Drupal CMS

Drupal CMS

This page summarizes how Drupal—the content management system (CMS) behind ITS university websites—stores and delivers content. Understanding the model explains why you work with nodes, the Media Library, and Paragraphs rather than editing a single HTML file per page.

What is Drupal?

Unlike a traditional site where each URL is a static file, Drupal is dynamic. When a visitor opens a URL, Drupal loads text, layout configuration, and media references from a database, applies the university HighFive2 (V2) theme, and sends the finished page to the browser.

The core concept: Nodes

Almost every standalone piece of content is a node with a permanent Node ID (NID) (for example, /node/402). Creating a Page, News article, or Event creates a node. Each node belongs to a content type that defines its fields:

  • A Page node includes a title and a variety of Paragraphs to use.

  • An Event node includes title, Paragraphs for date, time, and location fields.

See Nodes for more detail.

The relationship: nodes, media, and the database

The database (storage)

The database holds text, configuration, user roles, and relationships. When you save a Paragraph, that text is written to the database immediately. The database stores paths to image and document files on the server, not the binary files themselves.

Media vs. nodes

Media (images, PDFs, video) lives in the Media Library as separate entities from nodes.

  • Reusability: Upload once and use the same headshot on a People profile and in a News article.

  • References: Adding an image in a Paragraph tells the system to link a media ID to a node ID (for example, link Media #105 to Node #402). Updating alt text or replacing the file in the library updates every reference.

See Site Media Library.

Summary for editors

  • Pages are dynamic — assembled at request time from the database.

  • Nodes are containers — content type determines which fields you edit. Each node is unique.

  • Media is centralized — manage files in the Media Library and reference them from nodes for consistency.