Drupal 7 Help Guide

Welcome to Drupal 7

Drupal is a content management system (CMS) used by a number of organizations to build and maintain websites. Drupal's users, permissions and roles allow you to delegate some of the management of your site to your colleagues. Users are assigned roles with permissions to perform tasks such as adding or editing all of the content of your site.

This guide aims to give users a strong foundation in Drupal by providing in-depth explanations and a collection of detailed how-to guides.

This guide was written for Drupal version 7.

Drupal 7 at a Glance

Drupal 7 at a glance graphic

This is a brief explanation of key content areas and features of a Drupal website:

Admin menu: Main administration menu for adding and editing website content
Main menu: Main menu for site navigation, displayed horizontally and/or vertically
Block: Area provided for supporting page content
Header images: Header photos configurable for each page
Content tabs: View, edit, outline, revisions and accessibility tabs for accessing and editing website content
Page title: Title for the web page
Content: Main page content
Footer: Information that repeats throughout the site at the bottom of the page

Signing In

NOTE: This is different than the way that you log in to a Drupal 6 site.

To log in to a Drupal 7 site, go to your website (i.e. http://SITENAME.appstate.edu).

Scroll down to the Footer section of the page and click yellow Login.

On the Shibboleth Single Sign-On page, enter your university username and password and click Sign In.

Shibboleth sign on page

If this is the first time you are logging in to a Drupal site, you will need to complete the Request Drupal Website Access form.

NOTE: Sometimes, when signing in to the site, a message appears that says, "You are not authorized to access this page." This is a bug that we are working to correct. If you see the Admin menu at the top, then you are logged in to the site.

Types of Content

Introduction

Page: A page is a simple method for creating and displaying information that rarely changes, such as an "About Us" section of a website.

Intermediate

Book Page: A book page is a page of content, organized in a hierarchical order. A book page automatically displays links to adjacent pages, providing built-in navigation.
Panels: A panel page is a page with a custom layout, allowing for columned or stacked column layouts.
Webform: A webform is an online form that allows you to collect information from your website's visitors. Results can be viewed or downloaded.

Features

News: A news entry adds a post to the website's News page and block for informative updates.
Calendar: Provides the ability to display Google Calendars.
Image Gallery: An image gallery entry adds a gallery of images to the website, thumbnails that are individually clickable or viewable as a slideshow.
YouTube Video: Provides the ability to embed YouTube video content in the pages of your site.

Photo Usage

Images from the Virtual Toolbox have all been vetted for use on university communications.

Virtual Toolbox

University Communications has a database of hundreds of photos available for download in a variety of formats. These images were taken by our university photographers, and are the property of Appalachian State University. They may be used for any official university communications.

Other Photos

Images not taken by our university photographers must be approved by your department's Communications Liaison to ensure all copyright, licensing, and release issues have been complied with.

Caching

Have you ever noticed that sometimes updates you make to your website do not display online immediately?

This is because hourly caching is set up on all our supported campus websites. Enabling caching offers a significant performance boost. The website can store and send compressed cached pages requested by anonymous users. By caching a web page, the website does not have to construct the page each time it is viewed.

So if you have made updates on your website that do not display right away, wait at least an hour to see if the updates post after the cache is flushed with cron.

Manage Your Site/Footer

The Footer contains information that repeats throughout the site at the bottom of the page. Here, you can add/update Site Contact and Social Networking information.

Access the Manage Your Site section from the Admin menu by selecting Structure > Manage Your Site

Manage your site

Create a Page

From the admin menu on the top, select Content - Add content. On the Add content page, click Page to start adding your new page to the website.

Title

Enter a page title in the Title ﬁeld.

Title field

The title is what appears at the top of your webpage, and it:

defines a title in the browser toolbar
provides a title for the page when it is added to favorites
displays a title for the page in search-engine results

NOTE: The title is the single most important on-page SEO element (behind overall content).

Body

The Body ﬁeld is where you will enter all of the content for your new page - text, links, images, etc. The formatting toolbar (also known as the Editor) at the top has a variety of formatting options.

Body field

Editor Options

The formatting toolbar (also known as the Editor) at the top has a variety of formatting options.

Bold, Italic

bold, italic Allows you to format your text as bold or italic.

Select the text to be formatted and click the toolbar icon to toggle on the preferred formatting.

Insert/Remove Bulleted, Numbered List

bulleted list, numbered list icons Allows you to insert a bulleted or numbered list.

Select the text to be formatted and click the toolbar icon to toggle on the preferred list formatting. Use the drop-down menu next to the list icon to select different number Types for the list. Bullet types are set by the theme.

Bulleted List

Item One
Item Two
Item Three

Numbered List

Item One
Item Two
Item Three

Decrease, Increase Indent

decrease indent, increase indent icons Allows you to indent a list item or a section of text to the left or right.

Select the text to be formatted and click the toolbar icon to toggle on increase or decrease indent.

Item One
- Indented Item One
- Indented Item Two
Item Two

Undo, Redo

undo, redo icons Allows you to undo or redo tasks you have performed in the body ﬁeld.

Click the appropriate toolbar icon to undo or redo a recent task.

Insert/Edit Link

insert/edit link Allows you to create different types of links in your content.

Select the text or image you want to make a link and click the Insert/Edit Link icon on the toolbar to open the properties window.

