permit Google Group page as alternative forum

[informatics-dev]

• Original ID: 3192
• Added by John P. Sullivan
• Scratchpads URL: http://africhthy.org

Description:

I am proposing this for consideration: provide a block that would permit Scratchpad owners to use a Google Group as a discussion forum. I would like to create a page on our Scratchpad that would have an Africhthy Google Group embedded in it. The built-in forum module would still be used for announcements.

I am sure most like myself find the built-in forums to be slow and clunky compared to the elegant and fast Google Groups. For us, the interaction that can take place on a forum is hugely important for adoption of our Scratchpad by our community and these built-in forums are just never going to catch on.(Are there any examples of Scratchpads in which the built-in forums being actively used?) Google Groups allow easy attachment of images, automatic translation and easy use on mobile devices and spam detection (we've been inundated with spam comments lately, but that's another issue). Many folks are obviously already using Google Groups. There is no way the Drupal forum module is ever going to be competitive with what Google can deliver in functionality.

Google Groups can be embedded in websites using iFrame, but this does not work when I paste the code into a new Page on my Scratchpad. I am sure a custom page format or block could be created that would allow this.

Please consider if restricting integration of external services like Google Groups won't cripple the social networking aspect of Scratchpads and ultimately limit their adoption and success.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Dimitrios Koureas

Dear John,

Thank you for this very interesting proposal. I am sure that the Google groups functionality is much better than what we have in Scratchpads. I am not aware of any module that can do this for us in Drupal 7. Which means that if we were to go towards this direction we would have to develop something in-house and also stop investing on making the existing forum functionality better.

We will bring this for discussion in the team, however right now I could see maybe investing some time on making the existing forums more functional. So any suggestions on this would be much appreciated

[informatics-dev]

Comment by John P. Sullivan

One can embed a Google Group in a regular html webpage with the iframe code below. This does not work if one pastes this into the body field of a new Scratchpad page. I am sure it would be trivial to allow this functionality on Scratchpads.

<iframe id="forum_embed" src="javascript:void(0)" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" width="900" height="700">

[informatics-dev]

Comment by John P. Sullivan

My take is this: there are some things that Scratchpads do that no other platform can do as well (taxonomies, biblio and specimen records linked to controlled vocabulaires and to external biodiversity informatics services, for example) but forums are never going to be one of them. Why not allow Scratchpad users to integrate really useful forum functionality into their Scratchpad? We are probably going to go ahead with a Google Group for Africhthy and it will be a shame if there is no way to link it or embed it on the Scratchpad.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Dimitrios Koureas

what is dev's team position on this?

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Simon Rycroft

I am sure most like myself find the built-in forums to be slow and clunky compared to the elegant and fast Google Groups.

I am willing to accept that the Scratchpads forums, like all Scratchpads features, are not as fast as they should be, but to call them clunky feels a little harsh. The forums do not offer much functionality, but that's because we have chosen to keep them as simple and as clean as possible. We do offer email integration, a feature that many other forums do not offer, although Google Groups does, which should negate the speed issues you mention.

For us, the interaction that can take place on a forum is hugely important for adoption of our Scratchpad by our community and these built-in forums are just never going to catch on.(Are there any examples of Scratchpads in which the built-in forums being actively used?)

The Scratchpads were originally conceived as a communication tool, so having a working forum has always been important to us. It's not high on many of users requirements, but it's definitely something we will continue to provide, and continue to work on. There are a number of sites that have well used forums, a good example would be the Phasmid Study Group site, although that is still using Scratchpads 1.

Google Groups allow easy attachment of images, automatic translation and easy use on mobile devices and spam detection (we've been inundated with spam comments lately, but that's another issue). Many folks are obviously already using Google Groups.

It's possible to attach images and other files to forum posts and comments, while the Scratchpads theme should work on mobile devices, it may not be perfect. Automatic translation is definitely a feature that Google has over Drupal/Scratchpads, but is something that can easily be done at a browser level. We do allow full translation of content, which I believe Google Groups does not.

Spam has recently become an issue on the Scratchpads, which we have noticed, and already done something about. We will add and configure the CAPTCHA drupal module on the next Scratchpads update, and will also delete all spam comments.

There is no way the Drupal forum module is ever going to be competitive with what Google can deliver in functionality.

This is definitely not the case. Google Groups is good, but it crazy to say that it's not possible to replicate their functionality.

As an interim solution for your site, we will look at creating a block or page that will allow embedding of a Google Group.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Simon Rycroft

John, could you include the specific Javascript for the forum you would like embedding.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by John P. Sullivan

Simon,

The instructions for embedding a Google Group are here: https://support.google.com/groups/answer/1191206?hl=en

Thanks.

• J. Sullivan

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Simon Rycroft

Please provide the link to the forum you would like embedding then.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Simon Rycroft

We are unable to embed a Google Group without a link to the forum. Please re-open this issue if you would like a Google Group embedding on your site.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by John P. Sullivan

Here is the code with the forum-name, which is "africhthy".

<iframe id="forum_embed" src="javascript:void(0)" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" width="900" height="700">

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Simon Rycroft

I have added a "Forums (Google)" page to the site.

[informatics-dev]

Comment by Dimitrios Koureas

The Google forum page seems to be properly working in the Scratchpad page.