ACTAonline.org

www.actaonline.org is the 3rd Drupal production site I've done, and by far the most complex. My client, the Alliance for California Traditional Arts wanted to renovate their site to a database driven structure. Much of what this organization is about has to do with mini-grants and showcasing their grantees. They wanted the end-user to be able to search a substantial database of artists and organizations categorized by geography, art form, and ethnicity. Drupal's taxonomy structure was ideal for this type of content categorization and I used faceted search to accomplish the filtering.

The other key function of the site is to feature events - broken down into 3 types: ongoing exhibits, one-time events, and funding deadlines. For this I used the event module as a backbone and created 2 additional content types - then created 3 separate calendar pages and blocks with the views module.

Drupal was ideal for building this site because as the site developer I wanted to have as little as possible to do with the actual content of the site (stories, images, videos, audio tracks, etc). After I worked with ACTA staff to create the taxonomy, content type and menu backbone - I trained them to create content. It was great to see the site fill out over the weeks as they created new content. This allowed me to focus my energy on the structural and modular details.

My favorite feature on the site is the home page dynamic display block. The content (picture, text, and read more link) are completely controlled by ACTA staff. This gives them the ability to elevate specific stories, profiles, or events to the front page DDB without going through me.

As this is one of my first Drupal sites I welcome any comments from the Drupal community... I'm sure there are still bugs that need to be taken care of. Check it out at www.actaonline.org.