I'm back, as promised in my previous post, with a new “load” of must-have Drupal modules for you to add to your toolbox! With 5 more key functionalities to implement when you build a site with Drupal. It's perfectly true that choosing from and using these modules depend greatly on the of nature of the Drupal web development projects that you'll be working on: whether it's a multi-language Drupal site that you'll build, a Drupal social intranet or maybe a high trafficked e-commmerce Drupal website.
And now, without further ado, let's dig into my short list of 5 useful Drupal modules for site builders:
11.Neutral Paths
A module that shouldn't miss from your own toolkit, as a Drupal site builder, when it's a multi-language Drupal site that you'll be working on.
Basically what it does is that it enables users to access content on a given Drupal site in other languages, as well, using path aliases.
In other words: they won't be limited to the default language set up for that given website.
Get it?
“And how does it work precisely?” you might ask yourself.
The module creates neutral paths, as its name suggests it. Its sets both the updated and the new path aliases as language-neutral. So that a user, with a different language than the one currently active on that website, can still access its content.
His/her path alias won't get automatically translated into his mother language, making it impossible for him to access the content (since I'm referring here exclusively to sites with content written in one single language, not to those with content translated in multiple languages).
And it's not just website visitors that can benefit from this extra functionality, but the people “behind” as well. Admins and content managers get to access the backend information in English, even if the front end of the website is in another language
A major improvement, especially when it comes to issue tracking!
It's much easier to track down bugs, errors, since all the Drupal documentation and support is in English.
Note: the Neutral Paths module isn't compatible with the Drupal 8 entity translation mechanism. Make sure to go for one or the other in case of a Drupal multi-language site project!
12. Persistent Login, Another Key Module When You Build a Site with Drupal
I'm sure you've noticed the lack of a “remember password” function in Drupal 8's core.
Well, the Persistent Login module not only that provides users with such an option, but it comes with lots of other cool features, as well. It allows you to define:
- which pages the remembered user can access without entering his credentials again (e.g. a user can easily access his account for changing his passwords using persistent login) and which ones he/she can access only via log in (pages with more sensitive information available)
- for how long a remembered user can remain logged in before he/she should insert his username and password
- how many pages can a remembered user remain logged in to at once
- and you can even “empower” users to delete their remembered logins, themselves, via their account pages
To sum up: Persistent Login grants you/the user total independence from the PHP session settings! Moreover, it's more user-friendly and more secure, as well.
13. Ridiculously Responsive Social Sharing Buttons
You surely can't afford to underestimate the power of a social sharing module these days, now can you?
Especially when it comes with a whole bundle of convenience such as:
- easy to drag and drop social sharing buttons (irrespective of the type of Drupal website that you're building)
- SVG-based icons
- browser compatibility
- buttons that can be used both for share and for follow
- independency from third party scrips (e.g an external service like AddThis)
The only downside to using this module is the limited functionality (e.g. in-depth statistics).
14. CacheFlush, A Must-Have Module When You Build a Site with Drupal
It's time you took total control over your caches! To be the one deciding which are the caches that need to go.
It's a great alternative to the “Flush all caches” button, since deleting all your caches can lead to major performance problems in a production environment.
This module enables you to preset which are the caches that will get cleared. No need to wait (and to risk) for all your caches to be removed, when you simply need to flush only some of them.
This way you'll save valuable development time, otherwise wasted as you would need to wait for all your caches to get cleared!
15. Password Reset Landing Page
Admit it: how often, when you could not remember a password for one of your website accounts, have you, as a user, rushed it to change it as soon as you clicked on your on-time-login link?
And how precisely does this module prevent these scenarios?
"In a cleverly efficient manner": it puts a “Change Password' button right in the pop-up screen that the user sees once he/she clicks on his on-time login link. A “change password” button in addition to the standard “login” button.
You even get to set this entry field to be mandatory.