Well, I've done a lot with drupal over the past few weeks. Tasks like installing themes and modules once looked a little daunting, now they are a piece of cake. I've learned a lot about user privileges, page creation and general administration. The big question is, "where do I go now?".
I know that I want to take the tuba euphonium site live and have it help out the studio, but I'm not sure who I should contact first. Keeping the install on my personal space, even if I were to be approved for a MYSQL and PHP space isn't an option because that is wiped after I leave next fall. Letting it sit on my drive however, is not an option.
I suppose my next move will be to go to the Music Technology faculty and make a recommendation that part of the music server be prepped for the studio's drupal install. One thing is for certain I'll be keeping my default Garland theme as it seems to be the general consensus for Penn State's standard drupal sites.
...even if it is "easy" to do. I'm the type of person who thinks making a moveable panel work in a web-browser takes a degree from M.I.T and a million lines of code to accomplish.
I was perusing Panic Software's site a few days ago and I noticed a really cool sliding panel technique about halfway down their page for Coda. After playing with the buttons for a few minutes I asked Google if some developer had an idea as to how to replicate this "magic".
Turns out someone had a decent understanding of HTML CSS and a little jQuery and was kind enough to share the code. Not the world's most earth-shattering content, but a great design technique that hopefully (for my sake) looked a lot cooler than a few dozen lines of code.
I was attempting to export my Drupal install to my Macbook a few nights ago and I hit a bit of a wall. Somewhere along the way of my migrating folders, transferring data, or cleaning up I blew out my Administrator password to my local install.
To add insult to injury I could still login with a "johnny user" account but from there I was helpless. I could reset this user's password, but recovery features failed when I attempted to do the same for my Admin account.
Thinking that all was lost I started scouring the internet for a way to reset my admin password. It turns out that I'm not the only one out there who has done this thing. After fighting with the recovery tools and trying every combination I could think of I ended up returning to lynda's drupal files and watched the video entitled "Recovering from Disasters".
Aptly named, the video taught me about the MD5 encryption (and other encryption options) that drupal uses at a core level for all passwords. After using phpMyadmin I was able to drop my password and insert a new one which I was able to encrypt myself.
As some of you know my recital was moved back to January the 24th at 3:00 PM. At first I was not thrilled that I would be moving the dates back but I am beginning to think that this has been a blessing in disguise. Not only do I avoid having to cram for a recital during a 24 credit semester, but I can now relax and work on some neat advertising.
Tradition in the School of Music holds that students giving recitals always put up posters as a means of advertising. I've seen some absolutely hilarious posters over the past 4 years and I found myself itching to begin creating.
Below is my first recital poster, I got the idea from the Apple - Coldplay advertisement and soon found out that I was not alone. While I had some difficulty finding someone who claimed they could replicate the Adobe Aftereffects file of the commercial, I did find numerous posts on how to create something close in Photoshop. I looked over a few of them and I decided to go with Tutorial's offering.
This is what I came up with after about two hours of work in the app.
Themes and Styles are the obvious core visual components of Drupal and Movable Type installations. They provide elements for users to start their sites with easy, hassle-free setup and simultaneously allow the more adventurous (or experienced) user to have access to large amounts of customization.
I have struggled with importing and tweaking Drupal themes (a combination of CSS files) to bring a similar visual look to my Movable Type blog. It has been an interesting experience and I seem to be getting closer to the look and feel of my Drupal install.
I scoured the internet for a Garland based Movable Type theme (Drupal to MT) but my search turned up no results. Apparently, the community would rather go from MT styles to Drupal themes.
Jeff's work has given me a reverse look at some of the methods for bringing MT and Drupal together. I believe that the next move I will have to make will be to import all of the Drupal images into a separate folder in my MT assets directory. After that I will have to fix some CSS links and re-upload my new Styles.
republished from drupal blog
I saw a picture of this a few days ago and at first I was sure that it was some sort of photoshop trickery. Apparently, a very patient and creative fruit farmer decided to pair his love for apples with his love for Apple in an interesting way.
By using stickers cut to resemble Apple Inc. logos/products, the farmer was able to 'brand' his merchandise. Of course leaving the stickers on the apples would have been quite boring, but because this was done before the fruit was ripe the sun effectively left a mark where the stickers were.
The end result was this 
What I find so interesting is the convergence of three concepts. You have a farmer who married his devotion for a physical company (or tool) to his life's work and sent it around the internet. Not only was he able to artistically represent himself, but he was able to market his business for free once the images ignited various blogs. The only hang-up that stands in the way is if a certain legal team will be talking trademark infringement over the coming weeks.
republished from Drupal blog
When I started at PSU way back in 2005 "Web 2.0" was all the craze. Even at that time I remember a few professors remarking that the term was already contrived so to think that it is still a buzzword to this day is rather amusing.
