The Drupal Admin Interface. | Interest. Drupal with JamStack

To make sense of Drupal, I'll put together an overview of the admin console menu structure.

Admin Console.

Logging in to the Drupal admin interface reveals the following menu structure. To build a website with Drupal, you need to understand where each feature lives. One of Drupal's characteristics is that the place where you actually use a feature and the place where you configure it are different. When I first started using Drupal, I was thrown off by the fact that there were no configuration options where I expected to find them.

The place where you actually create pages is under Content, but configuring the structure and role of those pages requires going to Content types under Structure. This separation of where you work and where you configure took some getting used to — once you're familiar with it, it's very convenient — but I'm writing this article because I think it's the first thing that trips up new Drupal users.

Here I'll go through Drupal's menu structure.

1. Menu Structure.

<< Prev Topic #01 Next >>

The features you'll use most for building a website are concentrated under

Home > Administration

which is divided into eight sections. Here's a brief overview of each.

1-1. Content.

The Content menu is where you find the tools for creating the pages you actually publish.

Opening the Content menu reveals sub-menus for Content, Blocks, Comments, and Files. Selecting Content brings up the interface for creating pages to publish. Click 'Add content,' select the page type, and you can create a new page.

Writing articles and creating fixed pages like guides all happen here in Content. It's also the place you'll spend the most time as you build the website. Blocks, comments, and files are also managed here. Think of Content as the place that manages everything that actually gets published — that framing makes it easier to understand.

A note on Blocks: blocks are modular page elements that can be freely placed and loaded on published pages. Creating footers and side menus is the most common use.

1-2. Structure.

Content is defined as the place where you create and manage what gets published. Structure is the menu where you configure what goes into published content and how it appears.

In Content you create the articles, pages, and blocks you'll publish — but the default article and page types don't include the elements a real article needs: tags, categories, publication date, author, and so on. Adding and configuring the elements a published page requires is done from the Structure menu.

Structure is where you configure and build everything that shapes the site: Content types, which let you freely define the components a published page needs and create as many page and article formats as you like; Block layout, for freely placing headers, side menus, and footers; Taxonomy, for setting up tags and categories; and Views, which lets you gather pages by tag or category and assemble list pages in any arrangement you choose.

Each item in the Structure menu lets you configure the features needed to build a website in fine-grained and flexible ways. It's both the foundation of building a website with Drupal and its greatest advantage, and I hope to cover each part in detail in future articles.

1-3. Appearance.

The design of a Drupal website is handled through the Appearance menu, where you select and configure the active theme.

I've mentioned a few times in previous articles that the theme I use is Bootstrap5. Some readers may be wondering: I understand that Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript are being used to structure and style pages, but what exactly is the Bootstrap5 theme?

Bootstrap5 is a framework. Installing it in Drupal and configuring the base settings and HTML tags to use Bootstrap5 elements means that when creating pages, you can build and publish pages composed entirely of Bootstrap5's built-in elements — without writing any CSS class attributes by hand. That pre-configured template is what the Bootstrap5 theme is.

I build this website using the Bootstrap5 theme. By default, Drupal installs Olivero 10.3.6 (front-end theme) and Claro 10.3.6 (admin theme). I'm running a Bootstrap5 sub-theme as the front-end theme and Claro 10.3.6 as the admin theme.

1-4. Extend.

Drupal has a Core program, and you extend it with additional modules to build the kind of website you're after. These extensions are called modules — packaged and distributed through Drupal's official website.

One of Drupal's strengths is its community on the official site, which vets distributed modules thoroughly. Modules that have been certified as stable have been tested for compatibility with the Core version, PHP version, database version, and dependencies with other installed modules.

The Extend menu is where you manage the modules in use.

I introduced the modules I have installed in a previous article. Both the modules Drupal Core provides by default and any additionally installed modules can be managed here. A module you installed but no longer use can be uninstalled easily. The modules that enable Google reCAPTCHA are also managed here.

Unlike WordPress, not everything can be installed directly through the admin console GUI — new module installations require Composer. Once a module is installed, Cron detects available updates and notifies you, so updates can be applied from the admin console as needed.

1-5. Configuration.

This menu handles system-level settings for Drupal as a CMS, separate from the admin console's basic settings and website-building features. Site summary, user settings, language selection, timezone, and development items like clearing the cache and configuring logs are all managed here.

What makes this menu harder to navigate is that settings for installed modules also get added here. The configuration for modules installed via Extend — reCAPTCHA, Metatag, SMTP, and so on — all needs to be done from this menu.

The things I use most often here are clearing the cache when a page change isn't showing up because of caching, and switching into maintenance mode when running updates and then switching back when they're done.

Since this is fundamentally a menu for system-level additions and settings, once initial configuration is done, clearing the cache and toggling maintenance mode tend to be the main things you come back for.

1-6. People.

This menu manages user permissions for accessing the website and, in some cases, for building it. A list of registered users is displayed, and you can edit permissions, email addresses, and passwords from here.

For a personally run website like this one, where one person does everything, there's no need to set up multiple user accounts — but from a security and emergency-preparedness standpoint, it's better practice to have a separate user for day-to-day writing and site management, keeping the admin account separate and only using it when needed. I've set mine up that way.

