GotDrupal Video Feed

How To: Using the Drupal Flowplayer Module

Matt Petrowsky — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:07:11 +0000

Flash and its associated players are all the rage (actually have been for quite some time), except for with the iPad that is. Obviously, you can embed video into your Drupal site in a number of ways.

You can use an external site like YouTube or Blip.tv using the Embedded Media Field Module or you can implement video on your own site using the FLV Media Player Module in conjunction with JW Player.

I've already covered how you can use any of the possible flash players (JW Player or Flowplayer) in this video about SWFTools. So, what was next was Flowplayer and it's here that I've put together a video about using the Flowplayer API Module in conjunction with the respective, and required, Flowplayer flash player and javascript.

Now, you don't have to worry about downloading the Flowplayer Javascript and flash file, those are all included with the Flowplayer API Module. What isn't covered, that I show in the video, is some of the extended coolness you get with things like Flowplayer playlists.

However, if you're seeking to do REALLY cool things with video then Flowplayer API is definitely the way to go. It's going to provide the greatest level of customization (that's customization that YOU'LL have to do), with the lowest amount of overhead, of the other modules I've worked with. You'll have to get into the PHP of your theme to implement, but once you start to learn it, you'll really start to think about radical things like Views based videos series driving Flowplayer to create dynamic playlists and other cool whiz-bang features.

UPDATE: In the video, I mention that Flowplayer is becoming the most popular open source flash player. This is debatable. I should have said it's "my" favorite player. Here are some trends and insights regarding the two most popular players.

Related videos:

How To: Embedding media using SWF Tools module

How To: Boost Drupal Performance

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:27:33 +0000

It's no coincidence the title of this video corresponds with exactly what you're probably trying to do with your Drupal site. Squeeze every bit of performance you can from whatever server you're on. Shared hosting, dedicated box, virtual server, you name it. So how does the mere Drupal user or admin get stellar performance out of Drupal?

It turns out, the tried and true method for the fastest web page response is simply allowing the web server to spit back a simple html page - just like the good old days of Web 1.0.

Now, Drupal is a complex Content Management System with years of personal investment by many talented and enterprising minds. It has a feature rich database with many creative optimizations in place.

But, guess what, as cool and addictive as Drupal is, you still can't beat that simple HTML web page! So, if you can't beat 'em - then join 'em. That's exactly what the Boost module does. It's a module for Drupal which can increase the speed of your Drupal site SIGNIFICANTLY!

Unless you already know how to install and use memcached or you're REALLY cool and can wrap your brain around using EC2 and Pantheon or comfortable with a Drupal fork such as Pressflow, then Boost is the way to go - especially if you're running on a server you don't directly control.

Boost won't save your bacon if you've got thousands of authenticated users (you need the other solutions above), but for every one of those content-based anonymous-traffic web sites running on Drupal. You simply can't ignore Boost and its Drupal performance enhancements!

Drupal Menu System Demystified

SiteAdmin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:58:27 +0000

There's a mistake I've made which a few others have made too. The mistake is rushing into your new Drupal site and populating your menu right away. You simply add new menu items as placeholders until you can create or add the data. You set the menu path to something like <front>, and populate away.

The frustrating part about this, is that your menus may not work as expected - at least when expecting cascading menus using the Primary links (or any other menu) as a hierarchy. Drupal needs to have something to point to in order to build it's internal menu.

There is an option within the Devel module to flush the menu (internally known as the menu router and menu links), and this is great to know, but won't help unless the menus are linked to actual content.

This video will walk you through the 'know-how' about how the menu works internally, and how to avoid the pitfalls of making your menus do what you want. I cover three other add on modules which you can use to make your Drupal serve up the order you've placed for it (did you catch that one? - if not, do you need a Menu? - being addicted keeps you crazy.)

Modules referenced

Sites referenced

Lullabot Menu's Video

Related videos:

Drupal Menu Navigation Enhanced

How To: Leverage Drupal Taxonomy

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:59:09 +0000

While trying to think of what to write, regarding Drupal taxonomy, it was my kids’ story
last night that inspired this posting about this video covering how the taxonomy module works and what it means to your Drupal site.

Taxonomy, taxidermy, category, road kill
let’s play a matching game,
and then increase our Drupal skill.

