Content Types in Drupal 8

After installing Drupal 8, you may be ready to run and create your new website. However you may want to take a quick look at the different content types you will be working with. Websites can use a variety of different content types such as informational pages, polls, blog posts, news articles etc… Knowing the right one to use will help you build a better web presence for you or your client.

Below is a list of the different content types found in Drupal 8. After each description is a link to a tutorial on adding this content type to your site.

Article

The Article content type is one of the default content types, along with Basic Page. This content type is usually used for information that is updated on a regular basis like blog posts, for example. Articles are sorted from the most recent to least recent by default on index pages, however you can certainly change this behavior with the help of modules.

Adding new Articles in Drupal 8

Basic Page

The Basic Page is typically used for content that is static, or rarely changes. An example commonly found on websites is an About Us page. These types of pages are normally, though not required, linked to navigation bars of your website.

How to create a Basic Page in Drupal 8

What is the difference between an Article and a Basic Page?
The main difference between the two content types is the expected longevity of the content. A Basic Page consists of more permanent content such as the information found on an About page. This will contain information such as a mission statement and possibly physical address. An Article is normally used for more temporary information such as breaking news, or blog posts.

Book Page

Book pages are designed to be part of a collective group of related pages that are enabled by the Book module, which is part of the core module collection. These can take the form of things such as guides or multi-page documents.

How to add Book Pages in Drupal 8 – Coming soon!

Custom

Drupal gives you the ability to create your own custom content types. Custom types are specifically for you to organize your data in a way that benefits and makes sense to you. Often they are used to sub-divide other content types such as Articles or Basic Pages. For example, you may want to have a ‘Breaking Story‘ as a custom type for specific Articles.

How to create a custom content type in Drupal 8

Forum Topic

This type of content type is specifically for forum discussions where people can reply to the content by using comments.

Create Forum topics in Drupal 8 – Coming soon!

Poll

Most of us have participated in a Poll before. This is where there is a question with various selectable answers. The data from these answers are kept in a running tally and presented to the viewers.

How to create a Poll in Drupal 8 – Coming soon!