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Jan 20 2011

Learn about Git - the Fast Version Control

Posted by Katy | Categories:

I'm looking forward to attending How to Git Going with Git, our next Surrey Drupal meetup on Feb. 10th and learning all about Git. Here are some resources to read to give you a jumpstart on learning Git.

What are other articles and resources on learning Git do you recommend?
Jan 20 2011

Feb. 10th: Surrey Drupal Meetup: How to Git Going with Git

Posted by Katy | Categories:
Are you new to version control? Or experienced in another tool such as CVS or SVN? This talk will bring you up to speed on why a distributed version control system such as Git is right for your projects.

Learn why Git is a great tool to use for your individual projects and the reasons why Drupal.org is moving from CVS to Git. Shawn, a web developer experienced in using Git, will be presenting on the basics of Git - the fast version control.
Dec 31 2010

Happy New Years & Exciting Events in Jan 2011

Posted by Katy | Categories:

Happy New Years, everyone!  Some exciting events happening in the next 2 weeks.

Jan. 5, 2011   Drupal 7.0 is due to be released! Wahoo!
 
Jan. 7, 2011   Vancouver Drupal 7.0 Release Party. Bring food and drinks to share for the potluck starting at 7pm. For more info, see http://www.meetup.com/surrey-drupal/calendar/15840616/
 
Jan. 13, 2011  Surrey Drupal Meetup: Our very own Scott Morgan, freelance Drupal consultant with www.webzoa.com, will be presenting on How to Build a Photo Gallery using Views Attach and Node Reference URL modules. For more info, visit http://www.meetup.com/surrey-drupal/calendar/14698461/
Dec 19 2010

Happy Holidays from SeascapeWebDesign.com

Posted by Katy | Categories:

Happy Holidays from SeascapeWebDesign.com

 

Dec 15 2010

10 Tips to Promote Your Facebook Page - Dec. 2010

Posted by Katy | Categories:
In my last newsletter, I wrote about How to create a Facebook page to promote your business on Facebook.com. With 10 days left until Christmas, I have provided 10 tips on how to promote your Facebook page so you will get many new visitors. I hope you find these tips helpful. Thank you very much for receiving my newsletter. Send me your questions and topics for future newsletters. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

1. Create Fresh content so people will like to visit your Fan page. One of the best ways to do this is to import your blog content into your Fan page. Simply RSS provides an easy way to add feeds to your profile. Now you can easily share your blog, favourite feeds and shared items in Google Reader on your fan page.

Dec 15 2010

Best Free Tool of the Month - SendSpace.com

Posted by Katy | Categories:

SendSpace.com is the best free online tool that I have used this month. You can create an account for free. And then upload your large compressed files that you need to send to friends and colleagues. I've used this tool several times this month to send large zip files containing all the site files, images and a copy of the database. You upload the file to the site to the specified folder, enter the recipient's email address and volia! It sends them an email notifying them that they can click on this link and download their file. Check it out at www.sendspace.com

Dec 4 2010

Before you launch your Drupal website

Posted by Katy | Categories:
This is a checklist of must have modules before you launch your website:
 
1. Backup and Migrate – this module is so important I don’t know why it’s not in core or at least included in the Acquia bundle. You can schedule your Drupal site to make daily database backups and keep the last 4 copies on your server. You can also download the database to your desktop or external hard drive. There is a patch available so you can use Backup Migrate with Dropbox. http://drupal.org/project/backup_migrate
 
2. Poormanscron – this handy module performs housekeeping duties necessary to maintain the health of your Drupal website. It’s so important that it is now included in Drupal 7 core. You can schedule cron.php to run every 24 hours. You also need to run cron to check the update status of your installed Drupal modules http://drupal.org/project/poormanscron
 
3. Mollom – This free module will keep the spammers away from adding multiple comments to your blogs and forums. Go to http://www.mollom.com.
 