Spend some time with synonyms,
take a break, eat M-n-M’s,
return to Content Taxonomy,
help Drupal fix the economy.

We want a killer Drupal site,
without the pain and UI blight
of something ugly, hard to use,
so let’s all learn Taxonomy and Views!

I’ve got this video
right here for you,
it covers Vocabularies
and then Terms too.

It’s great to learn what can be done,
now let’s all go and have some fun,
being addicted to Drupal stuff,
which really isn’t all that tough.

Wow! that’s not something I normally do when writing about some silly Drupal video tutorial designed to help you learn more about Drupal and how Drupal Taxonomy works. But, hey, it was fun!

How To: Drupal SEO using Nodewords for Meta tags

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:58:00 +0000

SEO is one of the more critical aspects for any web site - at least if you want to be found in the search engines. The fact that Drupal is capable of being super SEO friendly is a great benefit. However, it doesn't do you much good to simply know that Drupal is SEO friendly. With modules like SEO Checklist from Volacci you can certainly walk through the myriad of possible SEO options.

In this video, I simply walk through one of the more powerful Drupal SEO modules. The Nodewords module is what allows you to communicate, to your prospective visitors, what your content actually is and why they should visit your site - specfically, via the Description meta tag. If you only get two things from this video; 1) know that you absolutely need to use the Description meta tag and probably Keywords too and 2) use Nodewords to make it happen!

How To: Drupal debugging with Devel

Matt Petrowsky — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:47:59 +0000

Getting started as a Drupal developer can take quite a bit of time. One of the key tricks is to know what to look for, and more importantly, how to look for it.

There are number of ways to debug PHP code, the one you choose, sometimes, ends up being the only one you know about! Maybe it's time to learn a few more methods.

In this video, an experienced Drupal developer, Chris Shattuck, from Build A Module.com walks you through the use of the Devel module and how efficient it is.

How To: Embedding media using SWF Tools module

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:37:28 +0000

Yep, we're living in a media rich world (just in case you didn't notice the video on this web page <wink>). In fact, what's the second most popular search engine? Is it Bing? Nope, it's YouTube of all things (last I heard).

So, all you really need to know, is how to bring your Drupal site up to the media rich standards of the new web and activate some media modules. Personally, I've used a number of them, and I'm quite comfortable digging around with Javascript and jQuery, however, there's something to be said for the easy route.

I'm using the Flowplayer module on this site now (as of posting date), and previously, I used jQuery Media.

It wasn't until recently, where I was avoiding an upgrade to one of my podcast sites, that I decided to try out SWF Tools module. I had tried it out in the past, but found it lacking. BUT, not these days.

For audio, I like using the 1pixelout player, and seeing support for Flowplayer too, "forced" me to try it out.

While it really depends on preference, for whether to use Flowplayer proper or SWF Tools, it sure is nice to have all media managed by one module.

The trick is understanding how to get it working - and that's what this video will help you with!

How To: Using Drupal Webform for useful feedback

Matt Petrowsky — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:33:40 +0000

The Drupal Webform module is both a popular and useful module for collecting information from web site visitors.

For the most part, you can install, activate and start to create your own webforms right away. The module is pretty easy to use, well crafted and created by one of my most favorite Drupal developers.

Using webform is great when collecting valuable information, but what happens when you need a bit more. Is it possible to know where a site visitor was when they clicked on a response form? Can you determine what browser they are using, and if they use Macintosh or Windows? You sure can, and it's VERY helpful! Take a few minutes to watch this video and start collecting even more useful information.

Modules referenced

Webform [issues] - [usage]

UPDATE: 11/3/09 Unfortunately, the Webform module was updated, and some of the tips in this video no longer work as expected. Here is the reasoning and also some suggestions about how to regain some of the functionality within this Drupal support issue related to webform and SERVER variables.

How To: Drupal Panels

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:34:11 +0000

Like many other content management systems, Drupal is built on PHP. With PHP, you can dig in and make it do whatever you want. Likewise, you can dig into Drupal and make it do most everything you want - well, almost. If you're not afraid of writing PHP code, then the sky's the limit. If you're limited by the time and desire to learn PHP, then Panels is likely the way to go!

