Thoughts that Count
Recent Posts
High Quality PHP
The historical perception of PHP in the software development community has not been the best. Some think it is a language for non-programmers and tinkerers, generally resulting in software of questionable quality. From its beginnings as a simple scripting language for online guests-books, PHP has transformed itself in the last 15 years to support high-quality software development and enterprise deployment, and it has managed to do so without losing the roots of its initial success.
Getting Things Done with Quality in Mind
The focus of PHP has always been on "getting things done" and... More
Posted on
Thursday, December 19, 2013
by Benjamin Eberlei
Thursday, December 19, 2013
by Benjamin Eberlei
Learning Through Celebration
Cross-posted with permission from Drupalize.Me
During DrupalCon Prague I had the pleasure of giving a presentation about teaching Drupal 8 as part of the core conversations track. In the presentation I talked a lot about providing a good learning environment for people starting with Drupal 8, and removing the fear and uncertainty that are so... More
Posted on
Thursday, December 19, 2013
by Joe Shindelar
Thursday, December 19, 2013
by Joe Shindelar
Data Brightens Scrooge’s Future in Digital Christmas Carol
Everyone knows Charles Dickens’ famous tale, “A Christmas Carol.” Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly, cold-hearted loan origination banker, all consumed with his business on Christmas Eve. Scrooge's former partner, Jacob Marley, who has been dead for seven years, visits him in the form of a ghost. Marley's spirit has been wandering as punishment for being constantly preoccupied with the minutia of his business rather than engaging his stakeholders while alive. He has come to warn Scrooge, whom he sees going down the same unfortunate path. Three spirits will visit, he tells Scrooge. But what does... More
Posted on
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
by John Carione
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
by John Carione
First Camp, First Patch! Thank you, Manuela Hutter!
Thank you for contributing! I think this is some kind of proof of the appeal of the Drupal project and welcoming nature of our community: Manuela Hutter came to Drupal Camp Vienna – her first Drupal Community event – and was already working on a patch at the sprints on day three, mentored by the inimitable Ruben Teijeiro.
Note: I apologise for some audio issues in this recording.
Q: What are you going to tell people about how things work in the Drupal project?
A: The perception of the community as being... More
Posted on
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
by Jeffrey McGuire
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
by Jeffrey McGuire
Skateboarding and Drupal ‘Collide’ For Public Good
What happens when two passions, one for skateboarding, one for Drupal collide? Read the details below, and learn how, now with help from Acquia, the result of this “collision” is geared for great success.
Let’s begin at the beginning: In 1995, Long Beach Council member Mike Donelon was getting multiple calls from a constituent complaining about skateboarders in front of their house. In researching the situation and talking to the kids involved, they told him they had no where to skate legally, safely and hassle free. The need -- and benefit -- of a public skatepark quickly became apparent.... More
Posted on
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
by Patrick Goddard
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
by Patrick Goddard
IT Embraces Cloud Apps to Improve Workflow
One member of the team wants to write and edit the plan as a Google Doc. Another has an outline in an iPad app. A third has notes in Evernote. And the presentation event will be hosted on Eventbrite.
Not only is everyone bringing their own device -- BYOD -- but they are making their own deals with cloud-based services.
Multiple applications featuring their own cloud appear to be cutting IT staffs out of the loop, but in fact, analysts say, all this new free-agency has created opportunities for more efficient, and more economical work processes.
As a result, Forrester analyst John Rakowski has... More
Posted on
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
by Jess Iandiorio
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
by Jess Iandiorio
The Year That Followed The Year of the MOOC
My position on MOOCs is a confused one.
I believe that the current higher education model in the United States, with its high costs and questionable outcomes, is unsustainable. But at the same time I recognize that the industry has been criticized with high costs and questionable outcomes for years, if not decades, and it has continued to steamroll ahead as if untethered by any identifiable laws of physics or rationality. I also believe in disruptive business models and adhere to the tenant that innovation drives progress. So MOOCs, with disruption at their core and their “inside out”... More
Posted on
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Chris Hartigan
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Chris Hartigan
2013 Year in Review: The Acquia Blog
For Acquia, 2013 has been a great year. We were named as the "Fastest Growing Private Company in North America" by Deloitte and a leader in Forrester's Social Platforms Wave. Another mark of Acquia's growth and success in 2013 has been the growing participation in our blog. Our partners, employees, along with many other members of the Drupal community, have taken part in many great online... More
Posted on
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
How to become a community leader
[Gábor] Preface: I’d like to state that I’m extremely lucky in the Drupal 8 Multilingual Initiative that I have such a broad scope of things to work on that can match a huge number of people and that I had the opportunity to collaborate on this with such great people, especially Cathy Theys (YesCT) being very helpful in helping scale out the initiative. The wisdom shared here is experience we collected together on the long ride. And it is not over yet :)
The following is a paraphrased conversation between... More
Posted on
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Jesse Beach
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Jesse Beach
Acquia's Most Important 3 C's: Customers, Community, and Colleagues
Today marks my one year anniversary of joining Acquia. Has it really been 12 months? 2013 was certainly a huge year for me personally (having a baby!) and professionally, joining one of the fastest growing technology companies in the world. Some of my favorite moments of 2013 include:
Acquia's recognition as the fastest growing private company... More
Posted on
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Tom Wentworth
Monday, December 16, 2013
by Tom Wentworth
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.
