The Views Module provides a flexible method for Drupal administrators to control how lists of posts are retrieved and presented. By default, Drupal has this type of funtionality built into its architecture. For example, you're front page is essentially a view of the most recent posts or, when you click on a taxonomy term, you are presented with a view of all posts related to that term.
Using the Views module, you can create pages and blocks that list posts of a particular type (such as forum or blog posts), create alphabetical lists by taxonomy, create weekly, monthly or yearly archive pages, or create a table of posts that are flagged as unread. Views are essentially collections of posts that can are automatically updated as content is added to you website.
Once installed, you can add views to you're website by browsing to administer > site building > views and selecting the "add" link. You'll be presented with a page allowing you to configure your view. Here are the options you'll be presented with:
Basic Information
The Name is how drupal will identify the view and must be a unique name using only letters, numbers and underscores (no spaces).
Under Access, you can also indicate which user roles can access the view. If you want the view to be private, leave "anonymous user" unchecked and check the roles you'd like to access the view. If you leave everything unchecked, access will be completely open.
The Description field will appear on the views summary page (andmin > site building > views) so you can tell your views apart
Page
If you would like to generate a page view, select the Provide Page View checkbox. In order for people to find this page, you'll need to enter the page's URL. The word you enter into this field will appear after your domain name (for example, if you enter the word "duckies", you can find this page by browsing to yoursite.com/?q=duckies).
The View Type select tab allows you to indicate what type of view you'd like to generate. By default, views can generate 5 types of Views: Full Nodes (full posts), Teaser List (trimmed posts), Table View (a table of fields), and List View (a list of fields). If you install Views related modules (such as the views bonus pack) you can access additional views in this menu.
You can allow indicate how many posts should appear in each page in the Nodes Per Page field. If eventually there will be more posts generated than the Nodes Per Page limit, it's a good idea to check the Use Pager checkbox which allows people to see posts not included in the page (ie, page 1, page 2, page 3, etc.)
You can also give your page view a title in the Title field, which is optional. If you want a fancier title, you can use the header and footer links to insert images using html.
Block
If you would like to generate a block view, select the Provide Block checkbox. Once you have created you're view, this block will appear on the blocks page (administer > site building > blocks) and have the name you gave it above under basic information.
Like the page view, you will be given a select tab that allows you to indicate what type of view you'd like to generate. Remember that blocks often end up in side bars, so it might be a good idea to use a list or table view.
You can allow indicate how many posts should appear in each block in the Nodes Per Block field. If eventually there will be more posts generated than the Nodes Per Block limit, it's a good idea to check [More] link? checkbox which allows provides a link to the Page View you set up above. Of course, if you want to only provide a block, don't check this option.
You can also give your block a title in the Title field, which is optional. Again, if you want a fancier title, you can use the header and footer links to insert images using html.
Fields
If you are using a list view or a table view (or other views depending on views related modules you've installed), you'll be required to indicate which fields you'd like to display. Here you are presented with a menu to select from available fields. If, for example, you wanted to generate a list of node titles, you could select the Node: Title field. This will only display the node title.
Once you add a field, you can add additional fields and rearrange the order in which they're displayed using the navigation links on the right.
Please note that this becomes very useful when used with the Content Construction Kit (CCK). The CCK module allows you to create your own customized fields. Each field you create will appear in this list, allowing you have more control over the information presented lists.
Arguments
Many modules use arguments and I haven't quite figured out how this section works (if you figure it out, leave a comment or edit this node). Creating basic views doesn't require you to use arguments, but if your using a module that has specific instructions to use arguments, follow the instructions. Otherwise, leave this section alone.
Filters
The filters are important. Filters define what type of content ends up in the view you've created. If you don't add a filter to your view, it will just show all of the content added to you website. You will be presented with a menu allowing you to select what type of filter you'd like to add to the view. Once a filter is added, you'll be given options as to how to use it.
For example, if you wanted to create a view that showed only blog posts, you could select Node: Type and select the content type "Blog". You can also add additional filters. For example, if you only wanted to show the Blog posts of a certain user, you could add the filter Node: Author Name. The two filters combined will give you block posts from the user of your choice.
Exposed Filters
Exposed filters are useful, but not often used. If you have a content type with a lot of posts and you want visitors to be able to search use the filters to navigate the content, you can use this. Most of the time, unless you've got a lot of content, it isn't necessary. To see an example of how this looks, browse to administer > content management > content on your website.
Sort Criteria
Sort Criteria defines how content is sorted in the view. If you wanted to show the most recent post first, you could add Node: Created Time and select descending. If you wanted to show an alphabetical list by title, you could add Node: Title and select ascending. If you wanted to show the most recently updated post, you could add Node: Updated Time and select descending.