[Imc-drupal-dev] IMC Sydney Drupal Features and Modules

Shayne ONeill shayne at perthimc.asn.au
Thu Dec 2 22:16:12 PST 2004 

I dont think the flakeyness is to do with core drupal. Not at all.

The problem I've noted comes with arbirtrary interactions between modules.
Crap like Image uploads having a field to attach an image to an image, and
then it getting its knickers in a twist if you actually try and do that.
There are subtle things like that that one needs to be aware of . Many
problems tend also stem from botched installs of modules.

But otherwise, I wouldnt worry too much. Instability in web apps will tend
to show up pretty damn quickly.

--
Shayne O'Neill..   trådkrämare
http://perth.indymedia.org
"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldnt do my job."
--George W Bush.
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/099745.htm


On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, erik hopp wrote:

> oh - heh - yeah i guess i only replied to phill.
>
> i honestly think drupal is pretty stable and is only getting better.
>
> i think its a great platform to build an IMC site off of.  thats why i
> chose it 2 years ago!
>
> erik
>
>
>
> Phill Clarke wrote:
> > Wow! Thanks for all the great info Erik.
> >
> > I hope you don't mind but I've copied the Drupal Dev list in on my
> > reply as I think you only originally sent this to me.
> >
> > Looks like we can certainly cut down on the list of modules originally
> > posed for consideration. But at the same time there could be a few
> > extras to consider.
> >
> > Great point on third party modules perhaps not performing as well as core.
> >
> > With Shayne's earlier point on Drupal's occassional flakeyness it may
> > be worthwhile trying to keep external modules to a minimum.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Phill
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 13:15:51 -0500, erik hopp <erik at mediamutiny.org> wrote:
> >
> >>hi.
> >>
> >>(just a little introduction)
> >>i'm erik from rhode island.  we started an indymedia collective a couple
> >>years ago here and i built the site on drupal.  we never got "official"
> >>IMC status.  since then the collective members have moved onto different
> >>things.  the site still exists and is used only very sporaticly, but i
> >>am planning on redesigning it when i get some fre time - not sure when
> >>that'll happen.
> >>
> >>so - i make websites for nonprofits and schools and use drupal a LOT.
> >>
> >>i wanted to jump into this discussion of modules because i do know a bit
> >>about them - although there are always new ones popping up, old ones
> >>getting too old, and ones i've never tried.
> >>
> >>i encourage you to set up a test install of drupal 4.5.1, install
> >>whatever modules you think you want, then play with the configuration.
> >>
> >>that said, flexinode is indeed "the bomb".  the concept behind flexinode
> >>is that you create your own custom content forms and you then can
> >>display the output in custom ways.  asside from some of the modules you
> >>mentioned below, it might also make story and blog modules unnecessary
> >>in core.  for a site that uses flexinode heavily - check out
> >>http://onthecommons.org (i made it.  it used blog module too for content.)
> >>
> >>i am going to go through all the modules you mentioned with  my suggestions:
> >>
> >>article - i think using flexinode cuts out the need for article.
> >>
> >>attached node - not sure, haven't used it - kinds of sounds unnecessary
> >>(why can't you just use a link in a node?)
> >>
> >>attachment, filestore2 - the upload module, currently in drupal core
> >>should suffice.
> >>
> >>bbcode - i don't know. i have never used it, doesn't seem necessary.
> >>htmlarea probably does everything you want here.  BUT, htmlarea can be
> >>buggy and hard to deal with because of that.  but i do use it.
> >>
> >>bookmarks - sure.  never used it but it sounds cool.
> >>
> >>captcha - use it only if you need it.  recognize that it does restrict
> >>usage of the site for visually impaired people.
> >>
> >>collimator - not sure how it differs from the "recent posts" link in a
> >>standard drupal install.
> >>
> >>daily - not sure its necessary, but try it out.
> >>
> >>database administration - i don't see why you would need this.  if you
> >>have phpmyadmin, that probably does a better job.  never used this
> >>module though
> >>
> >>feature - i don't see any reason to use this.  you can always create e
> >>custom block with a list of whatever you want in it.
> >>
> >>image, image_assist - yes.  good stuff.  and it just got better
> >>recently.  though i still haven't found the perfect and easy way to add
> >>images to posts.  htmlarea has a "insert image" feature too that might