If you're seeking a high degree of control, regarding the individual building blocks which make up the output of your Drupal site, you can choose one or more of the following. In order of complexity (and decreasing silliness) you can A) generate an XSLT parsing system to re-render what was already rendered by Drupal from your own custom module built to output custom XML code, B) become a Drupal theming master (a topic for another video series) or C) use Panels and be done with it.

My suggestion is to go with 'C' and be done with it. Hopefully, this video will provide you with the head start you're looking for when working with the Panels module.

How To: Create a Drupal Calendar

Matt Petrowsky — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:30:42 +0000

In the beginning was the Event module. It was the de facto standard for managing calendar types of data. That was before CCK. Content Construction Kit saw fit to bring about many changes in the world of Drupal.

With the rise of Views module, a new era was born. Shortly after, the super talented developer KarenS created Date module and Views and Date got together. Their offspring was the Drupal Calendar module.

And from that time on, a Drupal calendar was easily possible with date and time harmony spreading across the land.

Ok, enough of the silly take on a religious beginning. What you likely want to know is how to simply add and leverage a calendar on your Drupal site. Well, how about this for simple - "Just watch the video" - "Oh, and enjoy!"

Modules used in this video

Preview: Open Atrium

Matt Petrowsky — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:12:31 +0000

I recently received a direct tweet from the folks at Development Seed with notice about the beta release of Open Atrium. Having been quite interested in seeing what they've got, I quickly downloaded a copy and got it up and running.

I decided to record the process and provide my first impressions. Bear in mind, these are first impressions and I'm not an expert (by any means) about their system. I dug into the system as a developer and skimmed through it.

If you're interested in finding out more about the actual feature set, they've got a video on this page.

Feel free to leave related comments below.

How To: Finding Drupal Modules

Matt Petrowsky — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:59:47 +0000

Maybe your experience was similar. You learned about Drupal, you thought it was great (still is) and you wanted to make it do more.

Of course, you knew about adding modules. There's a whole section on Drupal.org. You visit the site and WOW! Get ready to surf through over 4,000 modules. You'd have to spend enough time with at least 10-a-day to know what each one does.

Discovering if a) there's a module that does what you want, and b) if its name may transalte into the feature you seek (try to guess what Eldorado Superfly does without reading the description), can be an exercise in exploratory determination - determined to keep exploring that is.

So, here's a video with a few of my tips for making the search process a bit more comfortable. If you've got a helpful tip about searching for and reseaching modules, then, by all means, leave a comment on this site!

How To: Add focused Drupal search to your site

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:03:04 +0000

When it comes to search, Drupal seems to do OK by itself. However, there are a number of supporting modules which will make your Drupal's default search even better. These include Porter-Stemmer (english only), Search 404, Search by Page, Similar By Terms and many others.

If you're seekign to help an advanced user out, then modules like Search config can help with that. But what about the user who won't dare go into the hidden area of 'Advanced Search'? This is where the power is - right?

It sure is. This is where you tell Drupal what content types and categories you want to limit the search to. This is where a user, simply looking for a job on your site, which lists information about jobs, news, blogs and other items, can focus their results.

So, why don't you stop expecting the user to figure this out, and just make it happen for them! That's what this video is all about. Using the default Drupal search box and forcing it to focus on specific content types or categories. You control what Drupal searches for and you control where it shows up!

Search Related Modules

The Apache Solr project is what is used on Drupal.org. You know, where you get the cool faceted results from a search request.

Apache [issues] - [usage]

Of course, if you haven't heard about it already, the Acquia Search service make it quite easy to take advantage of the Apache Solr coolness.

Here's the code.