Why I’m Betting Millions on American Manufacturing in the Middle of a “Catastrophe”
For the past few years, there has been plenty of talk about bringing manufacturing back to America, but the truth remains that there are relatively few companies that are doing it well. It seems we’re constantly faced with a false choice when buying American: pay premium prices for the ‘Made in U.S.A.’ label or... More
Posted on
Friday, December 13, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, December 13, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
This week in Drupal core: December <del>11</del> 12, 2013
Sorry that we're a day late this week! If you'd like to reduce delays due to xjm's chronic insomnia, consider helping out with these posts. ;)
What's new with Drupal 8?
Working toward drupal-8.0-beta1
This week's most important Drupal 8 news is Dries' announcement of the criteria for beta 1. Numerous contributors worked with core maintainers to flesh out an initial list of beta-... More
Posted on
Thursday, December 12, 2013
by Angie Byron
Thursday, December 12, 2013
by Angie Byron
Drupal 8 - Improved upgrade process
It is my pride and pleasure to announce that Drupal 8 will ship with a migration path from both Drupal 6 and Drupal 7. This is a first for Drupal, and is quite uncommon for most software projects. We love our elderly Drupal sites, and want them to be reborn as shiny new Drupal 8 sites.
Behind this announcement is a major technical change in how Drupal implements major version upgrades. Drupal traditionally uses its update.php page and hook_update_N() functions to update a database to the... More
Posted on
Thursday, December 12, 2013
by Moshe Weitzman
Thursday, December 12, 2013
by Moshe Weitzman
5 Things Mobile Users Expect From Your Website
Cross-posted with permission from BlueCoda.com
With more and more people relying on mobile devices to look websites up on the go, it’s important to make sure that your website caters to this ever-growing demographic. Designing a site that is easy and simple to navigate on a small touch-screen is vital to avoid frustrating your visitors and losing potential business. So what do mobile users expect?
Responsive Design
The one biggest thing you can do to accommodate your mobile visitors, is... More
Posted on
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
by Lindsey Kempton
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
by Lindsey Kempton
5 Ways Drupal is Like Public Transportation
I love public transportation. I happily ride Washington D.C.’s Metro to and from work every day. I take the bus to yoga. I think transit maps are art. I share photos, via Twitter and Facebook, of the outrageous things transit riders do. I am a public transportation enthusiast.
So I am especially pleased that Acquia has joined the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This new affiliation complements our work with agencies like the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and... More
Posted on
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
by Meagen Williams
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
by Meagen Williams
Drupal history, learning, business, & D8 - Meet Alan Burke
I got the chance to catch up with Alan Burke at DrupalCon Prague. He and I go back a long way; we met at one of the first Drupal events I ever attended, DrupalCon Brussels in 2006. In the meantime Alan and his co-founder Stella Power have built up the successful Drupal agency Annertech in Ireland and they have an impressive list of contributions to Drupal to their names. Here, we speak about Drupal's technical history over the last 8 years and the exciting improvements... More
Posted on
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
by Jeffrey McGuire
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
by Jeffrey McGuire
(Sadly) Not Even Higher Education is Immune to FUD
Acquia CMO Tom Wentworth’s recent post about the unimaginative use of stale FUD by proprietary CMS vendors who try to spook buyers away from open source content management systems was spot on. Not only does this negative message cast doubt on the messenger, but the criticisms of open source are tired and false. They are indeed very 2005 and most competitors have long since moved on.
So imagine my surprise when a client forwarded me a white paper issued by a relatively well-known... More
Posted on
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
by Chris Hartigan
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
by Chris Hartigan
IT Helps Simplify Cloud Provider Complexity
The Information Technology Services department at American Water is gradually shifting towards the cloud, away from a traditional "keep the lights on" mentality.
How will it get there?