> >>be better.
> >>
> >>mypage - sounds interesting.  not essential though.
> >>
> >>news page, syndication - i think you can kind of do this with a standard
> >>drupal install, but if probably offers some other kind of functionality.
> >>
> >>node moderation - yes.
> >>
> >>summery - maybe.  also look into excerpt.  both might be unnecessary if
> >>you use flexinode though.
> >>
> >>taxonomy_browser - maybe? never used it.
> >>
> >>taxonomy menu - sure.  might be useful.
> >>
> >>other modules you might want to look into: event, excerpt, htmlarea,
> >>i18n, listhandler?, mail?, notify, scheduler, series?, spam?,
> >>subscriptions, translation?
> >>
> >>in general, i'd keep the use of contributed modules to a minimum if
> >>possible becuase it is less of a headache for admins and users and the
> >>more code you have, the more time it takes to load.  contributed modules
> >>often aren't "optomized" to the extent that core modules are so one of
> >>those modules could potentially slow down page loads considerably.  that
> >>said, drupal is one of the fastest and most feature-rich CMSs out there.
> >>
> >>so, i guess thats all i've got for now.
> >>
> >>erik.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>Phill Clarke wrote:
> >>
> >>>Thanks Shayne.
> >>>
> >>>I agree that many of these modules will probably get dropped before
> >>>final implementation. I was just trawling through the list to see what
> >>>looked kind of interesting.
> >>>
> >>>I had a test Drupal site of my own running a while ago, but my ISP
> >>>canned my account (long story), but from what I rememeber some of the
> >>>standard article publishing and frontpage feature stuff was probably
> >>>quite acceptable without enhancing it too much with further modules.
> >>>But I guess we'll see once we get the Syd IMC test site up and
> >>>running.
> >>>
> >>>I have dropped Bbcode and added HTMLArea.
> >>>
> >>>I've dropped Database Admin module.
> >>>
> >>>I've added Flexinode.
> >>>
> >>>The list, as it currently stands, can be found on the Syd IMC Wiki at -
> >>>http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/IMCSydneyMigration
> >>>
> >>>Cheers
> >>>Phill
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 22:45:02 +0800 (WST), Shayne ONeill
> >>><shayne at perthimc.asn.au> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>In all honesty, I reckon you could probably deep 6 about half of those.
> >>>>
> >>>>You definately need a taxonomy menu, and all the various taxonomy fruit.
> >>>>
> >>>>You can probably fuck off bbcode, and replace that with the htmlarea
> >>>>plugin. Its awesome. trust me on this one.
> >>>>
> >>>>database admin plug in = recipe for tears.
> >>>>
> >>>>Heres the bomb: Flexinode. Its a diy content definition kit. awesom.
> >>>>
> >>>>--
> >>>>Shayne O'Neill..   trådkrämare
> >>>>http://perth.indymedia.org
> >>>>"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldnt do my job."
> >>>>--George W Bush.
> >>>>http://atheism.about.com/b/a/099745.htm
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, Phill Clarke wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>Hi Everyone,
> >>>>>
> >>>>>I'd like to kick off further discussions around the features of Drupal.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>My understanding is that there is a core set of features that come
> >>>>>standard with the base Drupal install. The list of these features can
> >>>>>be found on the Drupal website here -
> >>>>>
> >>>>>http://drupal.org/features
> >>>>>
> >>>>>There's also a whole bunch of add-on modules that can be installed
> >>>>>onto the base build. The full list of these modules, with a brief
> >>>>>description, can be found here -
> >>>>>
> >>>>>http://drupal.org/download
> >>>>>
> >>>>>It'd be great if people could take some time to review this list and
> >>>>>then we can come to a collective decision regarding which modules we
> >>>>>would like to include in the migration project.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>My initial starter list would be as follows:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Article - The article module allows for articles to be organized and
> >>>>>displayed in
> >>>>>a centralized location.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Attached Node - The attached_node module allows users to include a
> >>>>>reference to a node within the body of another node.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Attachment - Allows the attachment of arbitrary files to nodes.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Bbcode - The Drupal bbcode.module adds a BBCode filter to Drupal. This
> >>>>>allows you to use HTML-like tags as an alternative to HTML itself for
