3. Who is this for?
•
Moving from another
CMS
•
You’re planning a
new Drupal site
•
You inherited a new
Drupal site and sense
there might be
something wrong...
Wednesday, January 22, 14
3
4. In this presentation...
• The basics of content types
• Beware the defaults!
• The big problem: Content Architecture
• A final check when you’re ready to go live
Wednesday, January 22, 14
4
5. Not in this presentation...
• Views display
• File field
• Image fields and WYSIWYG
• Drupal 8 content modeling
• Improving content administration
(very important!!)
Wednesday, January 22, 14
5
6. Site Building Checklist
• With Suzanne of Evolving Web
• Site Building Checklist (slides)
Wednesday, January 22, 14
6
7. Future friendly content
• KAREN MCGRANE - Keynote, DrupalCon
portland2013.drupal.org/keynote/karen-mcgrane
(24:20 mins in)
Wednesday, January 22, 14
7
8. Content admins are important
• Slides: “Content Administrators are Users
Too” Karen McGrane and Jeff Eaton
slideshare.net/KMcGrane/baby-got-backendcontent-administrators-are-users-too
Wednesday, January 22, 14
8
10. What is a content type?
A “content type”
Wednesday, January 22, 14
A “node”
10
11. Assembling
• A typical Drupal “page” is made up of
assembling components from content types,
fields, blocks, views, panels, etc!
thumbnail
Wednesday, January 22, 14
text w/picture
list w/thumbnail
list
11
12. Content types
Article
Instruction manual
Tips
Content title
Content title
Content title
This is a guide. The best
place to start is here.
Then you can go there
and further.
Article content. A small
river named Duden
flows by their place and
supplies it with the
necessary regelialia.
tags
tags
Wednesday, January 22, 14
Download
This is a file download
Tips content. This is a
great way to use your
new product.
tags
12
13. About content types
• Content types have
basic settings.
Generic content type
Title
• Simple version
Author
control (revisions).
Date published
• Adding fields
extends and
customized the
content type
Comments?
Menu option?
News article
Generic plus:
Generic plus:
Date of event
Lead image
Topic
Wednesday, January 22, 14
Event
Topic
13
14. Content types are not...
• Content types are not page templates!
• Other CMSs workflow is “container first”.
• Define site map...
• Create page templates...
• In Drupal:
Panels, Page manager, etc. can be used.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
14
15. Quick demo!
• Super fast demo
filepaths.localhost:8082/admin/structure/types
Wednesday, January 22, 14
15
16. Typical Drupal workflow
Drupal workflow just for content modelling
1. Add the content type
2. Configure default settings
3. Add fields
4. Manage display
5. Set permissions
6. Test adding content
Wednesday, January 22, 14
16
17. What actually happens?
Drupal workflow just for content modelling
1. Add the content type
2. Configure default settings
3. Add fields
4. Manage display
5. Set permissions
6. Test adding content
Wednesday, January 22, 14
17
20. Submission form
• Default title field label is “Title”. Does this suit
your content type?
• Submission guideline is empty!
Wednesday, January 22, 14
20
22. Revisions
• Default: It’s disabled.
• Enable revisions for most content types. This
helps editors greatly, especially when
collaborating.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
22
23. Promoted to front page?
• Default: It’s enabled.
• Disable if you don’t want content to go to
your front page and global RSS feed by
default
Wednesday, January 22, 14
23
24. Menu options
• Default: New content types allow new nodes
to be added to the main menu.
• Do you want users to be able to add this
particular item into your “Main menu”?
Wednesday, January 22, 14
24
25. Comment settings
• Though you can turn the default setting to
“closed” content admins can still “open”
them.
• Configure your content settings, threading,
number of comments, even for closed types!
Wednesday, January 22, 14
25
26. Body field
• Default field label is “Body”. Does that work
for your content type?
