Creating a Custom Home Page in Drupal Using Views

[Aiken]

Required for Both Methods

This article assumes Clean URLs and the Path Module are both enabled. If these are disabled, or the reader is unsure, follow the aPaddedCell article: Enabling Clean URLs and the Path module.

Custom Drupal Home Page: the Simple Way (Without Views)

The simple way to customize Drupal offers the least flexibility but is, of course, easier. For people who need only a static page this will work well. Those looking for more complicated, dynamic content on their front page (summaries of most popular content, most recent articles etc.) should skip to the section showing the complicated way (it's complicated but, thanks to step-by-step instructions, not difficult!).

1.Create a New Page

Select Create Content -> Page in the Drupal administrator menu (in the side bar of a default installation).

Enter at least a Title, e.g. ‘Home Page’. Text in the Body is optional (and can be added later).

Click to drop-down URL path settings, then enter ‘home’ in the text box. Also drop-down Publishing options and ensure Published is checked but Promoted to Front Page is not.


2.Make Drupal Use the New Page as its Front Page

Under the administrator menu, select Administer -> Site configuration -> Site information.

Change Default home page to ‘home‘, then click Save configuration.

Finished! Click the site logo (or type in the URL) to go to the newly created home page. To edit the text on the home page simply click the Edit link, when logged in as an administrator.


Custom Drupal Home Page: the Complicated Way (With Views)

For a home page with dynamic content (latest article summaries, top ten articles, etc.) it is better to use a view. Views can be used to create both pages and blocks. This section will show both: first a page view will be created, then a block view added to that page, giving an overview of how to create truly customized home pages for Drupal.

1.Download and Enable the Views Module

Firstly download the Views module from the Drupal website.

Since Drupal 5 the best place to keep modules is drupalinstalldirectory/sites/all/modules (where ‘drupalinstalldirectory’ is the directory Drupal is installed in, e.g. httpdocs or public_html). If the directory does not exist: create it. Storing modules in this location keeps them separate from the ones that come with Drupal. Making upgrades and safely removing modules easier. No more: ‘Was that module part of Drupal?’

Upload the whole views directory to the Drupal site, the path of the module should look like: drupalinstalldirectory/sites/all/modules/views. Then enable it under Administer -> Site building -> Modules on the Administrators menu (in the side bar of a default Drupal installation) by finding the Views group, selecting the Views and Views UI check boxes, then clicking Save configuration, at the bottom of the page.