[development] Idea: Site documenter module

[Aaron Winborn]

great idea! this could in turn be extended to create installation 
profiles as well.

aaron

Angela Byron wrote:
> When inheriting a site from a client and trying to figure it out, 
> there are a number of things one normally does...
>
> - Go to the content types listing and take a look at what types exist, 
> and what the field definitions are for those types.
> - Check out what roles there are, and what permissions are assigned to 
> those roles.
> - Check out what taxonomy vocabularies exist, and to which content 
> types they're assigned
> - etc.
>
> This is all rather time-consuming, as it requires going to about 50 
> admin screens, and it's difficult to get a "big picture" of what's 
> happening.
>
> Having been asked to write a document containing some of these things 
> on a site, I'm thinking of writing a module that basically nicely 
> formats a db dump into an HTML page so you can get a bird's eye view 
> of what the site entails. Example output might be:
>
> ---
>
> <h1>Site documentation for Example.com</h1>
>
> <h2>Goals</h2>
> [insert site goals here; why does the site exist? who's its target 
> market?]
>
> <h2>Overview of architecture</h2>
> [insert overview of architecture here; how various pieces fit together 
> and why]
>
> <h2>Enabled module list</h2>
>
> <ul>
> <li><strong>Custom module</strong>: A custom module for the site. 
> Description taken from .info file.</li>
> <li><strong>Logintoboggan</strong>: Improves Drupal's login system.</li>
> <li><strong>Pathauto</strong>: Provides a mechanism for modules to 
> automatically generate aliases for the content they manage.</li>
> </ul>
>
> <h2>Content types</h2>
>
> <h3>Page</h3>
> A static page, like a contact page or an about page.
>
> <h4>Fields</h4>
> Title
> Section (Vocabulary)
> Body
>
> <h3>Announcement</h3>
> A news announcement on the site.
>
> <h4>Fields</h4>
> Title
> Category (Vocabulary)
> Description (Body)
> Attribution (Text)
>
> <h2>Roles</h2>
>
> <ul>
> <li><strong>anonymous user</strong>: [insert description here]</li>
> <li><strong>authenticated user</strong>: [insert description here]</li>
> <li><strong>administrator</strong>: [insert description here]</li>
> </ul>
>
> ---
>
> Perhaps this would include an intermediary step (a form) would let you 
> enter in broad descriptions for the site, plus descriptions for roles, 
> etc. Because this info could be just about anything, it could be 
> stored maybe as a serialized array somewhere?
>
> It could also have the option to export a blank template which you 
> could fill in manually when you spec out a new client site.
>
> I was thinking also of a settings page where you can turn on/off the 
> sections you wish to be included. And it would have to implement a 
> hook so other modules could expose their things to being included in 
> the documentation output.
>
> What do you think? Crazy idea? Stupid idea? Anyone interested in 
> helping to spec something like this out?
>
> -Angie
>
>
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