NOTE: Always check the links you are including on your website - both when you are adding them for the ﬁrst time, and periodically throughout the life of your site. Links frequently change or are removed as websites are modiﬁed over time, and it's a good rule of thumb to not have broken links on your website.

External

Enter the external link URL in the Link URL ﬁeld; be sure to enter the entire URL, including the initial http://.

External link

Click Insert to create the link.

NOTE: External links do not open in an new tab. This allows users to be in control of their experience, and they will always have the option to use the Back-button to return to the previous page.

Internal

Enter your page path in the Link URL ﬁeld.

To obtain your page path for the internal link:

Browse to the page to which you would like to link (NOTE: Be sure to open a new browser tab or window - if you navigate away from the page you are editing, you will lose your work.)
Select and copy everything AFTER the .edu, including the initial forward slash, from the URL in the address bar of your browser
Paste this text into the Link URL field

Internal link

Click Insert to add the link.

File

Click the Browse icon next to the Link URL ﬁeld.
Browse icon

Click the ﬁrst Upload button.
First upload button

Click Choose File to browse to your file and click Open.

Click the second Upload button to upload the chosen file to the web server.
Second upload button

With the ﬁle highlighted in the ﬁle browser, click the Insert ﬁle button.
insert file button

Click Insert to create the link.

NOTE: When linking to PDF, DOC or other types of ﬁles, it's a good idea to note what type of ﬁle the text is linking to, as well as the file size. This helps users know that they will be viewing a ﬁle different than a web page, as well as about how long they can expect it to take to load the ﬁle.

File Upload Limit

On most Drupal websites, there is an individual file upload limit of 5MB. This limit ensures that we maximize the amount of server space we are limited to on the web server. We currently host and support over 400 websites on this server, and need to ensure that everyone has enough room for their site files.

If you have a PDF file that is over 5MB that you need to upload to your website, you have a couple options:

Use Adobe Acrobat Pro to save it as a reduced file size PDF and/or an optimized PDF.
Be sure the dimensions of the document are optimized for screen viewing.
If the file is a multi-page document, save it as multiple files for groups of pages (i.e. pages 1-10, pages 11-20, etc). Be sure each file is under the 5MB limit.

Feel free to contact us for assistance if you need help with optimizing your files.

Insert/Edit Anchor

Create Anchor

Place the cursor where you want the anchor on the page.
Click the Insert/Edit Anchor button.
Enter a name in the Anchor Name ﬁeld (do not use spaces or symbols).
Click Insert

Link to Anchor

Select the text you want to link to the anchor location created above.
Click the Insert/Edit Link icon.
Select the appropriate anchor from the Anchors menu (the Anchors menu will not appear until you have created at least one anchor). The Link URL field will be populated with the appropriate anchor link.
Click Insert.

Link to Anchor from Another Page

Go to the page where you want to create the Link to Anchor
Select the text you want to link to the anchor location.
Click the Insert/Edit Link icon.
Type the Page Name and Anchor Name in the Link URL field (Example: /test-page-1/test-page-2#test_anchor).
Click Insert.

Unlink

unlink icon Allows you to remove a link from text or an image.

Select the linked text or image and click the Unlink icon on the toolbar.

Insert/Edit Image

insert edit image Allows you to insert an image on the page. Learn more about photo usage.

Edit Image Before Uploading

All edits, including cropping, should be done before inserting your image on the page. Aviary (by Adobe) is an easy-to-use, free online photo editor.

Upload/Add an Image

Position the cursor at the beginning of the text/paragraph where the image should be placed.

Click the Insert/Edit Image icon on the toolbar.

insert edit image

Click the Browse button next to the Image URL ﬁeld.

browse

Click the ﬁrst Upload button.

first upload link

Click the Choose File button to browse to your image ﬁle and click Open.

Click the second Upload button to upload it to the web server.

second upload link

With the ﬁle highlighted in the ﬁle browser, click the Insert File button. The Image URL field will be populated with the appropriate image path.

insert link

Image Description

Enter brief text to summarize your image in the Image Description ﬁeld.

image description field

NOTE: In order to comply with ADA laws, it is important that any images containing text or links also include Image Descriptions. This text ensures that any information displayed in the image can also be read by screen readers.

Alignment, Dimensions, Border, Vertical Space, Horizontal Space

The Alignment, Dimensions, Border, Vertical Space and Horizontal Space ﬁelds are deprecated and should NOT be used. Always resize your images to the size you want them to display on the page PRIOR to uploading them to the site.

Insert

Click the Insert button to place the image in the body field.

Align Image

To align your image, make sure the image is selected and choose Image Right Border or Image Left Border from the Styles menu

styles menu

Be sure to align images using the Styles menu on the toolbar; DO NOT use the alignment menu within the Image Properties box, as this has been deprecated.

Resizing

When you are adding images to your web pages, it is important that you use a photo editing program (like Adobe Photoshop or Aviary) to resize the image to the dimensions you want it to display at BEFORE you upload the image to your site for placement. The image properties width and height settings should NEVER be used to resize an image on a web page.

Uploading a large image (i.e. 1200 pixels wide) and then forcing it to resize using the Image Properties settings for width and/or height to display the image smaller (i.e. 200 pixels wide) causes two main issues:

The image quality will suffer, causing a blurry, pixelated or distorted looking image.
The page load time will be affected; since the image has not actually been resized, the web page still has to load the larger image.

