Important Concepts

Content is stored in the database not HTML files

Your Content Management System is an application of sorts called Drupal.  Drupal works by keeping your content, or pages, in a database.  Pictures and files you upload are put into a "files" folder on the web site.

There are no HTML pages that you can edit directly but instead the pages that make your site are dynamically built from content that's in the database and the files folder.

The front or home page is special

The front page displays "teasers" from other pages that have been "promoted" to the front page.  By default the newest teaser is at the top of the page and up to 10 are displayed.

So, what does all that mean?

1. First when you create an article or page there is an option: "promoted to front page". If selected the article's teaser is displayed on the front page.
2. A Teaser is usually the first 600 words of the article and/or images which are at the beginning.  Clicking on the title or a more link takes you to the full article page.  Read more about teasers.
3. Teasers are displayed on the front page starting with the newest first.

Page Teasers Example: Clicking on the teaser title or the more link takes you to the full article.

Note that this concept can be applied to any page view. For example, Energy Ace, Inc. uses the teaser concept for several pages such as their Services page.

Login (Content Management)

All web packages are set up with login access to manage your site content. Once you login to the site, you will see extra menu items and buttons for creating and editing content, images, etc.

There are three ways to login, depending on how your web package is implemented.

1) Community Site - Sites set up for communities have a login form on every page in one of the sidebars.

2) Single User Blog - Blogging sites are typically set up with a single content manager. If your site is set up for blogging and you do not allow others to login, then you will find the login form on the blog page only.

3) All Web Packages - Click in the address bar of your web browser and type in

• "http://yourwebsite.com/user/login"

OR

• "http://yourwebsite.com/index.php?q=user/login"

Publishing Options for Pages

What are Publishing Options?

When you create or edit a page there are a few options to consider which affect how and where the page is displayed.

• Published - If checked visitors can view the page. Unchecked and the page is not published: hidden from view.  Sometimes you may want to work on a page before publishing it or perhaps you want to hide the page without actually deleting it.
• Promoted to front page - Check this box to put the page's teaser onto the front or home page.
• Sticky at top of lists - When checked the page floats to the top of lists when sorted.
• Create new revision - Used for versions of the page so you can snap back to an old one if necessary.

The Navigation Menu

After you login there is a navigation menu in the sidebar that has links to create content and manage various modules. The links listed depend on how you have your site set up.

Navigation Menu

• My blog - A page that shows an overview of your blog articles.
• Create content - Here is where you can create new content for your site.
• My account - A page where you can edit your account options such as change password.
• Categories - Manage category/taxonomy terms.
• Comments - manage and moderate visitor comments.
• Content - Lists all existing content and give option to edit it.
• Forums - Manage forums.
• Image galleries - Manage image galleries.
• Post settings - Configure the settings for posts that go into blogs, front page, etc.
• Search content - Use the built-in search capability to find things.

There are many more available depending on how your site is configured but these are the most common.

Using Article Teasers

A Teaser is usually posted/promoted, on the front page of your web site such that the first 600 words are displayed with a link to the full article.

You can change the number of words for the teaser under Administer > Settings > Posts. Although, once you do this, you must open and resubmit old articles to set the new teaser length.

Another, and more convenient, way to set the teaser length is to insert a break tag in the article itself. Use the Teaser Break button in your editor or turn off rich-text and manually insert a <!--break--> tag where appropriate.

Editor Teaser Break Button: Put cursor where you want then click the teaser break button.

Edit Web Page Text

Once you log in, click on the "Create content" link to create a new page or go to the page you want to edit. "View" and "Edit" links appear at the top of page.

Click on "Edit" to go to an editor window to make formatting and content changes to the web page text.

Required Steps to Create/Edit a page:

1) Enter a Title - All pages require a title. Short titles are best. Avoid using ALL CAPS in your page titles, as they tend to "scream" at the visitor.

2) Add Body Content - Enter your page text content using the editor provided. Although you can copy and paste text from Microsoft Word, use the online editor for best results. Otherwise, you may have trouble trying to modify formatting (Word's formatting commonly causes problems).

3) Submit - Click on the "Submit" button at the bottom to submit your edits. You can also click on the "Preview" button as an intermediate step. Do not click away from the page until you have submitted your work, otherwise you will lose your edits!

Editor Features

Editor Menu Bar

The buttons on the editor menu bar enable basic text formatting:

1. Image - Click on the camera button to insert a picture either left, center or right justified on the line where the cursor appears.
2. Bold, Itallic, Underline and Strikethrough - Use your mouse to highlight the text, then click on one of these buttons.
3. Bulleted and Numbered list - Click on eiher of these list buttons and begin typing each item. Hit the ENTER key twice to end the list, or simply click the list button again.
4. Paragraph indent and outdent - Highlight a paragraph and use one of these buttons to "bump" the text section to the left or right.
5. Link and Unlink - Highlight any portion of the text you want to convert into a link or that you want to unlink. Click on the link button, and a form appears for you add in the link. The link can be to a page on any web site, including your own.
6. Super and Subscript - Highlight the text you want and click the Superscript or Subscript button.
7. Horizontal Rule - Click this buton to add a horizontal line across the page. Use sparingly, and consider inserting paragraph headers for optimal page design.
8. Custom Character - Insert custom characters into your content. This is great for adding characters that are not on your keyboard.