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

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