By thecreek on

Hi - I was wondering if anyone could advise what would be the best starting approach for a "creative" community based site, broken up into various communities based on location? I'd like to feature location-centric content - making it easier for people in the same area to find others with similar interests.

From what I've gathered, the location module is required for this - which is produced by the same group that distributes CivicSpace/CiviCRM.

From what I can tell, CivicSpace seems to be based on 4.5 code, which seems very "old." Meanwhile, CiviCRM and the location module seem to be limited to 4.6.

Given I'm just sinking my teeth into this, I'd really like to go with 4.7, as it seems to be closing in on a release.

If anyone could offer any advice, it would be GREATLY appreciated. I've installed all 3 variations of Drupal in the past (CivicSpace standalone, 4.6 with CiviCRM, and 4.7). I was hoping, following the install, that I would have some insight into which would work best.

But I honestly couldn't understand the differences - and rather than going through the process of intensely examining each version, I was hoping someone who had more experience might shed some light.

And it may be that I'm completely incorrect in thinking that the location module is necessary - it just seemed like CiviCRM was the only package that would allow users to search by location.

Thanks for any help.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 4.7.x

Comments

laken’s picture

laken commented

I have no experience with the location module, but the eventfinder module allows people to search for calendared events near their location - that may be of some help.

I run civicspace, the latest release of which is built on Drupal 4.6 (relatively up-to-date.) It will probably be a while after the release of 4.7 that Civicspace release will be updated for 4.7 - primarily because it ships with around 30 contributed modules which all need to upgraded and tested. But Civicspace is a terrific way to get into Drupal.

If you don't need automated installation or configuration, and can live without some of the Civicspace modules for a while (you'll need to check each one to see if a 4.7 version exists) I think 4.7 is the way to go, it's got some powerful new underlying plumbing, wnd I'm sure many forthcoming modules and themes will only run on 4.7.

For creative (as in arts/ music, etc) sites, drupalart.org has recipes focussing on that. I found a great podcasting module through them that is not listed on drupal.org.

Finally, if you don't have Robert Douglass' book on Drupal, get it and read it - totally solid and I wish it had been available when I started using this stuff a year ago.

Good luck!

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

Actually I believe CivicSpace has plans to branch and release within hours of 4.7's release. I could be wrong, but I think that's they're intention.

We don't have a 4.7RC1 yet. Traditionally when a major version hits RC status is when you see the active module contributers actually start branching.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

thecreek’s picture

thecreek commented

Thanks very much for the info. I'm thinking I'll move forward with the CivicSpace installation, and add some additional modules to fine-tune it a bit.
About to go hunt for the book you mentioned on Amazon now.

I thought I had tracking turned on for the account, but I didn't receive any emails on replies to the topic. I'll go look into it.

So I apologize for not responding sooner.

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

Drupal.org for various reasons does not have email notifications for threads. There are modules which can be added to forums to allow for this, but drupal.org has never used them.

The built in tracker feature is used, imho more effectivly

Here's your's of all your posts in various thread;
http://drupal.org/user/47132/track

Alternatively, on the right, see recent posts link, then you click 'My recent posts'.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

thecreek’s picture

thecreek commented

Thanks. I was just now trying to figure out how to configure it so that it would email me.