understanding of how it works.

Now go forth and create your Drupal masterpiece!