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Book Review - Drupal Multimedia
2009-07-28 08:11:00
Finally I have found time to read Drupal Multimedia . As an active multimedia developer Aaron Winborn has this topic covered. Who is it for? You need to read this book if you are want to learn how to make Drupal pop with rich media. Helpful examples and walkthroughs for most of the well used modules are given. If you want to know more about any of these modules, or if you don't even know what these modules can do. Quick Progression Intro - CCK - Views - Themes Images for admins and editors - Creating Gallery - Teasers - Embedded Images Developing for Images    Image node - Multiple images - Resizing - Views and slideshows    Embedded Media Theming Images - Styling Views - Investigating media theming - Overiding image nodes - Image affects The middle chapters Third party video - Brief Local Video - FileField, thumbnail, logo overlays, inline File management - node referenced files - Asset module - Media moverfiles, in process files and 3rd party fil...
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Drupal, Start Here! - ebook
2009-07-25 23:00:00
Whether you?re just starting your first website or you want to do a major web-based project, Drupal is a the way to bring your ideas to life and Drupal, Start Here will help you start quickly. Drupal, Start Here is a fun, engaging tutorial that introduces Drupal and shows you how to build Drupal-powered sites quickly and easily. This friendly, fully-illustrated book starts with the absolute basics for the new Drupal user?setting up your computer to use Drupal, building your first pages, creating user accounts, and so forth. By following a series of interesting examples, you?ll learn to manage both small and large blocks of content and how to add navigational features like tags, menus, catalogs, and search. Drupal, Start Here is for readers with little or no experience with Drupal. If you?ve done websites using another technology, this book will help you use what you already know in Drupal. If you?re brand new to the web, Drupal, Start Here is a great place to start your adventure. r...
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Dispelling Node Access Fears
2009-07-19 23:29:00
Venturing into the node access realm of hooks and functionality for some reason always felt complex, so I have avoided it complete thus far, relying on various node or taxonomy access based modules (http://drupal.org/taxonomy/term/74), to handle any access issues I needed. This usually resulted in systems that were more complex or more burdensome to maintain than desired. Well, I was wrong, the node access system isn't complex, and it is powerfully efficient and optimized. Recently, I needed to implement a system to allow editing access to a node (an organization node) by multiple users, but we wanted the original node author to dole out this access instead of sending requests to the administrators. But beyond that we needed them to be able to edit all the 'product' nodes that referenced the 'organization' node. A couple modules were close to what I needed (http://drupal.org/project/nodeaccess_aut oreference, http://drupal.org/project/nodeaccess_user reference, http://drupal.or...
More About: Access , Fears

YSlow Small site review
2009-07-16 22:48:00
I always check YSlow before a new site launch, but I don't remember when they updated the look and functionality. Maybe it is the FF 3.5 version. But regardless it is great to see that the look resembles the vertical tabs from the new content editing form in Drupal 7. Click for large image. Beyond the surface change, the have also added a new Small Site or Blog setting that changes what is evaluated, CDN, Etags, Cookie Domains and AJAX compression are not used in the scoring. This is encouraging since the new site now has a score of 89. Then when I turn on CCS and JS aggregation the score jumps to 98. I imagine reducing background images and moving a few more JS scripts to the bottom would get close to a perfect 100, but I am not reaching for that number anyway. But the new scoring is great since it focuses on what small to mid-level sites can actually work on, since CDN and JS/AJAX compression is just not really workable for such sites. A score of 98 lets me know that I am reall...
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Embedded Video How To - Start Youtube mid-video
2009-07-14 02:40:00
Here is a simple trick that I learned while creating a small, fun video site on a whim. The main problem is that we wanted to start some Youtube videos at a specific interval in the video, say 30 seconds in. We were already use the Embedded Media Field set of modules of CCK (http://drupal.org/project/emfield, with the video/youtube addon modules), but mid-video starts aren't supported (yet as I will submit a patch shortly to add this functionality to the options array). I will write more about the full site build at a later time, but here is what I did to tackle this issue. I am assuming that you are familiar with CCK, EM Field modules and a bit of knowledge to theme a node template. Here is what I did: 1) Create the embedded video field for youtube ('field_song_video' in my implementation). 2) Create am integer field to hold the number of seconds into the video to start ('field_song_start' in my implementation). 3) Remove from Display on the node both of these fields. 4) Updat...
More About: Video , Start

