Posted by JD Collier on April 06, 2012

I am such a nerd about Drupal modules … I get really excited when I think I need something that does [blank] and then I find a module that does exactly that. I love even more when I find a module that makes some UX or usability problem go away. We have talked about the Drupal 7 contrib modules Digett considers foundational to every project. Today I'm sharing three of my personal favorites that make UX or usability problems go away.

Block Class module

I am a big fan of this little module which does one thing I LOVE. With this module, I can style a block with something like ".sidebarcta" instead of "#block-block-5." I have never been a fan of styling anything with a specific reference to something in a dynamic and changeable CMS. Haven't you also had situations where you make a new block and then realize that you styled by the block name and then had to adjust your CSS to include the new block?

Another benefit I have found with this module is the ability to create a class like "contactstyle" and then apply that same class across multiple blocks. No need to look up the machine name of each block and add them to my stylesheet, I can just name the style and put that in each block.

I also appreciate the elegance in my CSS … I can read what the style is for rather than depending on a comment around the #block-block-5 style declaration to tell me which block that is talking about.

External Links

This module is a brilliant fix to a common client/web/usability issue. We need links to external sites to open in a new tab/window, but that requires the client to understand "target=_blank" in the WYSIWYG link dialog.

No more!

Use this module and any external links automatically open in a new window.

Linkit

Linkit adds a new button to the CKEditor (or through WYSIWYG) to allow you to easily add internal and external links. With this module, you can simply type the title of the content for the destination link. When you select the correct page using the Autocomplete field, it adds the correct link.

Do you have any goodies to add that are your favorites? I'd love to check them out!

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