> >>>>>adding markup to your posts.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Bookmarks - Gives users with the 'access bookmark' permission their
> >>>>>own private bookmark block, allowing them to add any URL to the list.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>captcha - Adds "captchas" to the user registration process.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Collimator - For example, collimator could be used to view the latest
> >>>>>posts to a site. Nodes are then sorted by their last modification time
> >>>>>in descending order.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Daily - The daily module is meant for things like comic strips or
> >>>>>daily headlines. It offers a new node type daily that has a date
> >>>>>associated with it.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Database Administration - The dba module provides Drupal
> >>>>>administrators with direct access to their Drupal database tables from
> >>>>>within the standard Drupal user interface.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Feature - A module that lets you organize and maintain a feature list.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Filestore2 - a completely rewritten version of filestore which stores
> >>>>>the files on the filesystem instead of in the database.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Image - This module allow users with proper permissions to upload
> >>>>>images into drupal. Thumbnails are created automaticaly.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Img_assist - Greatly simplifies the process of adding inline images to content.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>mypage - Provides users with the ability to select among all your
> >>>>>site's taxonomy terms, and then get a customized "mypage" with nodes.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>News Page - Allows creation of pages which show syndicated 'news'
> >>>>>items from an aggregator category.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Node Moderation - This module enables users to vote on nodes.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Summary - The summary module provides several options for content
> >>>>>display on a home page in addition to the standard list of recent
> >>>>>posts.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Syndication - Syndication.module offers a web page which centralizes
> >>>>>all of the RSS feeds
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Taxonomy Browser - Think of this as a 'build your own category view' page.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Taxonomy Menu - This module adds links to taxonomy terms to the global
> >>>>>navigation menu.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>OK a long list of 20 items. I'd really like to encourage everyone to
> >>>>>go and have a look at the complete list of modules on the Drupal site.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>We need to decide:
> >>>>>1. Should any more modules be added to the list above?
> >>>>>2. Should any be immediately removed as unsuitable?
> >>>>>3. Following further discussions settle on the exact list of modules
> >>>>>we would like to add.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>It may be that item 3 can only be usefully decided upon once we have a
> >>>>>test version of Drupal 4.5 up and running so that we can see/use the
> >>>>>default functionality.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Once we agree on the initial list of Drupal modules for possible
> >>>>>consideration I'll add them to the Wiki.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>One thing to keep in mind is that in Drupal "Categories" are known as
> >>>>>"Taxonomy".
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Cheers
> >>>>>Phill
> >>>>>_______________________________________________
> >>>>>Imc-drupal-dev mailing list
> >>>>>Imc-drupal-dev at lists.indymedia.org
> >>>>>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-drupal-dev
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>_______________________________________________
> >>>Imc-drupal-dev mailing list
> >>>Imc-drupal-dev at lists.indymedia.org
> >>>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-drupal-dev
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>--
> >>erik hopp
> >>erik|at|mediamutiny.org
> >>
> >>401.274.2945
> >>532 charles st. floor 1
> >>providence, ri 02904
> >>
> >>http://mediamutiny.org/
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> erik hopp
> erik|at|mediamutiny.org
>
> 401.274.2945
> 532 charles st. floor 1
> providence, ri 02904
>
> http://mediamutiny.org/
> _______________________________________________
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