<?php
// All of the following code goes within template.php

/*
 * Using one of the preprocess hooks in template.php, you create a
 * variable which calls drupal_get_form on the function which creates
 * the search form
 */
function THEME-NAME-HERE_preprocess_node(&$vars, $hook) {
  $vars['focused_search'] = drupal_get_form('THEME-NAME-HERE_focused_search_form');
}

/*
 * This function will create a search form which adds a validation
 * handler which you use to append any custom search criteria
 * Note to self: Context module could be used here?
 */
function THEME-NAME-HERE_focused_search_form(&$form_state, $keys = '') {
  // Render the form to search a focused content type
  if( module_exists('search')) {
    $form = search_form($form_state, '/'. drupal_get_path_alias($_GET['q'])); // Use existing search form code
    $form['#validate'] = array('search_form_validate', 'THEME-NAME-HERE_focused_search_validate');
    $form['#submit'] = array('search_form_submit');
    return $form;
  }
}

/*
 * The validation handler added within the search form is where you make
 * any adjustments to the search handled by Drupal. You can use any
 * critera you wish, including the path or other variables available
 * within Drupal.
 */
function THEME-NAME-HERE_focused_search_validate($form, &$form_state) {
  // Using an array to determine which content type to search based on path from search form
  $content_type = array_search($form['#action'], array(
                  'vendor_item' => '/vendors',
                  'job_item'    => '/jobs/sites',
                    )
                  );
  $content_type = empty($content_type) ? '' : $content_type;
  // Initialize using any existing basic search keywords.
  // taken from node.module node_search_validate() function
  $keys = $form_state['values']['processed_keys'];
  $keys = search_query_insert($keys, 'type', $content_type); // additional seach criteria added here
  form_set_value($form['basic']['inline']['processed_keys'], trim($keys), $form_state);
}
?>

Related videos:

How To: Drupal Search using Acquia's Solr Service

Drupal Menu Navigation Enhanced

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:18:01 +0000

The Drupal menu system is very smart about when it shows menus. It knows when a user has access to the menu, based on the roles the user has, and ultimately, the permissions the user has.

This is a great feature of Drupal. However, you still need to provide some form of navigation. Out of the box, Drupal provides a Navigation menu and both Primary and Secondary links menus. No matter which one you choose to use, you can enhance this navigation by making it easy for users to get to where they want to go - or even better, help them find the content they may be interested in.

In this video, I discuss the use to two different modules in particular. Dynamic Persistent Menu and the Me modules.

The information I provide in this video can apply to many other navigation modules. It's the Me module which is providing the magic to make your users happy with accessing their content. You find information about the specifics of Dynamic Persistent Menu and creating a block based navigation area for your site. The advantage to block based navigation (as opposed to html/template based) is that an admin user, with the right permissions, can control the menu to their heart's content.

If you have more suggestions about cool navigation and menu modules then please leave them in the comments below.

Modules referenced in this video

Dynamic Persistent Menu [issues] - [usage]
Me [issues] - [usage]
Nice Menus [issues] - [usage]

Note: About the extra feature in Dynamic Persistent Menu. This is a link to the issue where I posted a patch that adds the checkbox feature of not showing submenus when the given url matches the menu which was selected.

Related videos:

Drupal Menu System Demystified

How To: Use Beauty Tips Module to Enhance Your Drupal Views

Matt Petrowsky — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:57:41 +0000

When it comes to Web 2.0, it's all about the GUI, UX, UE, WYSIWYG, FTW, WTH*. Ok, ok, enough acronyms. Let's just leave things simple. "I saw this cool feature on another web site and I want that feature too."

Typically, the feature you're seeking to incorporate entails the use of AJAX or Javascript. While the cost for adding such features used to be quite high, the use of jQuery and its firm acceptance within Drupal make things much easier.

Enter modules such as Beauty Tips, and their integration with Views, and the tasty, gooey GUI you're seeking becomes a reality.

This video presents a technique for using Beauty Tips to hover over a link, inbound from an RSS feed (pulled in via FeedAPI module), and show a quick synopsis of what the underlying link is about. The shortened body is presented within a Web 2.0 bubble, making it easy for scanning topics of interest. There are many ways to use modules such as Beauty Tips, and the presented technique is only one of many.

* (What the Heck - because WTF is just so juvenile)

Related videos:

How To: Using Drupal Views module

How To: Using Drupal Twitter Module

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:16:42 +0000

"Twitter me this, twitter me that," can anyone listen to or read any Internet media news and not hear about Twitter? Not likely these days. It seems that celebrity and competition has driven Twitter to become that latest Internet fad.

Wait as second? A fad? Well, only time will tell if that's the case. Currently (to me at least), it seems like Twitter is yet another channel for social communication between multiple parties. If you think in terms of RSS, with a 140 character limit - (some times it's better if some people talk less*) -, you simply have the same selective personal input with some useful conventions providing some uniquely new levels of information access.

