Drupal - Create Articles

In this chapter, we’ll explore creating articles in Drupal. Articles are typically used for time-sensitive content like news, press releases, or blog-like posts if you haven’t used the dedicated ‘Blog post’ type. Drupal usually comes with a pre-configured ‘Article’ content type.

Follow these steps to create an article:

Step 1: Navigate to Add Content

In the administration toolbar, click ‘Manage’, then go to ‘Content’ (typically at /admin/content).

Click the ‘Add content’ button.

Step 2: Select ‘Article’

From the list of available content types, click on ‘Article’.

Step 3: Fill in the Article Details

You’ll see a form for creating your new article. Here are the common fields:

Title: Enter a descriptive title for your article. This is a mandatory field.
Body: This is the main content area for your article. Use the WYSIWYG editor (e.g., CKEditor 5) to write and format your text, add links, lists, and more.
Tags: Add relevant keywords to classify your article. This field is usually linked to a taxonomy vocabulary (often named ‘Tags’). Separate multiple tags with commas.
Image: If an image field is configured for the Article content type, you can upload an image. Modern Drupal uses the Media Library, allowing you to upload new images or select existing ones. Click ‘Add media’ or ‘Browse’ to select or upload an image.
Text format: (Usually below the Body field) This allows you to choose how your HTML input is processed (e.g., ‘Basic HTML’, ‘Restricted HTML’, ‘Full HTML’). For most users, ‘Basic HTML’ is a good default. ‘Full HTML’ should be used with caution and only by trusted users as it allows more complex HTML.

On the right sidebar (or sometimes at the bottom in tabs), you’ll find additional settings:

Menu settings: Optionally, you can create a menu link for this article. Check ‘Provide a menu link’, then enter the ‘Menu link title’, ‘Description’, and choose the ‘Parent item’ in the menu structure.
Revision information: You can add a log message if you are making updates to an existing article, explaining the changes made in this revision. Drupal keeps track of content revisions.
URL path settings: Drupal automatically generates a URL (e.g., /node/123). You can specify a custom URL alias like ‘/my-awesome-article’. It’s highly recommended to install and use the ‘Pathauto’ module to automatically generate user-friendly URLs based on the title.
Comment settings: Choose whether comments are ‘Open’ or ‘Closed’ for this article.
Authoring information: Shows who authored the content and when. This can usually be changed if needed.
Publishing options: Allows you to set the article as ‘Published’, ‘Promoted to front page’, or ‘Sticky at top of lists’.

Step 4: Save the Article

After completing all the fields, click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page.

Your article is now created. If ‘Published’ was checked, it will be live on your website.