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By zoon_unit on
I'm feeling pretty dumb at the moment, but how do I get a "story" (which I call a news article) to post on a page other than the front page? I want a page called "News" where all stories go. Only the best articles do I want to promote to the front page.
What am I missing here? Either the story shows up on the front page or disappears into the ether if I turn "promote to front page" off.
Comments
Are they in ?q=story or
Are they in ?q=story or somewhere like that?
I currently have stories set up to be articles on the site I'm making, but I'm using an article module that makes its own page and stores the stories in nice little categories there.
works at bekandloz | plays at technonaturalist
Automatic categorization of stories
I've got a question maybe somebody on this thread can answer. I am using the Category module to organize the content on a site I am working on. I am wondering if it is possible to have content posted by users automatically categorized to the correct category based on the location they have navigated to. For example, let's say I have two different categories among many:
Computers > Laptops > Dell > Inspiron
Electronics > Audio > MP3 players > iPod
When a user navigates to Inspiron, is there a way to enable them to automatically post a story to the Inspiron category? The way it is now, when a user goes to create content, they must select a category for their content. If there are many such categories, the list to select from becomes huge. Is there any way to set it up so that a user can click to add content from the final category, i.e. Inspiron or iPod and have the content automatically added there without having to select any categories? Is there a way to set this up drawing from taxonomy terms and vocabulary? Are there other modules that make this possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Common problem. The stories,
Common problem. The stories, whilst still in your site, arent referenced from anywhere. You can do this manually by adding a menu entry (they will appear in your site navigation tree) or you can use an automated solution, such as a php snippet, the views module, taxonomy etc. Basically, you need to tell drupal where the site should live before it can put it anywhere. By using the automated solution drupal will group together like node in an index page. You then need to link to this index page from your site nav.
Thanks, but...
I partly grasped what you're saying, but not quite. :-)
Here's my interpretation: Stories simply populate the database as records. To access the records, you must have a page set up to query those records. (If I had promoted a story to the front page, the record must then have a "flag" marking it as a front page item, and the front page is already set up in drupal to pull records flagged as "front page.")
So the front page is a pre-made query?? I now need to set up a page to query the stories by some other criteria? Which method is best practice here? Is that what taxonomy is for?
Uggh, I feel pretty drupal-dumb at the moment. Has anyone written a handbook that explains the basic way drupal is structured? Most of the handbook pages I've read address certain, very specific issues, not basic knowledge.
Youve pretty much got it. So
Youve pretty much got it. So some modules allow will offer a page or pages that create a list of links and teasers. One example is taxonomy. Taxonomy allows you to add 'tags' to your pages based on one or more organisational criteria. You can then navigate to this taxonomy index page for a listing of all the nodes (content) that are assigned this tag. Taxonomy is one of the most used methods for organising dynamic content on the site.
But if the page is meant to be static - for example an about us page - it should be assigned a link on the primary navigation using the menu settings. This way it is lin1ed from anywhere in the site.
If you have a lot of dynamic content that needs to be organised within a single hierarchy you may need to consider the category module.
There are various posts on structuring a site in drupal - i will try to dig up a link or two.
ps dont worry - i think most of us have gone through that feeling of being at the bottom of a very long hill - you can see how good the top looks, but its sooo far away.
This passes!
Thanks!
The bottom-up approach of Drupal is starting to sink in. I can see the perfect subject for one of my first Drupal websites: A newbies guide! The one major element lacking from this wonderful open source project is a good roadmap for beginners, to help them understand the Drupal way.
There's plenty of info, but it's scattered hither and yon. We need a focused documentation site that takes beginners step-by-step through the initial phases of website design.
(I better get busy if I want to eventually write such a site!)
I've looked at the category module, but I'm not quite sure what it adds to the taxonomy module except perhaps a clearer interface and additional complexity.
The category module add more
The category module add more than this - (but it certainly does add complexity!). When you start working with sites with a lot of dynamic content that needs to be organised within a singular site hierarchy you will find that you need the extra functionality that category gives you. It also allows you to generate menu items for dynamic content etc. Basically, whilst the taxonomy system is really powerful it does not give much regard to a single site structure. Also, category adds the inbetween index pages as nodes. This gives you much more control over the generation of these indexes.
But all of this will come in time. I guess necessity becomes the catalyst for adopting new modules.
