Drupal 6 Brochureware Website Start-up List

Below you will find a suggested format for staring your first brochure ware Drupal6 website. Brochure ware websites display information and allow for forms for basic interaction however the main aim of the site is to convey information. **Note this information is being upgraded.

Drupal is a very powerful framework and it can be adapted to do a lot of things. The following lists of modules is to provide you with a base platform that you can then extend with your own customised modules or keep as is for a basic brochure ware site.

Suggested Modules

CCK Module > http://drupal.org/project/cck CCK is a main component of Drupal, this module is cused to create custom content types which have custom fields that can be used for advanced node theming, view displays etc. There will never be a time when the simple page content type will suit all sites will require at least some type of custom content type. At the beginning of designing a Drupal site an important part of information architecture is to perform content type mapping. This entails looking at all the different “page layout views” needed by the site and seeing what common components the content has and what types of content there will be.

Quick Tabs > http://drupal.org/project/quicktabs allows the creation of JQuery tab pages (tab pages used in Deposit Power) Creates tabs of type Nodes, Blocks, Views, comes with various styles and can also be styled using CSS.
Views > http://drupal.org/project/views Views enable people to create SQL Querys that can be used to pull querys from the database and then output them in a display (page, block, feed etc) Views are an important component

Admin Menu > http://drupal.org/project/admin_menu creates an admin menu at the top of each page on a drupal site that allows for quick access of admin functions, also has a button for “Flush All Cache”
Menu Breadcrumb > http://drupal.org/project/menu_breadcrumb allows for the creation of breadcrumbs based on the current menu on the page (uses primary menu and can also used customised menus)

Sitemap > http://drupal.org/project/site_map this module creates a sitemap based on menus, you need to tell it what menus to include in the sitemap page, this page can be styled using CSS and you can also create a specific template for it using the node.tpl.php as a base.

Print Module > http://drupal.org/project/print requires PDF engine > http://sourceforge.net/projects/dompdf/ however due to security concerns Suncorp are using this module without the export to PDF feature, this module allows for printer friendly pages can use its own style sheet or a print specific one, this setting is done in the module informing the print.css in info will not suffice

CKEditor > http://drupal.org/project/ckeditor you still need to download FCKEditor Source Code http://www.fckeditor.net/download FCKEDITOR is a WYSIWYG editor which enables users to use a word like view when creating content on pages

Web Form > http://drupal.org/project/webform OR FORM API > http://drupal.org/node/37775 it would depend on what was needed, using FORM API means creating your own form modules this is something I would suggest as you can have the forms/workflow as complex as you like. Webform allows you to create forms as you create content types however it is simple and workflow can not be controlled as easily.

Advanced Search > http://drupal.org/project/search_config and Restricted search > http://drupal.org/project/search_block these allow for a deeper level of customisation within Drupal search engine
Suggested Modules

Pannels > http://drupal.org/project/panels This is an alternative to blocks/regions allows for a more complex layout - Not Needed however for SunCorp site etc I would use Pannels and Blocks not just Blocks
J Query Menu > http://drupal.org/project/jquerymenu This creates the JQuery tree like menu view structure

Skinr > http://drupal.org/project/skinr Use Skinr instead of blocktheme as there are known issues with mutli-lingual site translation and block theme.

JQuery Text Resize > http://drupal.org/project/text_resize allows for text resize for accessibility options uses jquery to resize fonts

Formatted Number Field > http://drupal.org/project/formatted_number adds a number field for CCK which can then be further formatted for example using thousands comma or decimal notation.

Front Page > http://drupal.org/project/front allows for the creation of a specific splash page (total different template design then page.php.tpl) also allows for front/home page messages for users based on user role

CCK Email field > http://drupal.org/project/email creates a CCK field called email which allows for email addresses and formats them accordingly

Add this Button > http://drupal.org/project/addthis adds a large hover area which allows the user to add the nodes link to over 364 services as well as email and print functions.

Tweet Button > If you just want a tweet button for tweet this functionality http://drupal.org/project/tweetbutton

ICME > http://drupal.org/project/imce File Upload browser for wysiwyg > used by image field http://drupal.org/project/imagefield

Testing and Development Modules
Simple Test > http://drupal.org/project/simpletest this is the famous Drupal simple test module as of seven it has made it into the core, this should be used for testing all custom modules
Security Scanner module for Simple Test > http://drupal.org/project/security_scanner requires Simple Test

Devel > http://drupal.org/project/devel this is used for both module and theme development, with this module you can see all the output for particular nodes and content types this helps with advanced theming as you can see the names of the items in the array so you can theme each specific field rather then the default variable content (content shows all content variables) the Devel themer component will give suggested functions and templates that are being used in the construction of the page.