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This file contains Chapter 4, "Customizing Content". The Table of contents is also available.

Introduction to Chapter 4

Drupal suffers from the "blind men describing an elephant" syndrome. In that Indian fable, one man touches the trunk and declares that an elephant is like a tree branch; another touches the tail and says an elephant is like a rope; a third touches an ear and says the elephant is like a great leaf; and so forth. The thing observed is seen by its parts, according to the needs of the individual.

Since Drupal's audience has historically been software developers, that's translated into strong support for text and add-on programming. Two areas where it's not been as capable are in creating content types with custom fields, and in supporting graphics and text styling within nodes.

Fortunately, both areas are getting better. This chapter tells you how to create more flexible content using tools that are available today. However, a constant stream of new solutions passes through the library of contributed modules at drupal.org/project/modules. For details on how to find and use them, see Chapter 9, "Extending Drupal with Modules."

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