Build a New Drupal Homepage With Panels

Panels Training Class

Panels is one of the most popular modules amongst serious Drupal site-builders.

Panels allows you to easily create custom layouts for your content and your landing pages. Without writing a line of code, you can use drag-and-drop tools to rebuild your pages.

In these videos from our Panels training class, we’re going to show you how to redesign your site’s homepage using Panels. We’ll also see how to create different homepages for guests and logged-in users.

#1. Building a New Homepage

In this first video, we assume that you have already installed and enabled the Panels module. Rod is going to show you how to redesign your site’s homepage using Panels:

{snippet panelsvideo}

#2. Using the In-Place Editor

In this second video, Rod uses the In-Place Editor to re-design the homepage using drag-and-drop tools:

{snippet panelsvideo2}

#3. Another Homepage for Guests

In this video, Rod uses the Variants feature in Drupal to create a different homepage for site visitors who aren’t logged in.

{snippet panelsvideo3}

Author

  • Steve Burge

    Steve is the founder of OSTraining. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Sarasota in the USA. Steve's work straddles the line between teaching and web development.

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Jean-Francois Bohemier

Great tutorial… Thanks! I always managed to use EVA and other methods… Panels seems like a great option!

steve

Thanks Jean. Yes, it’s much more suited to doing layout work than EVA.

Rodolfo

Hi, is it recommended to use panels in a site where Display Suite is already enabled / in use?

steve

Hi Rodolfo. There’s some substantial overlap between Panels and Display Suite, but I’ve definitely seen some sites use both.

Matt Nguyen

Good tutorial, thanks!

Nancy W.

Really did you have to insult me in the very first sentence? “Panels is one of the most popular modules amongst serious Drupal site-builders.” I think I’m pretty serious, but rarely use Panels.

steve

Hey Nancy, It’s hard to tell if you’re joking with us, but just in case …
The implication in that phrase wasn’t that all serious site-builders use Panels, just that many do.
We definitely know many who strongly dislike Panels.

Nancy W.

No I wasn’t joking.
I don’t dislike Panels, at least not in 7.x. I just don’t find much need for it. And the one time we built a big site using it, the customer felt it was too hard for them to maintain.

steve

Oh sure. I don’t disagree at all. There’s a lot of people who won’t touch Panels.
But, we do also see a lot of skilled, high-profile Drupal shops using it.

Christian Biggins

Great videos, thanks.

Yohann

What would be the benefits in using Panels instead of simply using hook_menu for the homepage and manage everything with blocks, regions and template files?

steve

Hi Yohan. There’s no knowledge of the Drupal hook or templating system needed. Panels can be used by non-experts.

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