Category module is the way to go
Having swum in the drupal pool of confusion for a month or two I entirely sympathise with the need for a primer about the over all content managment philosophy and tactics for approaching the whole structure/categorosation issue. Can also attest that once you "get" it, Drupal is immensely powerful and flexible - although on occasions, unnecessarily confusing - to operate. Would certainly recommend taking the time to understand the category and views modules as together they will give you what you are seeking.
Category module is the way to go
Having swum in the drupal pool of confusion for a month or two I entirely sympathise with the need for a primer about the over all content managment philosophy and tactics for approaching the whole structure/categorisation issue. Can also attest that once you "get" it, Drupal is immensely powerful and flexible - although on occasions, unnecessarily confusing - to operate. Would certainly recommend taking the time to understand the category and views modules as together they will give you what you are seeking.
Here's another question
If I use the category module, what about the views module? How does it fit into the paradigm?
Are these modules starting to overlap each other? It's amazing how many optional modules I've accumulated in my 4.7.3 install. It's sometimes hard to know what variables in Drupal are coming from what modules!
Thanks for your input.
Try both and see
they do overlap - also with epublish and panels. category seems to me to be very good for setting the basic architecture of the site while views helps slice your content in lists which are of interest to your users
Did you ever find a newbies guide?? Need document archive...
I am so glad I finally found a thread that seems to tackle my issues. I am also looking for a way to add stories to another page. I want to create a basic document archive, where certain documents that are published monthly or so can be added to a list, with each title or date or however this is listed would then link to the document. This seems simple enough... but I am starting to feel like an idiot.
I am glad one of the posters mentioned a couple months of confusion. That makes me feel much better. I just started working with this on Friday, and the learning curve is pretty steep for me. I am used to picking up new softwares and such in a weekend or some, but not this one...
Is there a drupal for dummies site???
Try out the Views module
The Views module allows you to build a custom query that will bring up list of nodes via your definition. You type in a url for the custom page when defining the query. It even allows you to place header and footer text before and after the nodes.
Here's how you'd do it:
1) Create a vocabulary in taxonomy to tag your posts. (for instance, news type or archive, etc)
2) Go to Views and create a query that lists nodes that are tagged a certain way.
3) That's it. (of course it's more complicated than that, but I've found the Views module to be pretty straightforward)
Thanks... I am getting the hang of it
I have figured out a bunch of stuff with the help of the views module, taxonomy and the book node.
The book node is pretty useful for creating a document archive, and the views module has been invaluable for making blocks to place stories on different pages depending on taxonomy.
It is amazing how completely overwhelmed I was by drupal less than a week ago, and now I have had sort of a lightbulb! My next hurdle is figuring out how to tweak the appearance after the content structure is in place... argh...
How are you making blocks?
How are you making blocks with the views module. I wanted a block for recent stories like the one for recent blogs, but for some reason Drupal doesn't come with one default. Can views do this?
Yes, the views module makes
Yes, the views module makes this very easy.
There is a fieldset for block views when you create a view. You need to check the box that says provide this view as a block. Then select the options to select all of your new stories in the same way you would create a page.
The trick is, even after you save this view, the block wont show up. You need to go to the blocks configuration page and then activate the newly created block.
hth
Thank You!
This is the exact summary I was needing!
The problem, in my opinion, is that the Cookbook for Beginners sends you off to get Views (without the courtesy of a link) and doesn't give you the slightest bit of help using it... and this is long before it even introduces Taxonomies.
So, thank you zoon_unit for helping yet another Drupal Newbie connect-the-dots!
News Section
I am trying to do something similar, in creating a link in my navigation to a "News" section that would list all news articles I have posted.
I found a relatively simple solution using only the core modules Taxonomy and URL Alias.
1) Create a Taxonomy Vocabulary called "News". Be sure to set the Types to include the node types of your news posts.
2) Create a term within that vocabulary; I also called the term "News". Take note of the number assigned to this term, which can be found by hovering over the term name. Mine was taxonomy/2
3) Create a URL Alias, "news", that points to the taxonomy/2 link.
Now yoursite.com/news should take you to a page listing all of the nodes labeled with the "News" taxonomy term.
You can see how this works on my site: SpiraStudios.com
Thanks
Spira Studios, your explanation of setting up a blog with drupal was the most concise I have read. Thank you for explaining it so clearly. :)
create a new menu item
Hi Zoon_unit,
I had a similar problem. I customised my front page and all my content was inaccessible from the menu.
What worked for me was create a new menu item called 'Latest News', and in the field 'path' enter 'node' - I'm using clean URL's.
Then just activate this menu item.
easy
:)