Previously we have brought to your attention the main types of Drupal developers. One of them is the module developer. Today we are going to focus on the two main types of modules these developers work on. Read further to learn the differences and the pros and cons of both to decide what modules to implement on your web resource.
Criteria for custom-made vs ready-made modules comparison:
Spending money
As you know, Drupal is an open source CMS. This means that modules are free for downloading and installing. You’ll spend no money at all by choosing what already exist. There are SEO-modules in part 1 and 2, modules for integration with social networks, for adaptation to mobile devices, for managing user accounts, for setting search boxes, filters, comments fields, registration forms and lots of other modules, provided, it seems, for any business purpose. You should be able to find almost everything you need. Almost. In some cases, you can’t find the module you want and need something special. In this case, you can ask a module developer to make it to order for some fee, which is justified.
Sure, you can also hope and wait until the idea to develop the module of your dreams sooner or later comes to some Drupaller’s mind. It’s quite possible with the large Drupal community that embraces the whole globe. So if you have time on your hands, you can choose this time-consuming but money-saving option, and it may even work. Nonetheless, the outcome is not guaranteed. Thus, it’s better to go custom — to pay and get a warranted result that meets your expectations as exactly as possible.
Spending time
On the one hand, an out-of-the-box module is ready to be installed at once, compared with a custom module that needs some time to develop. On the other hand, if existing modules don’t satisfy your needs, it would take less time to design a module to order than to wait for the release of a ready-made one, which can be delayed indefinitely. In addition, with the specific approach allowed for with the help of the custom module, you’ll get your site optimized more quickly, and your business can succeed more quickly too.
Reaching requirements
Some of your site’s requirements might not be 100% met by the existing modules. If you care about making your marketing tool — your site — feature-rich, innovative and convenient for your users, you probably need to implement unique solutions. If you don't want your site to adapt to ready-made modules, then allow custom-made modules to adapt to your site.
As a conclusion
You can get a really great web resource either by building it with free modules only or by paying for something special. The choice depends on the functionality you want to have on your website. Think about the concrete features your web resource needs to reach your business goals. Choose your priorities and make up your mind.
New modules are continuously being invented, and the existing ones are constantly being updated and expanded. Check D8 modules with the release in 2017, in May 2016 and in June 2016. We are convinced you’ll find something free that matches your needs. But if not, and you need to create a module for your site from scratch, or just need to modify an existing one, contact our Drupal module developers. They have already created such custom modules, as The Field Image Tooltips and The Gridstack field, and are ready now to provide you with custom or customized modules as well as with module support.