Managing web content through Drupal is done entirely through a web browser. Facutly, staff, and grad students should automatically be authorized to edit web content. You must log into Drupal,an additional step from logging in to the CSE web. That done, you typically navigate to a page you wish to edit (be sure to use https), click the Edit tab, and make your changes.

It is department policy that public-facing department information be managed by Drupal whenever possible. This ensures a uniform look and the application of the CSE brand to all official department information. It also lets us easily include the legalese and disclaimers required by UW policy in the footer of each page.

Logging In

Before using Drupal you must log in to the content management system using special "Log in" link at the bottom left of any page. If not already logged in to the CSE web, you will be prompted to do so with your CSENetID. Once logged in, you should see an administrative black menu bar across the top of all pages. Note the following:

  • All editing must be done over https.
  • If you do not see the black bar once logged in, something is wrong with your authorization to use the system. Contact support@cs for assistance.

Basic Page Editing

Most pages on our web are of the type "Basic Page." To make changes, navigate to the desired page when logged in and click the "Edit" tab. It will present a form which you can use to edit the body of the page.  Below the Body web control you will also see a "Text format" control where you can choose to edit using raw HTML, filtered HTML. You select which of these you prefer using the Text format drop-down just below the Body area.

  • Optionally, Assign your page a URL alias in the URL path settings tab.  Keep the following tips in mind when choosing a URL:
    • Do not include a leading slash
    • This path reflects a hierarchy of information, not the structure of an underlying filesystem directory.
    • The path you select will affect which menus or blocks may appear on your page. Most menus are configured to appear on pages matching a specified pattern. For example, the undergraduate menu appears on all pages with a path like students/ugrad/*.
    • You can include more than one element after your area's root string (e.g.  education/ugrad/apply or education/ugrad/academics/capstone)
  • Hit save.  You don't need to worry about the other tabs at this time.

    • Editing a Menu

    Hover your mouse over the upper-right corner of the menu area until you see a small settings drop-down appear (you will see a gear icon).  Click it and select List links.

    From the list of links in your menu, you can drag links around to change the order.  Click edit to change the link's title or target.

    Should you wish to add a menu link that goes to a site outside of the Drupal web (e.g. a page on the College of Engineering's web), click Add link and enter a full URL.

    Managing and Using Media

    Adding photos, documents, or other files to your web content first requires that you upload those files to the webserver and then reference them correctly in your HTML. This page explains how to do that.

    Styles

    You can enter arbitrary HTML style information using the plain HTML text control.  We strongly recommend, however, that wherever possible you using plain, well-structured semantic mark-up.  This allows us to use a global style sheet for the entire web and maintain a uniform presentation.

    No Edit Tab?

    If you are visiting a page and do not see an Edit tab, it is likely that that page is being generated dynamically by listing selected pieces of structured content. Examples of this would be lists of people, scholarly publications, research projects, coruses, etc. See the menu at left for help in managing this type of content.