DataSmith's blog

I've started working on getting the development version of Drupal 7 installed and running so I can get familiar with the changes that are coming and work on having a d7 version of my Post Reminder module ready when d7 hits production release.

No sooner had I installed the new version than I got my first errormore...

I've been using Ubuntu on my desktop machine for some time now, so I'm intrigued by the idea of running it on my Asus eee netbook also.more...

I completed version 1.0 of the Post-Reminder module last night. This version clears up the three major issues I had with the 0.7 version released previously. Users can now see a list of all their reminders from their account page, the Amount of Time field is validated as an integer on reminder creation/editing, and an error is displayed on the reminder creation form if the site administrator has not set any content types as permitting reminders.more...

The Post-Reminder module is nearing 1.0 release. The major issues I felt the module needed before it would be worth of a 1.0 moniker were a user list of their own reminders, validation that the Amount of Time field was an integer, and an error message on the node creation form if no content types had been set as allowing reminders to be set for them. Those items have been accomplished.more...

Smartronix has won the contract to redesign Recovery.gov, arguably the highest profile Drupal site currently in production.more...

The comic below is an old one but highlights an important problem in the software development field: often there are significant differences between what the client needs, what they request, and what is understood and built.
Requirements

The solution, to my way of thinking, depends heavily on two factors: skilled requirement elicitation/analysis and rapid development iterations yielding client-reviewable output, ala agile.more...

I've noticed an oddity with the display of a posting I made last night. The post contains a ul tag which in preview is breaking, but which looks fine in full display.
more...

The New York Times is running an interesting article today about the use of Twitter and other social media tools by religious institutions.

To a degree, the issues religious groups face using social media are the same faced by any other group:more...

• Who "owns" the account, the leader or the organization?
• How is the content and the audience controlled?

I've begun working on a module I'm considering for my capstone project as Capella. What I'm thinking of is a module which will allow users with content creation privileges to set up reminders which will be sent to them if they haven't posted new content to the site in some configurable length of time. Basically, a way to set up a custom nag if you don't post.more...

I have three Drupal 6 installations; one for a family site, this one, and one personal-interest site. When I initially set them up they were on separate hosting accounts. Now, because I've changed hosts and because none of the sites has massive traffic numbers, I've merged them onto one account. Since I've done that, my next step is to merge them into a single Drupal instance so that maintenance will be easier.

I haven't fully thought out all the ins and outs but the think the sequence needs to be:more...

1. Update all installations to current version of core and modules