Thoughts that Count
Recent Posts
10 Tips for Success as a Remote Employee
There are passionate advocates for working remotely who will tell you about the many benefits of having been or being remote employees: less time and energy wasted commuting, more productivity, better breakfasts, better work/life balance, and so on. There are jobs and companies that are incompatible with working remotely, too. Many kinds of business need people in the same space together on a daily basis. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer famously banned working from home in 2013 as part of her effort to reboot that company and its culture. Let's take those... More
Posted on
Monday, March 17, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Monday, March 17, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Keeping Pace with DigitalDisruption.com
Here are some of the past week's highlights from DigitalDisruption.com, Acquia's portal for examining the impact of digital disruption.
What to do with Big Data? CDOs May Have the Answer
One of the biggest challenges digital executives face today is figuring out what to do with it all the data. There is so much data collected today about shopping habits, travel patterns or even activities logged, that being able to effectively track and leverage this data to improve an aspect of the consumer experience or predict a certain market... More
Posted on
Friday, March 14, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, March 14, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Drupal vs. Sharepoint: Choosing the right platform for your site
As Drupal continues to gain significant enterprise adoption, it is competing more and more against incumbent technology in the form of commercial and proprietary software. One of the more surprising competitors in the marketplace belongs to a software application that was created for document management, not content management.
That technology is Microsoft SharePoint, and it powers a surprising amount of enterprise websites. Then again, perhaps this is not as shocking as it seems given the ubiquity of Microsoft applications and the fact Microsoft will include a license for an external website... More
Posted on
Friday, March 14, 2014
by Jason Schaffer
Friday, March 14, 2014
by Jason Schaffer
Using the AWS Ruby SDK to Put a Drupal Site's Assets Behind a CDN
As a demo for my local Drupal meetup, I offered to show how to use an origin pull CDN to serve the static assets of a Drupal 7 site installed on Acquia Cloud. If you are not familiar with basic CDN concepts and terminology, start by reading this article on key properties of a CDN by Wim Leers. The value of using a CDN for a site's static assets is primarily a faster total page load for the end-user since once the main page HTML is loaded, the requests for images, CSS, JS, and other assets needed to fully render the page happen... More
Posted on
Thursday, March 13, 2014
by Peter Wolanin
Thursday, March 13, 2014
by Peter Wolanin
Lukas Smith on how Drupal and Symfony mutually benefit from cooperating
Part 2 of 2 - I had the great pleasure of speaking with Lukas Smith at SymfonyCon Warsaw in December, 2013. Lukas is a major contributor to open source and is involved in a range of projects, including the Symfony framework, Drupal, and many more. He is one of the 50 most active contributors on GitHub. Thank you, Lukas!
In part one, we talked about how Lukas manages to contribute so much to so many open source projects, social competence in open source (I love this... More
Posted on
Thursday, March 13, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Thursday, March 13, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
In the Era of the Small Screen, Localization is More Important Than Ever
If you plan on competing in the global marketplace—and chances are, you eventually will—you have to make sure that every customer in every country has the opportunity to engage with your brand. After you mark off the logistical action items for globalizing your website, such as accommodating different time zones and currencies, you’re faced with a bigger question: How will we get users in this country to engage?
How you answer that question depends on which country you’re talking about. The colors, wording and calls to action that make Chinese users engage aren’t the same ones that Brazilians... More
Posted on
Thursday, March 13, 2014
by Calvin Scharffs
Thursday, March 13, 2014
by Calvin Scharffs
This Week-ish in Drupal Core: March 12, 2014
What's new with Drupal 8?
Two big news items this week for our intrepid testbots! First, RTBC core patches are now automatically retested every 24 hours to ensure they don't go stale and to avoid regressions and commit conflicts. Hooray!! Additionally, the 8.x testbots have been upgraded to PHP 5.4, which means Drupal 8 now officially requires PHP 5.4.2 or above to install. Woot! In addition to this allowing us to remove... More
Posted on
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
by Angie Byron
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
by Angie Byron
We Came, We Saw, We SXSW’d
As the last day of SXSW Interactive comes to a close, there was no shortage of places to go for disruptive innovation, technology and everything social. Heck, there was even a 3D printer that made oreos with personalized hashtags.
Here’s a look at some of the sessions and events I went to during the past few days in Austin.
One on One with Mark Cuban
As Shark Tank fanboy, I couldn’t miss a fireside chat with Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner and tech investor. In packed hall of the Austin Convention Center, Guy Kawasaki and Mark Cuban talked sports, new tech investments, and advice for... More
Posted on
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Acquia Status Website Moves to a New Platform
We have moved the Acquia Status website: http://status.acquia.com to a new platform. The new site is built to allow us to be more proactive and reach out faster and in a more targeted manner.
