it's more than just code

drupal

Book review: Drupal 6 Social Networking

Posted Wed, 05/27/2009 - 20:08

Drupal 6: Social Networking book coverRecently I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of a new Drupal book to review: "Drupal 6: Social Networking" by Michael Peacock, a UK-based web developer and author. Having built social networks for ten years, the last five of those using Drupal, and knowing how hard it can be to know which of the many available approaches to use, I was very interested to see what the book had in store for the prospective reader.

I was pleasantly surprised as whilst the book is quite small compared to some other computer books at 280 pages, Michael managed to cover a wide spectrum of topics in a way which I believe is easy for anyone with the will to sit and try things out to master. Throughout the book he builds the "DinoSpace!", a social network for keepers of pet dinosaurs - always a good thing to do as you can build with each chapter and of course adapt to your particular needs.

Below is an overview of the chapters, followed by my conclusion then some sample content from the book to whet your appetite: read more...

HolyMoly! Celebrity gossip site gets Drupal makeover

Posted Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:39

HolyMoly logoThanks to a recommendation from our friendly local mobile app design experts Ribot, it's been a busy couple of months here at Purkiss HQ re-launching celebrity gossip site HolyMoly.com using our favourite web app platform Drupal.

Our brief for this first phase of development was to move the site over to the Drupal platform, paying special attention to the speed of the site and making sure that all existing URLs are correctly carried over to the new site.

We created a number of custom modules to deal with business-specific issues, including automatically cropping the image depending on the filename, and moving over existing user details along with their encrypted passwords. read more...

Setting up SEO-friendly URLs in Drupal 6

Posted Wed, 04/15/2009 - 15:17

We went over many topics at the Drupal 101 Workshop on Thursday April 9th 2009, I will be posting some notes here. For a more complete SEO-friendly setup for your site, download the SEO Checklist module http://drupal.org/project/seo_checklist and follow the instructions

Module requirements

NOTE: If you have downloaded the Acquia Drupal distribution from http://acquia.com/downloads then these are already included, otherwise: read more...

About

Posted Tue, 04/14/2009 - 17:49

I am passionate about encouraging the use of Free/Libre Open Source Software and enjoy coming up with new ideas using opportunities the virtual world and Free Software enable.

On a technical level, I help companies build communities around their products and services, mostly through implementing the 'community plumbing' Content Management System ('CMS') Drupal.

My career in IT started twenty years ago working for a local computer reseller helping small businesses make the most of IT. I quickly moved on to build a career out of my programming hobby and have spent most of my time working with relational databases, focusing on CMSs for the last ten years. For the last five years I have specialised in Drupal. Some of my previous clients include:

Prior to becoming freelance I worked for a CMS/Web Application Platform software house in London called RemoteApps. I was involved with a number of exciting projects during my time there, including:

  • the first online horse-racing gambling site
  • XML interfaces for online payment systems
  • Volkswagen's minisite for the New Beetle
  • B&Q's first DIY.com
  • The Foreign & Commonwealth Office

In addition to building communities for clients, I also create and build my own, for example the Drupal South East UK group.

Based in the City of Brighton and Hove on the South Coast of the UK, I partner with a number of other leaders in their respective fields in order to provide a one-stop-shop, with services ranging from User Experience Design to building properties in the Virtual World SecondLife.

If you would like to have an informal chat about how I could help you, please feel free to use my contact form or telephone 020 8144 8744.