[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Input Needed: Drupal project for evergreen-ils.org (Roma Matott)

[Mark Jordan]

Hi Roma,

> 
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:31:22 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Roma Matott <rmatott at pls-net.org>
> Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Input Needed: Drupal project for
> 	evergreen-ils.org
> To: open-ils-general <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<11505908.1884771253734282610.JavaMail.root at rosebud.pls-net.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
> 
> Hi all -
> 
> There has been idea floating around for a while to migrate the current
> evergreen-ils.org to a Drupal platform.  Steve Willis, Chris Sharp,
> Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley, and I have volunteered to coordinate the
> investigation.  So, to start the ball rolling, we have some questions
> that we would like input from the community about this project.  
> 
> 1.  Why replace the current evergren-ils.org platform with Drupal?
>        a. Advantages?

Drupal offers a solid platform for managing websites that are maintained by multiple people, that require integration with external data sources, and that need to be flexible enough to respond to changes in requirements in the future. 

>        b. Is there anything that users would like to or should be able
> to do with the current site?  Does Drupal do it 'better'?  
> 
> 2.  How easy will it be to implement/maintain these 'enhancements' or
> basic functionality?  

Drupal offers thousands of community-contributed modules to do pretty much anything you could imagine. Some of these are must-haves (see below) and many are either underdeveloped or just not actively developed, but the repertoire of add-ons is very high. If you can't find an out-of-the-tarball module that does what you need, Drupal offers a rich developer API that gives you the tools to do whatever you need to do yourself. Finding good Drupal developers is easy (although not necessarily cheap) and documentation for new Drupal developers is very high quality (ex., the Pro Drupal Development and Cracking Drupal books).

Like with any CMS, and maybe moreso than with some, you should keep on top of Drupal core and contrib module updates. Drupal lets you know when updates are available, and applying them is remarkably trouble-free, but you do need to keep on top of this administrative task.

Are there modules that we want to use?  What
> version of Drupal do they work with?  

Go with 6 for sure. 7 will be more refined (particularly from an admin and content-maintainer perspective) but it just went into code freeze. I don't plan on migrating any of the complex sites I maintain to 7 for a good year from now, when the major community-contributed modules will likely be ready.

Most sites use CCK (Content Creation Kit) and Views. The latter lets you build structured templates for your content, and the latter to present your content to users in various ways. The Pathauto module, another must have, gives you a wide range of control over the URLs that are created for hour pages. Of course, you'll need some spam prevention modules (CAPTCHA at a minimum). To narrow down the list of modules you'll likely need, it might be useful to identify a couple of Drupal sites that look like they match the functionality of the site you're envisioning and then just ask the site admins what they used.

Are they actively maintained by
> the community?

In general the Drupal community is very active. Since there are so many community-contributed modules, however, you will inevitably come into a situation where you'll find a module that is not that actively maintained. No different from any other large, decentralized OSS project.

>  
> 3.  How should we use Drupal?  As the web interface or also as a
> documentation storehouse?

Drupal provides a lot of options for collaborative documentation. The Drupal Handbooks are the best example of this. You basically set up the content type for your documentation (or use one supplied in Drupal core), set up your permissions, maybe choose and install a WYSIWYG editor, and you're good to go. If want approval worksflows, there are a number of options.

>     a.  Are there other platforms that would be better for maintaining
> documentation- Indexing, breadcrumbs, overall structure...
> 

Maybe, but at the risk of starting a flame war, in the PHP CMS world, Drupal is hard to beat as a total package.

If you're interested in getting other Drupal users' input, I'd post to the drupal4lib email list (http://listserv.uic.edu/archives/drupal4lib.html) or to drupalib (http://drupalib.interoperating.info/). The more answers to your question "Is there anything that users would like to or should be able to do with the current site?" you can share in your posts, the more useful the responses you'll get will be.

Also, I'd be happy to pitch in if you need any other type of assistance.

Mark


Mark Jordan
Head of Library Systems
W.A.C. Bennett Library, Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Voice: 778.782.5753 / Fax: 778.782.3023
mjordan at sfu.ca
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