So, when it comes to cutting edge, would you expect any less from Drupal? Of course not. While there are a few twitter modules on Drupal.org, I chose to focus on the Twitter module created by James Walker (walkah) of Lullabot fame.

I've covered as much as I can, to give you a strong sense of what you can do with this module and how to integrate into your own Drupal sites.

Want to know when new videos are released on this site? Just follow GotDrupal.com on Twitter.

(from asterisk above) * although they just say more in smaller chunks

How To: Edit a Drupal Blog via Blog API using blogging software

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:53:08 +0000

Whether you're an avid blogger or you simply make the occasional post, there's just something uncomfortable about editing long posts and working with pictures when you're in a web browser. If you've heard of Ecto (mac), MarsEdit (mac), ScribeFire (firefox) or any of the other popular desktop blogging clients, then chances are you'll want to use one of those tools to access and edit your Drupal blog.

Here's where the gotcha shows up. Getting things set up right!

While I love what Drupal can do, it's lacking in the area of "Where's my 'use blogging software' checkbox?". I came across this issue the other day when messing around on my personal domain. I wanted to setup Blog API and get started making some posts. On top of that, I wanted the easiest way possible to get multiple pictures into a post. Using a blogging client is the best way (read easiest) to do that - as far as I know.

So, what's the result? Well, it's the video you'll find here on this page, which walks you through most all the steps you need to know for making your Drupal blog happy with your desktop blogging client of choice. Whether you want to support a multi-user blog or just set things up for yourself.

Outside of remembering your blogging api url is http://example.com/xmlrpc.php (replace example.com with your own domain name) and that Drupal uses the Movable Type setting for connecting, there are a slew of permissions and settings to make sure you get it right before you can use that client. Fortunately, I think I've covered most everything you need to know to get things going.

HEY DRUPAL BLOGGER - SPECIAL NOTICE! I'd like to make an open invitation to other Drupal users and developers who might want to start blogging on this very site. If you'd like to blog about your Drupal experiences, and you've got a good head for writing about technical topics, then send me an email.

How To: Enhance Drupal's user access, features & control

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:57:45 +0000

Drupal is all about two things, content and management. Ok, so that was a cheesy one about Drupal being a CMS. But,the biggest advantage Drupal has, as I see it, over many other CMS's is both its flexibility and the number of contributions made to extend what it can do. Quite literly, there are new modules every week (RSS feed) which make Drupal do things you probably want it to do.

Herein lies the problem. Knowing what modules do, which ones to use and how to find them. If your goal is simply to allow other users to contribute content to your site with a degree of control over who can contribute, how they contribute and what the process is, then this video will get you started.

Using the Modr8 module [issues] - [usage], you can add moderation of content to your site. When allowing users to contribute, you can clean things up by using the Vertical Tabs module [issues] - [usage], which makes the node edit form much more clean. Finally, when it comes to allowing some users the ability to publish, without moderation, using the Override Node Options module [issues] - [usage], you can provide users with control over the node options of Published, Promoted or Sticky and allow for the Authored On and Authored By to be controlled per role.

As Drupal has proven time-and-time-again, there's very little you can't accomplish. All you need to do is either find the module or build it.

Related videos:

How To: Drupal Workflows & Automation

How To: Manage Drupal Permissions More Easily

Matt Petrowsky — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:12:30 +0000

One of the most time-consuming tasks for any new Drupal site is setting up and testing what users can and can't do. This is the realm of user permissions and role permissions. I'm guessing you've visited the checkbox maze - as I like to call it.

One of the most frustrating aspects of Drupal's Permissions screen is this; with any number of roles beyond a few, and with a large collection of modules, the task of permissions management becomes quite hazardous. The potential for "accidentally" checking one little box which gives the wrong role the wrong access and allows the wrong user to do the wrong things, it's no wonder managing Drupal permissions can become unnerving.

Enter my solution to this problem. A collection of modules which extend the level of control, make it easier to focus on the permissions that matter (relative to what you're setting up at the time), and remove the visual clutter from this extensive web page.

