Drupal help

[Matt Graham]

From: Stephen P Rufle <stephen.p.rufle at cox.net>
> I am creating an online commerce site and would like to use Drupal.

> * theming - I know enough how to install new ones , but what do I do if 
>   I like most of a theme but need something specific ( does it require a 
> little or a lot of PHP experience)

drupal themes, like wordpress themes, have both PHP and CSS components.
If these things are like wordpress themes, the actual HTML that gets 
generated depends on both the PHP and the CSS.  What's more, the theme
logic can be in either one unless they've standardized the drupal themes
more than they've standardized the wordpress themes.

The good news is that modifying the PHP bits won't require a lot of PHP
experience.  Lots of the theme bits are in the HTML parts of the PHP,
so you just change the <div class="foo"> to <div class="bar"> in the
right spot(s).  And the other bits are in relatively simple <?php
print "stuff junk things" ?> sections of code.

You'll have to learn some CSS.  It's not that difficult, there's just a
lot of keywords to remember.  And building a layout that doesn't look
like something the dog dragged in requires practice.

> * product catalog / shopping cart - I currently only have a single 
> product but hope to add more, is there a known leader in product catalog 
> and/or shopping carts
> * general gotchas - what should I be aware of as I start ( any advice on 
> security, how to admin Drupal so the finished site is structured 
> logically anything like that)

Good questions.  It might be worthwhile to check freshmeat.net for keywords
"shopping cart" and "drupal" and see what you can find.

-- 
Matt G / Dances With Crows
The Crow202 Blog:  http://crow202.dyndns.org:8080/wordpress/
There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see