This document summarizes a presentation about simplifying content administration in Drupal 7. It discusses organizing the administrator interface based on the most common tasks performed by content editors. Specifically, it recommends focusing on the 20% of tasks that account for 80% of editor time. It also suggests replicating how content appears on the front end to make content editing more intuitive. The presentation demonstrates using modules like Views, Features, and Workbench Moderation to simplify and optimize the editor experience in Drupal 7.

1. Simplifying End-user Drupal 7
Content Administration
Presented by Aidan Foster
FOSTER INTERACTIVE afoster@fosterinteractive.com
Web Development + Design Linked In: ca.linkedin.com/in/aidanfoster
Twitter :@finteractive

2. AIDAN FOSTER
• I’ve Run a Web Shop for 9 years
• Been doing “the Drupal” since 5.12
(that’s 4 human years)
• Come from a planning / project
management side of things
• Now learning themeing,
development, and responsive design

3. DRUPAL 5

4. DRUPAL 6

5. CONTENT
EDITOR
FUNCTIONS

6. BAD MOJO FROM EDITOR USERS

7. MINE FIELD
FOR
CONTENT
EDITOR
FUNCTIONS

8. WORDPRESS
3.2

9. WORDPRESS
3.2

10. DRUPAL 7 ADMIN

11. DRUPAL 7 ADMIN

12. LEARN FROM - ADOBE CQ5
http://www.day.com/day/en/products/
web_content_management.html

13. HOW DO WE GET FROM D7
TO SOMETHING MORE LIKE C5?

14. THINK ABOUT EDITOR USABILITY
• Conventions are your Friends
• Omit needless words
• 20% of tasks are done 80% of time
(focus on this stuff - everything else
should be hidden away)

15. CASE STUDY - OLYMPUSPACIFIC.COM
• People are important
• Videos are important
• Content gets stale fast

16. OLYMPUS EDITORS
60% - News & Events
TASKS 25% - Videos & Galleries
10% - Remove Outdated Info
5% - Other

17. TASK BASED INTERFACE
CREATED IN VIEWS
(AND AN OCEAN OF MODULES)

18. ADMIN DEMO

19. DASHBOARD MODULE
OR
CUSTOM SEVEN SUB-THEME

20. DASHBOARD MODULE
• HAS SOME BUGS!
(Needs this patch - http://drupal.org/node/936798)
• Limited in scope - Great for smaller sites (no tabs)

21. CUSTOM SUB THEME
Column 1st Column 2nd
minor CSS to hide
Content Bottom confusing module text
& seven’s pretty buttons
Added 3 Regions styles

22. QUICKBAR MODULE
Create a Menu for the Content Editor Role
(disable admin menu for then)
Assign it to Content Editor Role

23. COMPLEX NODE FORMS
“Slide” Content Type
(Fields are themed into slides on homepage)

24. ADD FIELD GROUP

25. NODE FORM COLUMNS

26. NODE FORM SETTINGS

27. VIEWS BY TASK
• Every Tab has “Recently Edited” at top
• Every Block has “Add <content type>” above
• Make the Content Editor View as similar to the front end as possible

28. DRAGGABLE VIEWS
• Draggable Views is a good option for structured content like a team page

29. PHOTO GALLERIES
• Not Practical to show all thumbnails so we show 5 to mimic the front end
(Extra are just hidden with CSS3)
• Clicking thumbnails opens lightbox (Just like front end)

30. VIDEOS VIEW
Video player is functional for quick review of content

31. WORK BENCH MODERATION
Node gets fancy moderate tabs to allow viewing an unpublished draft
(while older version remains live)
All unpublished content appears in admin view

32. FEATURES MODULE
Fields + Content Types
Exported as
Views
Modules
Module Files
(can be version controlled)
Permissions
Config Settings
(In Drupal Database)

33. FIND WHERE EDITOR’S 80% TIME
GOES TO 20% OF TASKS
ORGANIZE STRUCTURE BY TASK
REPLICATE HOW
CONTENT IS PRESENTED
ON FRONT END

36. WHAT’S NEXT?
• Creating a set of rules to email content editors when pages
get 6 months old.
• Media 2.x - Stable... Possibly Switch?
• Implementing WYSIWYG enhancements that Andrew Mallis
outlined in his presentation (Very well documented if you
missed it) http://bit.ly/ideograph-wysiwyg

37. QUESTIONS?
• Slides are posted on fosterinteractive.com/articles/d7-admin