I came across an interesting opensource technology called Sproutcore a few days ago in a drupal forum post calling for the technology to be implemented in the 8th version of drupal. It helped me remember an article I read a number of months ago that gave an excellent synopsis of the technology.
I wont rehash the article for you, it is far too detailed and complete for me to do it justice, but I will say that Sproutcore looks like it could push the envelope for the future of the internet if it gains enough of a following. Having Apple's blessing may just do the trick.
Click here to see 2 Sproutcore demo applications.
republished from drupal blog
I'm sure all of you know about the wonderful wealth of knowledge that resides in Lynda.com's servers. I find the sheer variety of information on the site to be absolutely fascinating. While the 'learn as you go' process is nothing new, the interface provided by the internet medium has certainly raised the bar from 400 page black and white anthologies to its current standard.
There's only one catch; If you aren't supported by an employer or learning institution, Lynda is going to cost you. Don't get me wrong, the 25$ a month deal is hardly something to scoff at, but let's be serious, think of all the unlimited movies and downloadable content you can get for the same price.
What's my solution? Well, something free would be nice... and let's not forget the whole 'movie tutorial' concept. Put free and online video together and you get YouTube. I decided to make an experiment out of the Drupal training exercises that I have been viewing to get the CMS working on my local drive. I would enter keywords from the Lynda files and see if any quality content came up on YouTube.
Much to my surprise, my exact start video came up courtesy of the Lynda webcast channel. Thinking back on the situation, I could have used this video to customize my install and supplement the entire install chapter with a free alternative posted by another user. All in all there were 63 hits for "drupal install" on youtube
republished from drupal blog
Last Spring I decided to add an Integrative Arts Major (BA) during my final years at PSU. One of the requirements was to take a few additional art credits, particularly from the 400 level. This was a bit of a daunting task because I have very little visual artistic ability. Sure I have the musical chops, but that doesn't mean I can paint and draw.
Naturally I decided to let the technology side of my mind come to the rescue and keep me from going one Fresco short of insane. I stumbled upon Art 416, which was loosely titled advanced web art.
Now, two weeks deep into the semester I'm posting my first sample of art online for the course. Our assignment was to explore a facet of "Net-Art" and subsequently have an artistic form of commentary to go along with our research.
A few days ago, I came across a quote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs stating that the visual layout of OSX 10.0 was designed to look "yummy". That got me thinking, with all of the innovative forms of advertising that Apple INC. does, is it possible that OSX 10.0 ignited a new set of GUI design? While the answer to that question is difficult to formulate, I decided that I could make a set of Icons, mostly mimicking Apple's styles in an effort to show that the technology industry as a whole has essentially adopted them as the new gold standard.
I've had a lot of time on my hands these past few days. Funny what a 'vacation' can bring you. Of course, this vacation is about two very important things: Grad School visits and Baseball. I set up visits with the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan about a month ago to kick start my search, I couldn't be happier with the responses I have gotten. I took my UI visit yesterday, things were very personal and one on one oriented. I got a personal tour from a very friendly staff member, sat down with a few professors, and learned about the UCUI GSLIS program. University of Michigan SI kicks off in about 9 hours promising about 4-5 hours of activities and meetings. Needless to say, I'm excited. In between the visits I have some baseball games (at new stadiums!) scheduled. I went to my first White Sox game, I'm returning to Comerica Park in Detroit, and will make my first stop at Milwaukee's Miller Park over the coming days! This trip marks 22 major league stadiums down!
As I said I have been granted some free time and this evening I ventured over to my good friend Cole Camplese's blog. A few days ago he posted some thoughts on Apple's new App Store and made a plea for a mobile version of iTunesU. I have shared the same sentiments regarding the need for mobile iTunesU for a few months now. I truly believe that it completes the circuit for distribution of educational content and material. Cole's post also got me thinking about a more creative idea I had for creating an icon for the mobile iTunesU space.
So, re-energized, I fired up Photoshop and went to work creating my version of mobile iTunesU. Here is a working draft of my PSU specific icon. I couldn't find a good custom shape of a school, but my idea was to have a Parthenon-esk center icon for a generic version of the icon.
What else? Ah yes, NEW MUSIC. Today I was watching a Target commercial and heard a very simple, yes intoxicating saxophone line in the background. Immediately, I fired up google and had the song downloading on my iPhone. The song is called Calabria by Enur and I can't stop listening to it. What makes me sick is that the line is so easy; its just a simple E-Flat minor progression, something you could write in seconds after a little music theory training. Go download one of the versions from iTunes, there are several and some are iTunesPlus. Personally, I chose the 2007 Club Mix.
