content

So you're editing a Story node in Drupal, and... Wait, was it a Story? Or was it a Page node? Or is the node you're editing actually a Blog Entry?

When you create a node, Drupal gives you a big-letter reminder of what you're making: "Create Story" (or whatever the node type is) appears at the top of the creation form. Yet when you later edit the node, there's no easy reminder of what the node type. Clues in the path, the visible fields, or elsewhere may give it away to the experienced site builder, but not to a newcomer admin to the site. And to be sure, you won't often care what the node type is when making some small edits, but then again you might find yourself scratching your head as you stare at the edit form for a node someone else made, thinking that you'd like to make this change if it's a Story but that change if it's a Page...

There's a nice and very simple tip at the Josiah Ritchie blog to aid future editors (including yourself) on this small point.

Here's a small bit of knowledge from the Drupal.org forums that'll be news to no experienced user, but is very important for newcomer admins or any user given power to delete content on a site:

If you delete a node (Page, Story, anything) on a Drupal site and decide you want it back, is there an undo feature? No. You get one chance to back down when Drupal asks "Are you sure you want to delete [node title]?", but that's it; click 'Delete' again and it's gone, man. There's no Trash Can or Undo option or other means of retrieval. Your only possible recourses are:

1. Restore the node from a database backup. (You should of course have such a thing.)

2. Look for a cached copy of the node on Google or some other web site caching service. You'll have to rebuild the node from scratch and re-input all of its fields, but at least you may be able to recover the node's main body text from the cache. (Who knows; you may even have a cached version of the page within your own browser's cache.)

Fortunately, it's easy to avoid data-wiping accidents. Make sure all users know that there's no easy undo for a deletion. (Alternately, don't give users permission to delete nodes in the first place!) When you do want to take a node off the site, consider hitting that node with a simple unpublish instead of a delete. It'll disappear from sight (and site), but will nicely lie dormant until you should choose to resurrect it. 

Menus are the key to your site – they're the way by which visitors get at your content.

A menu is a list of links to content. Menus can appear in a horizontal line at the top of your pages, as with many web site designs. Or they can appear along the sides in blocks, another common design.

A specific link in a menu – a "menu item" – can link to a specific node. Or, calling on the full power of the database behind your site, it can pull up a list of nodes based on some criterion.

There's a big administration form for all menus on your site:

Navigation » Administer » Site building » Menus

At the top of that form, you'll see four tabs: 'List', 'Add menu', 'Add menu item', and 'Settings'. An overview of the tabs:

List

This form lists every menu currently created for your site. Immediately under the menu's name are one or more options:

Edit

This brings up a form that lets you change the name of the menu. That's it.

Delete

If the menu is one that you, and not the Drupal system, created, you can delete it from here.

Add item

This is an important one: it lets you add a new menu item to the menu. The link takes you to the 'Add menu item' tab; see Add menu item below.

list of menu items

Under the above choices is a list of the items – the links – in the menu. Its columns are:

Menu item

The name of each item. Clicking on an item's name simply activates that link, the same as selecting it in an actual menu.

Expanded

The 'Expanded' column refers to how sub-menus appear. A menu item can have multiple menu items beneath it as a sub-menu. See the Navigation menu for a perfect example: the item 'Administer' has a sub-menu 'Site building' below it, which in turn contains items like 'Blocks'. If a submenu is expanded, then it will appear with its contained items visible. If it is not expanded, then a viewer will have to click on the submenu to see its contained items.

Operations

The 'Operations' column has links to edit, disable, or delete a menu item.

Editing a menu item follows the same procedure as creating one. See Add menu item below.

Disabling a menu item is a useful technique. It takes the item off of the visible menu, but retains it on the administration form, where you can easily enable it again later.

Finally, deleting a menu item removes it for good.

Add menu

There's not much under the Add menu tab: just a field to input the name of a new menu. This is for creating a menu as a block. The new menu will appear on the Menus administration form as only a name, with no items underneath; you'll then want to add menu items.

Once that is done, you're ready to have the menu appear on the site. Head to the Blocks administration form, find your new menu's block under the Disabled list (it'll have the name you created for your new menu), and place it on the page where you like.

See Working with Blocks and Placing Menus on Your Page.

Add menu item

This is where you add a menu item – a link to content, whether a node (or list of nodes) within your site, or an external URL (such as a page on another website).

Here are the fields on the form:

Translations

You'll see this option if you have multilingual capabilities installed in your site. For each of the active languages, you can insert a custom title and description (see explanations below). For example, if you have a menu item called "services", you can input "servicios" as a Spanish equivalent.

