- Communications and Marketing
- Resources and Services
- Drupal/CMS Resources
Drupal/CMS Resources
The Graduate Center's public website is built on the Drupal CMS. Members of the GC community who need to directly manage web content associated with their program or office must use Drupal to do so, and must receive training from Communications and Marketing.
If you have not yet received Drupal training or require additional support from our office, we invite you to submit any necessary revisions to your unit's pages using our Web Request form.
Drupal Access and Training
Communications and Marketing offers two standardized Drupal trainings: Drupal Basics, and Advanced Structured Content.
All new users must complete the Drupal Basics training.
All training sessions are conducted online via Zoom. Each session will be recorded and provided to participants after the session is complete.
Participants will be granted editor access to our secure training website and will be expected to practice working with Drupal before gaining access to the live site.
Drupal Basics
Runtime: 1 hour
This session will show you how to navigate the Drupal dashboard, create/edit pages, and manage images and files and is required for all new users.
Advanced Structured Content
Runtime: 1 hour 15 minutes
This session will focus on structured content in Drupal, including news, events, staff/faculty profiles and directory information, books, and FYIs and is also required for anyone who will be managing these content types.
Mini trainings are short, 30-minute sessions focusing on specific aspects of Drupal for anyone who has completed the required new user trainings and would like more detailed instruction or to brush up on certain skills. Topics for mini trainings will vary over time based on need and availability.
Upcoming mini training topics include:
- Events: Making best use of the Drupal event template to create useful and engaging event posts
Registration for Spring 2023 trainings will open soon.
Training is currently offered only to those who have submitted a request via our Web Request Form (select "Support, Access, or Training Request").Once we have received your request, we will invite you to register for an upcoming training session.
-->Training is currently offered on a monthly basis. If you are unable to participate on any of our upcoming dates, please contact us at commsrequest@gc.cuny.edu for possible scheduling assistance.
Required New User Trainings
Both required sessions for new users will be offered on the following Wednesdays:
On all dates, Drupal Basics will be held from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. and Advanced Structured Content will be held from 2 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
Fall 2023
- September 13
- October 11
- November 8
- December 13
Spring 2024
- January 10
- February 14
- March 13
- April 10
- May 8
Optional Mini Trainings
We offer 30-minute mini sessions monthly on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. These mini-trainings will focus on best practices and tips for posting events.
Fall 2023
- September 27
- October 25
- November 29
Spring 2024
- January 24
- February 28
- March 27
- April 24
- May 22
Documentation and Support
The Drupal User Guide contains detailed information about accessing the Drupal CMS and understanding the structure of the GC website, instructions for creating and editing content of various types, and requirements and best practices for effective content management.
The guide is updated regularly and is presented as an easily accessible and searchable website. Printable documentation and supplementary guides are also provided as PDF downloads.
If you require additional assistance following training or have questions regarding a particular aspect of your own unit's web pages, you are welcome to schedule a one-on-one consulting session with a member of the Communications and Marketing web site team.
To schedule one-on-one consulting, email commsrequest@gc.cuny.edu.
Please note that you must first undergo our standard training before scheduling a consulting session.
Ongoing Development
The GC's institutional site, like all web sites, is a work in progress, and is continually updated and improved by the Communications and Marketing web team.
The following are enhancements made to Drupal which affect the way content is displayed and/or the way content can be edited by our CMS users. (This list does not include bug fixes, configuration changes, or other enhancements that do not affect our CMS users.)
Program Template: Updated so on desktop/large screens, the top GC menu becomes hidden on the program landing page. July 2023
Program Template: Added location to top Contact area. April 2023
Drupal Views: Within the Content tab, added column for Last Edited By (user) and Last Edited On (date). Within Media tab, added column for Media Tags. March 2023
Homepage: Header image proportions for news and event featured items fixed to reduce the amount image is cropped. March 2023
News: Added Gallery component for use on News detail pages. February 2023
Profiles: Added Administrative Title field to help identify Profiles within Drupal. December 2022
Media Files: When adding files in the media library, including a Media Tag is required (previously optional). September 2022
Department Template: Added Gallery component for use on Department detail templates. August 2022
Department Template: Added Event Feature component for use on Department detail templates. July 2022
Profiles: Added a new Pronoun field, which appears between profile type and title. June 2022
Contacts Component: Added a new Description field to allow for a simple description between the heading and contacts. June 2022
Profiles Component: Added a new Description field to allow for a simple description between the heading and profiles. June 2022
Checkerboard Component: Description field changed from basic HTML to simple HTML to allow for bold, italics, and links. June 2022
FYIs: Added Administrative Title field to help identify FYIs within Drupal. June 2022
Books: Added Publisher field, which appears between publish date and link. May 2022
Books: Updated Author field to be optional (instead of required). This allows the creation of books authored by students, alumni, or others associated with the GC who do not have a profile on our site. May 2022