Version Controlling your sites folder, Subversion
2009-06-06 04:59:00
While at the DC DrupalCon, I was in a lecture of how to boost you Drupal efficiency through various means and tools. One of course is to have all your code in a some version control system. Drupal.org uses CVS, while many people use Git or Subversion , and there are others besides. When using a multi-site setup, there is a need to be a bit more careful so that an update to one site doesn't affect other sites. Of course you should be using the sites folders for all the different sites in your multi-site setup (such setup is beyond the scope of this article). One way for me to keep track of all my code is to have the main code (Drupal core and the sites/all folder) in one repository. Then place each specific sites folder (sites/example1.com, sites/example2.com.....) each in their own repository. This way you cleanly separate your code out, and prevents UPDATES from hitting more code than you want it to. Doing this in SVN can be a little tricky, since I have gotten into crazy LOCKs an...
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Turning off aliasing in l()
2009-05-28 22:28:00
It is always a good things when a site grows large enough to worry about performance issues. With more users and longer reports, one site I regularly work on was having an issue building a reservation report page. Quickly I turned on Devel with its query log, checked the main query that builds the report, put it through EXPLAIN and optimized a few keys. But no real improvement was made. So I looked again at the query log, and noticed that drupal_lookup_path() was being called 1000 times (as many results in the report, and yes the Project manager wants them all on one page). So I am making 1000+ individual queries to the url_alias table, each taking only a few ms, but added together it is slowing down the report. This is what the offending line looks like: ... = l($reservation_id, 'reservation/info/'. $reservation_id); I finally realized that I don't need aliasing on those links. They simply link to the information page of a particular reservation (reservation/info/34038) which wi...

DrupalCon SFproposal support
2009-05-14 20:36:00
It is surely time to bring the North American DrupalCon back to the West Coast. Visit the DrupalCon San Francisco proposal page and express your support. And grab a badge while you are there. read more
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Hosted Memcache??
2009-04-21 19:23:00
Gear6 is creating a hosted memcache layer, http://www.gear6.com/web-cache/overview/s cale-your-web-site-applications..., that may help bring memcache to sites that don't want to set up their own memcache servers. They are hoping that be a capacity player for large companies that already have memcache server farms, as well as opening up this technology to new, mid-tier websites. I am hoping this and other like services will quickly be assimilated into the network of Drupal integration modules for performance. And by the way, the corporate and Gear6 Community sites were built with Drupal. read more
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Flying out east for DC Drupalcan
2009-03-02 18:44:00
Though Washington DC isn't as far as Boston from the SF Bay Area, the travel time will be longer with a stop over. But the North American DrupalCon is always worth the travel. Head over to the schedule to work out your days there. While I am there one goal is to seek out people who are considering Drupal/iPhone app integrations. http://www.zivtech.com/blog/simplest-drup al-iphone-app is a start and I hope to see more progress one this front. read more
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DrupalCon already filling up
2008-10-21 19:27:00
So I was on the DrupalCon Twitter feed, waiting to grab a half off ticket for the first 100 registrants. Kept refreshing, waiting for the announcement to sign up. Then I was distracted by a question on IM, came back in 10 minutes and missed it. All 100 spots taken in the first 10 minutes.Oh well, I still got in at the $175 rate. Glad to know that there is this much excitement five months out of the next DrupalCon (March 4-7, 2009). Sign up at http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/ and start submitting and reviewing session proposals. read more

Drupal gets UserFriendly!
2008-09-24 07:42:00
The User Friendly comic strip has been around over 10 years as fun take inside the world of an IT firm. But now the author the UserFriendly comic has teamed up with Manning Publications to illustrate its new Hello! Series of books, of which Hello! Drupal will be an early release. The first chapter is free online, so you can see what illustrations may look like (early draft). It is good to see more publishers taking on Drupal books, as Manning is hoping to get two out the door in early 2009, and O'Reilly is publishing Using Drupal. And of course Apress and Packt Publishing continue to push out Drupal books and Prentice Hall is evening getting into the mix with Front End Drupal. read more

AboutAirportParking.com - Drupal turns a business opportunity into Reality
2008-09-15 23:06:00
A new case study has gone public concerning the making of About Airport Parking.com. It is true that AboutAirportParking.com will not be the next world changing website, but is a clear example of how Drupal can bring commercial ideas into reality quickly and efficiently. Read the case study at http://drupal.org/node/308875 which has the following highlights: Drupal used to solve commercial opportunities Module Highlights - How it was done To CCK or not to API references - More on some customizations and how we did it Continued Development opportunities - Plans for the future Hopefully the reading is enjoyable, and the information is useful. read more
More About: Business , Reality , Opportunity

Mentioned in the Sacramento Bee
2008-09-08 22:13:00
I was recently interviewed for an article in the Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1217660.h tml concerning our Dog Parks site. It is always nice to be recognized for the hard work my wife and I have put in. read more

