Book Image

Drupal 6 Panels Cookbook

By : Bhavin (Vin) Patel
Book Image

Drupal 6 Panels Cookbook

By: Bhavin (Vin) Patel

Overview of this book

<p>The Drupal Panels module allows a site administrator to create customized layouts for multiple uses. At its core, it is a drag and drop content manager that lets you visually design a layout and place content within that layout. Guidance is required when it comes to successfully implementing panels in your CMS. The Panels module lacks sufficient documentation and most Drupal users are left in the lurch with many unanswered questions.<br /><br />This book comes to your rescue and discusses all that you need to successfully incorporate Panels in your Drupal CMS. You will learn everything from setting up Panels, through using it, to integrating it with other modules. The book discusses the various problems involved in using Panels along with their solutions. It shows you how to reap added benefits using Panels.<br /><br />The book is a collection of simple useful recipes that gives a very clear understanding from the basics of Panels to complex implementations to generate Web 2.0 layouts. It begins with the basics and gradually delves deeper into the complexities of Panels. You will learn how to set up CTools and Panels, upgrade from Panels 2 to Panels 3, about page layout, theming, and lots more. The layout of the book is a series of interconnected but distinct recipes that gives a basic understanding of usage of Panels in Drupal and also the advanced settings that makes Panels one of the most powerful modules .You will learn to master the Panels user interface and theme each panel quickly with a series of practical recipes. You will be able to integrate powerful Drupal modules like Organic Views, Advanced Profile Kit, Views, CCK, and many more to create socially connected Web 2.0 websites.</p>
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Drupal 6 Panels Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewer
Preface

Setting the basic layout of the page


Let’s create a Panel layout using Panels. For example, let’s create a "My Information" page. This page will have three columns: the left column will contain information about the website owner and how is he known as; the middle column will contain the basic profile; and the right column will contain links and contact information.

Getting ready

First, go to the Panels Dashboard and create a new page.

How to do it...

  1. 1. Let’s set the Panel name to pagelayout.

  2. 2. Set the Administrative title to Page Layout.

  3. 3. Set the Path to pagelayout.

  4. 4. Select the Three column 25/50/25 stacked option as shown in the following screenshot. In this layout, the left and right columns will occupy 25 percent of the width, and the middle column will occupy the remaining 50 percent.

  1. 5. Set the Page Title as My Information and save.

  2. 6. This brings us to the Panels UI.

  1. 7. In the Menu tab, select Normal menu entry. In the Menu drop down, choose Navigation. When we select a normal...