Books
Our CMS system (Drupal) supports a type of content known as “books.” Books are really just a way to relate pages with one another in a hierarchically cascading chapter/section arrangement. This structure is extremely useful for creating a series of related pages on a given topic. It is an excellent way to organize a committee or neighborhood association website. The “Library” tab (at the top of any page) will show all the books on our site. Our FAQ is one of those books, and the page you are now viewing is a page in it.
Books - An Overview
Books are a way to relate pages with one another in a hierarchically cascading chapter/section arrangement. This structure is extremely useful for creating a series of related pages on a given topic. In a book, each page may have children (i.e. “child pages.”) Each child may itself have children. So to create a chapter or section, merely make a page (the chapter), then attach child-pages to it (pages in the chapter).
Pages, chapters and sections of the book may be easily moved around. They may be moved to other areas of the book, or to another book entirely, or made into a new book in and of itself. When a page is moved, all its children (and any of their descendants) come along for the ride.
When a book page is displayed, links to its children (if any) are automatically listed at the bottom of the page (as well as links to “previous” and “next” pages, and a link to move up one level in the book hierarchy). When a page, section or chapter is moved, those lists are updated automatically, without the need to edit the parent page(s). The “printer-friendly version” link at the bottom of a book page allows you to view multiple pages of the book at once.
Another advantage to the book structure is the book navigation block (on the upper-left of a book page), which looks something like the image here on the right. It displays the name of the book in the title, and presents links to its chapters, and the hierarchy down to your current page (plus siblings and children). Pages without any children are denoted with a bullet in front of them; pages with children (e.g. sections/chapters) are preceded by a triangle (or arrowhead).
To learn how to create and manipulate book pages, read the other pages of this section (by following the right pointing link below, or use the menu links for FAQs on the upper right). Additional information about books may also be found in the Drupal handbook on books.
Creating a Book
Creating a book starts by creating a “Book page,” then adding additional pages to it. In order to create book pages, you generally need to ask for “book” privileges. Only then will you see some of the book creation options, such as the “Outline” tab, or “Book page” type. With proper permissions, different people may work collaboratively on a book.
The best practice is to use the “Book page” type when creating new pages in a book. The easiest way to do this is to use the “add child page” link. You’ll find one at the bottom of every book page. Clicking on it creates a new “Book page,” with the current page automatically selected as its parent.
Non-book pages (i.e. already existing pages in the system) may be added to a book. So non-book pages you posted previously, which you hadn’t intended to be part of a book, for example, may easily be added without the need to recreate the page as a “Book page” type. Because these pages lack the “Parent” and “Weight” parameters (necessary for positioning the page within a book) in their creation/edit dialogs, those parameters are made available under an “Outline” tab for the page (you will see the “Outline” tab alongside the “View” and “Edit” tabs if you are the page’s author and have book privileges).
Note: The “Outline” tab is a bit of a kludge to retrofit the book structure onto non-book page types, something Drupal did not originally support. You will not see it on a “Book page” because you can choose a parent when you create (or edit) it. Since other page types lack this option on their creation/edit pages, they require the “Outline” tab to retrofit that functionality. This is a subtle difference between a “Book page” and a “Page” type.
Strictly speaking, new books are only created when a page is assigned “<top level>” as its parent value. Only system administrators can do that. However a book may be effectively started at any level by anyone with book privileges, and later moved by an admin to become a truly standalone book. Technically, such books begin their lives as chapters, and are later promoted to book status. The Community Webmasters group on our site provides a place where you can create a book prototype which is generally out-of-sight of the public (and search engines), until you are ready to take the book live. All that needs to occur is for the top page of your book prototype to be moved elsewhere. Because all the links are relative, your whole book – and all its descendants – can therefore be moved by one simple page edit. You can use this approach with whole books, chapters, sections, or single pages.
Creating a Chapter or Section
Books are a way to relate pages with one another in a hierarchically cascading chapter/section arrangement. Strictly speaking, our CMS doesn’t support chapters or sections. There are only book pages, and links to ancestor pages. But we can easily create data structures which resemble chapters or sections, so it is very useful for us to use these metaphors.
In a book, each page may have children (i.e. “child pages.”) Each child may itself have children. So to create a chapter or section, merely make a page (the chapter), then attach child-pages to it (pages in the chapter).
Chapters/sections are merely pages with children. As such, it is possible to put a great deal of text into a chapter page. Be careful about this as too much text may obscure the chapter contents. Chapter and section pages should be very succinct, generally no more than a short paragraph. Put the bulk of your content in the pages of the chapter or section.
One approach to books is to limit, as far as possible, each page to a single topic, then organize related pages into chapters or sections. Be forewarned that you can easily carry this too far, creating a complex and difficult to navigate hierarchy. Striking the perfect balance between the total number of pages and amount of text on a page is more art than science. Fortunately, you can edit and rearrange.
With well chosen titles and divisions of content, it is possible to create an extremely accessible layout for your content.