Superscript, Subscript

superscript, subscript Allows you to format your text slightly above or below the standard text line.

Select the text to be formatted and click the toolbar icon to toggle on the preferred formatting.

Text^superscript

Text_subscript

Block Quote

blockquote Allows you to indent a section of text on the page, as well as to format it with larger text.

Select the text to be formatted and click the Block Quote icon on the toolbar.

This text has been formatted with Block Quote.

Insert Horizontal Line

Allows you to insert a horizontal line on the page.

Position the cursor where the horizontal line should be placed and click the Insert Horizontal Line icon on the toolbar.

This is an example of a horizontal line:

Styles

styles Allows you to position images, aligned to the right or left.

Select the image to be aligned and choose the desired option from the Styles drop-down on the toolbar.

Format

text format Allows you to select different type formatting for titles, subtitles and text. Heading 3 defines the most important heading. Heading 6 defines the least important heading.

Typically we recommend that you use Heading 3 for paragraph titles, Heading 4 for paragraph subtitles and Paragraph for body text.

Select the text to be formatted and choose the desired option from the Format drop-down on the toolbar.

Heading 3

Heading 4

Paragraph

Remove Formatting

Allows you to remove text formatting that you have added, using the Editor options, in the Body section. Select the text that you would like to remove the formatting from, and click the Remove formatting icon on the editing toolbar.

Insert/Edit Table

insert table Allows you to insert a table on the page.

Inserting a Table

Position your cursor where the table should be placed on the page.

Click the Insert/Edit Table icon on the toolbar.

insert table

Enter the Columns and Rows for your table.

Cell Padding, Cell Spacing, Alignment, Border, Width and Height are all formatted by the theme styles, so these fields can be left as their defaults.

Click Insert to create a blank table on the page.

Insert table

An empty table will be inserted into the body field.

Empty table

Adding Content to a Table

Position your cursor in each cell to enter content into each table cell. Cursor keys can be used to move between cells within a table.

Formatting Cell Headers

To create column or row headers for the table, enter the text into these cells and select the cells with the cursor.

table with columns

Click the Table Row Properties icon in the toolbar. (You may also perform this action using the Table Cell Properties icon.)

Select Header from the Row Type (or Cell Type) drop-down and click Update.

table header properties

Table Properties

You also have additional Table Properties options. Select the cells you want to modify in your table and use the additional table formatting icons in the toolbar as desired.

Format Table Row Properties

Format Table Cell Properties

Insert Row Before

Insert Row After

Delete Row

Insert Column Before

Insert Column After

Delete Column

Split Merged Table Cells

Merge Table Cells

Video Filter

video filter Allows you to embed video on your page.

Position cursor where video should be positioned on the page. Click the Video Filter icon on the toolbar to open the Insert Video properties window.

Enter link in Video URL field. Expand the Instructions section for information on formatting video links based on source (YouTube, Vimeo, ASU Streaming Server, etc).

video url field

Set player Width and Height in appropriate fields if desired. Entering Width only will cause Height to default to correct dimension. If entering both Width and Height, be sure to use proportional dimensions.

width field, height field

Set Align left, right or center if desired. The player will default to align left if Align menu is set to None.

Check Autoplay box if you would like video to play when the page loads. It is recommended to leave autoplay disabled, to allow users to control video playback.

autoplay setting

Click the Insert button to insert the formatted video link into the body field.

Click Save to see the video displayed on the page.

Paste as Plain Text

paste as plain text Allows you to strip any formatting from the source prior to pasting into the body field.

Copy the text from the source (Word file, Excel file, other web page, etc) and click on the Paste as Plain Text icon to toggle the feature on. Paste the text into the body field using standard keyboard shortcuts: CTRL-V (PC) or CMMD-V (MAC). Format text as desired using the Editor Options.

NOTE: Always use this option when pasting content into the body ﬁeld; stripping source formatting prior to putting it into the web page prevents display and validation errors.

The most common issues arise from pasting content directly from Microsoft Word into a web page. Word is a document and word processing application that uses different formatting than a website, which uses HTML to format text and images. When content is pasted from Word directly into a website, sometimes the formatting cannot properly be converted to HTML. Here is a sample of the display errors that may occur from pasting content directly into the body field:

Normal 0 false MsoNormalTable error text

The Paste as Plain Text tool allows you to strip any external formatting from your content before pasting it into the body field of the website. While this does require you to format your text using the website formatting toolbar, it ensures that your text and images will be properly displayed on your website.

Find, Replace

find and replace Allows you to Find or Find/Replace a word or phrase throughout the text in the body ﬁeld.

Find

To search for a word or phrase in the body field, click the Find icon on the toolbar. The Find tab displays by default.

Find What

Enter the word or phrase in the Find What field.

Direction

Select the Direction for the search, up or down.

Match Case

Check the Match Case option if the search should include case.

find window

Find Next

Click the Find Next button to start the search.

Find/Replace

To find and replace a word or phrase in the body field, click the Find/Replace icon on the toolbar. The Replace tab displays by default.

Find What

Enter the word or phrase in the Find What field.

Replace with

Enter the new word or phrase in the Replace with field.

Direction

Select the Direction for the search, up or down.

Match Case

Check the Match Case option if the search should include case.

replace window

Find Next, Replace, Replace All

Click the Find Next button to start the search, the Replace button to replace the selected instance of the word or phrase, or Replace All to replace all instances of the word or phrase in the body field.

