are you using Drupal 5 or 6?

There's a core module (comes bundled with Drupal) called 'Path' that you can enable at Administer > Site building > Modules (in the 'Core - optional' section - don't forget to set the permissions after enabling new modules). It allows you to enter a URL when creating a new page (or any other type of content), so you don't have to go and lookup the node ID all the time.

Another option is the Pathauto module (you'll have to download it separately). It automatically assigns URLs to new (or existing) nodes depending on the setting you choose.

I use pathauto a lot. It does a decent job at creating somewhat recognizable urls for new posts.

Use pathauto, for sure, but to answer your questions...

You can add pages to menus right from the node creation form. It won't do it by default, cause there are so many menus in drupal, but you can add it to your primary links and secondary links right from the node creation form.

Blessings,
Tony

I am using the just-downloaded Drupal 6.8 core and I managed to get TinyMCE added too. It is a strange new world for me coming from Wordpress, but at the same time it is exciting to see how complex it is because that can equate to flexible, extendable and downright fun.

Thanks for suggesting the path and pathauto modules.

In playing with it a bit I am seeing that the number of nodes could be huge and to throw that all into a menu is silly. I do like the control though - in Wordpress it is hard to put just what you want in a nav menu because it wants to put everything. Doable when you get used to it but I think this way makes more sense.

Thanks for the help guys! I'll probably be back for more later, just to warn you. :)
Peace

Hey Jim,

At least you had some Wordpress experience. My only experience in CMS's was just downloading them!

I had thought about Wordpress or Joomla, but I couldn't stop thinking about Drupal because Rob Feature just loves it so much. And for a guy to be so passionate about it, then it must be something good.

I am excited at the thought of "unlimited possibilities" with Drupal. Well, I'd really have to know what I'm doing to make that happen... But, at least, I'm on my way there

Shane

Wordpress isn't bad. In fact, for a lot of simple sites it can be a pretty solid solution. So, don't think Wordpress is bad to use.

Also, everyone starts out as a noob on this stuff. You don't have to apologize for it. :)

It is true that WordPress is a fine product for a lot of things. It's all a matter of using the right tool for the job.

In fact, the site I'm working on is better suited to WordPress, but it is non-critical so I can mess around in Drupal with it and not hurt anything until I get the hang of it. The current incarnation is HTML and is running until I get this done so no harm. Even the overkill of Drupal will be easier to handle going forward than HTML. :)

My ultimate goal is to get familiar enough with Drupal to convert our church and daycare over as I think they could benefit from the extra power of Drupal, especially in the area of community building. One thing that leaps immediately to mind and would be easy for you Drupal experts is a calendar when all our people are going on vacation. In a small-ish church it's important to know so we can make sure everything is covered. Right now it's a dry-erase board in the church office. :(

I am having a lot of fun with Drupal and can already see that once I start thinking in Drupal terms it will not be bad at all. I am glad to know I have friends who can help if I get stuck though! Thanks gang!

I always love to see new people taking the challenge of tackling Drupal. It is a real undertaking at first but once you get it you can do almost anything, not to mention you always have to be learning as things are always in flux.

Here are a few module suggestions that might make things a little easier.

Admin Menu: http://drupal.org/project/admin_menu. Puts all your admin navigation across the top. Very handy.

Themes: Some very versatile and rich out of the box themes can be found at http://roopletheme.com. These give you a better idea about what Drupal theme can be capable of. These theme also give you many customization options with regard to color themes, column widths and also have many "blocks" (content display areas for new Drupalers).

CCK: Content Construction Kit. http://drupal.org/project/cck. Even for a noob you should go ahead and install CCK, as it is as Matt and Rob call it, part of the Future of Drupal. If you have database experience you will get it more quickly because it is very similar to setting up database fields.

You should experiment with associating fields with "nodes" (content) and getting them to display how you want them.

On the surface there is a lot of overlap between Taxonomy and CCK. If you are just experimenting I would try doing the same things with both. CCK can get you much deeper and detailed with regards to field options and labeling content but Taxonomy has quite a few more modules out there specifically targeted to Taxonomy terms that do sort of prepackaged functionality (tagadelic [http://drupal.org/project/tagadelic[ is a good example).

Also themes you download will handle Taxonomy term and CCK terms VERY different from one another with regards to how they are displayed on a "node" (a posting/piece of content). Most themes will treat Taxonomy terms as Blog tags. So Taxonomy is great for bloggish sites and bloggish entries.

Hope so of that helps.

I'm wondering if what you're looking for Jim is simply going to your page and click on the "edit" tab. Near the top under the "Title" Field is a collapsed fieldset named "Menu settings" click on this and it will expand to give you some options. Type in a menu link title and then choose a location for the menu item in the "Parent item" drop down. More than likely it will be either under <Navigation> or <Primary links>.

Take care!