Simple Drupal Related tasks - to do after installation

Once you have installed Drupal, question arises what should we do next to get hands on experience?

so here is a list to task and activities you can do to be busy with your Drupal installation.

1. Content Management & Creation:
   1. Create a basic page: Adding static content like an "About Us" or "Contact" page.
   2. Publish a blog post: Creating dynamic content with author, date, and categorization.
   3. Upload and manage images: Adding media to content and organizing it in the media library.
   4. Create a new content type: Defining a custom structure for specific types of information (e.g., "Product," "Event").
2. Site Structure & Navigation:
   1. Create a new menu and add menu items: Organizing navigation for users.
   2. Manage blocks and regions: Placing reusable content elements (e.g., sidebar, footer) on pages.
   3. Configure URL aliases: Creating user-friendly and SEO-friendly URLs.
   4. Define taxonomy vocabularies and terms: Categorizing content for better organization and filtering.
3. User Management & Permissions:
   1. Create new user roles: Defining different levels of access for users (e.g., administrator, editor, authenticated user).
   2. Configure user permissions: Granting or restricting access to specific tasks or content types for different roles.
   3. Add new user accounts: Creating individual user profiles.
   4. Implement user registration settings: Controlling how users can sign up for an account.
4. Site Configuration & Maintenance:
   1. Update Drupal core and modules: Applying security patches and new features.
   2. Change the site's theme: Modifying the visual appearance of the website.
   3. Configure basic site settings: Setting the site name, slogan, and default language.
   4. Clear caches: Troubleshooting issues or ensuring content changes are immediately visible.
   5. Set up multi-language support: Enabling the website to be translated into different languages.
   6. Configure email settings for the site: Ensuring the site can send emails (e.g., for user registration, contact forms). 

10 essential and user-friendly modules that you should install and configure:

1. Admin Toolbar: This is almost universally recommended. Drupal's default administration toolbar can be a bit clunky. Admin Toolbar transforms it into a sleek, multi-level dropdown menu, making navigation to various admin pages much faster and more intuitive. It's a huge quality-of-life improvement.
2. Pathauto: By default, Drupal content gets URLs like /node/123. Pathauto automatically generates clean, human-readable, and SEO-friendly URLs (e.g., /blog/my-awesome-post) based on patterns you define. This is crucial for both user experience and search engine optimization.
3. Metatag: This module allows you to easily control the meta tags (like title, description, and Open Graph tags for social media sharing) for your entire website or individual pages. These are vital for how your site appears in search engine results and when shared on social media platforms.
4. Scheduler: Ever wanted to publish a blog post or an event at a specific future date and time, or unpublish it automatically? Scheduler allows you to schedule content to be published or unpublished at a predefined date and time. This is fantastic for content planning and automating tasks, so you don't have to manually publish or unpublish items exactly when they need to go live or be taken down.
5. Paragraphs: This module revolutionizes content creation in Drupal. Instead of a single large text area for content, Paragraphs lets you build pages using modular, reusable components (like a text block, image with caption, video embed, quote, etc.). This gives content editors much more flexibility and control over page layouts without needing developer intervention.
6. Layout Builder (Core Module - just needs to be enabled): This is a powerful visual page builder that comes with Drupal core. It allows you to create custom layouts for different content types or even individual pages using a drag-and-drop interface. It's excellent for creating unique landing pages or arranging content in a structured way without writing code.
7. Redirect: When you change a page's URL (which happens often for SEO or content updates), you need to set up redirects so old links don't break. The Redirect module makes it easy to manage 301 (permanent) and 302 (temporary) redirects, helping maintain your SEO and user experience.
8. Google Analytics: If you want to track website traffic, user behavior, and other important metrics, this module seamlessly integrates your Drupal site with Google Analytics. You simply paste your tracking ID, and the module handles the rest.
9. Honeypot: Spam is a constant threat to websites. Honeypot provides a simple, yet effective, method of spam protection for your forms without requiring annoying CAPTCHAs. It adds hidden fields that human users won't see but bots will, catching and blocking spam submissions.
10. Simple XML Sitemap: A sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content.1 This module automatically generates and keeps your XML sitemap updated, which is important for SEO.

When starting out with these modules, focus on understanding how these modules enhance Drupal's core capabilities and simplify common website tasks. Remember to always back up your site before installing new modules!