That's for Leigh Ann Thomas to figure out.
The senior business relationship manager at the largest investor-owned water and wastewater utility in the U.S. has a broad, overall goal: focusing the department on business relationships and initiatives that add value to the company.
But Thomas has a more specific goal: She wants to make sure the department, and the company, gets the most out of its transition to a... More
Posted on
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
by Jess Iandiorio
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
by Jess Iandiorio
5 Strategies to Close the Content, Commerce Gap
The secret is out: Great content drives commerce engagement.
However, creating an easy handoff between the content experience and the purchase experience remains a mystery for most. To fully integrate these two experiences, retailers and brands will need to look at technology and far beyond. I recently published an eBook that provides a path forward: 5 Strategies for Closing the Content and Commerce Gap.
Here’s a quick recap of the 5 Strategies:
1. Reorganize your marketing and merchandising functions. Separate teams... More
Posted on
Monday, December 9, 2013
by Jess Iandiorio
Monday, December 9, 2013
by Jess Iandiorio
5 Steps to Build a Great Drupal Team: Step 5: Evaluating Applicants
Entire books have been written about hiring practices, and methods for evaluating candidates. At the end of the day, there are some core steps key to building a great team. This post focuses on the the fifth and final step: evaluating the Drupal-specific aspects of an applicant's qualifications.
Step 1: Understand typical teams, roles and job titles
Step 2: Define your requirements... More
Posted on
Monday, December 9, 2013
by Heather James
Monday, December 9, 2013
by Heather James
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.
Red Hat CEO: Open Source Spurs User-Driven Innovation
It’s not just that open source enables innovation, it’s that “innovation happens first with open source.” This was the observation of Red Hat President and CEO Jim Whitehurst at North Bridge Venture Partners’ recent “Startup Secrets” event in Boston.... More
Posted on
Friday, December 6, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, December 6, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
Red Hat CEO: Open Source Spurs User-Driven Innovation
It’s not just that open source enables innovation, it’s that “innovation happens first with open source.” This was the observation of Red Hat President and CEO Jim Whitehurst at North Bridge Venture Partners’ recent “Startup Secrets” event in Boston.
“Having user-driven innovation as the model means that the people with the problem are actually solving that problem, which has lead to this disruptive explosion of innovation,” Whitehurst said.
Whitehurst is spot on here, and with big brands like Twitter, Facebook and Google utilizing open source models to push better features and innovative... More
Posted on
Friday, December 6, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, December 6, 2013
by Ryan MacInnis
Drupal 8: Writing a Hello World Module
Cross-posted with permission from Drupalize.Me
It's been a while since I've sat down and tried to write a module from scratch in Drupal 8. I've dabbled here and there in the various already existing modules but there's always something interesting about just trying to write that simple "Hello World" module. Sure, starting from scratch isn't really something we do all that often, but it's nice to to know how it works.
So, as part of our... More
Posted on
Friday, December 6, 2013
by Joe Shindelar
Friday, December 6, 2013
by Joe Shindelar
Kill the password - privacy on the web - Dan Callahan from Mozilla Persona
Dan Callahan is part of the Identity Team at Mozilla who are trying to solve some of the problems of privacy and security on the Internet that have been hitting the headlines recently. Dan works on the Mozilla Persona project, a system to both replace passwords with verified identities and put that verification under user control, rather than the control of large corporate entities.
Background: Now is the time for more privacy
Security and privacy online are now a concern for more people than... More
Posted on
Thursday, December 5, 2013
by Jeffrey McGuire
Thursday, December 5, 2013
by Jeffrey McGuire
For Ops Team Member, Giving Back is the Goal
Some years ago I was working for the public sector and had some innovative ideas for using free and open source software in order to make things more agile, stable and cheaper. This involved not only changing the users' desktops but more importantly the online presence, the public services and the deciders' mentality. It was then I came to know software like Typo3, Plone, Mambo/Joomla, Wordpress and ultimately Drupal.
Dragged by inspiration to draw some guidance projects, I started a quest to bring the... More
Posted on
Thursday, December 5, 2013
by Ricardo Amaro
Thursday, December 5, 2013
by Ricardo Amaro
Pages
Blog Series
Posted on Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Moshe Weitzman
by Moshe Weitzman
Posted on Wednesday, February 26, 2014
by Peter Wolanin
by Peter Wolanin
Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014
by Jesse Beach
by Jesse Beach
Posted on Thursday, February 13, 2014
by Cameron Tod
by Cameron Tod
Posted on Wednesday, February 12, 2014
by Joe Shindelar
by Joe Shindelar