Think Of Blocks As Containers For Content

Blocks are one of my favorite Drupal features. Here's what I like about Drupal blocks.

1. You can use blocks as a very simple way to customize the look of your site.
2. Blocks can contain lists of posts, widgets or even custom php code snippets.
3. Certain themes, like Artists C01, and modules, like panels, allow great control over the display of content.
4. You have a great amount of control over who sees a block and where they are placed.

There are several ways that you can put more blocks into action on your site.

• Many modules will add special blocks to your site. For example, the image module adds a random image block which I'm using on this site. When you install a new module check to see if it has added any blocks that you can use.
• You can create your own blocks by adding text, HTML (or even PHP) code. Just got to admin/build/block/add on your Drupal site. You can do just about anything you want here. You can display images or add widgets like Flash video players and image slideshows.
• More advanced site builders can utilize the views module to create dynamic blocks from content on their site.

I like to think of blocks in Drupal as flexible containers for content. Blocks don't have to be located in the sidebar. Blocks don't have to be visible by all users (see Show block for specific roles:). Blocks can be located on any page you want (see Show block on specific pages:).

Here's an important tip for those of you who want to add your own content to a block. Double check the input format for your  block. Embedded javascript widgets and images require that you choose the Full HTML input format in order to display the content properly.

So if you haven't worked with blocks too much yet I recommend that you spend some time becoming familiar with this very excellent feature of the Drupal platform.