This advice might be useful if you're administering a workgroup wiki or similar Drupal site at wiki.cse.buffalo.edu. Drupal often hides controls you aren't allowed to manipulate. If something doesn't appear (For example the 'Administer' menu), then your account is probably missing one ore more permissions.
Putting Content on the Front Page
The simplest way to control the front page is by 'promoting' nodes. When editing or creating a node, go to the publishing options section. (the last drop down section, just before the preview/submit buttons) and select/deselect the 'Promoted to front' page checkbox.
Drupal Blocks
The sidebars and other regions of the page are controlled in the Administer -> Site Building -> Blocks menu item in the navigation menu. The navigation menu and login form are each Blocks and are usually in left sidebar. The left and right sidebars are examples of Drupal theme 'Regions'.
In the Blocks Administration page, all available blocks are separated by their current region, and listed by their 'weight'. A dropdown box lets you change the region and weight of each block. Setting a block's region to <none> will disable it.
Blocks are sorted by their weight before output. The weight of a block controls where in a region it is displayed relative to other blocks. Blocks with greater weights sink to the bottom.
To create a custom block, click "Add Block" at the top of the Block administration page.
