[consulting] Drupal Pros / Marketplace dev site: comments and questions

[Gregory Heller]

see comments inline

Omar Bickell wrote:
> Gregory et al,
>
> I started playing around with the site
> (http://home.civicactions.net/drupal/drupalpros/) a little.  In general,
> I like what I see so far. Here are a few comments that I have to offer.
> Take what you find valuable and feel free to disregard anything that is
> over-the-top at this point.
>
> - It would be good to include more dummy data to illustrate things a
> little better. For example, given that we have "firms", I'm not sure I
> get what a "group" will be. Would it be like "Drupal4Unions" for
> example? We should probably prime the pump with an example.
>
We added OG, but have not yet implemented it, so just ignore groups. 
Some ideas for using OG were to make each firm and OG, or an OG for
firms, and an OG for Contractors.  Is there a way to allow users to
apply for a role on signup?
> - I agree with others that we have to figure out how to integrate the
> Drupal users profiles even if, I am a little less keen than some on the
> premise that the only real way to judge a user is by the "user >> track
> >>> code" method.
>
I think that we are going to add a link field or some such so that
contractors can add the url to their profile
> - IMHO we should add a method for "sites/projects I've worked on".
> While, I would be fine with the low-hanging-fruit approach of simply
> adding a textarea field for this, I could also imagine this being a
> little more sophisticated in that we could, for example, submit
> "featured sites/projects" nodes. This  would allow for the association
> of categories and users/firms to projects thereby creating online
> portfolios and, effectively, another mechanism by which clients could
> find people that they would like to work with. For example, the
> potential client shows up, clicks on "browse sample projects/portfolios"
> and then perhaps on a "mass mailing campaign sites" link and then can
> browse through some project screencaps with descriptions. When they find
> examples of completed projects they like they can then to see who was
> involved in making it. (By the way, there's a module, I can't remember
> which, that allows this many-users-associated-to-one-node thingy.)
> Anyway, just an idea.
>
One plan for this is to use links_related, we just installed, i have not
configured yet.  another is to use relativity (i think) and another CCK
content type for "projects" that would include description and screen
capture.  Problem is, relativity is still kinda buggy in 4.7 according
to Robert Douglas.  if someone wants to fix relativity as their
contribution to this project, I would be greatly appreciative.
> - I also agree with others that "marketplace" is better than
> "DrupalPros". With this in mind, how should we integrate the "here's my
> project/budget, who wants to do it" approach? I'm thinking "Find a
> client"... although this pretty much implies that clients set up
> accounts too. We will ultimately need this anyway if we intend to
> feature client feedback/evaluations/ratings.
>
There was talk during OSCMS CON of marketplace being an extension of
drupalpros, the next step.  Potential clients would sign up for an
account, and then be able to submit an RFP either through an RFP builder
module, or as an attachment.  The RFP would only be visible to the
contractors and shops, many potential clients don't want their RFPs to
be completely public and findable on the web for their funders or
competitors to see.  Here is another reason for having some kind of
"lid" on privileged users (contractors and firms) in the DrupalPros
site.  But really, this is just a naming/branding/marketing issue, if it
is drupalpros, drupalmarketplace or whatever, it doesn't matter that much.
> Finally, would it be possible to have more access? For the moment I
> can't even see the "people" (me) or "firm" (Koumbit) that I have
> created. If this is too problematic at the moment, as people will start
> to use it before it is ready and "real", I will understand.
The workflow requires submissions to be moderated, so they are not
published by default.  I just went in and published them.

FYI to all who were on the call and have signed up for accounts, I have
given you permissions to create content.  I'll be admining the users
daily, so expect 24 to 36 hours lag time from when you sign up to when
your account is promoted.
>
> Thanks for your work/effort.
>
> Omar
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> Gregory Heller
> http://www.CivicActions.com
> http://www.GregoryHeller.com
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