Here are the modules I cover in this video.

Filter Permissions module [issues] - [usage]
Better Permissions module [issues] - [usage]
Permissions Lock module [issues] - [usage]

Here are some other modules, which I didn't review in the video, that deal with permissions. They seem to provide even more control over who can do what on your Drupal site.

User Permissions [issues] - [usage]
Node permissions grid module [issues] - [usage]
Site Configuration Permissions module [issues] - [usage]
Permissions API module(for developers) [issues] - [usage]
Profile permission module [issues] - [usage]

If you've got other suggestions or ideas about making it easier to manage Drupal permissions then leave a comment below!

Related videos:

Basics: Understanding Drupal's Permissions

How To: Drupal Workflows & Automation

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:01:20 +0000

The definition of a workflow, according to Wikipedia, is a "depiction of a sequence of operations". When taken at face value, a workflow is typically something you want to automate in Drupal. In other words, what we're talking about is Drupal Automation and my guess is, you'll want to automate things in Drupal based on certain events.

The confusing part of Drupal automation is the fact that you need to know what works together to accomplish such automation. With the modules of Workflow, Actions*, Triggers* (* Part of Drupal 6 core) and Rules, it can be quite confusing when it comes to automation.

Put simply, in Drupal 6, you can still use the Workflow module (which I don't show in the video) but you can also get by with the default Triggers and Actions (as mentioned, already installed with Drupal). However, unless you know you need to install Workflow module to achieve the automation you're seeking, and potentially install Triggerunlock module (which you don't really need if you install Workflow in Drupal 6), things can get really confusing, really fast.

So, aside from trying to confuse you with the above paragraph (I did that on purpose), about all the setup and things you do or don't need, I focused a bit more on the Rules module because it's a one-stop-shop for automation which goes beyond what you can do with Triggers, Actions and Workflow.

Even though I'm a convert to Drupal's Rules module, my compliments go out to John VanDyk (whose book helped me learn Drupal even better) for creating Workflow and Actions (which I started with in Drupal 4.7) and to Wolfgang Ziegler for creating the ever powerful Rules module. I can only hope this video will provide you with most everything you need to know to automate things so you can achieve your ultimate Drupal workflow!

Note: If you're still working with Drupal 5, then Workflow, Actions, and Workflow-Ng (also by Wolfgang) will give you the automation you need. In most all cases, you'll definitely want Token module installed so you can do the cool stuff the big boys do.

How To: Using View's Relationships

Matt Petrowsky — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:40:42 +0000

Using View's Relationships is quite simply a matter of knowing how "one piece of content relates to another". If you can wrap your head around this simple concept, then all your complex Drupal views will be realized quickly.

The most common use of Views relationships will center around content types which utilize some form of "reference" field type. This will likely be either User references or Node references - but won't be limited to these field types for use in Views relationships.

Understanding how the data is stored within the Drupal database is also a big help to achieving your goals.

If you start with the data and relationships in mind first, then arriving at your ultimate goal will become much easier.

This video will showcase the use of Views Relationships in a very simple fashion. Using an example of a Department/Employee directory, we can "relate" a Department content type to the User table within a Drupal View.

Moving on from this point is simply a matter of creating more relationships. In fact, watch the video, then take this task upon yourself. Create a view which will output a Department > Teams > Employees listing and you'll have an excellent start with Views Relationships.

Here's a link to any earlier video by Andrew Morton, which I reference at the beginning of this video.

How To: Drupal Search using Acquia's Solr Service

Matt Petrowsky — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:33:58 +0000

Is there any other activity more popular on the Internet than searching? Probably not. In fact, I'd be willing to double-down on that wager (I'm on the side of searching being the most popular if it wasn't obvious).

What's that number one site on the nets? Oh yeah, it's Google - and they do search.

So, this simply means one thing. Your focus on Drupal search should be close to number one. The default search in Drupal works okay, and just a bit beyond, if you're searching for "cool" and "cool" stuff exists. However, searching for "cool" doesn't cut it when "coolness" is the title for all your cool nodes. Your users pretty much have to hit the right words spot on.

You can enhance Drupal's default search with modules such as Porter-Stemmer (which I suggest using as your fallback search) which breaks a word like "coolness" down into its stem words - ala "cool".

