Registering as a user

To add or edit content on a Drupal site, usually you have to first be registered as a user. (Sometimes the site administrator has chosen to enable "anonymous" posts of things like comments, in which case you can post them without registering.)

In some cases, a site administrator will add you as a user. If so, they will send you a user name and password that you can use to log on.

Otherwise, look for a small form called “User login” on the main page of the site you want to register with (usually on the right or the left of the page). Click the link that says "Create new account".

The next page that comes up will generally have some information on the site's policies for registration. After reading them, to register, enter a user name of your choice and an email address to which you have access and hit "submit". Then check your email account. Within a few minutes, you should get an automatically-generated email confirming your registration and giving you an initial password to use. Now you're ready to log in.

Logging in

Before you can add or edit content, you usually need to log in. If you haven't already done so, register as a user, see above (or, if applicable, request that your site administrator register you). Then hit the main page of the site you're wishing to use and look for a "User login" form. This will typically be on the left or right side of the page (it is a "block" in Drupal talk). Enter your user name and password and hit "submit".

Assuming everything's working as planned, when the new page loads it will include a new block with your user name at the top. This is the menu you use to start entering and editing content.

Changing your account settings

Once you have registered with a Drupal-based site, you can change settings to control information about yourself and also your use and experience of a Drupal site. To see what tweaks you can make to your account, log in and then click on my account in the navigation block (that's the one titled with your user name). Click on the edit tab.

Account Settings. You may see a different collection of settings than is presented here, depending on what features have been enabled on your site.

password

Enter in a new password in both fields to set it. Drupal sends you a default password that is often hard to remember, so it is recommended that you change your password to something you can easily remember.

block configuration

The site administrator may make some blocks (chunks of content that are usually displayed in a left and/or right column) optional. You can enable and disable the display of these blocks by checking and unchecking the boxes next to them.

signature

If comments are enabled, you will be able to set a default signature. This will be copied into new comments for you automatically, but may still be edited.

time zone

Your site administrator may allow users to set their time zone. This will cause all dated content on the site to display in local time, according to the offset you enter here.

theme

A "theme" is the basic look and feel of a Drupal site. Sometimes a particular site will have more than one theme installed. If the site administrator has made more than one theme available, you will be able to select what you would like the default theme to be for your account.

As mentioned earlier, different site-settings will cause different fields to be displayed on your user account page. See the documentation for individual modules for instructions on how to use these additional options.

Additional Information. Aside from the account settings tab, you may also see additional tabs, titled according to the information they contain. Some examples might include "Personal Information", "Workplace", etc. These are controlled by the profile module, and allows you to enter more information about yourself. Please see the profile module for more information on this.