Drupal
Contextual Help in Module Development
One of the findings of the Drupal usability testing at UMN in February was that users like, use and like to use contextual help. Many of the participants explicitly said that they would have liked more of it during their evaluations and in debriefing.
As a developer it is difficult to anticipate where contextual help is appropriate, needed or perhaps why it's even necessary. While usability testing is possibly the only way to effectively determine exactly where contextual help is needed and useful and where it's not, I think this example might help developers understand when where and why contextual help is likely to be helpful. This is part of developing sympathy for the user.
The Top Modules On My List
At the Vancouver DrupalCamp there were, of course, the inevitable questions about what modules people use regularly. Boris suggested at one point that people should add to the growing body of information out there about popular modules.
So here is my short list of modules i use on nearly EVERY site:
- CCK, plus various cck field modules like link, imagefield
Source: CivicActions blogsBookmark/Search this post with:
Search Sprint Conclusion
The Minnesota Search Sprint is unofficially over. Earnest, Djun, and Blake have already left. Chad is local, but I've said goodbye to him too. Robert and I leave tomorrow. And David is vacationing a few extra days in sunny Minnesota (because it's warmer than Montreal???).
DrupalCamp Vancouver Success
DrupalCamps help bring out creativity. This weekend I attended Vancouver's DrupalCamp, and I really enjoyed myself. On top of it, I am always amazed by talking with others at these types of events. Other developers who I think really know their stuff said to me, "The camps are great. They remind of how much more I need to learn." I thought they knew it all!
New Drupal Book - Selling online with Drupal e-Commerce
Selling Online with Drupal e-Commerce is Packt's new book, written by Michael Peacock, aimed at users wishing to create an online store, and uses Drupal and its e-Commerce modules to achieve this. With more and more websites aiming to integrate all of their components to give a more slick and streamlined effect for users - by using Drupal e-Commerce, the site and the store are already integrated providing both a powerful website and a powerful online store.
DrupalCamp Vancouver 2008: Information Architecture Slide Deck
Attached you'll find the latest revision of "my" IA presentation at DrupalCamp Vancouver 2008. This presentation has been evolving since DrupalConBarcelona.
DrupalCamp Vancouver 2008: Panles 2 Slide Deck
Attached you'll find my slide deck from Your Introduction to Panels 2. This was a really fun talk to present, and the room was packed. I hope people found it useful and if you attended and have any feedback, please let me know so i can sharpen the presentation for DrupalCamp Seattle.
Search Sprint Day One
LIVE FROM THE MINNESOTA SEARCH SPRINT...
The sprint team of Robert Douglass, Blake Lucchesi, Djun Kim, David Lesieur, Chad Fennel, Earnest Berry, and myself, began work at 8am on this uncharacteristically warm sunny May day at the University of Minnesota.
Drupal's Earl Miles on Lullabot Podcast
Jeff Robbins from Lullabot recently interviewed Drupal developer Earl "MerlinofChaos" Miles for an audio podcast. Earl Miles is the lead developer for some of the more popular contributed modules found at Drupal.org. The podcast focuses on his Drupal module work which includes Views, Panels, and Node Queue. Jeff Robbins also managed to ask some non-Drupal questions in the 88 minute recording that I found just as fascinating. Personally, I always enjoy opportunities to get to know more about the developers behind the software I'm using.
ACLU's "Freedom Files" Season 2
Many folk don't know that the ACLU has a TV series called "The Freedom Files". Season 2 can be seen on PBS stations throughout the country. Episodes can also be viewed online at aclu.tv which we re-launched for the new season recently.
Way We Work: Using Flickr for Inspiration
What is one of the best tips to get out of the creative slump? Need to find that extra juice for your Drupal theme?
It may be simple, but I love to use Flickr for my inspiration!
Flickr has millions of photos, and thousands of groups to showcase amazing work.
Vandelay Design has compiled a list of 99 Flickr groups to help get you unstuck, such as:
Search Sprint Pre-Plan
In the spirit of the "Data Sprint," and the "Testing Sprint", Friday 5/9 through Sunday 5/11, we are meeting in what is being dubbed the "Search Sprint" at the University of Minnesota.
The good news is that CivicActions is busy! The bad news is that I had hoped to prepare more, but this date has really snuck up on me. My plane leaves tomorrow, and I've neglected preparing at all. I was asked to write this blog several weeks ago (sorry).
DrupalCamp Bangkok: Saturday, May 24th, 2008
We will hold the first-ever DrupalCamp in Thailand on Saturday, May 24th, at the conference facilities of Inet, on the 13th floor of the Thai Summit Tower, Petchaburi Road, just east of the Ratchadaphisek / Asoke intersection.
We will also be running a full-day "Intro to Drupal" track that will cover everything from setting up a basic install to intermediate skills of customizing with modules, CCK and Views.
More details on the time and place (with map): http://www.barcampbangkok.org/where-when...
The event will be barcamp-style, which means that it's open to everybody, but everybody should come ready to participate. Be prepared to talk on a topic of your own choice as well as listening to, sharing with and learning from other people interested in Drupal. Topics are not set before hand--so we set teh agenda on the day of the event so everybody can propose topics and vote for the topics that interest them.
Advanced Forum road map
Despite the fact that Advanced Forum for D5 is alpha and the D6 version has a warning not to use it, there seems to be an awful lot of people using this module. While I've had a "to do" post up on the DruBB group for some time, I haven't written out my "plan of attack". So I decided to write up a roadmap so people can have an idea of where I'm headed. Some of this is straight copied from my post on the drubb group and some is new. Hopefully it will be helpful to people using the module. I'm going to enable comments for the moment but please do not use this for posting support/feature requests. Use the issue queue.
This is the plan:
DrupalCamp Vancouver 2008: CivicActions Sessions Selected
Earlier this weekDrupalCamp Vancouver Sessions were announced and 2 by CivicActioners were among them. Robin's session on "Introduction To Module Development" will be on Friday and 2pm. I heard Robin give a this talk for Six Hour Startup folks a few weeks ago, and even though I am no developer, it sounded great and others seemed to benefit from it.
