Classifieds site up and running!
After a few weeks of tweaking, Ive finally got my very first classified ads site running. Overall, the process was time consuming (only because of the module refinement) but easy enough to get through.
http://www.midwestbargainhunter.com/
The site is running the Waffles theme with just a few css changes and a few image changes
The ability to take payment is handled by the ubercart module, via "node checkout". Various other UC modules were used for "roles", etc.
Imagecache, Lightbox, Views and panels are a few of the more "important" modules (of course)
I did learn alot (about drupal) in building this site, along with component modules, various tweaks and other "face-value" issues.
This is the first site I broke into Panels 3 on, and I have to say at first I didnt like it at all. But after using it for a week or two, It has much improved functionality and an over-all better "GUI" effect. -So thumbs up!
This will be about my 6th site using drupal and with this one I think I will call it quits for a while... Not that Im going to abandon drupal (not at all!!), but as I mentioned above about what I have learned about drupal... The most important (for me) is that you shouldn't digest too much! With 6 sites floating about, and all of them have different functions to do, different uses of modules, etc. It gets hard to remember what you've done previously! I do keep a site associated journal of sorts that I use to reference but all that can only go so far!
At this point, I think that I will button down and tidy up my mess on all my drupal sites, implement what I have learned from each site on all sites and move on to the process of learning how this great CMS actually works instead of just "using" it.
-I hope to have the time in the near future to help more with the community aspect of drupal too!
As for now.. Check out my new site! if you have any comments or questions.. please dont hesitate to contact me! Drop me some suggestions too!
Thanks ppl!
More details
Looks good. Any chance of a few more details. For example,
Appreciated! -Actually the UC
Appreciated! -Actually the UC Node Checkout module does not handle the publication of the ad. It took me quite a while to understand the UC module in itself, in addition to all the other UC related modules. So what has to be done to actually get the node to a published status is within "conditional actions". The content type status has to be set to "unpublished", and then a conditional action created so that when the correct conditions are present, the action fired is a custom php snippet that publishes the node. This actual php snippet should be set to a contained module so that its not just "floating" about, but I have not corrected this as of yet.
-As for moderation of adverts? Im not sure what you mean? Any type of content can be manipulated by an administrator. I might take a guess and think that you mean automatically moderate for bad words, etc.? If you could specify, I would like to know...
The tabbed information at the top of each listing is a combination of two different modules. http://drupal.org/project/cck_blocks which is a great module I must say!! And each CCK field (block) created is displayed via http://drupal.org/project/quicktabs within that particular node.
-Im looking for other possible solutions for displaying this additional content, but for the time being this seems to be working good. I just need to do more theme work for this site to look good.
My Drupal:Classified ads
Beautiful!
Very nice site. I'm working on a classified's site as well and kind of discarded Drupal as an option because of the lack of a classified ads module, but you've proven that it is possible afterall! I'm so going to try this! :-)
Did you have to actually program PHP pages, or does all the extra code you needed fit in the existing modules (in the additional validation/processing boxes and stuff you find everywhere)?
I have to admit that Drupal
I have to admit that Drupal is not the best choice for a classifieds site as of yet, but I figured that I would definitely have to try being that I want to use drupal above anything else,... Im just that devoted to it! Now that I have a better grasp on this type of project, I plan on posting some type of tutorial on another site I have began to work on. I initially looked at the classified ad module here: http://drupal.org/project/ed_classified and decided that it didn't have the functionality at present to do what I wanted it to do, so I took a good look at the modules that are available and co-mingled them until I had a beginning recipe for what looked to be the start of a simple classified site. Im VERY glad that I decided on Drupal for this, like I stated before, it has taught me alot!
-Every thing on this site is run by core and developer modules, with exception to the very small amount of php that had to be added to conditional actions within ubercart.
There are still a few things that I don't know about, (or I don't know what will happen when):
1. What happens after the ad is deleted and/or un-published? When the search engine indexed page is hit-on, what does the end user see? This bothers me.. I don't know what will happen at this point. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to implement here, please do advise me! I have a thought of using the http://drupal.org/project/customerror module, but will this be sufficient? -Or just maybe, Im looking into this too much.
2. This has nothing to do with the functionality of the site but, .... I would like to have the ability to create a "node add" page (old panels) that allows a user to see a beautifully-laid-out, easy to read and understand node add page! I tried and failed. I think this is because, from what I understand, that ctools/pages/panels does not support CCK fields at this point (or vise-versa). This is but a menial wish but non-the-less, I would like for it to happen.
3. Search/view ad functionality: I would like for a user to be able to see everything located within X miles of their location. The location module should be able to handle this, but I have not been able to figure this out yet. A user CAN put in their zip code and see everything located within X miles but I would like to see "automatic" handling of this with the available option for a user to opt-out.
A few more things, but I cant think of them now!...
Overall The site is so far working just as planned, still have a few minor tweaks.
-If you have any questions that I can help you with, please don't hesitate,..afterall I am going to need help with this too! Maybe we can hash out some things together.
Thanks.
My Drupal:Classified ads
1. I suppose the user sees
1. I suppose the user sees the regular 'this page does not exist' message from Drupal. You can test it by just going to a non-existing node, right? In admin/settings/error-reporting you can redirect to a custom errorpage (or your index or whatever you want).