Starting a new Drupal project? And the first thing you might do is to install a module, but which one first? There are a few obvious ones to install and sometimes these have no relation to the functionality of your project but they always help you in the background.
But why do we install them? It's simple, they make our life easy while we are implementing the universe of features into our Drupal website. But then you always miss some of those life-saving modules and only install them when you feel the pain.
Now here is my list of Drupal modules that will make your life smooth and you should install them as soon as you see that welcome message on the home screen.
- Admin Toolbar
- Environment Indicator
- Config Split
- Module Filter
- Site Settings and Labels
1. Admin Toolbar
Project page: https://www.drupal.org/project/admin_toolbar
Downloads: 133157+
Okay, this was obvious! It was always annoying to go through all those pages to reach the manage field of a content type. In Drupal 7, the Administration Menu module came to the rescue but in Drupal 8 and later versions, it's Admin Toolbar that does the job perfectly.
Admin Toolbar module integrates with the core's toolbar module and provides a drop-down menu for easy access to the menu items in the Administration menu. Just install it and forget about it.
2. Environment Indicator
Project page: https://www.drupal.org/project/environment_indicator
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WbP9ZYxAx0
Downloads: 18314+
Remember the time when you accidentally change settings or updated content on the wrong environment, thinking you are in the local environment? For these situations, the Environment Indicator module comes to the rescue. This module simply adds colors to the Drupal admin toolbar to indicate which environment you are working on.
You can simply configure different colors for different environments to differentiate like Development (Green), Staging (Orange), and Production (Red). Just try it and you will see how often you leave the wrong environment tab open in your browser.
3. Configuration Split
Project page: https://www.drupal.org/project/config_split
Tutorial: https://www.daggerhart.com/drupal-8-configuration-management-with-config-split/
Downloads: 18816+
Drupal 8 introduced configuration management in the core to allow the export of database configurations in YML files. But what if we don't want to keep everything the same in all environments, maybe you want some development modules on configurations different from the local environment.
For these situations, Configuration Split does the job for us. This module allows you to create groups of configurations that you want to separate from the rest of the configuration.
4. Module Filter
Project Page: https://www.drupal.org/project/module_filter
Downloads: 327,907+
One of the first things you do on a first install is to go to the modules listing page and enable or disable modules. But with time this list of modules becomes so big that you start searching for it in browser search. So the best solution is to use the Module Filter module to search for the required module with a search box on the module listing page.
Another feature of the Module Filter module is that it provides a horizontal view of the module list page where modules are categorized with their package. This makes it easy to just simply click on the package tab to see what modules are available in it.
This was the must-have module in Drupal 7 and this functionality was incorporated in Drupal 8 and later versions but adding this module also allows you to list your modules with category tabs and gives you a permissions filter on the permissions page.
5. Site Settings and Labels
Project Page: https://www.drupal.org/project/site_settings
Downloads: 641
With Drupal 8 all settings start to save into configuration and we export configuration. But if you want to have a configuration that can be changed whenever needed without the fear of overriding it on the next config import.
The "Site Settings and Labels" module is something you can use in your Drupal project if you are in the same situation. This module allows you to set settings as content with the features and feel of the Drupal configuration system. So remember this module as this could be your secret weapon on your next Drupal project.
In the comment, let me know which one is your favorite or if I missed your go-to module for a fresh Drupal installation.