Features I'm not using on this website — like members-only access restricted to certain users, or multi-person team management for organizations — are where People really comes into its own. Permissions, hierarchies, registration, and approval flows can all be configured flexibly, making it one of Drupal Core's stronger built-in features.

1-7. Reports.

This menu gives you a view of Drupal's operational status. You can check the current system configuration under 'Status report,' see Cron update and module update status, and view any errors or issues — when something comes up, follow the guidance to address it. Logs are accessible here too, including access activity, error logs, and visits from malicious bots. Search keyword registration status for article content and translation progress can also be checked from here.

The log status is the Reports item I check most regularly. Once a website is live, it inevitably receives all kinds of traffic — including unwanted visits that may require action.

Malicious bots come in various types — some targeting the site for hacking, others trying to post spam links — and determining whether a bot is malicious requires checking the error details, confirming the domain with nslookup, and looking up the domain in a WHOIS service. A tell-tale pattern is multiple errors in a short period, often including attempts to access directories that don't exist, so the identification process isn't especially difficult.

Once identified, you can block the IP by adding it to the banned IP list under Configuration. That usually stops the access, though some bots persist. If you're seeing large numbers of malicious bots, consider setting up and properly configuring a WAF (Web Application Firewall).

1-8. Help.

A list of guides covering Drupal usage and various features. They're concise overviews of basic usage, so it's worth taking a look when you get the chance.

One issue is that the guides are a mix of Japanese and English in places, which makes them harder to read. Topics are linked, and depending on the feature there are links to more detailed guides on the official site, as well as PHP structure and explanations aimed at developers.

I've only skimmed through the Help section myself, and I'm planning to go through it more carefully as I reach the stage of understanding and actually using Drupal's various features more deeply. One advantage of a CMS like Drupal or WordPress is that you can get a fair distance — and build a working website — without consulting the guide. I'm at that level myself, so I plan to deepen my knowledge and sharpen my skills through hands-on use.

2. About This Article.

<< Prev Topic #02 Top >>

This article has given a brief overview of the Drupal admin console menus and what they do. One of Drupal's strengths is the way it separates purpose from function — dividing features into where you use them and where you configure them — but when I first started using it, I didn't understand that distinction. I spent time browsing through the various menus, gradually building a sense of how things fit together, and arrived at the current setup through actually configuring things and creating content pages.

For example, when creating a lifestyle article, you need to configure the elements that make up the page: tags, categories, author, publication date, images, and so on. Understanding that this configuration is spread across multiple menus is a prerequisite for being able to create and publish an article in the layout you want with Drupal.
Tags and taxonomy are configured at | Home > Administration > Structure > Taxonomy |, where you set up a //vocabulary// called //Article content//, and within it a //term// called //vintage clothing//.
Next, at | Home > Administration > Structure > Content types |, select the //Article// //content type//, click 'Add field,' and assign the //Article content// //vocabulary// you set up in Taxonomy. This adds //Article content// as an element to the //Article// content type, making it possible for pages to carry the //vintage clothing// //tag//.
Actually writing and publishing a vintage clothing article is done at | Home > Administration > Content > Content |. Here you create a new article by selecting the //Article// content type — and the //Article content// tag field you configured earlier is now available for selection, so you can assign the //vintage clothing// tag to the page you're creating.

2-1. Additional Notes

The flow above is explained in prose, but to add some clarity: when you first go to create a page, there's no built-in way to assign a vintage clothing tag to it by default. // Tags are available by default but only one is provided, used for a different purpose.

To make the vintage clothing tag usable on a page, you configure the tag in the Taxonomy menu, then go to the Content types menu — which lets you configure content settings — and enable that tag for use on the Article content type.

Once that's done, the vintage clothing tag is available whenever you create a new page going forward. The fact that configuration options aren't in the same place as the page creation interface — and that configurations are handled from dedicated menus — is one of Drupal's fundamental rules. Without understanding it, you're limited to the default page structure, which is why I've written this article.

This isn't just about Content — it's a concept and set of rules you need to understand in order to use Drupal's flexible features effectively. I've organized the admin menu here as an overview. How to use and configure each feature specifically is something that will come up as the website-building process continues, and I hope to cover those in future articles.

This was the first thing that tripped me up when I moved from WordPress to Drupal. With WordPress, so much configuration is handled by the active theme and plugins that you can build a functional website without being particularly conscious of what WordPress Core itself is doing.

With Drupal, the theme and module configuration is similar to WordPress in that respect — but only partially. For some configurations, you need to work with Drupal Core's own settings to build out the website.

The trade-offs between the two approaches are a separate discussion, but why WordPress is more accessible to beginners comes down to the fact that themes and plugins are packaged with their GUI-based default configurations largely pre-applied — you can build a website just by using those features as provided.

Drupal's themes and modules tend to ship with more minimal default configurations than their WordPress counterparts — and as I've described in this article, if you don't carry out the necessary settings in Drupal Core, pages won't take the shape you're after. I suspect this is what leads to the pattern where someone installs Drupal, installs a theme, and then stalls and gives up before getting anywhere.

The concepts and rules you need to understand to take advantage of Drupal Core's flexibility are the first key to getting started with Drupal. If I can explain that side of things a little more clearly, I think more people would find their way into using it.

Drupal Content.

Next, I'll put together an overview of Content — the menu in the admin console for creating pages — as explained in this article.