When a visitor switches languages, translated menu items will appear in the appropriate language.

Title

This is the name of the menu item, as it appears on the site: 'home', 'products', 'contact me', or what have you.

Description

Whatever you input here will appear as a "tip" when a visitor places the mouse pointer over the link ("hovers" over the link, as the techies term it). It's a good way to describe the link a little, without using a long title. For examples, hover your pointer over the links at the top of this page.

Path

This is the meat of your menu item: what does it link to? You can input any external link (such as http://www.google.com) or an internal link to content within your site.

Internal links are a big, rich topic. See Linking to Content.

Menu items can be nested underneath other menu items (for example, menu items for several products, nested under an 'All Products' menu items). Normally, the nested "sub-menu" items appear only when the parent menu item is clicked. But if you check the 'Expanded' checkbox for your menu item, any sub-menu items nested under it will be visible within the menu, even without a visitor clicking.

Parent Item

Another important setting: what menu your menu item appears under. Click the drop-down menu. Available menus, and the menu items beneath them (indented with hyphens) appear.

Heirarchical (or "nested") menus are possible as well. "Sub-menus" – the "children" menu items of "parent" menu items – appear on the list, using deeper indentations.

Choose a menu's name to place your new menu item inside that menu. Or choose a "parent" menu item, to place your new menu item underneath it as a "child" sub-menu item.

Weight

Where in the selected menu will your new menu item appear? Set the "weight" for each item in the menu to order them: the "lightest" weight will appear first, and the "heaviest" weight will appear last.

For example, you might set the weight of a menu item 'main page' as -10, and a menu item 'contact us', as 10. The link 'main page' will appear first, and 'contact us' last. A menu item with a weight of, say, 0 will appear in between the two.

Settings

This form has a couple of settings related to site-wide handling of menus:

Primary and secondary links settings

Primary menu

Here you set an important item: your primary menu. Most web sites have one "main menu": a menu with important links for visitors like 'home', 'about us', 'links', and so on. Drupal gives this menu special treatment: most graphic Themes automatically display the primary menu, usually at the top of every page.

How do you create your primary menu? Easy:

1) Create a menu for the purpose, if it doesn't exist already. The items should generally be your most important pages or "sections", starting with 'home' (or 'main page' or 'front page' or whatever you prefer to call it).

Name this menu 'primary menu', 'main menu', 'site menu' or some such.

2) Open the 'Settings' tab (the topic of discussion here). Under 'Menu containing primary links:', choose the menu you created above.

When you click 'Save configuration', you'll now have a primary menu.

Secondary menu

What's a secondary menu? It's a special menu, like the primary one, that many Drupal graphic Themes reserve a special place for.

But many Themes don't display secondary menus, and a lot of Drupal users scratch their heads over what it's for. If you like, set a secondary menu here (as you did above for a primary menu), click 'Save configuration', and see whether anything shows up, and where.

There's an explanation on the Settings form: "If you select the same menu as primary links then secondary links will display the appropriate second level of your navigation hierarchy." In other words: If your primary menu has parent items with child items under those, then the parent items will show up in the primary menu location, and the first layer of child items will show up in the secondary menu location, when the appropriate parent item is selected.

It's easier to see than to explain. Give it a try.

Content authoring form settings

This setting is probably meaningless unless you are allowing multiple users to create new content, and menu items linking to that content. See Creating Menu Items on the Fly.

The pundits offer a drupillion tips and techniques for grabbing eyeballs and nabbing clicks and sweet-talking search engines. But the One Commandment that rises above all else as the master key to site success is this:

Make Great Content!

Do that, and word will spread, and visitors will flock, and advertisers will lie prostrate before you. All the discussions that follow – the SEO, the technical tips, and so on – are subordinate and secondary to the master command of Make Great Content.

Create good stuff

Top sites swear that good content is a more important ingredient behind success than futzing with keywords and getting links and gaming the search engines and what not. Make the best content you possibly can. Good things will follow. 

Write it well

A writer who's sloppy with words and ideas loses a lot of ability to affect readers.  

Oh, I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that in modern Internet-ese:

A writer whose sloppy with words and idea's looses alot of ability to effect their readers. 

If that doesn't make you gnash a few teeth to calcium dust, you need to consider whether you're really ready to spring a web site onto the world.

