Drupal/C3/Finding-and-Evaluating-Modules/English-timed

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Time Narration
00:01 Welcome to the Spoken tutorial on Finding and Evaluating Modules.
00:07 In this tutorial, we will learn to:
Search for a module and 
Evaluate a module.
00:15 To record this tutorial, I am using
Ubuntu Linux Operating System
Drupal 8 and
Firefox Web browser.

You can use any web browser as per your choice.

00:29 Earlier in the series, we’ve talked about extending a website through Modules.
00:34 And, we have covered some of the Modules that come with Drupal.
00:38 We’ve even installed the Module devel earlier in the course.
00:43 But, now we’ll understand how to evaluate and find great Modules.
00:48 Let’s go to drupal.org/project/modules.
00:53 There are almost 18,000 Modules available for Drupal here.
00:58 Please note that a Drupal Module only works with the version of Drupal that it’s intended for.
01:05 So, we have to update the Core compatibility to the version of Drupal we’re using.
01:12 This tutorial has been recorded before the release of Drupal 8.

If we look for Drupal 8, we see only 1,000 Modules that match our search.

01:23 For this demo, I’ll switch back to Drupal 7, in order to show you some great things about Modules.
01:30 Click Search. And, there are 11,000 Modules for Drupal 7. That’s a huge difference.
01:38 With time, we will see the number of Drupal 8 Modules rapidly increase.
01:42 Meanwhile, let’s learn how to evaluate good Modules.
01:47 On this page, let us filter on the Core compatibility of the version of Drupal we are using.

The list is sorted by Most installed or Most popular.

01:59 Chaos tool suite or ctools and Views are the all time popular Modules of Drupal.
02:07 Let’s click on Views.
02:09 There’s a simple 3-step approach to evaluating a good Module.
02:14 Suppose, we go to the licensing bureau to get a new license to drive or register a car.
02:21 In most US states, it’s called the dmv or the Department of Motor Vehicles.

So, we’ll keep that in mind 'd m' and 'v'.

02:34 'd' stands for documentation, 'm' stands for maintainers and 'v' stands for versions.
02:42 Look at the information given under the Project Information and Downloads.
02:48 Let’s start with 'd'. Views is the second most popular Module of all time.
02:53 In fact, it’s being incorporated into Drupal 8 and we’ve actually used Views a lot, in this course.
03:02 There is no other shortcut in open source to understand whether a Module is right or not, except to read the documentation.
03:11 Always, read the documentation to know what a Module does.
03:16 Read the documentation to know what the issues are.
03:20 How do we know there’s help available?

Read the documentation.

03:25 Once we install a Module, we should read the documentation to know which parts to turn on.
03:32 Reading the documentation is extremely important.
03:36 Please note, in open source, there is no-one to sue if a Module destroys your site.
03:42 You have to read the documentation and determine whether the Module is compatible with what you’ve done on your site already.
03:50 So, I can’t emphasize it enough. Read all of this information by clicking on-
this Documentation link
The issue queue
And the bug reports
04:01 to find out what is in this Module. So, that’s the 'd'.
04:06 The 'm' stands for maintainers.
04:09 This particular Module was started by merlinofchaos.
04:13 Now, when we click on his name, it takes us to his Drupal profile.
04:19 Later in the course, we will learn how to have our own Drupal profile.
04:24 Here, we see that Earl Miles is a big contributor to the Drupal Project - over 6300 commits.

And, he is the main creator of Chaos tools and Views.

04:36 There are a number of other maintainers for this particular Module.
04:42 With Modules-
you might see just one person maintaining it or
you might see a group of people maintaining a Module.
04:50 Both are ok.
04:53 But say, a Module happens to be mission-critical, and the maintainer is unable to continue with it. Then we might be in trouble.
05:00 So, that’s something to consider.
05:03 Finally at the bottom, is the Project information and the Versions or our 'v'.
05:09 The maintenance status of 'v' is, right now, seeking co-maintainers. We need not worry.
05:15 Views has already been incorporated into Drupal 8. So, they’re probably just looking for some help there.
05:24 It’s "under active development".
05:27 It’s on almost a million sites. And the stats show 7 point 6 million downloads already.
05:35 Now, this is important. If a Project says “abandoned” or “I’ve given up”, then avoid using that Module.
05:42 You won’t see that very often, however.
05:46 Always use the Version of the Module that is the same as the Version of your Drupal installation.
05:52 There is no Drupal 8 version here because Views is already in core.
05:57 But, if I was installing this on a Drupal 7 site, I would not click on this link.
06:04 It will take us to a node that gives detailed information about this Module.
06:09 Instead, right-click on the tar or the zip and click on Copy Link.
06:15 This was mentioned earlier when we installed devel.
06:19 How do we determine if a Module is right for us?
06:23 As simple as d m v.
06:26 One of the frequently asked questions is- How does one find a Module?
06:31 One option is to go todurpal [dot] org slash project slash modules.
06:37 And filter by Core compatibility - Categories, of which there are many.
06:42 Otherwise, it is impossible to find Modules that we need at drupal [dot] org.
06:48 If you are good at it, you will be able to find them. But new users might get confused with the number of Modules listed there.
06:57 Again the question will be - which Module is right for me?
07:02 Google is your friend!
07:04 If we’re looking for a Drupal Module with a Date field then just type: "drupal module date".
07:10 And, the first thing that comes up is the Date Module.
07:13 We know that because the URL is drupal [dot] org slash project slash date.
07:20 What if we need a Rating system?
07:23 Type: "drupal module rating system".
07:26 Now, we get 2 options here-
The Fivestar Rating Module or
The Star Rating Module.
07:34 So, we have 2 Modules that we can look at, to determine which one might be better for us.
07:42 What about if we need a webform?
07:45 Again type: "drupal module webform".
07:48 And, we get a project named Webform.
07:52 This is probably the best way to find Modules, for beginners.
07:57 Drupal module and a description of what we need our Module to do.
08:02 I hope that’s been helpful. Remember, to find Modules, Google is your friend.
08:08 And, to understand which Module is best for you, remember d m and v.
08:14 With this, we come to the end of this tutorial.
08:18 Let us summarize.

In this tutorial, we have learnt to:

Search for a module and
Evaluate a module.
08:29 This video is adapted from Acquia and OSTraining and revised by Spoken Tutorial Project, IIT Bombay.
08:38 The video at this link summarizes the Spoken Tutorial project. Please download and watch it.
08:45 The Spoken Tutorial Project team conducts workshops and gives certificates. For more details, please write to us.
08:52 Spoken Tutorial Project is funded by NMEICT, Ministry of Human Resource Development and NVLI, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
09:03 This is Vanessa Varkey, signing off. Thanks for joining.

Contributors and Content Editors

PoojaMoolya, Pratik kamble, Sandhya.np14