Nodes

Nodes

In Drupal, the core building block of your website’s content is the node. A node is any individual piece of standalone content—a staff profile, news story, or “About us” page are all nodes under the hood. When you click + Add content and save, you create a new node.

Each node receives a unique, permanent Node ID (NID) (for example, 402). The NID stays the same if you change the title, URL alias, or menu placement.

Anatomy of a node

Every node has base metadata and fields defined by its content type.

Base metadata (system information)

Drupal tracks these properties automatically:

  • Author — NetID of the user who created the node

  • Authored on — Date and time the node was created

  • Published status — Published or Unpublished; see Publishing & Unpublishing

  • Revisions — History of saves; see Revisions

Fields and content types

Fields are where you enter data. A content type is a pre-configured set of fields/paragraphs. Examples on our sites:

  • News — Title, publication date, bylines, body text, and related fields

  • Event — Title, dates, location, address, and event-specific Paragraphs

  • People — Name, contact information, profile picture, department, and directory taxonomy

  • Page — Title and various Paragraphs for modular layout blocks

Content types simplify management, sorting, and use in Views. See Content Overview.

What is not a node?

  • Paragraphs — Text blocks, slideshows, and accordions inside a Page; they exist only when attached to a parent node.

  • Media assets — Images, PDFs, and videos in the Media Library; nodes reference them.

  • Taxonomy terms — Tags such as “Academic” or “Research” used to sort content; not standalone pages.

Key takeaways for editors

  • Linking internal nodes: Use the link autocomplete to connect to another node or media item instead of pasting a full browser URL. Drupal updates the link when the destination moves. See Linking.

  • Deletion is permanent: Deleting a node removes its ID and attached Paragraph data. To hide content while keeping your work, set the node to Unpublished instead.