Spacing

Single-Spacing

To create single-spacing within your body text, use a soft return (SHIFT+RETURN keys on your keyboard).

Single spaced text

Double-Spacing

To create double-spacing within your body text, use a regular/hard return (RETURN key on your keyboard).

Double spaced text

Header Image

The Header Image section allows you to upload header photos for a web page. Learn more about photo usage.

Header photos should be sized larger than 1155 pixels wide by 400 pixels tall and less than 1MB.

Upload a New Header Image

In the Add a new file field, click the Choose File button and browse to your image. Double-click to select the image.

Click the Upload button.

Enter a descriptive name in the Alternate text field. Leave blank to use the filename.

Add an Existing Header Image

Click on the File browser link, then click browse.

Click on the image in the File browser window to select it, then click Insert file button in top left corner.

Enter a descriptive name in the Alternate text field. Leave blank to use the filename.

Multiple Header Images

Upload additional Header images using the instructions above for Uploading a New Header Image or Add an Existing Header Image. Adding multiple header images will allow the header image to scroll from one image to the next.

Remove a Header Image from a Page

To remove a header image from displaying on a certain page, edit the page, go to the Header image section, and click the Remove button next to the image you no longer want displayed on the page. Then Save the page.

NOTE: Changes made to the attached images are not permanent until you save the page.

Menu Settings

In the Menu settings, check the Provide a menu link option. The Page Title will be displayed In the Menu link title ﬁeld, or you may enter the text you want to appear on the menu button for your page.

Under the Parent Item drop-down, select the section of the site you where want your new page's menu button to display.

For example, if you would like your page to be a child or sub-page of Test Page 1, then choose Test Page 1 as the Parent item for the menu settings.

Select Main menu to have it appear on the main navigation.

NOTE: All pages, unless part of a custom content type or feature, should have a menu item. The menu settings assign a menu item in the navigation to your new page, giving it a logical "home" on the website.

The URL path alias is created based on the menu settings for the page, which is important for usability. This is the feature that automatically creates the URL for your new page. For example, the Web Hosting page on our site has a path alias of http://webservices.appstate.edu/services/department-websites/platform. When viewing this link, the user can see immediately that this page is in the Department Websites Platform section, under the main Services section of the website. So a user could conceivably navigate to this page manually, if needed, just by knowing the path.

The breadcrumb is also created based on the menu settings for the page, which is another important usability feature. If a user clicked on the link and was taken directly to the Web Services page, the breadcrumb links at the top tell them where they are specifically in the site - Home > Services >Department Websites > Platform. The user can also click on any of those section links in the breadcrumb to be taken up individual levels within the site. Below is an example of a breadcrumb.

Example of a breadcrumb

If your website has pages that have URLs along the lines of http://sitename.appstate.edu/node/##, then the page was created without a menu setting. This can be resolved by editing the page, adding a menu setting, and making sure automatic alias is checked under URL path settings.

Revision Information

If Create new revision is checked, the site will automatically save each version of a page when you make edits to it. You have the option of including a Log message to note what your revision included. If no Log message is included, the site will save the date/time and username of the revision.

Revision information

See Revisions for additional information.

Authoring Information

The site will automatically log the username and the date/time a new page is created.

Authoring information

Publishing Options

Published will be checked by default; this means when you Save the page, it will be live on the site for viewers to see.

publishing options

Promoted to front page and Sticky at top of lists are not configured in the ASU theme by default. This means these items can be checked or unchecked with no effect on the website.

NOTE: If these options have been enabled for custom functionality on your website, you will be notified about what types of content they affect.

To save the work you have done on the page without making it visible to users of the site, uncheck the Published checkbox before you Save the page.

Save

Click the Save button to save your new page.

NOTE: None of the content entered on the Create Page form will be saved until you click the Save button. If you browse away from the Create page form before you have saved it, all entered content will be lost.

Edit a Page

There are two ways to edit a page. You can either browse to the page and click the edit tab, or navigate to the Content List and use the edit link.

Browsing

Browse to the page on the website to be edited, and click the Edit tab.

Edit menu

Make your changes and Save the page.

NOTE: You must be logged in to the website in order for the content tabs to be available.

Content List

From the Admin menu, click on Content. This displays all content that has been created.

From the Content list, you can Filter your results using the options at the top of the page.

You can view pages by clicking on their Title links, or you can delete pages by clicking on the delete link next to the page title you want to remove.

content list

Revisions

Revisions provide a way for users to view and revert to earlier versions of content that have been archived. Each time content is modified, a version of it prior to the modifications will be saved (if revisions are enabled for the content type).

To view the revisions, browse to the page and click on the Revisions tab.

Revisions tab

A list of the revisions made to-date will be displayed. The list will display the date, time, and author username of the revision. The current revision will be at the top and noted as current revision in the Operations column.

If a Log message was added to a revision, it will be displayed under the revision.

View

Under the Revision column, click on the date/time link of a revision to view it.

Revision date

Revert

To revert a page of content to an earlier version, click on the revert link under the Operations column.

You will then be prompted to conﬁrm your request by clicking the Revert button again.

revert

Delete

To delete a saved version of the page, click on the delete link under the Operations column.

You will then be prompted to conﬁrm your request by clicking the Delete button again.

Once you delete a revision it is permanently deleted from the website.

