[consulting] Drupal Recipes?

[Steven Peck]

They would go as child pages here:
http://drupal.org/handbook/site-recipes

Contributions welcome.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: consulting-bounces at drupal.org
[mailto:consulting-bounces at drupal.org]
> On Behalf Of Evan Leibovitch
> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 9:53 PM
> To: A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting providers
> Subject: [consulting] Drupal Recipes?
> 
> 
> In an effort to demonstrate that I can offer something constructive to
> this list (as well as to apologize to anyone offended by the tone of
my
> last post), I'd like to bounce an idea off everyone. Maybe it's been
> suggested before but I haven't seen it here:
> 
> I'd like to suggest a repository of "recipes" -- that is, high-level
> instruction sets that could be used to mold Drupal into one of a
number
> of "well understood" web-based applications.
> 
> In addition to the most recent thread regarding publishing systems,
I've
> recently been observing a discussion on another list started by
someone
> looking for a digital library system. While briefly looking at CMSs,
the
> person suggests that it will be easier to set up a system specifically
> designed for digital libraries, such as Greenstone.
> 
> Generally speaking, it _will_ be more difficult to customize a general
> purpose system such as Drupal than to start with something already
> designed as a single purpose application. In order to help Drupal
> integrators deal with such situations, perhaps it might be a benefit
to
> develop a collection of application-specific recipes that would
detail:
> 
> - the minimum release level of Drupal required
> - a list of modules required
> - schemas for new CCK node types and/or views definitions (as
necessary)
> - definitions of additional user types and their permission sets
> - perhaps some recommended themes that functionally work best for the
> application
> - any special installation/configurations
> 
> I understand the concept of Drupal distributions but I don't think
that
> they're as flexible or comprehensive as recipes can be (because of
> additional config-time instructions such as user and node types).
Also,
> recipes can be additive. Perhaps the recipe could include not just
docs,
> but a script that might make the necessary config changes.
> 
> Of course one size does not fit all, and people will want to make
> further customizations. But starting with an installed recipe brings
an
> implementer far further along towards a specialized application than
> starting with a bare Drupal install. And, as a non-developer, people
> like me want to be able to extend Drupal as far as possible without
> needing to roll new code.
> 
> Suggestions for recipes could include:
> - Podcast distribution
> - Library
> - Yellow pages / business directory
> - Online store or auction
> - Newsletter publishing
> - CRM (both NPO and business-oriented)
> - political campaigns/fundraising
> - online paid-membership site
> - premium content (per-item or by subscription)
> 
> Some of these may seem obvious to regulars here, and many of you might
> well know instinctively what to do. However, perhaps for Drupal to
hold
> its own against specialized single-application alternatives, perhaps
> there is value to document these techniques to a broader audience of
> consultants-to-be, potential users, RFP writers, etc. The module list
> alone is now extremely long and can be intimidating to newcomers,
> especially when recipes call for a combination of modules that might
not
> be apparent at first glance.  Knowledge of the various ones to be
> combined to provide the capabilities of application-specific systems
is
> worth sharing.
> 
> Is this worth pursuing? Conceivably, recipes could be catalogued and
> submitted just like other forms of documentation, or even themes or
> modules. My time is fairly limited but I'd certainly like to help make
> this happen if the interest exists.
> 
> - Evan
> 
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