SimpleBlock: Bringing Block Administration to the Masses (co-hosted by Sid Maskit)

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Download the slides here
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Update: Sid Maskit will be a co-presenter following on after me, Jason. His company is the author of the Promos module! Sid will be imparting his knowledge about the Promos module, highly beneficial to those of us who need to make the drupal UI a bit friendlier to web producers.

Problem: Your client needs to create and administer blocks, but …

• The blocks user interface is too daunting for them.
• Your cunning developer instinct tells you it’s too dangerous to allow them to administer blocks.

Solution: Using CCK, create a node type and a custom module to…

• Give your users a new way to create and administer blocks.
• Save the website by not allowing users access to Drupal’s block administration.

Synopsis:

In many projects at Revere, we’ve had a requirement that the client be able to create “Promotional” blocks. That is, they’d like to be able to create and administer blocks where they can embed ads, like flash ads, or plain old hyperlinked images, or some static HTML etc. etc.. The solution seems straightforward, “Why not give them access to block administration?”. That solution works acceptably when the client is a savvy individual who can be relied on not to break the website, and they’re not overwhelmed by the UI. But what if your client isn’t savvy and can’t/won’t learn the blocks UI?

We’ve come up with a simple strategy where we allow blocks to be administered just like any other content on the site, via a cck node type. This way we have many options as to what the content of a block can be via cck fields, and the administrative interface is familiar. Come discover the why and how of our strategy and how you can use it to your own success!