Revisions delete

Accessibility

Special attention should be paid to the construction of web pages so that they can be easily "viewed" by people using computer software and equipment such as screen readers, Braille output devices, or non-standard input devices.

The Accessiblity tab allows you to check for accessibility issues on your pages (i.e. missing "alt" tags for images) so that your content will be available to all audiences.

Accessibility

Learn more about Accessibility, Section 508 Standards and ADA Guidelines.

Delete a Page

There are two ways to delete a page. You can either browse to the page and delete using the edit tab, or navigate to the content list and click delete. Please note that it is highly recommended that you unpublish a page, as opposed to deleting in case you need to reference the page content in the future.

Browsing

Browse to the page on the website to be deleted, and click the Edit tab.

Edit menu

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Delete button. You will then be prompted to conﬁrm your request by clicking the Delete button again.

Once you delete a page, it is permanently deleted from the website.

It is recommended to use the Publishing options to unpublish the page to hide it from view on the website, instead of permanently deleting the page. This ensures that the page content is available in the future if it ever needs to be referenced.

NOTE: You must be logged in to the website in order for the content tabs to be available.

Content List

From the Admin menu, click on Content. This displays all content that has been created.

From the Content list, you can Filter your results using the options at the top of the page.

You can view pages by clicking on their Title links, or you can go directly to the edit page by clicking on the edit link next to the page title you want to update.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Delete button. You will then be prompted to conﬁrm your request by clicking the Delete button again.

content list

Once you delete a page, it is permanently deleted from the website.

Custom Content Types

A custom content type is programming set up on a website to input and display certain types of content. These types of content are built as custom content types and views to make it easier and more efficient for you to add and edit these particular types of content. For example, when you have a custom news type and view, it allows you to add a news post just once, and the website programming will automatically make it appear everywhere news posts are displayed (i.e. on the news page and on the news teaser block on the home page).

If you are editing content on your site and find that there is no "edit" tab, it is probably a custom content type or feature. Some popular examples of content types and views include:

News
Photo Galleries
Calendars
YouTube Videos
Staff Directories

More information on these custom content types can be found in the Features section.

Adding Custom Content

To add new content to a custom content type and view, simply go to Content - Add content in the admin menu.

Choose the type of content you want to add to the website (News, Calendar, etc).

Complete the fields, just as you would for a standard page, and click Save to add the new post to your site in the appropriate section.

Editing Custom Content

To edit content that is part of a custom content type and view, click on Content in the admin menu to access the Content list. See Content List for instructions.

Filter by the type of content at the top, and then use the edit link next to the content listing you want to change to access the "edit" page for that particular post.

Click Save when you are done with your edits and your content will automatically be updated everywhere that post appears on your website.

Deleting Custom Content

To delete content that is part of a custom content type and view, go to Content - Add Content in the admin menu to access the Content list. See Content List for instructions.

Filter by the type of content at the top, and then use the delete link next to the content listing you want to remove. Click Delete again to confirm. (Be certain you want to delete this content and not just unpublish it from view.)

NOTE: If there is text/content above or below the content listings on the view page, it is likely hard-coded into the view programming. Changes to this content should be emailed to webmaster@appstate.edu to complete.

Menus

The Menus section is used to sort or change the order of the menu items that appear on a website.

In the admin menu, select Structure and then select the Menus link.

Select List links to edit the main menu of the website. An outline of all the pages of your site is displayed here.

Change the order of your menu buttons by moving the drag-and-drop handle next to each menu title into the preferred location. To make a menu link a child link of another item, move the drag-and-drop handle to the right to indent it and designate it as a child or sub-page.

If you want the menu item to not be displayed, uncheck the check box in the Enabled column.

NOTE: Disabling the menu item simply removes the menu item from view on the site - the page itself will still be publicly viewable to users who have the link. See Publishing Options or instructions on how to hide a page from public view.

For usability, menu links should be used for internal links only (links to page on your website). Users expect the menu of a site to navigate only that site - adding links to external pages on the menu can cause confusion.

Blocks

Blocks are generally used for linking to content to that is not part of your site or for easy navigation. Below is an example of a left sidebar block.

Sidebar block

Add a Block

In the admin menu, select Structure - Blocks. The Block Overview page is displayed.

Click the Add block link to begin adding a new block.

Add block

Block title

Enter a title for your block to be displayed in the black block title bar of the block.

Block Title Bar

Block description

Enter a brief description of your block to be used on the block overview page.

Block Description Bar

Block body

Enter the content for your block as shown to the user.

Block Body

Region Settings

Determines where the block is displayed. Under ASU Theme drop-down menu, select where the block should appear on the page.

Page speciﬁc visibility settings

Set the pages where the block should appear on the website.

Enter one page per line as Drupal paths. The * character is a wildcard. Example paths are "blog" for the blog page and "blog/*" for all sub-pages of the blog page.

Enter <front> for the home page of the website. When entering paths here, include everything after ".appstate.edu/". For example, if you wanted to set your block to only appear on the About page, you would enter "about" in the pages field.

Selecting All pages except those listed and leaving the Only the listed pages field blank will set the block to appear on all pages of the website.

Block Specific Visibility Settings

Click the Save block button.

Move a Block

Drag and drop cross icon To change the region or order of a block, grab a drag-and-drop handle under the Block column and drag the block to a new location in the list. (Grab a handle by clicking and holding the mouse while hovering over a handle icon.)

