2nd ELMS module released: HTML Export!

The second module in the ELMS project, HTML Export [3], was released today in beta form on drupal.org. It is a very lightweight module that only generates a settings page at the moment. Click yes you want to export to HTML and then submit. It will churn for a bit and crank out an offline copy of your entire node structure for your site. This is most useful with books as their menu system is done automatically in a block if you turn it on. So far it is very limited (only publishes ALL nodes in anonymous view to a random directory that it links you to). Here's a snippet of features from the project site [1]. Check it out if you want some more info:

Why you'd want to use this?
* Infrastructure limitations - If you have a less then stellar IT architecture running your websites having hundreds of students hit your drupal site for course content might not be possible. Pushing it out to HTML allows for less server strains.
* Data Portability - Click export, download your zip of your site and take it where ever you want. No longer do you need the Internet to view your site's material so you can give site demos without worrying about a steady connection.
* Historical / multiple versions - Drupal is good at remembering what versions of content were but not good at pushing out different versions to different people concurrently. An example of this could be teaching two sections of the same course. They will have different syllabi, possibly different assignments and lessons but you don't want to have to manage paths, files, nodes and the like just to run two VERY similar looking versions of the same content. Create things as Section X's content, hit publish, throw it up on the server in one location. Now go back and do the same for Section Y and put it in a different location. You now have two sections that will have all the correct paths and can be
* User / Student access controls - Don't want to have to keep managing students / users in your drupal database in a time sensitive manner (like semesters)? Export your course, put it in a place where htaccess dictates who can and cannot view the content. At the end of the semester you can now replicate a version of the course over to another folder, remove the names from the htaccess file every semester, or just leave it up there and give them historical access to that directory. Create policies / work flows outside of drupal as it relates to permissions which are often MUCH easier for small scale implementations of material.

Possible Future directions:
* Permission Based Export
* Criteria Based Export
* Automatic htaccess creation / Authentication requirements
* Dictate export location
* Dictate export format

Linkages:

[1] http://elearning.psu.edu/projects/
[2] http://elearning.psu.edu/projects/node/71 -- Announcement about release
[3] http://drupal.org/project/html_export/