Drupal modules and other configuration

Drupal is such a pleasing piece of software.

Just a few days ago I found some very cool new (to me) hidden functionality. Additionally I’ve installed some more modules which I want others to be aware of.

available updates email notification

Let’s start with the “hidden” functionality: Drupal 6 incorporates some parts of a Drupal 5 module which notifies you about available updates (see /admin/reports/updates). Pretty easy to stay updated with that alone. But I thought I’d had to check that page frequently for new updates. Not so! Say hello to the tab “Settings” on the very page and insert your email address to stay updated via email. Satisfying and built-in… dumb me searches in vain for a module with that functionality…

Yet it brought my interest to other useful modules:

Logging and alerts

The Logging and alerts module gives you a way to send emails to an email address of your choice in case of errors etc. Pretty neat since I don’t want to lose time by regularly scanning my log entries…

Give your readers a way to stay up2date with comment threads by installing comment subscribe. You can check it out in the comment field below.

XML Sitemap

The latest unstable build of the XML Sitemap module is working with Drupal 6! Finally a simple way to notify google & co of updates and site content. Must have addon imo.

Paths

Actually this are three modules, some of which I’ve used since day one. Pathauto automatically creates URL aliases of node titles and taxnonomy names, just like on my site - no more meaningless URLs like /node/123. Yay! But with this module alone you could still visit those numeric URLs which is - SEO wise - not a good idea. Every unique side should have a unique URL on your page. This is were the Global redirect module comes into play. Just install it, no configuration needed.

The last module in this trio is Path Redirect, a recommended extension to the Pathauto module. It enables you to specify URL redirects on your website. E.g. when you change the title of one of your nodes pathauto can automatically create an updates URL and setup a moved permanently (header 301) redirection from the old URL to the new one. No dead ends from external pages anymore!

That’s it

Together with Mollom, Filter by Node Type, Get Content Type, Marksmarty and GeSHi this are all modules I use.