You may also use the drop-down menu in the Region column to move your block.

Remember that your changes will not be saved until you click the Save blocks button at the bottom of the page.

Click Save blocks at the bottom of the page.

Disable a Block

To remove a block from view, move it to the Disabled region of the block overview page.

From the drop down menu next to the block, select <none> to disable the block from view.

Click Save blocks at the bottom of the page.

Edit a Block

Edit Block on Page

Hover over the block to be edited. A gear icon will appear in the upper right corner. Click on Configure block to edit existing block content. Make your changes and click Save.

Configure block

Edit Block on Block Overview Page

From the admin menu, select Structure - Blocks to access the block overview page.

Click the conﬁgure link next to the block you want to edit. Make your block changes and click Save block at the bottom of the page.

See Add a Block and Editor Options for additional information on editing block content.

Configure block

Features

A feature is programming set up on a website to input and display certain types of content. These types of content are built as features to make it easier and more efficient for you to add and edit these particular types of content.

For example, when you have a news feature, it allows you to add a news post just once, and the website programming will automatically make it appear everywhere news posts are displayed (i.e. on the news page and on the news teaser block on the home page).

If these features are enabled on your site, you will see them as an option when you select Content > Add content from the Admin menu. If you don't see them as an option, and would like to have them enabled, please email webmaster@appstate.edu.

If you are editing content on your site and find that there is no "edit" tab, it is probably a custom content type or feature.

News

The News feature allows you to create news listings for your site. Listings are organized in descending order by date posted, with the most recent listing appearing at the top of the News page. In order to create news, the News feature must be enabled on the website. If you do not currently have the News feature on your site but would like to have it set up, please contact webmaster@appstate.edu.

View a sample of the News page and Latest News block

Create News

To create News, from the admin menu, select Content - Add content. On the Create content page click News.

Title

Enter the Title for your News item.

News feature title bar

Image(s)

Upload a thumbnail image to be displayed with this news item on the news list, page, and block. Use the File browser link to use an image already uploaded to the website. Be sure to input Alternate text for screen readers. Text entered in the image Title field will be displayed as a caption with the image on the news page. Click Choose file to browse to an image and then click the Upload button.

Once an image has been uploaded you can add Alternate Text and Title details.

Alternate Text: This text will be used by screen readers, search engines, or when the image cannot be loaded. See Insert/Edit Image for details on when Alternate Text is required for ADA compliance.
Title: The title is used as a tool tip when the user hovers the mouse over the image, and as the caption for the image during the slideshow.

News feature upload image

Body

The Body ﬁeld is where you will enter all of the content for your new page - text, links, images, etc. The formatting toolbar (also known as the Editor) at the top has a variety of formatting options. See Editor Options for more information.

News feature create body field

Existing Link

Enter the external link (including the initial http://) for this news item if one already exists. Otherwise leave this field blank.

Header Image

Upload an image that will display in the header of this page.

Upload Header Image graphic

Once an image has been uploaded you can add Alternate Text, Title and Caption details.

Alternate Text: This text will be used by screen readers, search engines, or when the image cannot be loaded. See Insert/Edit Image for details on when Alternate Text is required for ADA compliance.
Title: The title is used as a tool tip when the user hovers the mouse over the image, and as the caption for the image during the slideshow.
Caption: The caption will appear with the thumbnail on the news page.

Click the Add another item button to add additional images to the gallery for the News post. Use the drag-and-drop handle to change the order of the images in the News gallery.

Authoring Information

The site will automatically log the username and the date/time a new page is created.

Authoring Information

Menu settings

Since the News post is part of a feature and the post will automatically be added to the News page and the Recent News block, there is no need to assign a Menu link title to the News post.

For information on Revision information, Authoring information, and Publishing options, see their respective instruction pages on this website.

Save

Click the Save button when you have completed entering the News content.

Edit News

There are two ways to edit a News post - by Browsing or via the Content list. See the Edit a Page section on this site for more information.

News Categories

You can manage Categories for News by adding or editing the terms in Taxonomy.

From the Create News page, in the Categories section, click on Manage news categories.

Manage news categories

You can also access News Categories from the Admin menu, select Structure - Taxonomy - News Categories.

To add a category, click +Add term. In the Name field, type the category you would like to add and then click Save.

Calendar

The Calendar feature allows you to diplay public Google calendars on your site. Calendars can be displayed in a variety of formats, including a calendar block format (by week, month or agenda.) You can also combine multiple calendars to be displayed as one calendar. In order to add calendars, the Calendar feature must be enabled on your site. If you do not currently have the Calendar feature on your site but would like to have it set up, please contact webmaster@appstate.edu.

View a sample Calendar page.

Add Calendar

From the Admin menu, select Content - Add content - Calendar.

Enter the name of your calendar in the Title field.

Enter the Calendar ID for this calendar.

To find the Calendar ID, click the drop-down to the right of the calendar name in Google calendar. Click Calendar settings. Find the Calendar Address and you will see the Calendar ID. Copy and paste the Calendar ID into the Calendar ID field.

You may add multiple calendars to be displayed by clicking the Add another item button and entering the Calendar ID.

Select the Calendar View mode for this calendar.

NOTE: Web Services recommends choosing the Agenda display option for the Calendar View, since this is the most accessible one for users with visual impairments.

You may set a Custom Calendar Title, if desired.

Select any Display Options that you would like to disable.

Click Save.

