This article assumes you have set up your site and are ready to add content.
Even though setting up your site correctly is important to get right you can always write your first article and then go back and make changes to layout and theme later, in fact, this is a smart idea. One thing I would really recommend doing though is to install and set up media if you intend to use images. I have written about that on the Drupal Media page but the main reason behind this recommendation is to have any images you upload to be managed as media items (entities), not only upload them to the file system, as it makes them more reusable.
Okay with that out of the way let's add an article
Creating your first piece of content
On the homepage of a fresh install of Drupal, you will have a message that welcomes you and a link to create your first article. This link takes you to the Add content page, you can also get to that page by using the admin menu.
Manage > Content > Add content
/node/add
If you use the manage content menu you will be on the content management page. From here you need to click the + Add content button and it will take you to the Add content page.
Okay, now we know where the add content route is I would like to mention that you can also use the Shortcuts menu.
The Admin Toolbar
On any new site I set up, I will add the Admin toolbar which makes it easier to get around the admin of your Drupal site. I suggest you add that module along with my other must-haves. If you got me to install and set up your site this will already be installed for you.
Okay, we are now on the Add content page.
Add Content
From the add content page, you will have two options. The two options you have are an article and a basic page.
Article
An article is used for time-sensitive content, think news or blogs. This will also automatically populate the homepage when published.
Basic Page
Use this to create basic static pages such as an about us page. If you do add a basic page you will also need to add a link to the page as it won't show on the homepage.
The process of adding an article or a basic page is the same. I will add an article as this will feed straight onto the homepage if you haven't changed the default settings for the article content type. If you want to add a basic page to the front page then you need to check promote to front page setting.
Add an article from the Add content page
- Click Article
Manage > (Content >) Add content > Create Article
node/add/article
After you click on the article link you will be redirected to the create article page. On this page, there are content fields and a bunch of configuration fields as shown below.
Content fields
- Title
- Body
- Tags
- Image - This is a basic image field by default. If you have set up Media and replaced the Image field with a Media field.
Configurations Fields
- Revision Log Message
- Menu settings
- Comment settings
- URL alias
- Authoring information
- Promotion options
Published check box
The published checkbox is positioned above the Save button.
- Fill in the fields and settings.
- Save
On save you will be taken to your newly created article and if you then navigate to the homepage you will see that your new article is there with a read more link.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you have published your first article and it is on the front page. As such this set up is great for a blog or to get going with setting up a new site. In time, however, you will probably want to modify your site to show something different on your homepage. I will be writing more about setting up a new Drupal site so be sure to subscribe to my newsletter where you will get a mix of front-end development tips and news as well as more on using Drupal and other headless CMSs.
Thanks for reading.