Podcast: Module A Day
#042: String Overrides
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/stringoverrides
The String Override Module allows you to redefine just about any output string in Drupal (even if it was created by a module or core!)
- Who: Technical and non-technical users
- When: Use this module when there is text you want to change on your site that you cannot change by any manor other than modifying core or a module.
- Where: In /admin/settings/stringoverrides you can manually type in string pairs or you can export/import already done configurations.
- Why: Hacking core kills kittens! This module uses a clever trick to allow to change text in the site and still keep your upgrade path clean.
#041: Conditional Stylesheets
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/conditional_styles
The Conditional Stylesheet module allows you to define stylesheets that only show up for certain versions of Internet Explorer without having to hardcode them in your page.tpl.php.
- Who: Theme Developers
- When: Use this module when you want to have special style sheets devoted to individual versions of Internet Explorer
- Where: This module enables additional items for your theme's info file. It also affects the output of your $head in your template. There is no Drupal configuration for this module.
- Why: IE is a sad fact for all web Developers/Designers but this module allows you to keep your theme clean and have ALL of your css follow the same method for being added to your theme.
#040: Transliteration
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/transliteration
The Transliteration module takes UTF-8 characters and converts them down to ASCII so you don't get mangled file names or URLs.
- Who: Technical and non-technical
- When: I use this module on all of my sites to prevent oddly named files from being uploaded.
- Where: This module mainly works with the CCK file field and Path Auto but it can be used by other modules.
- Why: Some browsers/operating systems have issues dealing with files that have non ASCII characters in the file name.
#039: Image Resize Filter
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/image_resize_filter
The Image Resize Filter module dynamically resizes the images your users upload/reference in text areas to match the height and width specified in the image tag.
- Who: Technical and non-technical users
- When: This is another good module for just about every site out there (if you allow users to input image HTML tags).
- Where: This module is configured in the input filters section and it affects your node on output.
- Why: Most users don't understand that specifying a height of 500x500 on a 1024x768 image just gives you a smaller looking picture with the huge download. This module keeps them blissfully unaware that this reality and silently cleans up behind them.
#038: Cache Actions
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/cache_actions
The Cache Action module enables Rules to monkey around with your various caches.
- Who: Technical users (only because rules can be confusing at times)
- When: I'm slightly scratching my head on when you would need a force cache clear but hey, this module does it.
- Where: This module is configured solely through the rules interface.
- Why: Please leave a comment if you can come up with a good use for this module.
#037: Admin Role
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/adminrole
The Admin Role module is a convenience module that makes it so you don't have to keep clicking on those permission checkboxes for your administrator role.
- Who: Technical and non-technical users
- When: I use this module on all my sites to save myself a little bit of clicking.
- Where: This module is set in the User Settings form (not for individual users but the overall user settings /admin/user/settings)
- Why: It does two things for you 1) Makes it so you don't have to click every checkbox in a column for your administrator 2) It auto checks the boxes for new permissions for your administrator role.
#036: modr8
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/modr8
The modr8 (moderate) module provides a non-node access method of node moderation.
- Who: Technical and non-technical users
- When: Use this module when want to have moderation for your nodes and need it to be bloody simple and don't really care if the public can get to the node if they figure out it's path.
- Where: This module is found in a few places. 1) You must enable it in your content types (per content types). 2) It's also available when you are creating/editing a node if you have the proper permissions. 3) There is a listing of pending items for moderation in the content section of the admin back end.
- Why: Well, it's much easier then using the Workflow module but also less powerful than said module.
#035: Better Exposed Filters
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/better_exposed_filters
The Better Exposed Filters module adds additional options to your exposed filters in Views.
- Who: Technical and non-technical users but I have a feeling only Technical/UI people will find the true value of the module.
- When: Use this module when you have exposed filters in your View and you want to provide an easier experience for select multiple items.
- Where: This module extends your views and only shows up when you expose a filter.
- Why: The default behavior for exposed filters is fairly limited this module gives you some options.
#034: Taxonomy Image
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/taxonomy_image
The Taxonomy Image module is a suite of modules that allow you to attach images to your taxonomy terms.
- Who: Technical and non-technical users
- When: Use this module when you want to associate images to taxonomy terms.
- Where: This module extends the standard taxonomy term form.
- Why: It's often handy to have images associated with your taxonomy terms. This module allows you to integrate with Imagecache but is mostly useless for free form tags.
#033: Indexing HTML Attributes
Module Link: http://drupal.org/project/index_htmlattr
The Indexing HTML attributes module allows you to index (for search) items that are inside HTML tags which would normally be ignored by search.
- Who: Technical users (It really helps to know HTML)
- When: Use this module when you have data stored inside of HTML tags like title or alt attributes in images or links.
- Where: This module extends the standard search settings (/admin/settings/search).
- Why: Often times important data is stored inside of HTML tags that Drupal doesn't normally index. This module helps expose that information to Drupal's search (Apache Solr too)
