Opinions: how to compare module functionality?
The Drupal Community is getting bigger and bigger. So, the ammount of modules keeps growing and growing... That's a good thing! A damn good thing (:
However. Sometimes, it can become "difficult" to make a good choice for a certain needed module. Especially when different modules seem to chase the same rabbit, or at least hunt in the same forest.
I mean, there are quite some modules serving the same kind of functionality, or have some kind of overlap. A few modules that might cause a bit of confusion - just meant as examples related to this topic:
- e-mail this page module
forward module
send module - feedback module
form_mail module
survey module(?)
webform module - bad behavior module
spam module - nodewords module
page title module - htmlarea module(?)
quicktags module
TinyMCE WYSIWYG Editor module
From my own experience I know it can be quite frustrating when discovering that another module has a better functionality than the one installed - and customized |:
Of course I know it's my own responsibility to do some good research in advance, but I think it can be a good thing anyway to have a place at this community where one can compare look-a-like-modules.
The categorization of modules -of course- is a good start! But, would it be an idea to add a comparison chart (or something) in this part of the site? A page that can be maintained by the developers themselves?
Just wondering what your opions are... Do you have the same experience? Are there some other ideas may be? Or is it just me grumbling too much... \:
you forgot...
BBcode, BBcode_wysiwyg, etc, etc. ;)
Yes, a module-by-module feature (and function) comparison would be very useful, especially to first-time drupal admins.
Asking developers to maintain
"A page that can be maintained by the developers themselves?"
Asking developers to maintain yet another thing in relation to contributed modules will probably not ever happen. I'm not saying it's not an interesting idea, it's just not how things work around here. To borrow from John F. Kennedy, the philosophy on drupal.org is "Ask not what Drupal can do for you; ask what you can do for Drupal." This is not a bad project management philosophy because it leaves people a lot of freedom to do what they want because there is minimal bureaucratic overhead, but it does mean that ideas about how other people could take on more work are rarely--if ever--implemented.
However, if I can make a suggestion. An obvious starting point for satisfying your main goal is that you could work on improving the user documentation for each module in the modules and features section of the handbook. That would assist people in figuring out how they are different or similar. Once good documentation exists for each contributed module, then a table of similar modules could link to the module descriptions. Not optimal, but it doesn't arrive at a solution that puts an additional burden of maintenance on others.
Good one!
Hi Charlie,
Thanks for your reply!
Of course you're right: asking for people to do something is not how things work around here. I know that. Moreover, I usually get frustrated when other people tend to think that things do work like that around here...
It's therefore my first idea was to create a comparison chart myself.
However, I then realized I don't know much about 95% of the modules. Moreover, I usually get familiar to all the ins & outs of a module only after installing and using it. So who am I to "guess" what other modules might exactly do? The best contribution I could think of was copying and pasting the documentation already written by the developer. But that wouldn't be a real contribution - would it?
Therefore I thought: let me provide a comparison chart (medium) that developers can fill in (information). Or something similar to that.
Good. Reading your reply, I realized that my suggestion wouldn't be a real contribution either... More a pain in the ass - of the developers (;
I think your suggestion is a good one! It would be neat to contribute by documenting some modules. My suggestion is that I start documenting the modules that are not described yet, but that I do already use myself. Is that a good idea? I also like to start with a concept for some kind of comparison chart. Is that a good idea too?
Following your link, looking for information about how to contribute, I stumbled upon the page where I found the project team (site maintainers) of the handbook. And who did I find there? Yes, indeed: you (:
So, as I read at another page "The site maintainers can create and updates pages for you", my question now is: should I just e-mail pages for the handbook to someone of your team?
BTW
I'm pretty busy these days, so don't expect a lot of pages before the weekend, but I'll do my best to add some documentation in my spare time.
Cheers,
Marc
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My suggestion
You could make up a comparison chart and just fill in the module info on those you are familiar with. The benefits of this are:
1) It lets new people know which modules are similar so they're at least aware of the fact.
2) The framework is there and maybe someone will jump in and fill in another module.
3) The parts you fill in would be useful.
Just $.02 from someone else who likes making suggestions for other people to do. ;)
Michelle
+1 for module documentation
LOL
Sorry for throwing you the contribution rhetoric. I've been trying to figure out how to make the point to people diplomatically so as not to offend people (I wonder if the JFK allusion works?).
Yes. Definitely on the module documentation. I haven't been as active lately with the documentation list in the last couple of months, but efforts have been ongoing for the last year to really expand docs for contrib modules (see the contrib modules link at the bottom of the modules and features section). Note that the introductory page for each module (contrib or core) is following specific guidelines so that it can be used as help documentation in Drupal installations. If you feel like module descriptions need a lot more elaboration, you can always add sub-pages. Contact the documentation list if you need any assistance. Everyone is always glad to help people that want to write more documentation for modules. It's such huge task.
Thanks for the info
Cheers, thanks for the info.
Just found this page:
- http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation
Suppose I can add contributions here and assign to a member of your team?
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assigning contributions
Well, you can create and add your own pages to the Drupal handbook. They then go into moderation, and members of the documentation team review them before putting them directly into the handbook. If you want to create edits to existing pages or have a lot of questions about a draft of a new page, then the project issues could be the way to go.
(Note: It's not my team. I just realized I had to not changed my user account profile. sepeck is the documentation coordinator now.)
One of the other things to point out.
In addition to your above conversation.
New contributors often start with a very focused module implementation. Others make variations or disagree and do their own. Over time as people learn more and get to know each other more there is encouragment to collaborate and make a base modeul with the minimum functions and then make very focused modules to leverage those functions in ways individuals want.
In the mean time, yep... lots of modules overlap and such and very hard to keep up. I moved this link up higher in the dev guide a while ago but these are things that take time for people to develop the skills and figure out how to implement. Also getting to know the other devs interested in coordinating enough to actually coordinate. It's interesting to watch the new contributors grow into Drupal and see their activity change over time. Especially when you get the one that does somethign no one else thought of and gives 5 other people even more ideas to leverage stuff.
In your list competing with the feedback stuff you are missing contact module for 4.7 (built in with some neat functionality). Spam module came first and bad behavior complimented it I think, but some functionality from bad behavior has migrated into 4.7 so we'll see how that changes it soon too. :)
-Steven Peck
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Test site, always start with a test site.
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