Page manager could be compared to a traffic cop on your website. When a page handled by Page manager on your site is requested, Page manager collects the necessary information, checks which module is responsible for the page content and calls that module together with all the information it requires. It is worth noting that the actual content is provided by other modules. Page manager only routes the request.

At the toolbar, Structure, Pages is an overview of all the paths handled by Page manager, along with links for editing the pages. (See figure 13.1.) Pages handled by Page manager are called custom pages. Above the list is a link add custom page.

Figure 13.1: The overview page for Page manager lists all custom pages on your site.

How can this be used? Two common use cases for Panels and Page manager in combination, are customized front pages and extended administration pages.

TIP: Page manager allows you to override a number of paths defined by other modules, in a standard Drupal installation this is node view, node edit, user view and taxonomy term lists. These overridden pages are managed almost identically to other, manually defined, custom pages. The differences are pointed out below.