--- title: "Getting Started Guide: Drupal" description: "Drupal is a popular choice for government institutions and security-conscious users. It is the third most popular self-hosted, meaning you install it on your own web server, PHP-based content..." url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/getting-started-guide-drupal/ date: 2011-08-24 modified: 2026-04-01 author: "InMotion Hosting Contributor" categories: ["Drupal"] type: post lang: en --- # Getting Started Guide: Drupal ![Drupal logo](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/drupal-logo-stacked-300x229.png) [**Drupal**](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/) is a popular choice for government institutions and security-conscious users. It is the [third most popular self-hosted](https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management), *meaning you install it on your own web server*, PHP-based content management system (CMS) and built for experienced developers. This isn’t to say casual users *can’t* host a website with Drupal, but advanced users are most likely to get the most out of customization capabilities because of the in-depth core features.  Two highly notable features: **Drupal’s taxonomy system** for organizing content is highly customizable and follows best development practices to better handle huge amounts of pages. This strict standard ensures that having a large amount of third party modules installed is less likely to cause unexpected problems. **Native support for multiple languages** negates the need to research third party integrations that offer a stable method for selecting default and additional languages. Therefore, it’s easier for business owners serving multiple demographic regions to offer a stable user experience (UX) for multilingual customers. - [About Drupal](#about) - [Installing Drupal](#install) - [Using Drupal](#use) - [Further Drupal Documentation](#doc) ## About Drupal [**Drupal**](https://drupal.org/) is an open-source CMS supported by an active and diverse community of over 600,000 people from around the world. As mentioned above, it is targeted towards developers wanting to build a highly customized website with hardened [PHP](/support/website/how-to-change-the-php-version-your-account-uses/) and [MySQL](/support/server/databases/mysql-versus-mariadb/)/MariaDB database security. Claims about Drupal not being the most “user friendly” generally result from one or more of the following: - Powerful, native, graphical user interface (GUI) functions such as WYSIWYG and drag-and-drop aren’t included for achieving complex tasks - Deep knowledge of coding in [PHP](/support/edu/cpanel/cpanel-multiphp-ini-editor/), [MySQL](/support/server/databases/mysql-datatypes/), [JavaScript](/support/website/website-design/javascript-resources/), and [Python](/support/website/website-design/python-programming/) are needed for deep customization - Without strong [command-line interface (CLI) skills](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/blog/5-free-ways-to-learn-linux/), a lot of modules would be needed to achieve goals requiring high customization - For situations deemed time-sensitive or where some type of industry compliance is essential (e.g. [PCI](/support/security/pci-compliance/) and [Section 508 accessibility](/support/website/6-ways-to-improve-website-accessibility/)), the best solution may be to hire a developer All of these basically boil down to the back-end design not being tailored to novices in web design and development. ## Installing Drupal The first step in getting started with Drupal is to install the CMS on a web server, or [local development environment](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/blog/php-development-environment/) with PHP and MySQL up to date. There are three easy ways to install Drupal: [**Softaculous Instant Installer**](/support/product-guides/softaculous/install-software-softaculous/) is freely available with our [Shared Hosting](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/shared-hosting) plans and available for purchase on [cPanel-Managed VPS](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/vps-hosting) and [Dedicated Server](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/dedicated-servers) hosting. Installing Drupal with a username, password, and domain name from Softaculous takes less than a minute. [**Fantastico**](/support/edu/drupal/using-fantastico-install-drupal/) is no longer offered by InMotion Hosting but may be available elsewhere. [**Manual installation**](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/manually-install-drupal-core-files/), the DIY method, doesn’t require additional software. However, you will need to know some basic server management tasks such as how to [create a MySQL database](/support/website/how-to-create-a-database-with-mariadb/), [upload files](/support/website/how-to-upload-files-server/) to a remote server using [FTP](/support/website/ftp/getting-started-guide/), [SCP](/support/server/ssh/how-to-use-scp-for-secure-file-transfer/), or [cPanel](/support/edu/cpanel/using-file-manager-in-cpanel/). Ignite your online presence with cutting-edge [Drupal Website Hosting](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/drupal-hosting). Elevate speed, security, and reliability for a seamless website experience. ## Using Drupal We have many Drupal tutorials available in our Support Center. Below are some notable articles that we recommend for getting started in Drupal: - [Logging into the Drupal admin dashboard](/support/edu/drupal/how-to-log-into-the-drupal-admin-dashboard/) - [Resetting user passwords](/support/edu/drupal/how-to-change-your-admin-password-in-drupal-8/) - [Enabling maintenance mode](/support/edu/drupal/enable-maintenance-mode/) while you build your new website - [Updating Drupal manually](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/update-drupal-8-manually/) - [Installing Drupal modules](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/drupal-install-modules/) for additional functionality - [Installing Drupal themes](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/drupal-install-theme/) for an unique presence - [Creating a Drupal blog](/support/edu/drupal/install-enable/) - [Creating a contact form](/support/edu/drupal/configure-2/) for user inquiries - [Optimizing Drupal performance](/support/edu/drupal/drupal-performance-optimization/) before modifying server settings ([NGINX](/support/server/nginx/nginx-reverse-proxy-edition/), [PHP-FPM](/support/server/php-fpm/php-fpm-the-future-of-php-handling/), etc.) - [Drupal backups](/support/edu/drupal/create-a-drupal-8-backup-backup-and-migrate/) for disaster recovery against cyber attacks - [Drush](/support/edu/drupal/install-drush/) for managing websites via Secure Shell (SSH) - [Content-Security-Policy (CSP)](/support/edu/drupal/content-security-policy-csp-drupal-8/) HTTP header to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) and related code injection attacks ## Further Drupal Documentation Official [Drupal documentation](https://www.drupal.org/documentation) provides a lot of documentation for using the web application, including the [Drupal Cookbook](https://www.drupal.org/docs/user_guide/en/index.html) for beginners. Or, learn more from our [Drupal Education Channel](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/).