How to encourage readers to share content?
I am creating a new site whose topic will encourage readers to "share" specific pages' content with other people, by means such as:
* forwarding the page content to others
* pasting the page content into email (or into other sites' forums, comments, etc.)
* pasting the page URL into email (or into other sites' forums, comments, etc.)
I'll also encourage readers to leave comments on pages.
That's all nothing special so far, and nothing that a reader can't do from any generic Drupal page.
I expect some highly non-technical users, though ("Copy the URL? Huh?"), and for design reasons, want to make it REALLY easy to share info. That includes a highly visible way of forwarding the page or opening a comment form, easier to spot than the little links that currently appear at the bottom of a node.
What I'd like: A block toward the top of every page, containing the following big, can't-miss-'em links (probably as graphical buttons):
1. Forward this page
2. Copy this page's content (for pasting elsewhere)
3. Copy this page's URL (for pasting elsewhere)
4. Add a comment
In other words, easy-to-see, one-click tools to aid sharing or commenting. The question is how to do it. Looking at each of the above:
1. The Forward module places a "Forward this page to a friend" link at the bottom of nodes, but how can one have that link appear elsewhere on a page? I expect some PHP hacking will move it to, say, the top of a node, but is there any way to move it to a block? It's not a single static link; it differs for each node.
2. Is there any trick – PHP, Javascript, some Drupal module – that would create a link allowing the content of a Drupal node to be copied into the reader's clipboard? I'm expecting "no", but I'll ask anyway...
3. Same as the above: Is there any way to make a link that would copy a page's URL into the reader's clipboard?
4. Similar to #1: I assume I can hack PHP to have a page's "Post new comment" link appear elsewhere in a node, but is there any way to have it appear in a block?
And a bonus question:
Are there any other nifty ideas I should consider, to help readers "share" a page with others? Any appropriate Drupal features I'm ignoring?
I'd love some pointers in the right direction, and will happily report back on how things go with any advice I get. Thank you!
Question answer
I've only got a start at answers, and would love to see more ideas. Interactivity is what many sites are all about; how to implement interactive features in Drupal is no mean question for us developers!
My desired interactive links, in order:
1. "Forward this page" link
For now, I'm cheating. I have a "share content" block appear on pages of the node type which I want users to share. In that block, I have a "forward this page" item which links to #forward-form . That's simply the anchor link to the "forward this page" form provided by the Forward module; a user click, and jumps down the page to the form (which he might otherwise not immediately see, if the page is long).
It's not the same as a link that jumps to a "forward this page" form on a new page, but it works for now.
2. Copy this page's content (for pasting elsewhere)
No go. A little research shows there are solutions that work for some browsers, but I see no universal solution. Further, the business of tinkering with users' clipboards touches on security issues; wiser users may purposely block such tricks by web sites. I think I'll give up on this.
3. Copy this page's URL (for pasting elsewhere)
Same as above.
4. Add a comment
Similar to 1) above, I've simply added a link to the comments section's anchor at the bottom of the page, which is #comments . The user clicks, and jumps down the page to the comment input form. Good enough.
So. There are some cheap'n'quick means for making "interactivity" links more readily accessible to users via a block that gathers them together. I'd love to hear more ideas on this topic!
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