Didn't make it to DrupalCon Szeged, no problem
2008-09-01 19:32:00
Many like me couldn't make it to the DrupalCon in Szeged this last week. But there is no reason not to partake of the great sessions and keynote speakers. All the videos are now posted on the main session listing page. For many other sessions, the slides are attached. Thank you to all of you videographers who took the time to setup up the cameras. read more
More About: Problem , Make

Hello! Drupal Announced
2008-08-14 18:01:00
Through many crazy paths and a book proposal that some have seen already, I am embarking on writing Hello! Drupal for Manning Publications, the creator of the popular 'In Action' series. Manning has an Early Access program where some of the unedited chapters are available for free, and all chapters are available to anyone who pre-orders through the site. Currently Chapter 1, 'Drupal, A Hammer that hits many Nails' is available to the public. I also plan on writing many tutorials here as well on the Handbook pages that intersect with the material that will be found in the full book. Manning also said they can setup a direct affiliate program earning 15% of sales for Drupal.org and any partners who buy through the Drupal.org affiliation. At the Sunnyvale 2007 DrupalCon, there was a conversation about the competitive and complimentary nature of the different OS CMSs out there (Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress...) and how through all the efforts the complete solution space will be search ...

Praising Coder, easing the Drupal 6 upgrade path
2008-08-07 18:00:00
Doug Green, maintainer of the Coder Module, get all the praise this morning. On a quick vacation, I decided it was time to finally upgrade the two small modules that I maintain. I haven't used Coder in a while (though I will be using it much more now), but I knew that it had a helper for upgrading D5 => D6. And what a breeze Coder made upgrading my modules. read more
More About: Drupal , Path

What's in a Drupal book?
2008-08-05 23:52:00
I have to admit that I hadn't played with Drupal 6 all that much until most recently. So some of the cool whiz-bang features had been lost on me until then. I had ready about them on the development lists, but had not actually used them until the last month or so. The updates to the Book module, though not groundbreaking or technically cutting edge, are great usability improvements. read more

Hello! Drupal Tutorials
2008-08-05 23:22:00
I have recently endeavored to write a technical book though Manning Publication title Hello! Drupal . Having recently finished Chapter 2, I wanted to start sharing some short tutorials or helpful tips that are excerpted from the book. I hope all readers find them helpful and possibly even entertaining. read more
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Drupal and other CMSs get no credit from Google
2008-06-30 06:53:00
It is a bit tardy, but last month I attended the Google I/O conference. It was a two day conference where Google was able to showcase many of their open APIs, demonstrate how to use them, as well as having more general fireside talks about the future of HTML and a whole Social track highlighting Open Social, OpenID, and OAuth technologies. Chris DiBona gave his Open Source is Magic talk, which he gave as a keynote speaker at the Boston Drupal Con.The main reason I am writing is that most of the speakers were mentioning how many installations of a particular API are out on websites, as a testament to how easy it is for developers to use their APIs. The thing that irked me is that many CMSs like Drupal have developed wrappers for their APIs, increasing the pool of potential users beyond developers, to Drupal users. read more
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You know Drupal is taking over your life when...
2008-06-26 21:06:00
So I just had one of those moments when I realized that Drupal is creeping into all aspects of my subconsciousness. Today, a normal ordinary word morph into a Drupal related abbreviation. On the Bay Area Drupal group mailing list an email just went out with this as the subject line, "[BDUG] re: Drinks" My mind instantly wondered if this message would have some new cool links for Drupal resources. Drinks - Drupal linksNo I am not trying to redefine the word. I am just showing how pervasive Drupal has become in my head. read more
More About: Life , Taking

So many SoC projects for Drupal
2008-04-23 22:58:00
So when I am trying to explain or evaluate the value or health of an open source project, the visibility of the project to the outside world is one key indicator. That being said, the Google Summer of Code (Drupal announcement, http://drupal.org/node/249455) is a great measure to evaluate how a project is doing, and maybe where it is going, especially when compared to other like minded projects. Here is a quick breakdown of the number of projects that Google is sponsoring for a few hand picked projects. Drupal: 21 Wordpress: 8 Joomla: 15 Plone: 5 Zope: 5 Xwiki: 10 Wikipedia foundation (partial MediaWiki) 4 Moodle: 12 Djando (a python framework): 4 I might have missed another CMS/CMF project, but once again Drupal is on top in the number of projects sponsored by Drupal (one more than last year it seems). I believe this establishes that Drupal has a well running community that crafts acceptable projects that are well staffed, both from the student and mentor side. So many sponsored pr...
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Drupal can be Pretty, a Religious Experience
2008-03-04 05:25:00
Drupal sometime gets a bad name because designers have a hard time theming the site. It is true that you need to know more PHP than a designer ever wants to know, but if you get a good theme implementor, working along side your design, you can get sites look like this: Vintage Faith Church: My church needed a website that they could updated more easily than flat HTML files through Dreamweaver, and one that would use an in house designer, with custom art an photography donated by the community. They also have a Drupal developer willing to theme and implement the entire site. (Showcase page on DrupalCon, Boston, vote for the designer! (I just implemented it)) read more
More About: Drupal , Experience , Pretty , Religious

