Mediacurrent Blog Posts - Business... | Mediacurrent Interactive Solutions

Isaac Sukin
Contact the Author

My (Drupal) Google Summer of Code Experience

Aug 27, 2010

The Micropublisher

This summer I was a mentor for the Google Summer of Code program for Drupal. I maintain the Facebook-style Statuses module, which allows users to have a stream of “status updates” on their user profiles and to write messages on other users’ profiles, like Facebook. So when I had the chance to mentor the Facebook-style Micropublisher proposal, which built on Facebook-style Statuses to allow attaching images, links, and video to status updates, I jumped on it.

The result was a resounding success, and I learned a lot during the process. Nitin Gupta, the student driving the project (and better known to some as publicmind) was an extraordinary developer in the true Drupal spirit. He gracefully put up with my pickiness about coding style, thoroughly researched the best code architecture for our purposes, and even identified places where Facebook-style Statuses itself could become more flexible. I truly believe that Nitin will remain committed to the module he created, and that both of us are better Drupal developers as a result of this process. read more »

0 Comments

Isaac Sukin
Contact the Author

An Analysis of Acquia's Drupal Commons

Aug 19, 2010

Drupal Commons

Drupal Commons is a Drupal distribution billed as “social business software.” That means that Acquia is distributing Drupal bundled with some other modules preconfigured to work as a company’s interactive user-facing website. Drupal Commons 1.0 was released on August 5th. read more »

18 Comments

Paul Chason
Contact the Author

Autotrader.com Launches Drupal Car Buying Site

Aug 5, 2010

DrivenByYou.com represents a new approach to buying cars online. Traditional online car buying guides users to shop for automobiles by selecting a make, model or year as the first step of the buying process. Autotrader.com decided to take lessons learned from shoppers at brick-and-mortar auto dealerships and apply them to an online car buying experience. Realizing that most brick-and-mortar car buyers seek out local dealership offers and specials prior to selecting a make and model, Autotrader.com sought to make online car shopping easier and more intuitive. By applying the same "first step" that car shoppers normally take when shopping local dealerships in person, DrivenByYou.com facilitates a quicker method for buyers to drill down to a vehicle that's within their purchasing budget. read more »

2 Comments

Isaac Sukin
Contact the Author

How I Got Involved: Social Networking in Drupal

Jun 28, 2010

Excitement!

I got involved with Drupal in 2007 when I decided I wanted to build an online community of young people interested in politics in order to encourage their interest and activism. I was in way over my head; I had dabbled with a number of desktop programming languages, but I had never built a website. I got my first hosting account on my dad's recommendation, and it came with an installer for a large number of open-source software in a variety of categories. I researched each one, and it ultimately came down to Drupal or Joomla! as the only options that could potentially fulfill my vision of vibrant forums, in-depth blogs, stunning image galleries, relevant news, timely events, thorough user profiles, and close-knit groups. I ended up choosing Drupal 5 mainly because, as someone who had no idea what a CMS was, Drupal.org actually explained what Drupal was supposed to do for me. I was also put off by the number of paid add-ons for Joomla!, as my budget was zero. read more »

1 Comment