Module development and code questions

A little intro:
For example:
i have an e-zine where i`m writting some issues about
designer`s sites and such stuff. And at the end of an issue
cms is adding a link to described site under the main text in an area seems like drupal`s "pager".
When i`m writting issue
in admin mode i`ve a standart form like drupal`s "add story" but
with a little textarea nearby where i`m putting an url to describable site.

I was wondering if it would be easier to write a module to customize the links menu. By customize I mean add some icons to it, not just change the font/etc.

I managed to do what I wanted by manually editing the .module files that originally came with drupal, but if I ever upgrade, I will have to redo the changes, which is extra work I'd rather avoid.

Is there a "catch-all" function that will intercept all additions to the $links[] array that I can overwrite in my module? Also, is there a listing of all the links' text? For example "read more", "1 comment", etc.

I am not a really a developer but I have a good understanding of scripting languages like php. I've installed and configured my environment without too much trouble so now I want to progress to making new content modules.

Would anyone recommend a good one for me to emulate/work off of? I find that is a much easier way to learn then to struggle blindly. Id first off like to make a module to allow users submit lists to the site (ala my top 10 favorite....). Theses lists should be trackable from a users personal page as well as get listed on the homepage.

The HTMLArea module doesn't work on Mac OS X with Safari or Internet Explorer.

In Internet Explorer it fails gracefully by not showing up, in Safari it fails badly by hidding the body text field.

The good news is it works fine on OS X Mozilla.

hi. i am wondering if anyone has any code that will syndicate just events nodes.

thanks.

erik.

I saw that Dries updated CVS with a fix for the above bug -- but I am not sure how get an apply the fix. I have a new, relatively vanilla Drupal 4.2.o site.

Any help here would be appreciated!

Thanks!