What do you like about being a technical writer?

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As part of the new Drupal site, I'm creating a number of different color choices so each user can choose what they prefer the site to look like. I found that managing all the different colors is much easier using a color library in PhotoShop.

Start by creating a new color library:

1. If the color palette is not visible, choose Window > Swatches.
2. From the Swatches menu, choose Save Swatches...
3. Name the swatch file.
4. Use the Preset Manager to delete the swatches in the library.

Then, add your colors to the library:

1. Set the foreground color to the color you want to add to the library.

When you first set up blogs, the blog link leads to recent blog posts. But, it's handy to be able to see a list of people who have blogs on your site.

Drupal doesn't have such a list available by default, but setting up a page to do it isn't complicated. Here's how to do it:

1. Log in as Administrator.
2. Click Create Content > Page.
3. Give the page a Title. I called mine TCPblogs.
4. Choose one of these code options and copy and paste it into your page Body field.
5. Click the arrow next to Input Formats and select PHP code.
6. You can set the page up with a link right away.
   

Drupal has a term called Primary Links. When I started, I had no idea was Primary Links would be, but I soon learned they are main links, found at the top of the site. On TCP, the Primary Links are TCPblogs, TCPopinions, TCPwiki, and Contact Us.

Different themes place the Primary Links differently. I've attached screenshots of some examples of Primary Links. All of the themes used are available from The Theme Garden, and I've included the name of each theme.

Here's how to set up Primary Links:

1. Log in as Administrator.
   

Over the past couple of months, I've learned a lot about Drupal. Now that we have TCPblogs, I'm going to document lessons learned during setup.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please leave a comment or drop me a line.