But you simply can't beat the Apache Solr Module in terms of allowing users to narrow down exactly what they might be looking for.

The big problem to using this module is setting up your own Apache Solr instance and running a Java-based Lucene server.

The solution to this problem is the Acquia Search service provided via the Acquia Network. After a quick 30 minute setup, I had the GotDrupal.com web site singing the glory of faceted searching. This video will provide you with all the great details about using the Acquia Search service and setting up the Apache Solr module within Drupal.

Many thanks to Robert Douglas and any one else who has been leading the charge for such a powerful searching enhancement to Drupal! This video is dedicated to you guys!

Drupal Module: Google Analytics Module

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:33:25 +0000

Metrics: Boy, do we like measuring things! Most everything in our lives is captured all around us, from the very day we are born. The very first thing they took from me was my lbs and inches and the time I popped out. This was before I even had a name.

So, I guess, it goes without saying (watch, I'll say it). We like to measure things (there, I said it). How about web traffic? Well, we'll capture that too! It used to be that you needed to install your own scripts - and - in 'em pioneering days of the 'ole web, you'd write your own Perl script to parse the 'ole web log.

Welp, them days are gone. You still might parse your own web logs (if you can access them) to get a different perspective of what your server is serving, but tracking your traffic is actually quite easy. With cloud computing and shared hosts being all the rage, the tracking you'll likely end up using is something like Google's Analytics.

If you haven't given it a try, then this video will give you a great introduction to using Drupal's Google Analytics module. Knowing who's coming to your web site, how they're finding you, what they're doing while they're there and many other juicy tidbits it one of the key motivations for running a web site. If you don't have any tracking on your Drupal site now then watch this video and get set up within a very short time!

How To: Drupal Theme Makeover

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:14:51 +0000

* See the update at the bottom of this article for info about using Photoshop to edit Aquia Marina

Becoming a Drupal Themer is one thing, knowing how to simply adjust any Drupal Theme to fit your specific needs may be much easier than you think. All over the Internet, you can find a myriad of really good, cross-browser compatible themes.

Whether it's the free themes on Drupal.org, ThemeBot or a paid theme from Top Notch Themes, any theme can be adjusted to a degree that it becomes unique to your look and feel. If you need to theme custom parts of your website, such as Views you create and areas beyond what your chosen theme may provide, then outsourcing your theme development may be the route you need to take.

But, just before you reach for your pocket book, you may want to consider how many themes already have the structure you require. It's often the "look" you want to change. If it's only the colors, fonts and images, then it's much easier than you think.

If I told you I can customize almost any theme, within an hour, to look significantly different than the original, would you believe me?

If you don't then simply watch the video!

Short List of Drupal Theme Sites

* Denotes sites which simply relist some or all (and possibly include additional) themes (although often in a more attractive way) from Drupal.org and other places around the net.

Short List of (what I consider) Attractive Themes

[UPDATE] TopNotchThemes has provided the Photoshop PSD files for modifying the theme shown in this video. My techniques shown are generally helpful in many situations, however, if you just want to modify Acquia Marina then use a copy of Photoshop and the provided PSD files. MUCH EASIER! Thanks TopNotch!

How To: Using View's Arguments

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:29:54 +0000

Views, the uber-module for pulling selective content out of your Drupal database, which formerly, only a top module developer could dream of, enables you to use arguments.

"What the heck are Views Arguments and how do I use them?"

I'm glad you asked! Using the Arguments feature of Views increases your ability to add all kinds of coolness (and may make you cool in the process).

The big trick is parsing through the thick layer of coolness provided by the feature. If you're dying to know, and just starting out, then watch this video for a great head start.

If you're already familiar with Views and using Arguments, and you're always seeking that cool little tip, then here you go.

"How do you limit a view to a User's uid value?" Meaning, how can any given view only be seen by the logged in user who owns that content.

Here's the Views Argument PHP Validator code.

global $user;
return $argument[0] == $user->uid;

SPECIAL NOTE! The above code can be used to limit access to a view using validation. I show this for the purpose of knowing about advanced usage. If you simply want to limit a view to the current user then use a Views Filter and filter based on the current user item.

Don't get it? Watch the video then. ;)