Drupal is a very powerful, flexible, and widely popular Content Management System. Once you start using it regularly it's extremely likable and you may never want to use anything else. One important feature that makes Drupal so widely popular is that the development community is large, extremely active, and has built a very strong library of third-party plugin modules and themes that are consistently well-mantained, usually pretty easy to use and well documented, and there is lttle overlap in functionality.

Many new Drupal developers and adminsitrators are quick to rely on this massive library of modules to solve every need. However, since modules can easily effect site performance and your ability and willingness to maintain the site, I present the following list of the "Professional Drupal Toolbox" themes and modules. About 90% of any typical web site's CMS needs can be met through the following collection which will provide robust CMS functionality and ease in maintenance and administration.

Recommended Themes

Listed below are Admin Themes and Starter Themes. I'll install one of each in sites/all/themes as the first thing I do on a fresh Drupal install.

Admin Themes

These handy themes correct a very common complaint of new Drupal administrators and developers -- there is no differentiation between end-user and admin areas. Just install in sites/all/themes like any other theme, then go to /admin/settings/admin and select one from the drop down.

• Root Candy - The only admin theme worth listing

Starter Themes

These themes are recommended to build from as a foundation when customizing your own theme.

• BlueMarine - I use this one most often
• BoxGrey - Tables theme commonly used for wireframing
• Green'n'Black - W3C XHTML strict / tableless CSS
• Zen - W3C XHTML strict / tableless CSS / good SEO

Recommended Modules

Out of the box Drupal is a sufficient open-source CMS, but what makes it shine is the abundance of quality and consistently-maintained third-party modules available from a very large developer community. These are the ones I almost always install and can't live without.

Admin Tools

This group of modules is the first I will install and configure.

• Update Status - This essential module allows you to keep current on Drupal core and third-party updates
• WYSIWYG API - A WYSIWYG editor is a must-have on any CMS, and Drupal doesn't have one by default. This handy module makes it easy to install and configure TinyMCE, FCKEditor, or whichever WYSIWYG editor you prefer.
• CCK - The absolutely essential module for adding custom content types.
• Date - Adds date fields to CCK, popup calendars for content administrators, and provides a wealth of date-related tools for developers
• ImageField - Needed for adding images to custom node types
• ImageCache - Allows you to dynamically manipulate images with ImageField via ImageMagick or GD
• FileField - Attach files to nodes
• Node Import - If you're migrating content, products, users, or taxonomies from another CMS, blog, or even a set of spreadsheets, this is the module you need
• PathAuto - An essential module for defining custom URL patterns for content types, taxonomies, users, etc.
• WebForm - Allow content administrators to create completely custom web forms on their own, with submissions stored in db and emailed

Template Tools

This collection of modules is essential for manipulating the display of content on your site.

• Contemplate - This module allows you to create different display templates for each content type, very easy to use, rbust and flexible
• Nice Menus - If your site requires dhtml menus use this
• Token - Allows you to add additional helpful variables to content and templates (e.g. %site_user%)
• Ubercart

User Tools

Modules for managing users and user data.

• Advanced User - If your site contains a large user base this module is essential to user administration
• Me Aliases - A simple module that works with pathing to allow global user links like "my profile" in menus
• Drupal for Firebug - Firebug is an essential Firefox plugin used by all front-end web developers, and this plugin/module combo extends it to include Drupal info essential for developers

Serach Engine Optimization

These modules assist in indexing your site and shaping your content for crawlers.

• Nodewords - Adds custom meta keyword/description tags to all types of content at a very detailed level
• Google Analytics - The most essential SEO module.
• XML Sitemap - Creates flexible Google Sitemaps and auto-submits to the big crawlers. Though extremely essential for commercial sites, this module is always the biggest memory hog of all modules listed on this page. Limit it's functions only to those you need.
• Page Title - Set browser titles separately from page titles