Site Administration: Nodes & Administration Menu

What is a Node?

Occasionally within Drupal you will see the term “node.” While Frankenstein may have nodes on the sides of his neck, this is not how Drupal defines them.

In Drupal, nodes are basically the bits and pieces of information contained on your website. Each piece of information is associated with a type of content such as a Page, Story, Blog Entry, Forum, or Poll—to name a few—with Page being the most common. If you hear the word “node,” don't be afraid. Just think “piece of information” and know that each time you create a Page or Blog Entry or Poll, you create a node.

The Administration Menu

Much of the administration of your website will be done through the Administration Menu. This menu is where you will go to add new pages, new users, delete menu items, and handle general maintenance/configuration tasks.

The Administration Menu is available whenever you login to your website. To access the Administration Menu:

1. Login to your account. The Administration Menu now appears at the top of your page.
2. Review the Administration Menu Categories. Common activities (like edit content, create new pages, add items to your navigation menu, view lists of the content on your site) are in the drop-down menus under Content Management and Site Building.
3. Place your cursor on a Drop-Down Menu Category to see what is listed in that category. Depending on the menu, more options may open to the right as you mouse down over the list.
4. Select an item by moving your mouse onto your choice and clicking with the left mouse button.

View a List of All Your Content

You can view a complete list of items on your site from the List page.

1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Content Management → Content → List.
2. The page opens with a list of all your site content. From here you can select items to edit or unpublish, and locate items you misplaced.

Note: There is also a Content Management Filter that allows you to filter your content in many different ways that we have found to be quite useful. To access it, go to Content Management → Content Management Filter.

Finding a Lost Page or Other Item

If you think you've lost a page, node, or item, you can find it by opening the Content Management Filter (mentioned above).

1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Content Management → Content Management Filter. The page opens with a list of all your site content and several ways to filter, including status (published or not published), node type (page, story, blog, etc.) page title and creation date. You can also sort your pages by title, node type, author, etc., if you wish. This will help make it much easier to find a particular page. If the item you are looking for does not appear using the filter, it has most likely been deleted.