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 »

Recently, there has been a major focus on education and training from within the Drupal community – and with good reason. Dries himself has emphasized the importance of training-related initiatives on several occasions, since the future of Drupal hinges on constantly fostering new talent. One of the ideal ways to advance the Drupal community is by mentoring new individuals (developers, designers, users, etc.). There are a number of awesome endeavors like the Google Summer of Code that are tremendously beneficial to the Drupal project. There are also Drupal-centric consultancies, like Mediacurrent, who may have implemented their own Drupal summer intern program or others that have been contemplating. We just finished our first internship program, and this post will share some thoughts from our experience. read more »

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 »

As a Drupal developer, I am constantly trying to streamline and generally make my processes as efficient as possible. With that said, I have seen tremendous value incorporating Features in just about everything that I do Drupal-related. Recently, I shared a snapshot at a Mediacurrent staff meeting of a more in-depth presentation I would like to do at the upcoming Drupalcamp Atlanta. Basically, I go over the highlights of Features with a short 'how-to' tutorial and then some notes on the general methodology I use when setting up a site. Again, I have gotten into the habit of using Features quite extensively (you could say Everywhere) on my projects so I thought I would share my approach. Oh yeah, please vote for the session or share any feedback on what I can do to enhance the presentation. I would greatly appreciate it. read more »

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 »

The next meet-up of the Atlanta Drupal User Group (ADUG) welcomes a very special guest this Thursday, August 5th from 8 – 10pm EST at Gordon Biersch in downtown Atlanta. We are fortunate to have none other than Dries Buytaert the original creator of Drupal himself. There will be no formal presentation or agenda, but this free event will offer plenty of time for talking Drupal and networking. Dries and a few of his colleagues from Acquia happen to be in town for business, and they were very receptive to hanging out with the local Drupal community. We will have two billiards tables reserved and a large meeting space at our disposal. read more »

Drupalcamp Atlanta 2010 is now open for registration and will be held on Saturday, October 2nd from 8am – 5pm at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Our mission and purpose is twofold: (1.) we want to educate people about Drupal and (2.) further evangelize Drupal within our geographic region. The 2nd annual Drupalcamp Atlanta is an attendee driven, completely volunteer initiative modeled after the open, participatory nature of barcamps. We are offering four tracks this year: (1.) Drupal for Beginners (2.) Design, Theming, and Usability (3.) Development and Performance and (4.) Drupal for Business and Services. If you are new to Drupal we definitely want you to come – in fact, during registration we have carved out space and time for a "Drupal Installfest" before the sessions start. read more »

Recently I’ve given presentations on Social Networking in Drupal. In my mind, status updates are a central tenet of any successful social networking platform, which is why I built the Facebook-style Statuses module for Drupal. There’s more to social networking than status updates though. In this post I’m going to go through some of the standard features of social networks to identify some of the places I hope Drupal will grow. read more »

Since giving a presentation on social networking in Drupal, a number of people have asked me which “friend” module they should use. It’s a good question, and the answer is of course that it depends on your site. This post should explain the relative advantages and disadvantages of both to help you choose which one will work the best for you. read more »

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 »