• Default allows for an editable summary.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
26
27. Check your designs for these pitfalls
The big problem:
Content architecture
Wednesday, January 22, 14
27
28. Drupal is different
• CMSs have a bias. They’re often designed
around a certain “unit” of content and that’s
what they’re optimized to create.... For most
web content management tools a unit is a
webpage, even though we’re more likely to
be making dynamic sites that use (and reuse)
content in a variety of configurations.
• Content Modelling: A Master Skill by RACHEL
LOVINGER April 24, 2012
Wednesday, January 22, 14
28
29. Org charts
• Content Modelling: A Master Skill by
RACHEL LOVINGER April 24, 2012
Wednesday, January 22, 14
29
30. Other CMSs - ouch!
https://blog.gathercontent.com/from-blobs-to-chunks-a-real-life-example
Wednesday, January 22, 14
30
32. Drupal could do it better!
https://blog.gathercontent.com/from-blobs-to-chunks-a-real-life-example
Wednesday, January 22, 14
32
33. Content separate from display
• Content types with presentational markup
http://karenmcgrane.com/2013/05/23/drupalcon-keynote-video-and-talk-notes/
Wednesday, January 22, 14
33
35. What to display?
Title
Image
Show 2 most recent.
Image as square thumbnail.
Body text up to 100 words
Web Page Title
http://domain.com
Google
Body text
Location
Tags
Author
Date
Wednesday, January 22, 14
35
36. Show author and date?
Title
Image
Show 9 per page with pagination.
Image as thumbnail.
Author link to profile. Short date.
Web Page Title
http://domain.com
Google
Body text
Location
Tags
Author
Date
Wednesday, January 22, 14
36
37. Display options
• Limit your fields to only what you need to
reuse and display.
thumbnail
Wednesday, January 22, 14
text w/picture
list w/thumbnail
list
37
38. Design choices
• When to use multiple fields?
Example a.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
Example b.
Example c.
38
39. Design choices
• Depends on your needs
Example a.
Single
image field
Wednesday, January 22, 14
Example b.
Single
image field
multiple
values
Example c.
Two
image fields
Single values
39
40. Too many?
• 42 content types which could be
consolidated
• Consolidate: Content types with similar
purposes with names like “Page - front” and
“Page - products”
Wednesday, January 22, 14
40
41. Too few?
• 2 or 3 complex content types with many
fields and references.
• Divide: Limit fields to only necessary data
which suits the model for that type.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
41
42. How many is too many?
• Too many content types can be a burden on
overall performance.
• The number of fields and references within a
content type will have a significant impact on
performance.
• A large number of fields and complex forms
also increase the chance for error and harm
user experience.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
42
43. Prevent at design stage!
• Limit the number of content types
• Limit unnecessary complexity
• Limit unnecessary fields
• Combine similar content types
• Reuse shared fields for the same data (where
they have the same global settings)
Wednesday, January 22, 14
43
46. Module selection - FAQ v FAQ field?
drupal.org/project/faq
Wednesday, January 22, 14
drupal.org/project/faqfield
46
47. Field collection
• Simplify entity references functionality
• Displayed within the content type. Can be
edited separately.
• Can pose performance problems
Pet name
select animal type
dogs
cats
goldfish
snakes
https://drupal.org/project/field_collection
Wednesday, January 22, 14
47
51. Real content test drive
• Test content types with real content and real
content editors. **
• You will always be surprised!
• Change order of content editing fields to
match user’s needs, even if different than
display.
• ** Warn editors this content probably will be
destroyed
Wednesday, January 22, 14
51
52. Permissions!
• Check permissions after you add each
content type.
• Check permissions for untrusted user roles
on all contributed modules.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
52
55. Module maintenance
• Subscribe to the issue queues of any
modules you’re using on the site.
• Apply security updates on-going
Wednesday, January 22, 14
55
56. Tidy up!
• Delete test content.
• Delete test content types.
• Delete any content types not in use.
• “Retire” old content types (which still have
content on display) by disabling editing
permissions for content editing roles so they
don’t see that content type in their Add
content list.
Wednesday, January 22, 14
56
