Introduction
Drupal 7 has a standard installation configuration with a default set of modules, some of which are enabled and some of which are disabled.
This page lists all Drupal core modules and add-on modules used on the new IAC web site, along with any changes to the default configuration of each module.
Core Modules
Block. Enables content to appear in blocks on the page.
Book. The content you are reading right now is written as a set of Book nodes. We may opt to organize any lengthy sections of the site as Book pages, although the great majority of pages are small and self-contained and therefore don't need to be organized hierarchically.
Color. User-defined colors for the site layout.
Comment. Allows authorized users to comment on articles.
Contact. Enables the use of both personal and site-wide contact forms.
Contextual links. Quick links that allow the user to perform actions on page elements. Not available to end users.
Dashboard. Allows the administrator to see key site metrics at a glance. Not available to end users.
Database logging. Logs and records system events to the database.
Field. Allows the administrator to add data fields to node types.
Field SQL storage. Stores field data in the database.
Field UI. User interface that allows the administrator to edit field information. Not available to end users.
File. Defines a file field type.
Filter. (May have changed some default configuration settings?)
Forum. Allows bulletin-board style conversations. Activated on a trial basis for use by IAC leadership (see Forum Access below). Not enabled for ordinary members.
Help. Manages the display of online help.
Image. Provides image manipulation tools. Not available to end users.
List. Defines list field types. Used to create selection lists. Not available to end users.
Menu. Allows administrators to customize the site navigation menus. Not available to end users.
Node. Virtually all site content is stored in nodes.
Number. Defines numeric field types.
Overlay. This module is enabled by default; I disabled it for reasons of personal taste.
Path. Allows the administrator to rename page URLs. (See Pathauto below.)
PHP Filter. Enables embedded PHP code snippets to be evaluated. Not available to end users.
PHP Filter. Enabled.
RDF. Adds metadata to each page to help search engines.
Search. Allows site-wide content searches by keyword.
Shortcut. Allows administrators to manage customizable shortcut links.
Statistics. Logs access statistics for the site.
System. Site configuration for administrators.
Taxonomy. Allows nodes to be categorized.
Text. Defines simple text field types.
Toolbar. Provides administrators with a site management toolbar at the top of each screen.
Update manager. Checks for available updates and notifies the administrator when a module or theme is out-of-date.
User. Manages the user registration and login system.
Contrib Modules
Contrib modules are typically supplied to generous coders working for the common good. It's important to note that these are not part of the core Drupal offering, therefore the user must beware. Some are de rigeur, providing rock solid functionality that's used by almost every Drupal site, while others provide more specialized features. I've tried to stay with widely-used, well-supported Contrib modules in the hopes of minimizing our exposure to bugs, and to reduce the risk of getting stuck with "orphan" modules that are not supported.
@font-your-face: This module enables the use of fonts downloaded from the web. We also enabled the related @font-your-face UI and Google Fonts API modules.
Backup and Migrate: Used to backup the site's database both manually and on a scheduled basis, and restore if necessary.
Block Class: Allows the site admin to assign a CSS class to a given block. This allows for easier theming.
CAPTCHA: Challenge-reponse tests, placed within forms, that help deter spambots.
Chaos Tools: Internal functionality required for certain other modules, including @font-your-face UI, Entity Reference, Views, and Views UI.
CKEditor. Allows WYSIWYG editing of node bodies. Relies on the external ckeditor Javascript library.
Content Access: Manage permissions to content types by role and author.
Date: Makes date/time fields available.
Date API: Required by Date and Date Views.
Date iCal: Formats dates in iCalendar format, which allows users to easily import events into their personal calendars.
Date Views: Enables the use of date fields in Views.https://www.drupal.org/project/views
Entity Reference: Internal functionality required for certain field types.
Entity API: Internal functionality required by Entity Reference and Profile2.
Entity Tokens: Provides token replacement for all entity properties. See Token below.
File Entity: Allows files to be used as node fields and in views. Required by the Media module.
Google Analytics: Collects site usage information and statistics.
Link Checker: Periodically tests all hyperlinks on the site and provides a report of any that are broken (e.g. point to a non-existent site or page.) Not available to end users.
LoginToboggan: Allows the user to log in using either their site name (e.g. John Smith) or their email address (e.g. john.smith@wherever.com)
Media: An extensible framework for managing files and multimedia assets.
Menu Node API: Creates a database table that associates menu items with node IDs. Not used directly by the site, this table facilitated creation of a custom PHP script that identifies pages that are not connected to any menus.
Node Option Premium: Allows editors to designate a given node a premium content, i.e. members-only. Also provides hooks that facilitate theming of links to members-only content.
Override Node Options: Allows selected users to override default node data, such as the Publication Date. We use this to let Editors back-date issues of Sport Aerobatics magazine, which helps implement our policy of letting non-members see back issues.
Pathauto: Automatically generates Drupal node path names based on the node title.
Plupload integration: Allows for easy integration of the Plupload widget, which shows the progress during file uploads.
Profile2: Allows the site administrator to defne a set of fields that make up each user's profile, and lets users populate those fields.
Redirect: Allows users to redirect from old URLs to new URLs.
Rules: Internal functionality used by many other modules. Allows module authors and site administrators to trigger actions when certain conditions are met.
Security Review: Provides an on-demand check for security weaknesses. Click on the Reports menu to access.
String Overrides: Allows the administrator to override strings that are output by Drupal modules. Handy for rephrasing messages in a way that better fits the site's style and tone.
Superfish: Integrates jQuery Superfish plugin with our Drupal menus, providing the nice drop-down effects.
Token: Internal functionality used by many other modules. Provides dynamic string substitutions, such as inserting a date or a user name.
View Unpublished: Allows non-authors (in our case, Editors) to view unpublished content. Facilitates collaboration during authoring.
Views: Tools for developing custom data queries and formatting the output.
Views UI: Tools that allow the administrator to create and edit views.
Webform: Used to collect information for the Six Months Free promotion. May be handy for other data collection forms in the future.
