I have a bit of free time this summer and I now should have time to start tackling some projects I have been putting off..

I would like to replace some core functions with modules and build up those modules but I am not sure how to make that portion work. If someone could point me in the right direction?

The first one I want to do is dealing with Groups. There will be three basic sections to the group additions I would like to make.

I want to add to the admin tab that is now in place that deals with permissions for groups. I want to add other features to groups but I want it to be seamless as opposed to writing a whole new module that will handle the permissions as well as the stuff I want to do.

Things I want to add to this tab are setting to support much more then just permissions for groups.

The next section I would have to add would be the "action" portion that would allow things to work seamlessly in the back ground for the most part. (The actual portion that applies the settings in the admin groups tab.)

The last section may end up being a different module but I am thinking it could be included in the same module. This would be basically a heavily modified version of the module "Groups" that is floating around. I want to make it drag and drop to allow people to adjust what group someone is in and maybe some other user similar level changes to the group stuff.

I am looking at adding a few things.
Group expiration support.. When someone is added to a subscription group, there would be an expiration date setup and a group to go back to when the subscription expires. This would support a paid for users system. Or if you only want someone to have specific access to a group for a set time you could set that up.
Support for setting up themes by the user group. Each group will have the ability to have their own set of themes and default theme. Both the normal theme and the admin theme.

There are many other things that can be added once I get a handle how to do this. I have basic information on how to write modules and will be working on modifying the PM and Profile modules as well. I have some other projects in mind as I am building a social website but I will see how this goes first.

Rodney