Finding your way around Drupal
A Note on Drupal Navigation:
Drupal is a dynamic web publishing platform that can create a variety of internet and intranet sites. These partner sites make up the Drupal community. Drupal partner sites are not strictly defined. Consequently, they can be configured to look and act differently. Navigation features used on one site may not be active on others. Therefore, this guide is not exhaustive, but can be used to explain navigational basics as well as provide information on commonly used navigational tools.
Basic Navigation
Figure 1
Header Links and Footer Links
On almost every Drupal website, there are navigational links at the top, and sometimes bottom, of the page. These are usually links that go to critical elements of the website. For example, on the home page of drupal.org there are navigational links to:
- Home
- Downloads
- Handbook
- Contribute
- Forum
- Contact
These allow quick access to commonly visited areas of the site. It also allows you to quickly return to the home page if you get lost.
The Search Box
The search box provides a way for the user to search the site by topic. Simply type in the term or phrase that is to be searched for and click the Search button. The results (if any) will be listed on the new page that comes up when the search is complete.
The Sidebar and Navigation blocks
The Sidebar
The sidebar is a collection of Drupal blocks, some of which are used for navigation. Normally, this is where the Navigation block is found, along with other modules listed below.
The Navigation Block
Figure 2 (navigation.png) The navigation block allows for easy movement throughout the site.
The navigation module, usually placed on the sidebar, displays links to website contacts in a nested format. This top down framework for displaying content works on the same basic principals as the file manager on your computer.
- First is a list of topics, in a collapsed view. An arrow next to the topic indicates that there are sub-topics under it that can be seen by clicking on the topic. If there is a block next to it, the topic does not have any sub-topics under it.
- Clicking on one of these topics expands the content under that topic, listing many sub-topics of the main topic.
- Clicking on a sub-topic will expand it to show content listed under that sub-topic.
This provides a simple way to see what information is available under a given topic or sub-topic.
Categories
Figure 3 (drupal_talk.png) The Drupal talk feature lists content by category or grouping.
This block may take on other names, but the purpose is the same. It simply lists groups of content by category or grouping. It usually takes a main topic as the title of the module, and then lists the sub-topics. Common Examples include:
- Web Links
- Drupal Talk
Recent Comments/Blogs/etc.
Figure 4 (recent_comments.png) All of the most recent comments posted can be accessed through the recent comments sidebar.
As the name implies, these blocks link to the most recently posted content. On content driven Drupal websites (like drupal.org), knowing what information is new is of great
importance. This aids in pointing out new or updated content on
a website. Common examples include:
- Recent Comments
- Recent Blogs
- New Forum Topics
Forum Topics and Active Forum topics
Figure 5 (forum_topics.png) This menu lists all active forums of the site allowing users quick access.
These blocks are specific to the Forums area of a site, allowing users quick access to active or popular forum topics.
Browse Archives
Figure 6 (calendar.png) Allows you to browse archives according to date.
This block is set up as a calender, displaying the current month. It allows users to look up content on the basis of when it was posted to the website. Clicking on a certain date will bring up a
list of all content posted that day. It also allows for searching
previous months by clicking the arrows.
Who's Online / Who's New
Figure 7 (whos_online.png) This menu provides a list of people currently logged onto the website.
These blocks allow a user to see who is logged into the website and who recently joined. If enabled, clicking on the name of a user will bring up the publicly viewable information on that user. From the profile page, there is also a Track option which presents a record of the posts and contributions of that user.