Save Our Screencasts
It has come to my attention this morning that we may have lost yet another screenie. I'm starting to get a bit depressed because of this. I can't possibly learn all there is to learn during a lesson because there's so much going on. The flow of information, the IRC noise, the follow-along-on-your-own-compy syndrome all lead to missed learning opportunities that a review of the screencast would serve to forever cement.
It is with this in mind that I open the floor for a serious discussion on how to never loose a screenie again.
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Dojo Lesson #8 -- db_rewrite_sql and node access
(Coming March 4th, 2007) I'm very excited to announce that this Sunday's dojo lesson on Drupal 5.0's node access system will be taught by Andy Kirkham (aka ajk^ in IRC)! Check out the notes for details on what will be covered. The time is the usual Sunday at 11am PST / 2PM PST / 8pm CET.
Join us in #drupal-dojo, on Skype and in our VNC screencast for all the fun. As usual, this will be recorded and documented for those unable to make it to the live lesson.
Andy is currently a Drupal.org CVS administrator, site document maintainer, a member of the Drupal security team and is maintainer for a clutch of Drupal modules and plays an active role in the Drupal developer community. He's also a trained electrical engineer and a busy consultant both sides of the Atlantic. Three cheers!
For more information about the Drupal Dojo, see our g.d.o page or check out the recently-unveiled drupaldojo.com.
Read moreLesson #6 Screencast -- PHPTemplate Theming & ThemePack
UPDATED WITH BETTER TORRENT FILE LINKS
Thanks to mpare and greggles, last sunday's screencast is available via bittorrent. This lesson covers some of the fundamentals of PHPTemplate, Drupal's default theming engine, as well as how to create your own tpl.php files, override built-in functions, best practices for following the MVC standard, as well as the fine work being done as part of the Themer Pack Working Group.
Many thanks to merlinofchaos for helping out on the skype and IRC channels.
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Dojo Lesson #5 -- Get your CVS on
Here's an event to track the class about CVS and the Project module on Drupal.org. If you've always wondered what everyone is talking about when they say "dww is the coolest for the new project release system" then this is for you: dww will be joining the call. If you have a module or theme that you would like to release on Drupal.org then you will learn how to add it, branch it, tag it, and create a project node.
Take a look at the class agenda to see the topics that will be covered.
Read moreDojo Lesson #4 screencast link
Torrent for my high quality screencap of the Fourth Lesson is up!. The whole thing is 2:20 and about 180mb.
If you want to post a recode or other derivative, drop a link in the comments here and I'll flesh out the main node with more downloads.
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MPEG-4/mp4 becomes the standard codec.
From now we have decided that mpeg-4 aka mp4 is the new standard video format for distributing screencasts.
Note! .mp4 being the file extension it selves and mpeg-4 being the name of the format/container.
Learn more about it here @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp4
Mpeg-4 is widely used to distribute and promote video over networks like the iTunes wich we might use to promote drupal and the dojo screencasts. For specific tips on encoding screencasts, see mpare's documentation.
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Tips and Encoding Settings for Long Duration Screencasts
After several sets of trial and error I found that the settings provided in this document have rendered desirable output for me when creating basic “screencasts.” These settings have been tested on long duration videos, in excess of 1 hour. I have had final file sizes as low as 66 MB for a video that is nearly two hours long with a final screen resolution at or near 800 x 600. Your usage and mileage may vary but these settings have proven successful for me.
Read moreLesson #2 Screencast -- Coding Standards, Keeping code clean
Drupal-Dojo Lesson #2 Screen/SkypeCast
Folks, It is really big! The skype audio is not so hot at times, and there is about a minutes audio cut out, from when I got careless, but if you want it, your welcome to it. Go to http://www.parete.fatcow.com/session2.mov[dead link] to download the video. The file is huge! (~240 MB. 1hr 43min 1024 x 782 ) VNC screen did not do very well with how often the windows were switched. I think that this video is usable until the original recording can be made available.
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