Create user profile using content type or add additional fields to the default registration form

Question

I am good enough to build an entire drupal 7 website but my problem goes below:

I am in the process of building a very simple drupal website for all volunteers in my country. So every volunteer will have a profile page on the website where volunteers can search for each other, send emails to each others and even send sms to each other in addition to other basic features.

And so to create such website there is two way that i am little bit confuse which one to use: (any suggestion please)

Method 1: Add any additional field such as city ,district, bio, age, birtbday, phone number, profile picture, blood type, education degree, languages spoken.... directly inside the registration form by going to account settings in configuration page. And so i will use the "User" entity to pull out the information required for the creation of blocks, views....

Method 2: Let the volunteer register to the website by using the default registration form where only email address and password are required. And after completion of registration the user will be redirected to create a node of content type "Volunteer" where all the required fields mentioned above will be available. Also i will use the node limit module to limit the creation of 1 node per content type per user. And so i will use the "Volunteer" content type to pull out the information requited for the creation of blocks, views....

Which one is the best to go with ? Are there any limitation for any of the above method in case i need to expand the website in the futur ?

Please note that i know how to do everything mentioned above, only i need suggestion about what method is the best and why ?

Thank you,

Answer 1

I think there are two more possibilities. One, use social media integration to get as much information as possible to pre-fill the profile. Two, use panels to create a form that will collect a minimal number of required fields from your user profile. Overall, reduce the number of required fields and let users fill out their profiles gradually, with a little nudge from your site. If you ask them to fill out a large number of fields just to get started you may end up with a high form abandonment rate.

I would avoid creating a new Volunteer content type. It may just be my opinion, but I like to follow Occam's razor and avoid the proliferation of entities.

Answer 2

Please try to use Profile 2 Module or Add fields to default registration form. When i am facing same issue i tried to create a new content type called "profile" so when user logged in at first time i redirect them to the Profile add form with node limit module and Rules module.

will explain you brief if Profile 2 module will not suit for you.

cheers!