4. Captcha – Mollom doesn’t yet work for your Drupal webforms, so use Captcha to kill spam on your webforms and newsletter subscribe boxes. http://drupal.org/project/captcha
 
5. Google Analytics – take advantage of Google’s free web analytics program and set up Google Analytics. You will need to go to Google.com and sign up for an account. Cut and paste your special number into the Drupal module and you’re good to go. Google Analytics tracks how many users visit your pages and where they come from, what keywords they used to find your website and many more important statistics.  http://drupal.org/project/google_analytics

Question for Discusson:
What are 3 of your favourite must-have modules that would make your pre-launch checklist?
Nov 29 2010

How to transfer your Drupal website from one server to another

Posted by Katy | Categories:
There are many different ways to recreate your Drupal website on another server. Some people use phpMyAdmin tool to create a database dump for the original site and import it into a new database on the target server. However, I have found that this method doesn’t work very well. Many times the database import does not complete because the operation times out. The cache tables are too large and the operation times out before it can be completed.
 
The best way to transfer your Drupal site from one server to another is to use the Backup and Migrate module. Use the default settings and the cache tables will not be saved in your backup. You don't need them anyways.
 
1. Make a complete backup of all your Drupal website files
2. Use Backup Migrate module to make a backup of the site database. Use the default settings. Choose Gzip and download to your desktop computer.
3. Copy all Drupal files to root directory
4. Use phpMyAdmin to create a new database, user and password. Write down the details.
5. Run yoursitename.com/install.php
6. Fix any error messages and permission issues. Register Globals needs to be disabled.
7. Enter database name, user and password for database you created in step 4.
8. Go to Site Building > Modules in your Admin Menu and look for Other category. Enable Backup Migrate module. Click Save Configuration.
9. Go to Content Mangement in your Admin Menu and choose Backup & Migrate
10. Choose Restore database and choose the gzipped database file you made in Step 2.
This will restore all your database settings and content from the original Drupal website
11. Check the settings for Site Configuration > File System. Many servers have different paths for the /files  and /tmp folders
12. Test your website to see that all pages are functioning properly.
13. Check Reports > Status Report. If you are transferring your Drupal website from a Microsoft server to a Linux server or vice versa, you will most likely need to run update.php to make sure your database structure is correct. Even if you are transferring from one Linux server to another, you will probably need to run update.php. Be sure to put the site off-line first.  Go to Site Configuration > Site Maintenance and choose site off-line.
 
I hope you find this article helpful. Please leave your comments below. I look forward to hearing from you. :-)
Nov 22 2010

Hot Drupal topics – what new module or technology are you excited about?

Posted by Katy | Categories:
Join other Drupal enthusiasts at the Surrey Drupal Meetup. Our next meetup is Dec. 9, 2010 at 7pm.

Come prepared to share your favourite new module, your best site recipe or hot new technology. Let’s discuss. Will HTML 5 replace Flash? Does Drush make developer’s job easier? What Drupal Distributions have you tried?

Please RSVP if you'd like to join us. For more information and to sign up:
http://www.meetup.com/surrey-drupal/calendar/14698457/

Nov 22 2010

Drupal in a Day: Training for Beginners

Posted by Katy | Categories:
The Vancouver Drupal In A Day Workshop is a hands-on introduction to building a web site using the free, open-source content management system Drupal. We will cover questions like "What can Drupal do?", "Why choose Drupal?", and general concepts of on-line content management with a database behind your web site. Then we'll work through the basics of setting up a Drupal site.

This workshop is suitable for Drupal beginners.

The Drupal in a Day Workshop is presented by the Vancouver Drupal User Group.

Requirements:

Attendees must provide their own computers with wireless connection and working web browser.

Goals

  • People attending the workshop will come away with a good understanding of what Drupal does and what types of sites it can be used for.
  • They will be exposed to the basics of building a site in Drupal.
  • They will be exposed to the modules most people use to build Drupal sites.


For more information and to register:
http://vandrupalworkshop2010.eventbrite.com/