Panels An Overview of Panels The Panels module allows a site administrator to create customized layouts for multiple uses. At its core it is a drag and drop content manager that lets you visually design a layout and place content within that layout. Integration with other systems allows you to create nodes that use this, landing pages that use this, and even override system pages such as taxonomy and the node page so that you can customize the layout of your site with very fine grained permissions. Integration with CTools module Panels 3 utilizes the CTools' system of "context" so that the content you place on the page can be aware of what is being displayed. Panels uses Contexts - What are they? In a Panel, you can create contexts, which represent the objects being displayed. In addition, these contexts can be checked for information and use that not only to make content available to be displayed, but to choose which layout to display! Panels can also be used for items smaller than pages.
About nodes All content on a Drupal website is stored and treated as "nodes". A node is any posting, such as a page, poll, article, forum topic, or blog entry. Comments are not stored as nodes but are always tied to one. Treating all content as nodes allows the flexibility of creating new types of content. It also allows you to painlessly apply new features or changes to all content. Behind the scenes, the Node module manages these nodes. List, sort through, and manage all the content on your site.Set defaults for how all posts are displayed.List and configure the "content types" for your site, and create new ones. Offering "content types" is a way Drupal allows you to have different kinds of nodes for different purposes. The Node module manages the creation, editing, deletion, settings, and display of the main site content. Each node has an unique ID. Creating content Creating custom content types Administering content Creating revisions User permissions
Token Tokens are small bits of text that can be placed into larger documents via simple placeholders, like %site-name or [user]. The Token module provides a central API for modules to use these tokens, and expose their own token values. Note that Token module doesn't provide any visible functions to the user on its own, it just provides token handling services for other modules. For Drupal 6, the Token module provides a "Token Actions" module which can be enabled separately. This provides several "actions" for the Drupal core Actions/Trigger modules to use that take advantage of the Token replacement functionality. Modules that use the Token module and provide tokens via the API include Organic Groups, Pathauto, Comment Notify, and Commerce. Pledges #D7CX: The basic token API is now a part of Drupal 7! #D7AX - I pledge to make this module as accessible as it can be.
35 Excellent Wireframing Resources Advertisement Wireframing is one of the most valuable parts of any web design project. It can save a designer tons of time by hashing out the details of a site’s architecture, functionality, and content prior to actually starting a visual design. But if done inefficiently, it can end up costing more time and can even create bigger headaches for both the client and the designer. Below are more than 35 resources for creating better wireframes, including tutorials on different methods and a variety of tools available. 1. Here are more than twenty wireframing articles, guides, and tutorials to help you improve your wireframing process. Wireframes Magazine This site offers tons of resources and articles about wireframing. Wire Frame Your Site A great introduction to the benefits of wireframing from Sitepoint. Ajax Wireframing Approaches A post in a series from Particletree about prototyping Ajax, this covers wireframing techniques. Framing the Problem An article about wireframing from ClickZ.
Devel A suite of modules containing fun for module developers and themers ... Devel Helper functions for Drupal developers and inquisitive admins. This module can print a summary of all database queries for each page request at the bottom of each page. Generate content Accelerate development of your site or module by quickly generating nodes, comments, terms, users, and more. Devel Node Access (DNA) View the node access entries for the node(s) that are shown on a page. Designing & Selecting Components for UIs As a user interface designer, one of the most exciting changes I've seen in last few years has been the growth of rich Internet applications. Although I designed many good standard Web applications, interactions and components have long been limited. It was like trying to build a Lego sculpture with only three shapes. To me, having a full range of Legos is necessary to meet the complex challenges of designing interfaces for RIAs. I have to think much harder when I design rich interfaces than when I work on standard Web applicaitons. The purpose of this article is to help designers avoid mistakes and to help them choose (or design) components based on sound, fundamental principles of usability. Before I get into that, let me explain what I mean by a component. Selecting and using good components is a very important part of the design process. But back to usability. Vision and Seeing There are many interesting facts about vision that impact usability. Examples Knowing What to do (Affordance)
CCK Blocks Field Visibility and Display Modes: Since version 6.x-1.1 , the module does not hide the field in the node's content area anymore. You can do that for yourself in the display settings for your content type. CCK blocks will define a display mode named "CCK Blocks", which you can use to configure the display of fields when they are appearing as blocks. This allows you show the field both in the node's content area and in the CCK block, with different display settings. IMPORTANT: Before any of your CCK blocks will show up, you need to set the field in question to be visible in the CCK blocks display mode! Performance and Caching: Since many users have experienced tremendous problems when block caching is activated (#400858: CCK Blocks appears to be incompatible with block caching), we decided to disable block caching for cck blocks. If you wish to have block caching, please use the Block Cache Alter module to activate block caching for individual cck blocks. Tokens [node:field_yourfieldname] 1.
16 Design Tools for Prototyping and Wireframing Article This article was written in 2009 and remains one of our most popular posts. If you’re keen to learn more about wireframing, you may find this recent article on free online wireframing tools of great interest. In recent years the number of tools available to help you document and design your web site has just exploded. The tools tend to fall into two categories: purpose-built applicationsmultifunctional applications Within these two groups I’ve found that usefulness can vary markedly among tools; some are only suitable for diagramming and wireframing, while others focus only on prototyping. 1. I will state upfront that I’m not a big fan of Visio (price: from $US259, demo available); I’ve used it from time to time on various projects, but I’ve always found it fiddly and time-consuming. Visio first started as an add-on to MS Word, filling the need for a business and technical diagramming tool and eventually graduating to separate product status. 2. 3. 4. iRise Pro 5. 6. 7.
References This project provides D7 versions of the 'node_reference' and 'user_reference' field types, that were part of the CCK package in D6, at functional parity with the D6 counterparts. See for details. Note for users upgrading from References 7.x-2.0-beta3 There were a couple changes in the way 'References' views are handled ("referenceable nodes/users defined by a view"), which might require double-checking those existing on your site: The 'label' (node title or user name) is no longer automatically added if not included in the view. Note for users upgrading from CCK D6 The References project integrates with the content_migrate module present in CCK 7.x-2.x-dev to allow the migration of field definitions and field values from D6 nodereference and userreference fields. Similar modules: