I figure that most of the features for Drupal 6 are already wrapped-up and ready for testing. Nonetheless I believe that certain widespread trends should be highly prioritized to help spread interest in Drupal.
Of these current trends I see the following at the top of the list:
1. Social Networking has become such a defining force in the growth of the Internet that the industry is starting to refer to this as the Social Web. The existence of many supporting modules in Drupal along with the popularity of relevant groups should make it simple to include in the next release -- "IT" being the recognizable "profile" with content and capabilities that all of us are familiar with.
2. Widgets have successfully taken the leap from my desktop to every website I frequent, allowing me to customize and share my web experiences everywhere I go. The good news is that after the summer of code this concept should be able to explode -- but not simply for the use in Modules. The Widget should work the same way it does everywhere else and allow registered users to import their own content and export it to the web.
3. Mash-ups are the third word of the day and each of the above simplify the process, save one: Content Creation. For the life in me I can't figure out why different Modules have competed for the role when Content Defines the Drupal application. Separate modules help complicate the issue while many of us struggle to create a video or audio site, as well as the rest who simply want to add a business profile. Content Creation deserves Core Consideration.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the contributing developers to consider these basic building blocks of the Social Web.
Comments
I completely agree. After
I completely agree. After many many hours of incorporating some of the "built-in" modules on this site (like a calendar for instance), I started looking for ways to step outside the realm of drupal as a whole. The thought and idea of being able to take an outside "mash-up" and having it easily incorporated with drupal would be amazing. Not to mention this would save time from multiple modules, that do relatively the samething, from existing. Many of the modules within drupal exist as a third party plug-in or widget somewhere else...why reinvent the wheel?
One such instance is gmap. To me this is drupal meets web 2dot0. I can import some addresses and voila they are on a map by simply setting up a view. While I'm sure there are many of these functions that all ready exist, simply waiting for me to discover them, bringing Drupal into the "social web" is something that is very intriguing.
:cD
"Droobie (Drupal N00bie)"