Getting Started with Panel Pages
The starting place, as always, is downloading, installing, and enabling the Panels modules along with the Chaos Tool Suite. There are three modules in Panels; their settings are shown in Table 20.1.
TABLE 20.1 Panels Module Reference
Download from Enable in section Permissions Panels Mini-Module Panels Module Panels Node Module Administration
Administer, Site Building, Panels (admin/build/panels)
project/panels Panels
Administer and create
Administer, use, and view; use panels dashboard Administer, create, and edit
The Chaos Tool Suite module also needs to be downloaded, as shown in Table 20.2.
TABLE 20.2 Chaos Tool Suite Module Reference
Download from Enable in section project/ctools Chaos Tool Suite
TABLE 20.2 Chaos Tool Suite Module Reference Permissions
None
Administration
None
After the Panels and Chaos Tool Suite modules are installed and enabled, you have one additional step to prepare for creating a panel page. Because a panel page (or any other panel structure) contains content that you specify, you need to make sure that you have the content at hand. If you are experimenting with a new Drupal installation, make sure that you have half a dozen or so stories ready to be placed in a panel page. If you leave the default Drupal setting on so that new items are published on the front page, you may wind up with stories that you can use, as shown in Figure 20.3. (These stories are used in this hour's example.)
WHAT WE SAID AND WROTE TH EN
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WELCOME TO Y2K X - THE TENTH ANN IVERSARY OF Y1K
FINAL REPOffT FROM THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE YEAR 2000 TEQÎN0L04V PROBLEM
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jtoul qrab mrr thi: Im
WHAT WE SAID AND WROTE TH EN
Of 199«. Ï* wrotE «Dtfnfr ... four rr thori (aid If«." '. " tt rt r"; iKcirJ.
WELCOME TO Y2K X - THE TENTH ANN IVERSARY OF Y1K
U lilt End ùJ Dit *aM. : t.'. " va il vi mjJI ,i lut of hït*. rr^ fnUfï . v.
FIGURE 20.3
Create stories for your new panel page.
In fact, more than one page has had its genesis in this process. Someone sets up a new Drupal site and starts to add content. It is great that it shows up on that bloglike first page. Then, a little more visual structure is required. That is okay, because you can make some of the articles sticky so that they are always at the top. You can add a little more structure with blocks in the margins of the page. And before you know it, you—or your users—want to push the envelope a little more, and there you have it: a new Drupal page with panels.
Two tasks are ahead of you: You need to create the panel page, and then you need to arrange its panes and content. This second task has two variations: You can use the Drupal regions that contain blocks, or you can hide them. In any case, all the steps you will be taking can be edited and revised later on.
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