Contributing to Modules

SESSION OVERVIEW
When you’re developing your site, sometimes you need to a module to behave differently than it currently does. There are all kinds of techniques for doing it without changing a line of code - and at the other extreme is writing a brand new custom module. This session will illustrate a point in between - contributing to an existing module, solving your client’s problems and helping the community at the same time. We will cover mistakes made and lessons learned along way, following a module along as it gets used in different ways by some very large sites with concrete examples of code and functionality.

AGENDA
* determing your change needs
* the quiz module as an example
* levels of module customization
* code techniques
* first mistakes on lime.com
* patch management
* usage on lifetimetv.com
* usage on sony-bmg

GOALS
After this session, attendees should feel comfortable contributing to existing module projects in a significant way, and have some insight into balancing the needs of a client against those of the community. They should also be armed with strategies to avoid common pitfalls and some conflicts that frequently arise.