Community Documentation

Information architecture

Last updated October 24, 2011. Created by Bojhan on August 14, 2009.
Edited by janusman, rafamd, LeeHunter, xjm. Log in to edit this page.

The information architecture of Drupal 7 has changed significantly from previous Drupal versions. Drupal 7's user interface includes the following administrative sections:

  1. Content
  2. Structure
  3. Appearance
  4. People
  5. Configuration

This handbook page will explain where to place a module's configuration within these sections. Each section's base Drupal path is also given (for use in hook_menu()).

Content

admin/content

The Content section lists all nodes. No module should add its configuration here. Only lists related to node objects should be included here.

Examples:Lists of comments

Structure

admin/structure

The Structure section is for important modules used to build the structure of a website. It includes most of the old "Site Building" category from Drupal 6. The intent is to keep this section small. It would contain only very important site building modules such as Views and Panels.

Examples: Views, Panels

Appearance

admin/appearance

The Appearance section holds settings specific to themes. No module should add any configuration here unless it is related to an installed theme.

People

admin/people

The People section should only be used for the listing of users. Modules may expose other data here. For example, a module might list events related to each user.

However, no module should add its configuration here. Instead, use the People category under the Configuration section (below).

Examples:Lists of events related to users, signups

Configuration

The Configuration section is for all configuration. Any module which exposes configuration should be placed here. The category for a module's configuration should be chosen carefully.

Avoid creating new categories. Instead, consider placing your module's configuration near a related module. If possible, add the module's configuration under one of the following categories:

  1. People
  2. System
  3. Development
  4. Content authoring
  5. Regional and language
  6. Search and metadata
  7. Media
  8. Web services
  9. User interface

People

admin/config/people

The People category should hold all modules that would fit under the old "User Management" category in Drupal 6. (Note: Do not confuse this category with the People section above.)

Examples: Access control modules

System

admin/config/system
The System category should hold all modules that deeply affect the system but expose no actual functionality to the site user.

Examples: Global Redirect, RobotsTxt

Development

admin/config/development

The Development category should hold any module which is primarily for developers.

Examples: Coder, Devel, Simpletest

Content authoring

admin/config/content

Description needed.

Regional and language

admin/config/regional

Description needed.

admin/config/search

Description needed.

Media

admin/config/media

Description needed.

Web services

admin/config/services

The Web services category is for modules which connect a Drupal site with external data sources or services. Examples include RSS feeds, authentication providers, payment gateways, etc.

User interface

admin/config/user-interface

The User interface category should hold all modules specifically aimed at enhancing or changing a particular interface. This includes both interfaces for end users and those for administrators.

Examples: Administration menu, Lightbox2, most jQuery modules.