On Tuesday, February 9th at 6:30pm the Atlanta Drupal User Group (ADUG) will be hosting a very special event at our location sponsor, Matrix Resources. Our discussion will be predicated around the Drupal distribution called Open Publish (OP) that was created by Washington DC based consultancy, Phase2 Technology. Most notably, Phase2 was one of the lead development firms for the high profile launch of WhiteHouse.gov. Jeff Walpole and Frank Febbraro, Partners at Phase2, will be flying to Atlanta to talk about late breaking developments (including the new release of Open Publish v1.7), the vision of OP, and showcase how OP is helping a myriad of publishing-based websites. read more »

As more organizations continue to build sites on Drupal, an estimated 400,000+ at last count, the issue of search engine optimization (SEO) becomes even more paramount. Not only do customers demand an amazingly built site, but they need to employ techniques that drive higher conversions and overall traffic. At the Drupalcamp Atlanta event last Fall, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Ben Finklea. Ben is the founder of Volacci, a highly specialized consulting firm that is building a practice around helping Drupal businesses gain maximum site visibility. Ben has been busy speaking at regional Drupal events, conducting webinars, blogging, etc. and as a result become the leading voice on the Drupal SEO front. Most notably, he just released the only book on the subject called Drupal 6 Search Engine Optimization. read more »

Eclipse is a powerful open source IDE built on Java that has been around since 2001 and has become quite useful tool for PHP development, including Drupal. This post is meant to give some rationale on why to use this platform for Drupal development and get you oriented as soon as possible. With Eclipse, there is definitely a learning curve, but if you give it a chance I’ll think you’ll find it an indispensable resource for your toolbox. read more »

There was a new white paper titled "TCO for Open Source Social Publishing: Going Beyond Social Business Software" just released from our partner, Acquia, that deserves spotlight recognition. The document is a must-read for anyone on the front-lines of selling Drupal services. Open-source software (OSS) evangelists have rightfully asserted that platforms like Drupal save organizations the two success factors they crave the most: money and time. However, a quantifiable, written analysis to back these claims was significantly lacking. This paper helps fill that void. read more »

We recently completed a 2010 long-range planning meeting for our Atlanta Drupal User Group (ADUG) meetup. Our pseudo-committee consists of five to seven key organizers, and we have intentionally kept the structure fairly informal. We conduct presentations on the third Tuesday of every month in a training center that is provided by Matrix Resources (large staffing agency). In addition, we have more hands-on workshops that meet on the second Tuesdays of each month that will be moving to a co-working space (Ignition Alley) conference room next year. read more »

The Drupal community is eagerly awaiting its newest release. At this point, the co-maintainers have held the position that Drupal 7 will be released "when it is ready" - in essence, when all the critical issues have been addressed. A list of the remaining bugs can be found on drupal.org under the contributor links in the right sidebar. This post will summarize some of the major differences one can expect to find in Drupal 7. read more »

This Tuesday I will be moderating the Atlanta Drupal User Groups (ADUG) meetup for what should be a fun night. We will divert from our normal routine of more structured presentations and conduct an Open Mic Night. Here are all the details:

PROGRAM: "Open Mic Night"
WHEN: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 6:30 pm
WHERE: MATRIX Resources

This meetup will be an opportunity to give a succinct 5-10 minute presentation on any Drupal related subject that you choose. Your topic can range from showcasing a recent project you are working on, sharing your favorite module, gaining group feedback on a Drupal site, or asking that question you just can’t seem to find an answer to on any of the forums. read more »

One of the over-riding goals of the Drupalcamp Atlanta organizers was to provide as much video footage of the event as possible in order to share back to the community at large. We also heard from a lot of people that had a conflict of interest with the date, were turned away by the weather, or may have attended, and wanted to see two or more sessions that overlapped.

Thanks to some Herculean efforts by folks like Atlanta Drupal User Group members Utzu Logigan and David Fugate our vision is nearing a reality. The video crew has been meticulously editing and processing a lot of footage the last few weeks. We are proud to release 20 videos, and still have several more left to complete – I am told the remaining coverage should be done within a few weeks. read more »