This chapter, intended for readers who are new to Drupal, provides a tour of its capabilities, as well as definitions for its sometimes obscure terminology. We’ll demonstrate how Drupal can be used “out of the box” to build a simple website. Readers who are familiar with Drupal already may still want to skim this chapter, as later chapters will assume knowledge of all content covered here. By the end, you’ll understand how to perform administrative tasks in Drupal, such as configuring modules, working with content types, and setting up site navigation.

This chapter assumes that you already have Drupal up and running. For assistance, check out Appendix A, as well as the helpful online Getting Started guide at http://drupal.org/getting-started.