Sure, we can debate how important the grammar and spelling are compared to the content. Discount this discussion if you really want to. I can only offer myself as one case study: given far more content out there than I can possibly read in a lifetime, I discriminate ruthlessly based on writing quality. Why waste time on writers whose output shouts "I just don't care"? There might be some great ideas in that mess, but experience tells me that the odds are much better with the well-written stuff.

Depending on your audience, most of your readers might not care too much about good writing. But whatever the audience, rest assured that some of it does care. Why risk losing any audience through sloppiness? 

Triple-check your writing. If possible, get proofreaders or an editor to check it over. 

Needless to say, the same applies to non-written content: if your site's all about images or videos or whatever, do those well.

With that, I'll move on before I use up my lifetime allowance of blatantly obvious statements. 

Make it unique

Again, the top bloggers are united on this point: Write with a clear, unique voice. Be yourself.

Some of the bloggers take it a wee further: be opinionated and controversial, they advise. Even an angered audience is better than a bored one!

Make it look good

Make it easy on the eyes: good design, easy to read. Specifically, check whether the page is cluttered and crowded (boo!), or whether it's easy to scan (yay!). In most cases, lots of white space is your friend.

Think twice before deciding that white text on a black page is really what you want. And if your combination is anything worse than that – red on blue, or pale text on a pale background, etc. – then don't think, just nuke it! Fast!

If you're looking for images to gussy up a site or a page, there's a whole Internet full of 'em. Just be sure you have the right to use images you find. Either talk with the image's creator, or use images that aren't restricted. Wikipedia Commons is a good place to look for those. (Or try this tip, via Tim Ferriss: Head to Flickr, open up Advanced Search, check the "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content" option, and run a search for your keywords from the "Search for" field. To locate the best of the results that Flickr returns, find the little "View" line that appears right above the photos, and click "Most interesting". You should be swimming in good images.) 

Make it clear

That means writing clearly, and using graphics that support, rather than distract from, the text. But more specifically, I want to emphasize titles here: Make your post titles clear and meaningful, and you make the site easier for visitors to scan.

Another consideration: Place key content toward the top. Let visitors see the important stuff (or at least the start of it) right away, without having to scroll beneath pictures and ads to see what the content is about. (Keep it "above the fold", to parrot the strange phrase inexplicably loved by webby types.)

Write what people want to read

All right, as "advice" that's about as helpful as "remember to breathe". What I'm getting at is specific types of content that seem to do especially well with Internet audiences. These include:

• Lists: favorites, Top 10 lists, and so on. 
• How-to articles and tutorials
• Product/service reviews
• Guides that simplify complex topics
• Thorough pointers to useful content on other sites
• Expanded topics taken from your own FAQ. (If they're really frequently asked, they must be of interest to people.)

Use these with care, though: content should first and foremost be content right for your site, not content you think you need to write. You probably don't want to come across as a slinger of unimaginative, paint-by-numbers content.

A nice example of a Top 10 list from Tillerman: Write a "Top Ten Blogs" list for your niche. There's a list that readers should find interesting, and the blogs you link to will appreciate the attention too, possibly reciprocating with mentions and good will. 

Make lots of it

More content means more stuff to attract and keep a wider range of visitors. It also means more fodder for other sites to link to, and for search engines to find. 

So if (and only if) it makes sense for your site, go ahead and give Quality's oft-derided sibling Quantity a fair shake. Make and post lots of stuff. (Just don't ignore Quality, okay?)

Build your content storehouse

In addition to hammering out fresh content for your site, can you unearth hidden stores of material? Maybe some classic email diatribes in your "Sent" box that'd appeal to a wide audience? Old original artwork? Collected notes and links that'd become a helpful article after a little organization? If you've got good old stuff, recycle it into new content.

Along those lines, here's a not-so-hidden technique for building new content: Whenever I find myself writing an email or posting a comment somewhere, I ask myself whether what I'm writing might also be good fodder for site content. It's a bit of a shame to submit a long book critique as a comment on someone's blog, or help a friend solve computer troubles via a detailed email how-to, and not also share that info with potentially interested readers on your own site. Wherever you are, write with your site in mind!

Stock up ahead of time

Top bloggers often start posts as soon as opportunity and ideas strike, forming a library of half-written posts ready to complete at any time. If nothing else, at least keep a growing list of content ideas, a quick scan of which can trigger a response of "yes, I'm ready to write that one now!". It's great to have this when the creative muse is out for the week.

