How about drupal distributions?
A normal user who downloads drupal (core distribution) also downloads at least 20 odd modules/themes to build a "sufficient" website. Out of them, at least 10 are the most popular modules in the repository. This makes installation procedure a bit cumbersome and may scare away new adopters.
Why can't we have drupal distributions (besides the core, bare-minimum distribution)? It can have the drupal core distribution + (say, 10 ) most popular modules + (say, 5) most popular themes. The features to include can be debated. But the point is, if we have such a thing, a new user just needs to unpack the archive and he has a basic website running in no time!
The user can disable any module that he doesn't need. (deleting will save him just a couple of MBs, hardly worth anything.) And the user may download any extra features/themes that he needs, or maybe update few modules to latest release. This will not be a big deal for most people.
Right now when a user downloads drupal, he is confused. He has a good CMS but not sufficient to run his website. Now he starts finding what all modules can provide for his needs. Many times there are multiple options for the same feature, many times the module for that purpose exists for v4.6 but not for v4.7. Sometimes, a module X is dependant upon another module Y. Many times a module has problem in working with another module. A lot of doubts, concerns and confusions....
Why not provide him with a working website upfront and let him choose what he doen't need and what other features he wants... Let us make Drupal more user friendly.
Comments
There are distributions
There are distributions available geared to specific purposes, but how do you keep your distribution up to date? Contrib modules change all the time.
I agree that it'd be nice if there were an easier way to download more modules at once, but I dont' know about bundled distributions.
Anisa.
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Kindness builds stronger bonds than necessity.
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Kindness builds stronger bonds than necessity.
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a basic distribution is necessary
I agree that contributed modules are always changing but so is Drupal!
We can select some stable versions of modules + themes of say v4.7 and make a distribution.
Even if some functionality is lacking, the new user will be more inclined to do it himself rather than figure out what to do.
In the nutshell, no one launches a website out of the standard drupal distribution.
Why not help the new user by making him easier to integrate and launch a website?
The low turnaround time will influence him to stick to drupal and later contribute...
If we care him away in the first view, the popularity will only decrease.
Funny, mostly the trials and
Funny, mostly the trials and hardships I had were what lead me to contribute... I didn't want other people to suffer like me! :)
In general, people here don't seem to care about popularity... it's nice when it happens, but they don't care if it doesn't. So there needs to be another good reason to do all that work. :)
Anisa.
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Kindness builds stronger bonds than necessity.
www.animecards.org - 18,000 card scans and counting!
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Kindness builds stronger bonds than necessity.
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I agree that customized,
I agree that customized, maintained distributions would certainly be a nice thing to have. Drupaled http://drupal.org/node/137745 is a great example and I think other groups with specialized uses should also work together to create new distributions sort of like the various Ubuntu editions.
I sometimes feel like my Drupal concoctions of core + modules just don't mix well.
Just noticed installation
Just noticed installation profiles http://drupal.org/project/Installation+profiles. This looks good and I'd love to contribute but I'm afraid to start a profile if I can't invest the time to maintain it.