Stop copy-pasting: Drupal views can save your team ~10 hours per month

Wow, times sure have changed!

Technology is advancing weirdly fast.

People are strapping computers straight onto their faces, while wondering if AI is dating material... or is it just going to kill us all?! 😬

Questions and concerns are emerging almost as fast as the new technology.

But let’s take a deep breath. 🙏🏻

There’s plenty of work to be done in the meantime. Like updating events, course catalogs, faculty profiles and other website content, of course.

And thankfully, most of us are using a Content Management System (CMS) that’s been around for decades—tried and true.

The question is:

Why are people STILL updating the same exact content in multiple places on their site—often even within a CMS that offers the capability to avoid that? 🤔

For example, I’ve seen people build individual teaser cards on their homepage, to represent upcoming events.

They go to an event page they already created. Download the image, re-upload it to the homepage. Copy and paste the title. Grab the first sentence of the description and copy that over. Add a link back to that existing page.

Now rinse and repeat. For each upcoming event you want to feature. Every month. Every week. Forever.

Tedious? Very.

Unnecessary? Absolutely.

But there’s good news!

If you’re using Drupal (that’s the CMS we use), you can create an “upcoming events” Component based on a View (Views are one of the key building blocks of Drupal), and place it on your homepage, just once.

After that, it’ll automatically generate teasers from existing event pages on your site, displaying the soonest-upcoming ones on your homepage with zero additional content entry! 🙌🏻

The same principle works for any content type, not just events:

• Maybe you’ve got faculty who need a list of their publications at the bottom of their profile page.

• Or perhaps you’ve got certification or degree programs, each of which needs a page that outlines their required courses.

• Or a campus news section that needs to highlight related stories and media coverage.

The beauty of a CMS is that it stores your content in a database, so your website can be more than just a series of static pages. (In fact, Drupal shines above other CMS tools, in this area.)

When built right, it becomes like a living, breathing ecosystem that works for you:

• It transforms your static pages into an interconnected network.

• Your content stays fresh without extra work.

• Your users discover natural pathways to engage with your mission.

• And your team spends less time updating pages; more time focusing on strategy.

See? It’s like a living thing… but without the existential threat of potentially gaining sentience. 😅

So while AI might be questionable dating material, your CMS can become a reliable partner that won't try to take over the world. 💯

Ready to see if your website could work smarter?

Drop us a line!

Our Kairos Audit will uncover opportunities like these, to reduce your effort and better engage your audience.

So you can focus on moving your mission forward. ⏩