First of all, somehow this line got stuck in my head when I thought about starting a thread about tutoring here - "I'm not completely incompetent!" LOL... I think that was from Get Smart? Gotta love Steve Carell.
Anyway, yes, tutor... I had spoken about my "Environmentally Conscious Food Directory" idea, I've actually tried to learn Drupal and in the end, decided to hire some professional help to create the site so I could 1) get it up & running ASAP and 2) learn from his finished product so I could get a jump start... making that leap from beginner to intermediate level.
Now that I've met so many of you bright people, I thought may be I don't have to wait until my site is finished? Perhaps I can learn from some of you?
Basically, I can see that to adequately realize Drupal's power, I need to learn to use CCK and Views good! So that's the main topic. Other than that, I also need to use the i18n module at a high level - one thing that I am having real trouble with now is that my site is being developed in Drupal 5, but I just found out recently that the i18n module in D5 doesn't allow a node to have multiple languages! This is a major problem for me!! What I'm hoping to do now is to learn enough from you and from my site when it's finished, and I'll probably try to convert it to D6 myself. (I can't afford to pay the developer to make the changes now.)
Your thoughts or advices are welcomed, please feel free to comment or email me directly! Thanks!
Comments
Upgrade before it's too late
I'm not sure why your developer choose D5, he must have had a good reason, but I recommend moving to D6 while you still could. It is easier to make the move whilst your website is still under development.
In regards to tutorials, for
In regards to tutorials, for our first meetup I'd be happy to give an overview of CCK, Views, and maybe Nodequeue too. I think having a projector would be necessary. So if the gentleman from HK Magazine who offered his home would please let us know when you'd be available to host. Or if someone else has access to a projector and/or space for a dozen people, speak up.
@cloneofsnake I wouldn't be too worried. There's always temptation to jump into the latest/greatest version, too early. I've only just begun rolling out new sites in Drupal 6 in the last month. I don't think there's any "too late" that you need to worry about. The area that will probably require the most work in moving to Drupal 6 will be with your theme. Or with your custom modules if you have any. In theory if you wait to make the move, the update process of all you contrib modules will be bug free and that side of things should be pretty painless. Not so if you try an upgrade now. Many of the field modules (imagefield, filefield, emfield, etc.) are only in alpha and do not yet have an update path.
On the topic of multi-language nodes in D5, though I have no experience with it, I did come across the localizer module.
Dave Hansen-Lange
Web Developer
Advomatic LLC
East Asia Office
Hong Kong
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Dave Hansen-Lange
Director of Technical Strategy, Advomatic.com
Pronouns: he/him/his
Intro, Intermediate, Advanced
What do you guys think about having three sections: Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced ? I think there is probably something everyone could gain from each, and it might be a way to keep all level participants engaged.
I have to agree with Dave on the D5/D6 issue. There is no loss in learning Drupal in v5 form, and you may actually find a lot more support for more obscure issues as it has had longer to mature, and has more active users/developers.
That said, if your installation isn't terribly complex, maybe you can have a look through the contributed modules available for D6 (they are growing pretty rapidly) and see if they are likely to fulfill your needs. D6 has some yummy improvements I would love to use in production (firmly stuck in D5 for a while I am afraid).
/// Drupal Offline ///
What do you guys think about Thursdays? 7ish? Maybe order a pizza?
Antonio Licon
Web Developer
Asia City Publications
(HK Magazine guy)
Pain in life is necessary. Suffering is optional.
Meet-ups and Upgrade screencast
@spyderboy: Splitting the tutorial sessions into 3 levels sound great but I think it'll be great if we could start off the initial sessions with ice-breakers to get a chance to know our fellow developer and the difficulties they face. So, I'd suggest an open discussion be part of these meet-ups where each person with a specific question could present it to the group and we all try to help him/her. I think once members get to know each other and are not shunned when asking silly questions these meet-ups will be more fruitful.
@cloneofsnake: Sorry to sound like a scaremonger in my previous comment. I said "before it's too late" because D6 is now the recommended version for new sites and it comes with a horde of new features and security fixes. I agree with Dave that the most work involved is on custom themes and modules, if you have any. D6 has been out for more than half a year and most of the more popular contrib modules have also upgraded. Unless there is something specific you need in D5 I don't think it is worth sticking to it, especially as you're already considering an upgrade and an upgrade is eminent down the line. I found a screencast which shows how painless it is to upgrade:
http://www.masteringdrupal.com/screencast/upgrading-to-drupal-6
That said, if there is something you can't live without only available in D5 it is better to wait or if you're so far down the road in terms of development then maybe an upgrade is something to consider at a later stage. Hope this helps :)
Problem w/ being a noob
Tony, Thursday 7'ish? As in Thursday the 18th? or the 25th?
Dave, thanks for pointing out the Localizer module, I had only researched into the i18n module as suggested by the developer I hired.
One of the problems with being new to Drupal is that we don't know what kind of modules we need in order to fulfill the functional requirements! I actually started to learn Drupal on the day ver. 6 came out, I got the news, downloaded it, then went on to mess w/ the theming stuff hoping I could recreate my wordpress blog in D6. After a while, it became apparent that theming is NOT what I needed to learn, I did some more research and found out how important CCK & Views were, but they weren't on D6 yet! So, it was back to D5 for me. I realized the learning curve is too steep so I decided to hire someone to give me a running start. Yadi yadi yada, here I am.
I'm really happy that the local HK Drupal group is so responsive and eager to help out. When I ask questions on Drupal.org's forum, more often than not I don't get any response! For our first meeting, I like caphun's open discussion idea. Let's all give a little examples of what sorts of Drupal sites we had built... perhaps sharing best practices... for noobs like me, may be I can show what steps I had taken to learn Drupal... and where I got stuck or confused... I think that can be good feedback for the Core's future development, may be?
