May Meetup Wrap-Up

The May Nebraska Meetup was held on Saturday the 22nd. I was late so I don't know how we opened. Introductions are customary so I'll assume we did that.

Dave Reid took some really good notes, so for a meetup summary see here: http://groups.drupal.org/node/68843#comment-216303

Travis presented for the first half of the meetup on how to best choose a module. From looking at the maintainers and co-maintainers to the module usage report there were great tips on what to look for:

• Issue Queues - how active are they? Lots of unresolved posts could be a red flag, but some modules have a lot of activity because EVERYONE uses them.
• A good book page on drupal.org for the modules documentation is a good sign. No documentation at all might be a bad sign, but it could be early. Chip in?

We also spoke briefly about why it is a good idea in many cases to "Roll Yer Own" in cases where a standalone module tries to fit a need. Examples were the Audio, Event and Image modules. While good modules that do serve many users well, they have some limitations that can be avoided by just doing it with CCK and Views.

While it can take more planning on the site builders part, the results can be much more flexible and scalable.

Fav Modules of the Month

Travis chose the Autosave module. This module allows site contributors to be able to have their changes saved in case they mistakenly click away from their edits or something else happens. Super handy.

I didn't talk about this module at the meetup but wanted to throw it in:
Schema
This module will look at the database tables you have (MySQL 5+) and describe them as the drupal schema api would want to see them. Writing a .install file for your module? Tables already there? Schema can help make writing that install file fast an easy.

Next Meetup

We will be doing some module work as a group.
Either adopting a module or contributing our own. Have a favorite module that needs some work done? Or have an itch you really need to scratch? Mention it below and we'll decide what we want to do as a group. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about the processes that drive Drupal as well as a chance to give back!

Where do our strengths and weaknesses lie as a group?
We'd like to find out what it is that our members are good at as well as where they might not be as good as they want to be. If you would like, list below what you specialize in and what you would like help with. We can use this ti help drive some of our future discussions.

Thanks to all that made it! Hope to see you again next month!!