By pcdonohue on

Hi,

I'm trying to build a content management system to collect and display games and how to play them (think hop scotch, jacks, duck duck goose, etc.) I've been looking everywhere for a php script that could handle this, without much luck. The closest scripts I could think of were recipe scripts, catalog scripts, or review scripts, but none of those work as well for this as I would like. So the search has brought me to CMS and to Drupal.

Ideally I would like:
-User submittable games and instructions
-Ability to browse by at least name, type, and country of origin
-User comments on games
-Pictures and text of games

I'm pretty sure Drupal can handle this, but what components would I need to start or to modify for this use?

Thanks for your help!
PD

Comments

freyquency’s picture

freyquency commented

-you could set configurations for users to submit them as pages or stories
-browsing by name would be the title of a page or story. type and country of origin could be categories.
-comments can be configured to be allowed by default on whichever node type you want (page and story are two examples of node type)
-pictures could be uploaded via image module.

the only extra module you would need to install would be image module, and perhaps image assist to facilitate posting images to a node. everything else drupal should do 'out of the box'!

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

or he could use inline module and post the pictures directly in the node. It depends on how he needs to present the images.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

pcdonohue’s picture

pcdonohue commented

Thanks chromatic and sepeck!

I played around on the opensourcecms drupal demo and convinced myself that Drupal could probably handle the content creation and categorization out of the box. However, I think I would need more than the default browsing method shown on the demo (i.e. latest category posted in the side bar and latest post on the front page).

Is there a module that allows you to browse through categories in a user friendly manner? I saw the taxonomy modules but there don't appear to be any demos of them.

I envision a page where you can browse alphabetically by name. A page where you could browse by geographic location (perhaps continent and then country). And a page where you could browse by type. I suppose being able to browse under country or type alphabetically by name too would be nice, as well as by popularity.

What are my browsing options? Am I asking too much?

Thanks again for your help!
PD

freyquency’s picture

freyquency commented

I'm not sure aka i don't think anyone has done an 'alphabet' module or anything - ie A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H . Unless you change the weights of things (-10 is at the top, 10 sinks to the bottom) then things are listed alphabetically. Bearing that in mind:

I haven't done this yet with drupal but a simple workaround I used for movable type was to create categories A-Z for things. With movable type it was kind of annoying because you'd have to use a plugin (or whatever they call them) to filter the other categories out of the a-z. With drupal it ain't a thing because you can just create a new taxonomy (category list) of A-Z and associate it with whichever node type you decide to use.

Now as to how to navigate them. Let me first say that I had a problem and this is the solution I came upon, you may not but it bears mentioning. I waited for drupal to automagically make exactly what i was waiting for via the interface, but sometimes it's just as simple as making the page yourself. You could take the links to categories a-z and create a page that links to them. Yes, I mean create links to each letter of your categories. Maybe even take the countries and do the same. Also know that drupal can take php code, so maybe there is php script you could implement on a page that does this in an easier manner.

here's a link where i did it with MT, just so you know what i am sayin. http://dynamiteboxing.com

ps- i'm sorry if it sounded bitchy, i actually did have a problem realizing that drupal is super but 'making a page' where i had to do a little work was even better. take for example http://coacalina.org/catalog/browse where i created a book page and linked to different categories, so i'm not trying to be difficult or putoff-y or anything.

pcdonohue’s picture

pcdonohue commented

No, you sound just fine and have been extremely helpful!

As I couldn't find demos of some of the taxonomy modules, I couldn't tell if they would handle what I wanted for browsing. Just something I wanted to know before I decide to go through an installation, so I really appreciate the advice.

I see what you mean on your example pages, and although a little tedious shouldn't be that hard to do for browsing by country.

As for alphabetic I order, I found this Alphabetic Index Module by jibbajabbaboy that might do the trick.

Otherwise, if I understand this correctly and I use taxonomy for letters, I would have to find a way that a submission is given letter category too (e.g. R for the title Red Rover), so the user doesn't have to select it himself. Do all categories have to show up as a selection when a user is creating content, or can you do "hidden" categories that can be automatically assigned or manually assigned by a moderator?

Thanks again, you've been a great help!
PD

freyquency’s picture

freyquency commented

sorry for the lapse.. I would imagine that you would have to add it yourself or have the user add it. It would probably be easier if you created a separate taxonomy for A-Z and one for the other stuff. It would probably be a little more clear that both should be picked. Plus you could make an a-z one manditory and the other optional, or offer multiple categories that could be picked.

It's amazing though how many cool modules get made here. I think development seems to happen more quickly every day! I wouldn't have thought a lot of the modules that are around now would have even existed if you asked me eight months ago.