When the Hackathon rolled around our team wanted to bring a project that extended or utilized our current CMS for a new purpose. We wanted something that we could start and finish in a single day and we also wanted a project that would take advantage of a team with diverse skill sets.

Enter bennyslist “a classified advertisements website exclusive to the Oregon State community with sections devoted to buying and selling textbooks, electronics, bikes and just about anything students need. Students can create and respond to listings through the site, making it a safe, secure place to buy and sell.” taken directly from our about page.

Bennyslist is a group within the main.oregonstate.edu drupal site. We decided to use our CMS because it allows us to tie into existing university themes and branding but it also gives us quick access to some powerful components.

CAS Authentication

Really at the core of the concept is that bennyslist is private to the OSU community. Craigslist fails because of the constant bombardment of spam and phishing attempts. Just try to sell anything and you will see for yourself, it can be an aggravating experience. Because OSU Drupal already has an authentication tool built into it we were easily able to specify which components would be “gated” via ONID login.

If you want to see what is available or want to post something for sale yourself then you will be required to use your OSU issued account. This was also nice because it did not add yet another account credential to store, memorize or update.

Webform

The second component that we used was Drupal Webforms. Our audience can go to the form and fill out what they have for sale and once submitted those entries are dynamically display in our listings. This allows them to come back and edit the posts and also means that it is fully automated. No staff time is required in moving submissions onto the for sale/trade list. However, it also provides a way for administrators to remove postings that are deemed unacceptable.

Because of these components it was an easy decision to go with a centrally hosted CMS as opposed to trying to create our own home grown application. There are certainly some compromises to make, but in the end we were able to create a fully automated and functional tool.

The rest of the work went into marketing and communications. We had designers create attractive images, a writer help with copywriting and a video producer even had time to create a commercial for the tool. Taking a fully integrated approach to our product allowed us to deliver a completed product in the time allowed.

So go ahead and give it a try, think about how you use Drupal and OSU templates. They do have some limitations but that doesn’t mean you can’t explore different functionality and strategy for your sites.

The Team

• Callie Newton – Web Editor and Writer
• Oliver Day – Interactive Designer
• Santiago Uceda – Assistant Director (Illustrator for this project)
• Darryl Lai – Multimedia Producer
• Kegan Sims – Drupal Architect