A Drupal Reference, jQuery in Action
2008-03-04 02:26:00
Well, Drupal 's visibility is surely rising. I bought a jQuery book for reading on the long flight home once Boston DrupalCon, 2008 is over (yes, I will blog about it later). In jQuery in Action in the introduction, the author is giving examples how jQuery is taking the JavaScript world by storm, 'winning the support of major websites such as MSNBC, and well regarded open source projects including SourceForge, Trac and Drupal' (emphasis added).Three cheers for Drupal and for the start of another great DrupalCon. read more
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Dog-Park-USA.com, A Drupal/Google Maps site on a dime
2008-02-20 17:26:00
I have written up the complete case study/showcase description at http://drupal.org/node/224003. Here is the intro quote: Dog Park USA is a testament to the leverage Drupal as a Content Management Framework (CMF) gives web site developers. With the large array of core and contributed modules, and a bit of experience, the short time it takes to get a functioning site up and ready for content contribution can be astonishing.Since my wife and I are developing this site in our spare time, our limiting factor is time. Re-inventing the wheel is not something we want to do, and with the speed, breadth and depth of Drupal, its contributed modules and its great community, we didn't need to. The article contains brief descriptions of how we created the desired functionality through Drupal's module, links to all the pertinent module, themes and support documents, followed by some points of customization that really made the site our own. read more
More About: Google , Site , Google Maps

Boston DrupalCon will be great, best ever (until the next one)
2008-02-06 22:42:00
Even though I will only be able to attend Monday/Tuesday and Wednesday until lunch (a company off-site is scheduled the same week), the proposed sessions were more than enough for me to make the trip out. Glad to know that Dries' State of Drupal will be on Monday, and I am hoping that the schedulers frontload Monday/Tuesday with the best sessions. There will be more than I can physically attend I am sure. read more
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Boston DrupalCon will be great, best ever (until the next one)
2008-02-06 22:42:00
Even though I will only be able to attend Monday/Tuesday and Wednesday until lunch (a company off-site is scheduled the same week), the proposed sessions were more than enough for me to make the trip out. Glad to know that Dries' State of Drupal will be on Monday, and I am hoping that the schedulers frontload Monday/Tuesday with the best sessions. There will be more than I can physically attend I am sure. read more
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Drupal Link To Us Module
2008-02-03 05:33:00
Quickly wanted to announce that I have created a Link to Us module that creates a page to display uploaded banners that can be used by others to link to your Drupal site. The module will create well formed SEO links with full title, alt and anchor text determined by the node title, taxonomy term or other pages that are directed to the module. This allows users or writing contributors the ability to use consistent banners to link to your site. Also, link campaigns have a natural page that can be used to establish consistent, well formed links. A demo can be found at the sponsoring site. read more
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Drupal.org possibly over using nofollow attribute
2008-01-18 07:13:00
I know I missed the initial discussion when the ?rel=nofollow? attribute was attached to all ?Filtered HTML? content by turning on the ?Spam link deterrent? function, but I believe using the nofollow attribute on all these posts is detrimental to Drupal .org. It is true that link spam is always an issue for major sites, but the current solution is not fairly applied and is detrimental to search engine results. First, when most links are marked as nofollow, the true internal (or organic) structure of the site is discounted, and the programmatic menu links are the only form of organization. Secondly, the users that have access to the ?Full HTML? filter don?t get their links marked, while the rest of us are marked as nofollow, which seems less than fully equitable. I am only bringing this up since I believe it may impact the future growth of Drupal.org, even if just a little bit. read more
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Blogging with my wife
2007-12-28 20:46:00
So my wife's dog park site is still picking up steam, and we decided to see if a regular blog will help with backlinks, traffic and in general round out the site a bit. Her dog blog was super easy to set up in Drupal. Since we won't be opening up blogging for everyone, I decided to make a CCK node type, and a few custom views to recreate the blog feel that is needed. I made a separate free tagging vocabulary for her to use, as we placed Tagadelic on to create a tag cloud. As always, theming took long than the module setup, but the whole thing done in just a few hours. Now we just need to publish a regular stream of dog pictures, info and news along with the steady updates of new dog parks. read more
More About: Wife , Blogging