BTW, anyone going to Agile HK's "Toys vs. Software, Fight!" event next Tues? http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=26819316452
Drupal sites recipes
for getting to know what modules need to build what kind of site, you can check out the "site recipes" section in the drupal.org handbook. http://drupal.org/handbook/site-recipes
From there I have learned so much, it is just my experience.
Agile Hong Kong
I'll be at the Agile Hong Kong event next week, see you there!
http://www.johndbritton.com
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http://www.johndbritton.com
A simple meetup before tutor?
It is a good idea to have meeting for tutor ASAP, but I have some suggestion. What about a very simple meeting within this week, let's say this weekend (13,14/09), Pacific Coffee in Festival Walk (the big mall next to Kowloon Tong station)?
I think before we schedule for further more action and contribution, something we should be clear defined. E.g. Where will be suitable for training (I think personal residential area may not be the first choice; educational area such as university maybe better), tutor topic, time for each section, who will contribute for which topic, and so on. This may require a simple meet up, with some coffee :D
Rome Was Not Built In One Day.
Edison Wong
CEO, Co-founder
PantaRei Design Limited
Meet up for tutor only? or other drupalers?
I wonder the meetup you guys planning now is for tutoring/evangelizing drupal or some causal meet up that share about what we could do with drupal in hong kong?
Everything Drupal (Hopefully)
:)
On holiday this weekend
Sorry, I can't make this weekend as I will be away on holiday.
I really do not think tutoring ASAP is the way to go for the initial sessions. It might be something we do depending on the audience and their needs but it is very hard to tell at this stage. I think an open discussion is the way to go. First get to know the audience before making a decision on what we think is best for them.
In open forums you sometimes end up discussing nothing, that's fine, but it could also be topic centred. i.e. this week/month we might focus on i18n, next it might be how to get the most out of jQuery in Drupal, then we may go for Drupal evangelism in Hong Kong. That doesn't mean other topics cannot be discussed. It's just a way of giving a focus when none is available.
I would like to join your
I would like to join your meetup and discussions. It will be great if we can arrange it this weekend.
space, structure, timing
As offered, my place is available. I am flexible on timing, but it seems like it would be a good idea to have a couple of weeks to build up steam and structure for the meet.
I propose an (up to) 2 hour session where:
* We begin with an open discussion which can be about all things Drupaly. (45 min or so?)
* Continue with Dave's overview of CCK / Views / Nodequeue for noobs
* And have one or two more presentations
Does 7 - 9 pm on Thurs. Sept 25 work for everyone?
HK Magazine can lend us the projector for the night... :)
Antonio Licon
Web Developer
Asia City Publications
Pain in life is necessary. Suffering is optional.
no date works for eveyone
I can't make that one either... I'll be at the Open Education conference in Salt Lake City. Don't let me slow you down, I'll be sure to make the next one.
http://www.johndbritton.com
--
http://www.johndbritton.com
+1 vote for Sept 25th
Yep, 25th works for me and the structure sounds good too :)
+2 vote - for Sept. 25th
Yay for Sept 25th
Facebook event is created
I will try my best for Sept 25, too. Let's prepare for that :D
On the other hand, a Facebook.com event is created. Please feel free to comment your idea for this 1st meeting :)
Rome Was Not Built In One Day.
Edison Wong
CEO, Co-founder
PantaRei Design Limited
Monday is a public holiday
Monday is a public holiday, so I'll be traveling for a long weekend and can't make it this weekend. I'm talking to some contacts in HK about a venue to host a meetup in the near future, will keep the group posted.
http://www.johndbritton.com
--
http://www.johndbritton.com
How about meeting in Kowloon side?
I am just able to sourcing a educational area located in Kowloon side, in between Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok MTR station (a bit near to Kwong Wah Hospital). I have been there on tonight and everything looks fine.
The place is a commercial area for audit and hight level education. The owner may offer a room for around 30 people (with notebook computer), projector and screen, WiFi access, white broad, unlimited water supply (...) and so on. He also feel interesting about the setup of HKDUG, too.
I asked if Sept. 25th would be available, and the place owner reply that he need to check the booking schedule for further more confirmation. He also request if we are really interested in the place offered, so he can schedule for us ASAP.
Would this be a good idea for our 1st meeting with tutor? For detail may we discuss in the pre-meeting?
Rome Was Not Built In One Day.
Edison Wong
CEO, Co-founder
PantaRei Design Limited
Sounds great
Wow, I don't check in for a day or two and there's 20 new posts in the group. Glad to see that everyone's eager to get involved.
I like Antonio's suggestion for an agenda:
* We begin with an open discussion which can be about all things Drupaly. (45 min or so?)
* Continue with an overview of CCK / Views / Nodequeue for noobs by me. I'll get into some best-practices things too, so hopefully there will be something for you more experienced folks too.
* And have one or two more presentations. Or if you want to come with a question of "How would I do this". Or if you'd like some input on something that you're working on "Hey I used foo to do bar, what do you guys think", or "What do you guys think of module X" or any other questions that you're having problems getting an answer to, maybe having all of our brains in the same room will help.
I agree with caphon's suggestion that we should probably keep things pretty casual and free-flowing. And so perhaps meeting at Antonio's place might be more appropriate. Edison maybe we could use this educational space that you've found for next time.
Sep 25th works good for me.
Dave Hansen-Lange
Web Developer
Advomatic LLC
East Asia Office
Hong Kong
--
Dave Hansen-Lange
Director of Technical Strategy, Advomatic.com
Pronouns: he/him/his