Come together with the global Drupal community in Rotterdam, 28 Sept – 1 Oct 2026. Sessions, contribution, connection, and Early Bird savings until 8 June.
By CraftyDevon on
Hello All,
I have spent a lot of time looking over all the materials here on the Drupal site, DrupalSn, and wherever Google leads me, and have accomplished the creation of several test sites to get a good feel for the Drupal system. I've been looking for a good project to take up, and have chosen to take on something I think will be a good tool for the Community.
I have seen a lot of people (myself included), coming to Drupal looking for a Social Networking solution, and most of them not really knowing how to start. So I've chosen to provide a live case study of how to create a Social Network with Drupal. As someone who's newer to Drupal, and who's not a code guru, I hope to provide learning materials that the newcomer crowd can really relate to.
drupalmadsignlopers.org (Drupal Webmasters, Designers, and Developers) will act similarly to the popular DrupalSN network, providing people with a way to share projects, and learning materials, with several additional features. I would like to add a extensive php snippet directory, as well as a theme demo section to the site. As Users go through the site, all of the functions will have a "learn how" button, which links directly to a video/audio tutorial of how that part of the site was made; and a section which provides all of the tutorials in order will also be available. I'd also enjoy placing pop-ups on various parts of the site which show a code snippet directly. As I learn, the site would evolve, and the amount of features on the site would increase. The object being to create a fully functional site, which showcases how even the Novice user can take Drupal, and create a social network for their target group.
Now, past the wall-o-text. I have a few questions.
Suggestions for the snippet-hover over? (i.e.-user places their mouse over the "profile visits" counter, and the code snippet to make that counter appears).
What are you favorite modules for Social Network sites?
Does a site such as this already exist?
I would also like to know if you have any suggestions to increase the functionality, and to really make the site pop.
Here's to a fun time,
Devon
Comments
Good luck
My biggest suggestion to you is to really think how much time you can devote to this. I don't want to discourage you, but what you are talking about doing takes a major commitment. http://shellsn.com is supposed to be such a site but, as you can see, isn't terribly far along. It's a wonderful goal, and one I shared for a long time, but it's also a ton of work.
I ended up pretty much giving up on it to focus on my actual site. I still give back through my modules and will write more tutorials as time allows. But maintaining a fully functional but artificial social networking site solely to be a demonstration was simply too much work.
Michelle
Indeed
Hey Michelle,
Your site was actually one of the first I came across when I began my venture into Drupal. It saddened me when I saw it was no longer updated, but I understand your reasons.
It is my hope that the site will actually be a functioning social network for those interested in Drupal. I know that several networks for those interested in Drupal already exist, but I am looking to incorporate features from each and bring them into one. At this time, my coding knowledge is limited (something I am working on), but nonetheless, I think I would be much better suited working on the site than on modules and themes. I am in the process of creating a good outline for the site, and the steps to go through. It is my hope that this will ease the process. Nonetheless, I agree...it's going to take some time.
I will be working with some of your modules in the creation of the site, I look forward to digging in with Advanced Forum and seeing it's potential.
Thanks for your advice Michelle. :)
.
It's a lofty goal and something I think the community will appreciate. I don't want to dissuade you if you are wanting to do it. Just warning you that it is a huge time sink. It's noble to do something just to give back to the community but it can also burn you out.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. If you use my modules on it, maybe I'll just point my demo links there... :)
Michelle
Excellent!
Thanks Michelle,
I have most of the "features" worked out as of now, as far as how to establish them, modules needed, etc., but I really want to put a lot of emphasis on the feel of the site, so I'm expecting to delve into the world of theme tweaking. I also want to make sure the displays are clean. In essence, I want the site to be a good example of just how powerful Drupal is.
I would appreciate the links.
Would you have any suggestions for features for the site, perhaps something you enjoyed on one Drupal website that you'd like to see combined with other features?
Thanks
Devon
If you had a site like this
If you had a site like this today - I would be all over it. I am new to drupal and social network site is exactly what I am trying to do.....
Scotty
Hey Scotty,
If all goes well I expect it to take around a month, but that depends highly on me having a few "sit down and get things done" days.
Stay tuned :)