To change your Drupal site and make it your own, you need to gain access to the administrator (or admin) section. This can be a little bewildering at first which is why we have created this guide to get you started.

It is also important that you resist the temptation to “have a play” or “mess about” too much as there is a risk that you can damage your site if you don’t know what you’re doing. So let’s get started…

1. To login to your administrator account…

Enter your user name and password. These are set as default to…

User name – admin

Password - admin 2.

2. Your next task is to change your admin password.

1. Click on My account in the left hand menu.
2. Click on the edit tab
3. Enter your email address (this may already be filled in for you).
4. Enter the password you want
5. Confirm password by entering it again.
6. Leave the rest alone and click submit at the bottom of the screen to make the changes.

The block/active buttons are a great example of how a simple mistake can cause troubles. If you click this as blocked, just to see what happens, and click submit you will be locked out from your own website! You should also resist the temptation to select a theme here as this only changes it for the admin section. In a few minutes you’ll choose a theme for your website and the admin area).

3. Change the note that appears with a link to the contacts page

The note in the top left hand corner of the screen is a useful hint to contact you for more information but the text, as it is, may not be right for you. To change this text…

1. Click on the Administer item in the left menu.
2. Look at the Site Building box (on the right hand side) and click blocks.
3. Find “note to link to contact page” and click on configure.
4. Change the text in “block body” so that it says want you want. You can now set it up so that the box only appears on specific pages.

To adjust it to appear only on the home page carry out these additional steps.

1. Scroll down to “page specific visibility settings”.
2. Click to “show on listed pages.”
3. Type home (if you want to add more pages add each on a new line).

4. Change your theme

To change the theme for both your site and the admin section follow these steps.

1. Click on the Administer item in the left menu.
2. Look at the Site Building box (on the right hand side) and click Themes.
3. To choose a theme, make sure that it has a tick to show that it is enabled and click to select it as the default.
4. Click save configuration to save your changes.

5. Set up your site information

To personalise your site you need to make some changes to the information that is stored. This includes the site name and email address that is displayed on the home page. To make these essential changes…

1. Click on the Administer item in the left menu.
2. Look in the “site configuration” box (on the right hand side of the screen) and click on site information (which is near the bottom).
3. Enter the name for your website.
4. Enter the email address to be displayed on the home page and used for registrations etc.
5. Enter the slogan for your website – this could be your USP.
6. Edit the footer message to display what you want at the bottom of each web page.
7. Ignore Anonymous user and default home page as these settings should be correct.
8. Click save configuration to keep the changes you’ve made.

Congratulations. You should now have customised your site and should now put your feet up and admire you creation.

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