Components
The new website features status of all the major Acquia platforms and products. Currently we have separate statuses for each component: Acquia Cloud Enterprise, Acquia Cloud standard, Acquia Network and Insight, Acquia Cloud Site Factory, Drupal Gardens, Acquia Cloud API, and Acquia Search.
Incidents
The site will also allow us to give updates on... More
Posted on
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
by Erik Peterson
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
by Erik Peterson
eTail West Highlights the Conflicted World of Commerce
I’m a big fan of Dr. Seuss, and so when Eric Feinberg of Foresee referred to potential customer segments as Thing 1 and Thing 2 at the recent eTail conference, I had to smile. As I thought more about the current state of commerce, though, I decided that a Dr. Dolittle shout-out to Pushmi-Pullyu is more apt.
Commerce teams today are clearly being pulled in two very different directions. On the one hand, the push by Amazon/Google/eBay for same day delivery – and soon I believe, same hour delivery – is forcing retailers to fanatically... More
Posted on
Monday, March 10, 2014
by Kelly O'Neill
Monday, March 10, 2014
by Kelly O'Neill
5 Mistakes to Avoid on your Drupal Website - Number 5: Maintenance
In the previous articles in this series, we've focused on aspects of architecture, security and performance and the choice of infrastructure. All of that work will come to little without a reliable... More
Posted on
Monday, March 10, 2014
by Heather James
Monday, March 10, 2014
by Heather James
5 Reasons Why Your School Should Use Drupal Commerce
While colleges and universities are not ecommerce businesses they still do a great deal of ecommerce. From online bill payments for class registration, to payments for fines, infractions and permits, to dining plans and other related student services, to tickets for events and seminars, to online bookstores for merchandize and materials, and of course to online giving for fundraising and advancement activities, colleges and universities are using ecommerce every day to support the multi-faceted business of higher education. And for each of these online transactions there is a commerce... More
Posted on
Monday, March 10, 2014
by Chris Hartigan
Monday, March 10, 2014
by Chris Hartigan
The Hacker and Hustler: How to Code a Great Company
It all starts with a great idea, something you think will change the world. What’s next? Well, for Dries Buytaert, the creator of Drupal and a hacker by trade, he wanted to take his great idea and build a company around it.
Drupal was his college dorm side project, initially created as a sounding board for himself and his classmates. Drupal was slowly gaining traction and adoption, but it wasn’t until Dries had to spend many late nights helping MTV with its Drupal sites that he had the big idea. Why not build a company around Drupal support, helping brands better leverage this open source... More
Posted on
Saturday, March 8, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Saturday, March 8, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Keeping Pace with DigitalDisruption.com
Here are some of the past week's highlights from DigitalDisruption.com, Acquia's portal for examining the impact of digital disruption.
T-Commerce? Meet tvbay
If you tuned in to this year’s Super Bowl, you saw H&M’s commercial that enabled viewers to make purchases through their television based on what David Beckham was wearing during the clip.
This new, “t-commerce” platform is something that brands are exploring, but few are delivering because smart TVs that enable these transactions are still in the early stages of... More
Posted on
Friday, March 7, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, March 7, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
SXSWi Top Tips Part 2: Once You’re There
Welcome to Part 2 of my SXSWi Top Tips series. If you missed it, check out Part 1 which covers how to prepare before you arrive in Austin; it’s not a conference where you can just throw some clothes in a bag and go.
So now you’re packed, you’ve done your research, and you’ve got a plan. Great!
Now get ready to throw it out the window.
Part Two: Austin
1. The Panels: Quality Speaker Trumps All - So now you’ve arrived in Austin, you’ve checked in to your hotel, gotten your badge and now you’re off to check out your first... More
Posted on
Thursday, March 6, 2014
by Derek Peplau
Thursday, March 6, 2014
by Derek Peplau
Lukas Smith on open source communication, PHPCR, and more
Part 1 of 2 - I had the great pleasure of speaking with Lukas Smith at SymfonyCon Warsaw in December, 2013. Lukas is a major contributor to open source and is involved in a range of projects, including the Symfony framework, Drupal, and many more. He is one of the 50 most active contributors on GitHub. Thank you, Lukas!
How do you contribute so much?
About his contribution he says, "I don't know how I got to that number. I try to comment on tickets, try to network people, to encourage them to talk ... I guess it's mostly commenting. I guess I do... More
Posted on
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Financial services is changing, and staying the same.
Post financial crisis, Financial Services Institutions (FSIs) are determined to change. Their motivation lies not just in regaining the trust of a public that has shored up the industry, but also the same goal that they have always had, to find new ways to create products and sell products to generate return for their shareholders.