Embed Calendar

After you have saved the calendar, click on the Edit tab. It will create a node/##, like this: https://sitename.appstate.edu/node/##

Note the number at the end of the URL.

Go to the page where you want the calendar to appear and click the Edit tab. Put your cursor where you want the calendar to appear and type the nid:## within double brackets - for example, see screenshot below. This tells Drupal to embed node 123 on this page.

Node content example

Click Save.

YouTube Videos

The YouTube Video feature allows you to add YouTube video content and display it on your site. In order to add YouTube content, the YouTube Video feature must be enabled on the website. If you do not currently have the YouTube Video feature on your site but would like to have it set up, please contact webmaster@appstate.edu.

View a sample page that includes YouTube video content.

Add YouTube Video Content

From the Admin menu, select Content - Add content - YouTube Video.

Enter a Title for your video.

Enter the Video ID.

The Video ID is the code at the end of the URL, so for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzZqDYvGHLU, the ID is CzZqDYvGHLU.

Click Save to create the YouTube Video.

Embed YouTube Video

After you have saved the YouTube video, click on the Edit tab. It will create a node/##, like this, https://sitename.appstate.edu/node/##

Note the number at the end of the URL.

Go to the page where you want the video to appear and click the Edit tab. Put your cursor where you want the video to appear and type the nid:## within double brackets - for example, see screenshot below. This tells Drupal to embed node 123 on this page.

Insert a node content screenshot

Click Save.

Profile

The Profile feature allows you to create faculty and/or staff listings for your site. Listings are usually organized in alphabetical order on the page. In order to create profiles, the Profie feature must be enabled on the website. If you do not currently have the Profile feature on your site but would like to have it set up, please contact webmaster@appstate.edu.

Create Profile

To create a Profile, from the admin menu, select Content - Add content. On the Create content page click Profile.

Enter the information for the profile in the fields

Photo

Click on the Browse button to upload a photo for the profile. Images must be less than 2 MB in size.

Type

If categories are enabled, select a Type for the profile.

Biography

The Biography ﬁeld is where you will enter additional information for your profile listing - text, links, images, etc. The formatting toolbar (also known as the Editor) at the top has a variety of formatting options. See Editor Options for more information.

Save

Click the Save button when you have completed entering the Profile content.

Edit Profile listing

There are two ways to edit a Profile listing - by Browsing or via the Content list. See the Edit a Page section on this site for more information.

Text Blocks

Text blocks allow users to create block content that includes image, title, text (optional) and link. In order to create Text blocks, Text blocks, must be enabled on the website. If you do not currently have the Text blocks on your site but would like to have them set up, please contact webmaster@appstate.edu.

Create Text Block

To create Text blocks, from the admin menu, select Content - Add Block - Text block.

Block Label

Enter a Label name that will display in the admin interface.

Block Title

Enter a title for your block to be displayed in the black block title bar of the block.

Description

Enter text content that you would like to be displayed in the Text block. This field is optional.

Link

Enter a link for the block. When the user clicks on the text block, it will take them to the linked page.

Image

Upload an image to be displayed in the Text block.

Save

Click the Save block button.

Display Block

Once Text Block has been created, you may insert in Panel page, Left sidebar, etc.

See Panels - Add Block Content for how to add Text block to Panel pages.

See Blocks for information on moving or editing visibility settings for Text blocks.

Text Blocks List

To view all Text Blocks, from the admin menu, Content - Blocks

Edit Text Block

Find the Text Block that you want to edit in the Blocks List, Content - Blocks.

Click on the edit link to the right of the Text Block you would like to edit.

Make the needed updates and click Save.

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is used for categorizing content. Terms are grouped into vocabularies. Taxonomy is often used to set up categories for News or other features that can be enabled on a site.

Click on the list terms link to view categories for a particular type of content.

Taxonomy - categories

To add a term (category), click the + Add term link

Add term

Type the term (category) you would like to add in the Name field and click Save.

Panels

Panels allow you to create custom layouts for pages on your site. A panel is made up of multiple regions, or panes, that allow you to deﬁne areas on the page where content can be displayed.

In order to add a panel page to your site, the panels module must be enabled on the website.

NOTE: Before you create your panel, the content that you will use to populate the regions of your panel page may be created or already exist (i.e. pages or blocks). Be sure to make a note of the titles of each of the pages you will be pulling into the panel page.

Choose Layout

To begin creating a Panel, from the admin menu, select Content - Add content. On the Create content page, click Panel.

Choose Layout

From the Category drop-down, select the layout type. Options include:

Columns: 1
Columns: 2
Columns: 3
Columns: 5

Category specific layout options will display when you select a Category option. Click the desired layout for the Panel.

columns for panel layout

Create Panel

Title

Enter the Title for your Panel.

Title field

Menu Settings

See menu settings for more information on providing a menu link.

Other Settings

For information on Revision information, Authoring information and Publishing options, see their respective instruction pages on this website.

Save

Click the Save button when you have completed entering the Panel content.

Panel Content

To begin adding content to a Panel, click the Panel content tab.

Panel Content

The regions of the Panel Page are displayed.

Panel Regions

To add content to a Panel region, click the gear icon in the upper left corner of the region to which content is to be added.

Gear icon

Click the Add content link that displays to view the Add content window.

Add Existing Node Content

To add an existing page as content for a Panel region, click the Existing node link.

