I have made very good progress on converting everything to drupal 6 on a localhost.
Unfortunately, there is a glaring lack of functionality due to missing modules. The modules we are missing currently are: user2userpoints, buddlylist(2), ogforum, privatemsg, acidfree. Because of this there would be no way to give points, have a buddylist, create forum topics associated with projects, send private messages to other members, or use the promotional art album.
I feel Ogforum and user2userpoints are too valuable to go without. I have tried converting user2userpoints, and was successful with the exception of one big error. Ogforum, privatemsg, and buddylist2 will all soon have Drupal 6 compatible releases.
The good news is that even though I will be going to college soon, an upgrade to Drupal 6 will be very easy once these modules are released.
It may not be powerful right off the bat, but its power lies in its flexibility.
It has taken me a while to learn how to utilize that flexibility, but I'm getting the hang of it.
This is partially because of the amazing people at the drupal forums. They are always very knowledgable and helpful.
One member, geforce301 (Brian Guilfoil), has helped me mod the way drupal handles css so that I can override the css from modules. Of course, when I say helped, I mean he did almost the entire thing for me. Thanks to him, I was able to make the css more organized and cut down the size by 10KB (25%). The mod also made it so I could have different style elements for users who are not logged in and those who are.
Here is a short rundown of the new features
- Cleaner looking theme
- 25% smaller css file
- Rounded corners on tabs (firefox only)
- Overhauled subscriptions feature (email notifications)
- Completely new feedback system
- A "Points Bounty" field in help wanted
- A few modifications to differentiate content types like Help Wanted
We now support logging in and registering with OpenID.
For those who do not already know about OpenID's, an OpenID is "A single digital identity" that can be used accross the internet. This means that you can login to any website that supports OpenID with just one ID. You don't have to remember which username and what password goes where. It even make registration for new websites easier.
What you need to start using OpenID's here and everywhere else is an OpenID. There is a good chance that you already have an OpenID, and just didn't know it.
You already have one if you have an account at: Yahoo, LiveJournal, Technorati, Wikitravel, Vox, and AOL/AIM (Experimental).
If you do not have one or would like a different one, a popular and feature rich provider is Verisign PIP, which also provides a useful Firefox extension to make the usage easier and more secure.
The most noticable improvement is that the logo was updated. The lightbulb was rotated so it looks like it has a globe on it rather than just an orange blob on the top. There were other enhancements, like the forum tables getting gradients, table headers being darker.
There was a theme fix that allows the breadcrumb to wrap down.
Some features were changed, like the frontpage now uses views. The theme was also modified so the frontpage rss feed is from the news section. The former frontpage rss was just the Home page, which was 400 days old. This page shouldn't be getting it's own rss feed, and is not what people or search engines are looking for.
The Old Theme
It was often complained about for being way too blue. And it was.
The New Theme
The new theme has a dark caramel color in the background. The header also features soft lines of lighter orange. It was actually adapted from an Ubuntu wallpaper.
Another feature is that the Sign In box is no longer a stripe across the top. Now it is located in the top right, like most other websites do.
The next thing to do will be to upgrade the logo and make the foreground brighter for more contrast against black text.
I've been getting some feedback that there is too much blue. I can agree to that. It's almost monochromatic aside from the occasional orange line.
I thought the best way to improve it would be to change the background to orange. That way it looks like some kind of fusion. Here's a mockup.
Feel free to download the GIMP XCF or the Photoshop PSD and make some variations.
The new comment theme has much more features, and feels more like a forum than a generic node. The new layout and features are loosely based on the comments used in phpBB and Joomla's forum.
The FCKeditor has been updated to 2.5.1. Weirdly, it still doesn't work in Opera, even though the FCKeditor's website says it should.
The profiles are now more compact and have icons. This upgrade was done entirely in CSS, so it won't have to be ported to the new Drupal 6.
Speaking of Drupal 6, it is going to be impossible to upgrade to the new version until the Views 2 for 6.x is released. Organic Groups cannot have a new version until Views 2 is out, and that will not be for quite a while it seems. There are also several other modules that would be nice to keep, but Views and Organic Groups are vital to the functionality of the website.
I have changed the table based layout to a CSS based layout. This makes it faster to load and suprisingly gives it better cross-browser support. I am now brainstorming visual improvements to the theme, like better tabs, and maybe something more creative with the title area of the nodes and comments.
Coming Soon:
Drupal 6.0
OpenID support
Better Profiles
An FAQ
Now any staff or editor can add news, not just the administrative account.