It's that time again already! We have a new locale for the February thanks to the <shameless-plug>supreme generosity and technological farsightedness of Echidna Solutions</shameless-plug>. Next week's meeting will be held at:
207 King St., on the same block as Novack's and the Goodlife headquarters.
The suggested topic is a show-and-tell of your favourite Drupal module, so pick one and be prepared to talk for a bit why you like it.
As always, feel free to bring up anything particularly vexing or exciting with Drupal, or we could probably make some time if you just wanted to brag a little about your latest Drupal site.
There's also been a suggestion we have a mini hackathon, so if you know any very small programmers (or you think you can devote a little time), let's talk about what a good candidate might be for some shared effort that would be a good contribution back to the community.
Sounds like a full agenda and some lively discussion, hope you can join us!
Comments
tonight's meeting
Hey Martin,
Looks like the three of us here at rtraction all can't make it tonight, for various reasons. I can't speak for the others, but I'd be ecstatic if there was an online follow-up discussion after the meeting. I still have my favourite module, etc. all picked out and ready to go :)
Have a good meeting
gav
Oh god how did this get in here I am not good with computers
Meeting info
I'd be interested in knowing the results as well. Unfortunately, I need to work late tonight.
Good Discussions
Based on a number of factors (including dismal weather and a rampant cold epidemic) it was an intimate gathering last night, so we ended up with an informal structure, answering some questions about overall Drupal usage, recounting some tales from the trenches about creative solutions to various problems, and some interesting insight on the struggles the London Public Library has been able to overcome in seamlessly integrating Drupal-based portions of their site with portions of their site that are generating by other, less customizable systems.
Some of the specific topics covered included:
Customizing layouts using the Contemplate module, the <a href="http://drupal.org/project/front"">Frontpage module, and content suggestions.
Theme customization, using the core Color module with Garland, and the benefits of using the Zen theme to build a subtheme.
Various strategies for working with file attachments, including the Attachment module, the Search Files module, and some of the unique issues related to Office 2007 documents.
We also discussed sources to learn about Drupal, including Lullabot (podcasts, videos, and paid training), the Drupal Dojo, Learn By The Drop, and the Toronto Drupalcamp, as well as Drupalcons. There are also a number of Drupal books available, but no one present had anything nice to say about them . :-(
It seems like we covered a lot more ground, but maybe someone else who was there can jump in.
One other idea that came up was some kind of Drupal group project, maybe the online equivalent of a barn raising. I think the idea would be to find some kind of local charity or non-profit in need of a Drupal-powered web site (should play to Drupal's strengths, i.e. community features, etc.), and people could get together in a kind of site sprint. I could see this working where the people present could break into two teams, one for the functionality and setup, and the other for the layout, theme and interface. I think this idea could be really interesting, particularly since it could provide a means for people new to Drupal to work shoulder-to-shoulder with more experienced developers.
One other thing
I forgot to mention, Andrew from Echidna was kind enough to offer their meeting space to us indefinitely. Thanks, Andrew!