Drupal

I've written a new Drupal module to allow users to vote on various types of node, as defined by the site admin.The votes are registered, and an overall average score is displayed, as well as the number of votes for that node. Sidebar blocks can be configured to show the top rated nodes, most voted for node, as well as most voting users.An extended version is available that allows voting for multiple criteria for each node, and not just one vote. More information on the Node Vote project page. 

This is a new Drupal module that I wrote recently for a client.

It allows the site admin to define the number of points a user gets upon taking certain actions, such as posting a page, commenting on a page, posting an image, ...etc.

See the full details on the User Points project page.

PHP is a free, multi platform computer programming language. It is most used to develop dynamic web sites that are more than static HTML pages. The language is very easy to learn and use, and has an extensive list of add ons that allow it to do all kinds of stuff, from storing data in databases, pulling data from other web sites, sending emails, and more.

PHP is often used with MySQL, which is a free SQL Relational database.

A while back I wrote about Search Engine Optimization, which touched a bit on AdSense. I also wrote a tutorial on how to use Google's AdSense with Drupal.  Well, the time has come to make this a module, and here it is : the Google AdSense Drupal module. It is not as feature complete as I want it to be, but will do the job for most sites. Wish list includes:

Currency Exchange is the latest module I wrote for Drupal. It uses data from Yahoo Finance, and calculates the exchange amount if you give it one. It will also provide a link with details, charts and history from Yahoo.The module also provides a callable API for other Drupal components so they can do currency exchange on the fly. This allows things like giving estimates in other currencies for services you offer, or billing customers in a different currency (e.g. ecommerce module).

A recurring question on the Drupal.org forums is by people new to Drupal wanting to setup their site for Google AdSense. This quick guide should help with this topic.

Updates:

• A few weeks after I wrote this article, I wrote a new Drupal Google AdSense module. You can use that for a pre-packaged solution that may be easier to configure in some cases.
• Some of the details here (e.g. making blocks hidden for certain URL paths) are specific to Drupal 4.5. Things are easier in Drupal 4.6 and more.

Introduction

Drupal is an Open Source Content Management System that is gaining popularity fast. It is used to run lots of sites on the internet, and more and more people are using it. For more information visit the Drupal section on this web site for a quick overview.

I ported three very nice looking Drupal themes from 4.4 to 4.5 and 4.6.All of them were designed by Chris Messina (a.k.a. FactoryJoe), who works with Civic Space Labs, and other Democrat oriented political activism web sites.The themes are:

• SpreadFireFox
• Democratica
• Lincoln's Revenge

Chris has a very distinctive style, and attention to detail. He themes every aspect of Drupal, including things which other themes usually don't bother to theme the admin menus, and such.

Another Drupal module that I wrote is the customerror module.This module eliminates the need to have the 403 and 404 errors as real nodes that get listed. 

A few weeks back, someone on Drupal.org posted asking for help did not know how to apply the patches against the themes in order to get Jeremy's KernelTrap.org excellent banner module working.I responded to them by offering to email them the patched theme. Since then, several people asked for the same thing. Therefore, I am posting here the patched theme files for pushbutton and bluemarine themes on Drupal 4.5.0, in case anyone else asks for them.

I wrote and contributed the stock module,which provides stock quotes from a web form, as well as a portfolio feature for registered site users, where they can save their favorite stock symbols. It uses Yahoo! Finance for getting the quotes.