Beginning with Backdrop CMS (afternoon)

Drupal Camp Asheville 2024 - July 12th-14th

Start Time

Topics

Site Building

Presenter(s)

Jennifer Lampton
of
Backdrop CMS

Jennifer Lampton has been training people on how to use Drupal since 2008, and Backdrop since it's early beginning in 2013. She has created courses and materials for training classes. She has taught public workshops from San Francisco, to Washington DC, and led many private workshops for organizations needing to train their internal teams on how to support these CMSes.

Jen Lampton

Training Description

Backdrop CMS is Drupal 7, but it includes many of the features you'll find in Drupal 8. It's been optimized for performance, and improved for usability. Backdrop is targeted towards companies and organizations who are delivering comprehensive websites on a budget. 

This introductory training will cover the basics of creating and administering a website with Backdrop CMS.

In this workshop all students will build their own portfolio website on Pantheon, using Backdrop CMS. As we walk through each of the steps required to build a website, we'll point out many the various improvements that have been made to Backdrop core systems. Students will be asked to follow along.

Topics covered:

  • Logging in  - the new dashboard
  • Creating content - Pages vs Posts
  • Creating content types - adjusting settings, and adding fields
  • Content display - customizing how field data will be rendered
  • Modules - how to install new functionality without leaving your site
  • Views - Creating content lists (very basic high level overview)
  • Layouts - Creating stand-alone pages, and modifying pages that already exist
  • Configuration management - exporting & importing
  • Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Backdrop CMS

There will be plenty of time throughout the day for questions and answers.

Who is your ideal audience member, the person who would get the most out of your training?

The ideal audience member is someone who is already familiar with Drupal 7.

What do you expect people to be able to take away from your training?

  • Similarities with Drupal 7
  • Improved feel: friendlier administrative interface
  • Features that are comparable to those in Drupal 8 and beyond
  • New features only available in Backdrop CMS
  • Steps involved in upgrading from Drupal 7

How much and what kind of technical knowledge do people need going in to your training?

All that's required is a basic understanding of Content Management Systems.

Even if you have never built a website before, it should be possible to follow along in this workshop. Though we'll be comparing Backdrpp to Drupal, previous experience with either platform is optional.