Project Type
Development of a module for Drupal 6.x that will authenticate site visitors via the APIs of social web services.

Situation
There are a few individual Drupal modules that allow site owners to authenticate or otherwise obtain the identity of visitors to their sites. The modules I'm most familiar with are Gravatar, Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect. Gravatar will display the picture of a user based on their email address. Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect will authenticate users and create an account on the Drupal site. There is also the Gigya Socialize module which authenticates users to a variety of services but does so using Gigya's servers and on Gigya's terms as well. Each of these modules functions in its own manner, offering different sets of features to those who install them. That's really the problem. There's no module that I've found which will authenticate users directly via the original website across multiple social networks, with consistent functionality no matter which service the site visitor chooses.

Requirements
Development of a social API module and associated provider modules in order to offer consistent functionality when visitors log in with different social services. It is my assumption (but I'm definitely looking for guidance on this) that the API module with providers approach is a good one because that would allow people to write modules for authenticating with different services as new options becomes available. So the API module would have the common functionality and the provider modules would have the code specific to each service.

I am seeking a developer to create the social API module and three initial provider modules for Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect and the Twitter API. The modules need to perform two functions. 1) Registering new user accounts on the Drupal site for people who choose to authenticate with the service. When registering the new account I would want the module to import the user picture into Drupal as well. 2) Allowing users the option to cross publish comments and posts to the social network that they have created an account with.

I would also like for their to be special login blocks available that would display login icons (and/or text) for the specific services that are enabled. I would like there to be default icons with the option for the user to use their own icons. Ideally the module would make two blocks available, one formatted vertically for the sidebar and one formatted horizontally for displaying above the comment section.

Time Frame and Budget
Once started I would like the project complete within thirty days. Since I don't have a good sense of how long this would take I cannot post a budget. I would like feedback from the developer on how many hours would be needed along with the amount per hour they are requesting for their work. Fixed fee or hourly rates are both possible.

Applying for the Project
Developers can apply for the project or get more information by contacting me via Drupal.org or via http://awakenedvoice.com/contact. Please include some information about your skills and links to sample projects or Drupal modules you have developed. Be sure to include a time frame for the project from start to finish, the number or hours of effort you estimate and the cost per hour. Take note that low cost will not automatically win the bid. Drupal experience and an understanding of these social APIs is very important.

Contributing To Drupal
Once the module has been tested I would like it to be contributed back to Drupal.

Kind Regards,

Rob Safuto
Awakened Voice

Comments

MacRonin’s picture

Rob,

I just wanted to point out a thread over in g.d.o that you may be interested in.

Social networking accounts: unified approach to store in external account data in user content profiles?

http://groups.drupal.org/node/26157

awakenedvoice’s picture

Thanks for pointing me to that. It looks like a worthwhile discussion. I will monitor the discussions there but also push ahead and get these initial modules developed. I run a few different Drupal sites and I would immediately find the functionality as described in my post very useful. If I'm able to get the functionality I desire developed I will share it with the group to get their feedback.

Cheers,

Rob

awakenedvoice’s picture

Since this may be a bit of a tall order in a short period of time I have proposed an alternate solution that simply improves the Google Friend Connect module. I am offering a fixed fee of $100 for these improvements. See http://drupal.org/node/707274#comment-2598618 for details.

voxpelli’s picture

Just wanted to point out the existence of my module Connector ( http://drupal.org/project/connector ) which I developed last summer - it supplies an API for other modules to specify a third party authentication method.

It doesn't yet support posting stuff on other sites - but there are plans on supporting import of friends and the posting of stuff would be a reasonable development on top of this module.

design10’s picture

http://drupal.org/project/gigya

I have also had great success with facebook connect.

awakenedvoice’s picture

Gigya is a non-starter due to their terms of service. You have to remember that at it's core Gigya is an advertising company. By using their module you expose all of your visitor data to them and they can use it in ways that I don't think your visitors will appreciate. I don't know that they will but they have the option to do so.

As far as the Facebook module goes, part of the point of this is to improve upon the shortcomings of the Facebook module. I am using it on some sites but I would like to improve and extend the functionality.

Rob Safuto
Awakened Voice

MacRonin’s picture

I haven't had a chance to look at their ToS & privacy policy. But you might want to take a glance at https://rpxnow.com/

They aren't free like Gigya, except at their most basic level. But then RPXnow's business is selling the sign-in service itself.

ckng’s picture

On top of that, there is a limitation of 1000 users and after that it costs $15K annually.

js’s picture

I read on another thread where they were quoted $24,000.

I don't care what they charge, that is there marketing decision, but I think it dishonest of companies to not be open about their pricing. It wastes people' time.