Beginning Drupal 8

Chapter 5 ■ Content Types
If you click the select list for the Format of each field, you will find a selection of options depending on
the field type. For text-related fields, the options are
• Default: The content will be rendered on the screen as you specified when you
created the field.
• Summary or Trimmed: If the field type has a summary value and a body value, the
summary value will be displayed. If there isn’t a summary, the body value will be
trimmed to a specified length.
• Trimmed: The content will be “trimmed” to a specified number of characters. If the
content is longer than the specified number of characters, a “Read more” link will be
displayed.
• Hidden: The content will not appear on the screen.
For other field types, the options are dependent on the type of content being displayed.
To reposition a field, click and hold the arrows icon next to the field label of the item you wish to move,
drag the field to the position where you want it to appear, and release your mouse button. Remember to click
the Save button after you have moved all of the fields to their proper position.
We can also define how the content is displayed for other modes beyond default and Teaser, such as
RSS, Search index, and Search result. To enable those modes simply click the “Custom display settings”
link at the bottom of the Manage display page to expand the list and select from the list of modes. With the
additional modes enabled you can then define how your content is displayed when, for example, an Event is
displayed on the search results page.
You can also define your own modes that may be used to display content differently under various
scenarios. To create a new view mode visit Structure ➤ Display Modes ➤ View modes and click on the
“Add new view mode” button. Select Content from the list of options and when prompted, give your view
mode a name (e.g., featured). Once your new view mode has been created you can then use that mode on
the Manage display page to define the unique output for that view mode.
Summary
Content types is one of the “killer app” aspects of Drupal, and is an important concept to understand.
While you could construct a Drupal site with just the Basic page and Article content types, it is likely that
you’ll want to leverage the features and functions provided through the use of custom content types. In this
chapter I demonstrated just one of the custom content types that I create for nearly every site that I build
for my clients. Other custom content types that I frequently use include Customers, Products, Departments,
FAQs, Locations, and Employees. As you design and develop your new site, I’m sure you’ll identify one or
more custom content types that you could use.
Another powerful feature of custom content types is the ability to develop custom reports or “views” of
custom content type data that is stored in the Drupal database. If you think about the Event content type we
created in this chapter, it might be valuable to generate a list of events sorted by the start date, or a list sorted
by venue.
The next chapter provides an overview of Drupal themes. Now that we have content, let’s make it
look good!
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