Web Express Terminology

We have compiled a list of common terms used in Web Express tutorials that will likely be new terminology for users. While this list is not exhaustive, it is a place to start. Web Express is a platform based on Drupal. So we have maintained a lot of Drupal terminology. If you come across any terms you would like explained in further detail please let us know! Use the form below.

• Blocks: Blocks are discrete chunks of information that are displayed in the regions of your site's pages. Blocks can take the form of images, text, article and event feeds. They cannot be placed in the sites navigation and must be placed on a node or content type to be displayed to visitors.
• Content Type: A content type is a specific template form in Web Express. Some examples of content types are ‘Basic Pages’, ‘Articles’, ‘People’, ‘Files’, etc. The content type is always displayed when you Edit the form along with the page title. 
• Context: Context allows you to manage contextual conditions and reactions for different portions of your site. You can think of each context as representing a "section" of your site. For each context, you can choose the conditions that trigger this context to be active and choose different aspects of your site that should react to this active context. Think of conditions as a set of rules that are checked during page load to see what context is active. Any reactions that are associated with active contexts are then implemented.
• Node: A node in Drupal is the generic term for a piece of content on your web site. Each node on your site has a Node ID, a Title, a creation date, an author (a user on the site), and some other properties. All pages and blocks on your site have a unique ID and path that will never change. Creating links that reference the node ID such as choosing to use the internal path link instead of the URL path link because while the URL path alias, ie. "/about/mission", to a page might change, the node path will always stay the same. You need to know the node ID of your content when creating contexts on your site.
• Region: Pages on your Drupal site are laid out in regions, which include the main content section, footer, sidebars, and various other regions. Clicking on the edit layouts tab will give you a visual diagram of all the regions we use in Web Express.
• Shortcodes: Shortcodes are actually bits of code to be used in the WYSIWYG editor. Shortcode will change the format of text, embed content such as videos or add clickable button functionality. Some shortcodes are enabled by clicking on their button from the WYSIWYG editor. Other shortcodes need to be typed in such as the columns or column list shortcodes.
• Taxonomy: Drupal has a system for classifying content, which is known as taxonomy. Web Express has some built in taxonomies vocabulary for specific content types; such as articles. You can create and edit your own terms/tags for the these content types on the Taxonomy admin page. Vocabularies can also be "free tagging" (meaning that when creating or editing an article, you may add new terms/tags from the category and tag fields with the page). Content types with associated taxonomies are articles, people, newsletters and collections.