Identification:
Name: the human readable name for the content type. This name must be unique and will appear in the ‘Create Content’ list as the title for the content type. For example the content type ‘Page’ has a name of Page.
Type: the machine readable name for the content type. The name must be unique and may consist of only lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores. Dashes are not allowed. The ‘Type’ is also used in constructing the URL of the ‘Create Content’ page. Underscores will be converted into dashes when constructing this URL. For example the content type ‘Page’ has a type of Page.
Description: A short description to be shown on the ‘Create Content’ page to allow users to know the purpose and some specifics of the content type. In the screenshot you can see an example of a description for the ‘Page’ content type.
Submission Form:
Title field label: The label for the title field that will appear on the page when a user creates a piece of content using this custom content type. For a normal ‘Page’ content type the ‘Title field label’ is left as the default Title.
Body field label: The label for the main body field that will appear on the page when a user creates a piece of content using this custom content type. If you omit a ‘Body field label’ than the main body text area will not appear on the creation page for the content type. For a normal ‘Page’ content type the ‘Body field label’ is left as the default Body.
Minimum number of words: Allows you to set the minimum number of words required for the submission to be a valid piece of content. Useful if you want to make sure a certain amount of info is given for new pieces of content.
Explanation or submission guidelines: A bit of text that will show up on the top of the submission form when creating a new piece of content with this custom content type. These guidelines can be used in giving specific instructions to your users to guide them through creating the content.
Workflow:
Default Options: Allows you to specify the default workflow options for content created using this content type. For the most part these options do not need to be changed, with the exception of ‘Promoted to front page’ which should be unchecked, leaving the ‘Published’ option as the only checked option.
What can be done with custom content types:
Once you have the basics set up with a custom content type, also known as a CCK, there are numerous options available to you to customize the content type exactly to your liking. Adding custom fields is the key to adding complexity and depth to your content type. Custom fields allow you to gather different information, and content from the user who is using your CCK to create content. Custom fields can vary in type to collect different types of content. A general list of field types are: numbers, text, date, datestamps, files, images, link, and even a field to reference another node. By using different custom fields you can make your content type as complex or as simple as is necessary and allows for endless possibilities.