FSIs have always grasped the nettle of innovation. In my career I’ve seen that they are often the first to deploy cutting edge technologies to gain competitive edge. You could argue that it was the drive for innovation (but without transparency) that provoked the... More
Posted on
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
by Jim Shaw
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
by Jim Shaw
Drupal: Une plate-forme unique, des possibilités sans limites
Bonjour à tous,
L’objet de mon post aujourd’hui vise à revenir sur certaines des synergies entre Drupal et Acquia. Vous connaissez probablement Drupal, le CMS open source le plus déployé par les grandes entreprises dans le monde, et vous vous êtes probablement aperçu qu’autour de Drupal s’était créé un très vaste écosystème d’acteurs divers (la communauté Drupal, c’est plus de 1 million de membres!). Acquia est un acteur essentiel de cet écosystème, par son expertise technologique ainsi que les... More
Posted on
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
by Cyril Reinhard
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
by Cyril Reinhard
Using Adaptive Images in Drupal
Cross-posted with permission from Outlier.com
Responsive, mobile-first web design is the latest trend to take hold of the web design community, and with good reason. With the advent of the mobile OS as a mainstream portal through which people are increasingly connecting to the internet, the needs of these users--and those of the relatively nascent tablet market--are becoming increasingly important. But rather than creating "mobile" versions of websites, which are often riddled with compromise, responsive... More
Posted on
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
by Kathleen Martin
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
by Kathleen Martin
5 Mistakes to Avoid on your Drupal Website - Number 4: Infrastructure
In previous articles in this series, we’ve covered the areas of architecture, security and performance. All of these aspects are affected by your infrastructure from the time of development to deployment.
Infrastructure covers the stack your website lives on, including the server, the database and any software layers, such as Varnish or Memcached which... More
Posted on
Monday, March 3, 2014
by Heather James
Monday, March 3, 2014
by Heather James
Survival Tips from a SXSW Pro: Part 1
No matter how you approach it, SXSW is a vast matrix of possibilities spread over several square miles of Austin and environs over several days. To get the most out of it, you need to prepare early and thoroughly. In the immediate gratification era in which we live, I wish I could simply tell you, “There’s an app for that.” But while there are many apps which will make your life easier (and some which will be indispensable at least for the Interactive portion), there’s no substitute for doing your homework for this one.
What follows are a few pieces of advice I’d give you if you were going... More
Posted on
Friday, February 28, 2014
by Derek Peplau
Friday, February 28, 2014
by Derek Peplau
Keeping Pace with DigitalDisruption.com
Here are some of the past week's highlights from DigitalDisruption.com, Acquia's portal for examining the impact of digital disruption.
Today’s Brand Must Think Like a Publisher
Content is king. But as the line between publishers and brands are blurring, all brands find themselves in both the content and the commerce games.
As brands, we are sometimes wary of pushing content on our customers. In my experience, however, customers are much less worried about the blurred lines, and much more interested in getting that they want when... More
Posted on
Friday, February 28, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, February 28, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Drupal 8 Configuration Workflows using Git
This blog post is a textual representation of the video shared yesterday. If you are visual learner, watch it. If you are in a hurry, read this blog :). Peter's video also shows how configuration_log module can be used to materialize all config changes in Prod so they may be easily integrated back into the codebase. That is not covered here.
The following commands are our current best thoughts on how folks will move configuration across environments using Git and... More
Posted on
Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Moshe Weitzman
Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Moshe Weitzman
Today’s Brand Must Think Like a Publisher
Content is king. But as the line between publishers and brands are blurring, all brands find themselves in both the content and the commerce games.
As brands, we are sometimes wary of pushing content on our customers. In my experience, however, customers are much less worried about the blurred lines, and much more interested in getting that they want when and where they want it. As Alexis Maybank, founder of Gilt Groupe described it,
"If I go into a Restoration Hardware store, for instance, I understand they're selling that product, but I'm not just interested in seeing rows of lamps on... More
Posted on
Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Liza Kindred
Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Liza Kindred
Moving Your Drupal 8 Configuration from Local to Server and Back
Update: a textual representation of the first half of this video has been posted.
Two weeks ago I had a great opportunity to spend a few days working with Moshe Weitzman (moshe weitzman), Justin Randell (beejeebus), Alex Bronstein (effulgentsia), and Stéphane Corlosquet (scor) to look at the challenges and best practices for using the new Drupal 8... More
Posted on
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
by Peter Wolanin
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
by Peter Wolanin
Pages
Blog Series
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014
by Nick Veenhof
by Nick Veenhof
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014
by Wim Leers
by Wim Leers
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014
by Alex Bronstein
by Alex Bronstein
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2014
by Joe Fender
by Joe Fender
Posted on Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Moshe Weitzman
by Moshe Weitzman