Your CMS may even let you write full posts and schedule them for publication at set times. Top bloggers swear by this technique as a great way to keep a site automatically churning out content during no-blogging vacations on the beach. I've done it, piling up a week's worth of posts and setting them to trickle out one per day without my lifting a finger. 

The Drupal connection: The Scheduler module is your friend here, letting you schedule both the publishing and unpublishing of modules.

Let your audience help

Many popular sites share a key feature: user-generated content. That can mean comments on content, or forums, or freedom to create and post new content, or all of the above. The more audiences can add to the site, the more they'll feel connected – and the more content there will be for other visitors (and search engines) to enjoy. An engaged audience will grow the site much, much faster than you could on your own.

Enable as many forms of interaction as makes sense for your site. See more information later on building community.

The Drupal connection: As a platform, community is what Drupal is all about. Modules for comments and forums are built right into the core package. It's easy to create registered users, or allow anyone to register as a user, and set permissions for what those users are allowed to do. Out of the box, Drupal even allows a unique blog for every registered use, something other big-name CMSes can lack.

You can create whatever Terms you can think of a use for, grouped into whatever Vocabularies you like. There are infinite possibilities – which always makes it hard to get started.

General strategy

It's difficult to immediately envision all the ways to set up your taxonomy, and all the possibilities for using it. Here's a general suggestion for starting out:

Sit down and do a little thinking about what keywords you may want to call upon in the future. You'll probably want at least two main groups of keywords (and thus, at least two Vocabularies): one that describes what a piece of content is, and one that describes what the content is about. (At least, I've always found that useful.) See examples below. You may want additional Vocabularies, depending on what your site is about.

Next, fill each Vocabulary with Terms. If your site already has some Terms set up, delete any you know you won't need, and add Terms you think you will need. If in doubt, add a Term; it's easier to add it now and ignore (or even delete) it later if it turns out unnecessary, than to add it later (and belatedly tag all the old content that you now want that Term attached to).

Finally, on the technical side: If you're not worried about other users tagging content in odd ways, go for flexibility. Allow your Vocabulary to use the "Multiple select" option, and maybe skip the "Required" option. Consider free tagging too.

In summary: You can change your taxonomy and its workings any time down the road, but if you have a lot of content already in place, you'll have a big job going back and re-tagging all those old nodes. A little strategizing up-front can save you a lot of work later.

Example taxonomy: generic site

Here's a simple set-up that works for a lot of sites:

Vocabulary 1: Content Type

This Vocabulary is for Terms that describe what the content is. Not node type (Page, Story, Blog Entry, etc.), but its intended purpose within your site. Fill this Vocabulary with Terms like 'news', 'general info', 'essay', 'report', 'article', and so on. Some child Terms may make sense: 'news', for example, could have child Terms 'announcement' and 'press release' under it.

Vocabulary 2: Content Topic

This Vocabulary is for Terms that describe what the content is about. More than the above Vocabulary, appropriate Terms here will vary widely by site. Fill it with Terms that make sense for yours: 'product', 'company', 'website', 'celebrities', 'hobbies', etc.

For more detail, add child Terms. For example, the broad Term 'product' could have product categories (or specific products) under it as child Terms.

Using the Terms

The above two Vocabularies should enable pretty powerful organization of content. Any content should fall under a combination of one Term from each vocabulary (or more than one from each).

For example, a notice about an upgrade to your company's website would use the Terms 'announcement', 'company', and 'website'. How about general company background? The 'General info' and 'company' Terms. A case study on a new product? 'Report' and 'product'.

Example taxonomy: recipe site

As another example, a site for collecting recipes might do well with this taxonomy:

Vocabulary 1: Content Type

Same as above, but recipes themselves are key enough to this site to be considered a major type of content, not just a topic under 'general info' or some such. Inside the Vocabulary called "Content Type", add a new Term, 'recipe'. (You'll also want to decide on a consistent node type to use for recipes, such as Page, Story, or even a newly-created Recipe node type.)

Vocabulary 2: Recipe Type

Fill this with Terms like 'main dish', 'desert', 'appetizer', etc.

Vocabulary 3: Recipe Style

Fill this with Terms like 'Chinese', 'French', 'Mexican', etc.

Using the Terms

With this set-up, it's easy to see how your site can quickly call up, say, all Chinese main dish recipes (via the Terms 'recipe' + 'main dish' + 'Chinese'), or any other combination. Bon appetit.

Wrapping up

Setting up your Vocabularies and Terms can take a little effort, as does remembering to tag content as you create it. But as your content grows, the ability to locate and organize it via those tags will make the work well worth it.