Existing node

Enter the title or NID of a node

Begin entering the title of the existing page you are adding to the Panel region; select the desired page title from the drop-down that appears with matching results.

Existing node title

Override title

Leave Override title unchecked and blank to use the Page title as the Panel region title.

Check Override title and leave the field blank to display no Panel region title.

Check Override title and enter a different title to change the Panel region title.

Override title

Leave node title

Leave node title should remain unchecked.

Leave node title

Link the node title to the node

Check this box if you would like your pane title to link to the page.

Link node title

Include node links for "add comment", "read more" etc.

Checking this box will put add comment (if comments are enabled for the page) and read more (useful if Build mode is set to Teaser) links on the bottom of the panel region.

Uncheck this box if Build mode is set to Full node, since the entire page content will already be displayed on the Panel, and a read more link will be unnecessary.

Include node links

Template identifier

Leave the Template identifier field blank. The Panel template is set by the ASU/RCOE theme.

Template identifier

Build mode

Select a Build mode for the page to be displayed on the Panel:

Full content: Entire page content will be displayed
Teaser: Only initial page content will be displayed

Build mode

Finish

Click the Finish button to return to the Panel content page.

Save

Click the Save button to save the Panel page.

Add Custom Content

To add custom content for a Panel region, click the New custom content link.

New Custom Content

Administrative title

Enter the Administrative title of the existing page you are adding to the Panel region. This title will be used administratively to identify this pane. If blank, the regular title will be used.

Administrative title field

Title

Enter the title of the existing page you are adding to the Panel region. This Title will apear on the panel page.

Title field

Body

The Body ﬁeld is where you will enter all of the content for your new custom region - text, links, images, etc. (see Editor Options).

Body field

Finish

Click the Finish button to return to the Panel content page.

Save

Click the Save button to save the Panel page.

Add Block Content

To add an existing block as content for a Panel region, click the Miscellaneous link from the Add content window. To add a Text Block as content for a Panel region, click the Block: Text Block link for the Add content window

Add Miscellaneous content

Select the Block or Text block to be added to the Panel from the options listed.

Add block

Override title

Leave Override title unchecked and blank to use the Page title as the Panel region title.

Check Override title and leave the field blank to display no Panel region title.

Check Override title and enter a different title to change the Panel region title. NOTE: You will always want to check this box when adding Text blocks to prevent the Title from displaying twice.

Override title

Finish

Click the Finish button to insert the block content into the panel region.

Save

Click the Save button to save the Panel page.

Edit a Panel Page

Edit Panel Page Settings

To edit the Title, Revision information, Authoring information and Publishing options of the Panel, see Edit a Page for more information.

Edit Panel Existing Node

When viewing the panel page, hover over the region with the content to be edited. A gear icon will appear in the upper right corner of the panel region. Click on Edit to edit existing node content.

Edit node button

Edit Panel Custom Content

Click the Panel content tab. Find the Custom region that you want to edit and click on gear icon in upper right corner of custom region. Click on Edit to edit custom content. Once changes are completed, click the Finish button.

Edit custom content

Edit Panel Block Content

When viewing the panel page, hover over the region with the block to be edited. A gear icon will appear in the upper right corner of the panel region. Click on Configure block to edit the block content.

Configure block

Save

Click the Save or Save block button to save the changes for display on the Panel.

Search Engine Optimization

Many people are interested in how they can increase their website's earch engine ranking, or "optimize" their website for the search engines.

Research Current Analytics

Check your site's Google Analytics reports to see what keywords it is currently ranked and receiving traffic for.

(If Web Services supports your site, send us your website URL and your gmail account address and we can set you up with access to your site's Google Analytics reports).

Research Keywords

Use a keyword research tool (like SEO Book's Keyword Tool) to get search terms being searched for on the top search engines.

Getting ranked for terms no one is searching for will not help drive traffic to your website. Search engine ranking is a means to and end. The goal is to generate qualified traffic to your website by being ranked - not just to get higher search engine ranking.

Research the Competition

This will help you determine what keywords your site can likely get ranking for and to work towards achieving those first.

Type the keyword of interest into a search engine and see what sites come up on the first few pages for that term. These sites have ranking for the term already. In order to compete with them and try to get ranking for the term, your site needs to have at least as many indexed pages as these sites.

To see how many indexed pages the ranked sites have, perform a Google search for "site:" followed immediately by the URL of the site you are interested in. For example, to find the number of pages for www.appstate.edu, enter "site:appstate.edu" in the Google search field. The results will tell you about how many indexed pages the site has.

Grow Your Website

Once you know what keywords you want to try to get higher ranking for, add content about these keywords to your website. Be sure to include the keywords in the page titles and body content. Link the keywords to other pages on your site that are related or about the keyword.

Some popular ways to grow content on a website include news, blog, and calendar features. These not only allow you to help grow your site for search engine ranking, but they are also great ways to provide information to and stay in touch with your users.

The truly best approach to increasing site ranking is having a site worth being ranked, which means having good content that your users are looking for.

Use Evaluative Tools

Other online tools, like Google's Webmaster Tools, can provide even more analytics and suggestions for ways to help increase your site's optimization and ranking.

Keep At It

Search engine optimization is a constantly evolving target because the internet is constantly evolving. Websites you are competing with for top ranking for specific terms are growing their websites and improving their content as well, so to stay competitive, you have to regularly perform this support on your site.