If you are looking for a quick and easy module to embed videos from social video sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo etc. Then look no further than the Video Filter Module for Drupal. This is a highly flexible and easy extendable filter module to embed any type of video in your site using a simple tag. Included codecs for the module currently include:

• YouTube
• Google Video
• GodTube
• DailyMotion
• Eyespot
• Jumpcut
• Revver
• Vimeo

The module also includes some well written documentation for adding more codecs to the module if you need to.

Features include:

• Setting default width, height and autoplay setting per input filter using filter settings.
• Overriding default width, height and autoplay setting in the filtered code.
• Show random video from comma sepparated list of urls
• Aligning the embedded video left or right.
• Extensions may use additional attributes, e.g. the YouTube extension has a playlist attribute to load a random video from a playlist.

Usage:

I have recently set this up in a new Drupal site that I am managing and it is working perfectly for me in Drupal version 5! I have experienced no errors at all and i’m loving how easy it is!

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This module controls where users go after logging in. You can configure login destination on a settings page. It will be either static URL or a PHP snippet evaluating your own site’s logic. You can also configure which pages redirection is applied. To achieve this you can specify either a list of URLs or a PHP snippet to build this list dynamically. So, you can redirect user to various pages depending on which pages they are logging from. You can also use alias URLs instead of internal paths.

Basic Usage

I ran into a situation recently where I needed to have the users directed to a specific page that I created once they logged in! I used the Taxonomy Lite module to restrict this page to the outside world and give only users of the site permission to see this page. This module made it so easy to make this happen. All I did was upload and install the module, then go to the new Login Destination menu item under User Management in the admin area. The page looks like this:

As you can see, the “URL” box allows me to place the url of the page that I want my users directed to upon login. You can get even more crazy with this module with Redirection conditions settings as you can see. But in my case I did not even need that at all. Download the Login Destination module for Drupal here.

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Many of you are ahead of the game on Drupal and already know what i’m about to talk about. I will admit that I am slow to learning new things, even when they are apparently right before my eyes. I have been an active Drupal user for quite some time, and have heard the use of a TinyMCE editor inside Drupal but have completely ignored it. Then the lightbuild finally went on.

You can have the same Wysiwyg inside Drupal that a Wordpress website has? Really? No way? Yeah way!

I personally do not need a Wysiwyg, as many of you readers are probably the same way. But my customers need them. Otherwise, i’m stuck training a client HTML. And that’s not what I intend on doing the rest of my life. The module is simply the TinyMCE WYSIWYG Editor for Drupal. It’s simple to install, just make sure that you follow the instructions step by step. There are a few additional steps you need to make when setting it up than your typical Drupal module. Here’s a little screenshot of what the editor looks like in your Drupal admin:

My Favorite Feature of this Module
My favorite feature of the TinyMCE drupal module is that you can configure your settings to what buttons you want on your editor for your website. The options are presented with simple checkboxes next to them, allowing you to uncheck the ones you won’t find useful. This allows you to customize your wysiwyg editor to your likings and give you more (or less) functionality. Both can be a good thing depending on your project.

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Page Title | drupal.org

custom page title plugin for Drupal CMS

embedding flash video | drupal.org

embedding video inside a drupal website.

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I’ve had a few clients ask me recently for newsletter functionality in their Drupal website. So that got me started on some research that took me a few hours before I finally came across a solution I could work with. I was particularly looking for a Newsletter functionality that would allow users and anonymous users to sign up. Much of what I was originally finding had to do with registered users only able to sign up for the newsletter. But for many that defeats the purpose. Most sites need a newsletter that is easy for all visitors of the site to join. That way, they can collect email addresses at a much quicker pace.

Simplenews – Module for Drupal

I came across the Simplenews module for Drupal. Installed it and configured it. It had good easy to read instructions for me to configure everything. It gave me the functionaity that I needed. Basically, I setup the Simplenews module and actived the “Newsletter Block” which allows visitors of the site to subscribe to my newsletter. Booyahh! Perfect! Everything setup exactly how I needed with no problems whatsoever. The Simplenews tool actually utilizes the Taxonomy module. Which means it basically creates a new category of content that you write in. That content of course, is sent via email through the newsletter to all subscribers.

Here is a list of the features:

Subscription

• Subscription to the newsletters is managed through blocks, and/or a subscription form, and/or a custom page
• Logged in users can manage their subscriptions in their account settings
• Anonymous (un)subscribers are offered a confirmation email
• Registered, logged in users can subscribe directly
• Subscription of registered, logged out users; and of unregistered users that register later, is managed

Creating and sending

• Newsletters can be sent as plain text or HTML. HTML newsletters require the Mime Mail module
• Newsletters can be managed through the taxonomy system
• Newsletters are stored in a “sent items” or “drafts” folder, depending on the send status
• Sending of mailings to large mailing lists is handled by cron (configurable)
• A single-copy test newsletter can be sent before the newsletter is sent to the mailing list

On-site display and RSS

• Links to taxonomy overview pages and RSS-feeds can be displayed in the block for published newsletters (both sent and unsent).
• Blocks are fully configurable. They can for example also show a list of recent issues of a particular newsletter

Administration

• Sent items folder, with: title, type (term), date, published, status (sent/cron/not sent), edit
• Drafts folders with the same options
• ‘Sent items’ and ‘Drafts’ view filter: view all newsletter issues, or filter by newsletter
• ‘Newsletters’ tab to create/edit newsletters (terms)
• Subscription list management: display email, username (or anonymous), status (active/inactive), delete, activate/inactivate, edit link to manage subscriptions
• Filter subscription list by newsletter and email address
• Subscription list management: import and export (active and/or inactive) subscriptions to and from the different newsletters
• Settings pages: general options page where standard settings can be set (such as a test e-mail address, from-name, from-address, cron), and settings pages for each newsletter to configure the newsletter’s block

Permissions

• administer newsletters, create newsletter, edit own newsletter, send newsletter, view links in block

Check out this module. I highly recommend it. It’s free and open source of course or else I would not praise it so much! It’s by far the best solution I could fine for a newsletter tool for a Drupal Content Management system install.

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There is an OpenAds which is now known as OpenX module for Drupal. It’s just called Openads and works perfectly right now with version 5 of Drupal. The module does is integrate with an already installed OpenX ads server on your web server. You can now run your ads seamlessly through your Drupal website, and many Drupal websites at once. The module generates all the Javascript code for you on each page so that you don’t have too.

Features include:

• Define which ads show to which user roles
• Extended information in ad_channel, including full url and user role
• Ads are available as blocks or can be inserted manually into templates.

This is a really cool module to take advantage of. I recommend it to all Drupal users. I am using it right now with one of my client’s websites and it is working perfectly. I’m eager to hear any other success that some of you may have had with it. You can learn more about the OpenX adserver in our article titled ‘Open Source Ad Server’ that we wrote a few weeks back!

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