Drupal musings 19: DrupalCamp Edinburgh, Panels, another prize book! and a 'mu'.

DrupalCamp Edinburgh was just one day, but a Drupal drenched day. So, camping can be fun even when it rains - community spirit and ethos, tips and things you never knew.

The first session on PHP namespaces with Jonathan was on the technical side, but this is a topic to watch for Drupal 8.

Up RPC - upgrading was also technical in the sense of being for people with sites to upgrade. Joachim went through the process from Drupal 5 to 6.

Drush - the DRUpal SHell (Mac) was presented by snufkin and with the frequency Drush crops up at Drupal events, inc. NW England it's a mu - must use.

A question was raised around multimedia in Drupal, this centred upon images.

The afternoon was built around Chris Muktar's session on WikiJob. Chris described the site's birth, growth and move to Drupal. Wikijob utilises the PressFlow distribution of Drupal optomised for performance and scalability. What was fascinating here were the insights into the use of Pantheon and Amazon Web Services. The good news for Chris and WikiJob is that hosting costs are dropping month-on-month while the lessons: you need to know what you're doing and AWS is self-service.

Providing for mobile users came up and here I was actually able to contribute (well sort of) with my notes from Copenhagen and Martin Joergensen's session.

At the end there was a prize draw. I won another book! Drupal 6 Panels Cookbook, Bhawin (Vin) Patel, Packt. Having read this there's no doubt that combining Views and Panels packs some punch, especially as in Chapter 10 a travel website is created and the recipe uses the PressFlow distribution. This chapter also uses the Location and GMap modules, which I am currently looking at. Since first hearing there were modules called Panels, Views and Context I've automatically attributed h2cm related functionality to them. The care domains are 'panels'. Organic Groups, another example has proved quite different to what I thought and I only learned that this summer (that's why using really is learning). What the book brings home - without picking up the shovel - is the way these modules leverage each other.

At 10am when everyone first met with two sessions scheduled with the rest of the 10-5 day a blank I worried: 200 miles! (I didn't attend, but the morning also saw Addison Berry of Lullabot running a "Beginners Track"). My faith deserted me only for a moment. Great job Duncan and all, if there is another let me know!

W2tQ & H2CM: the old site and CSS3 & HTML5

As mentioned before this blog is shifting down a gear or two (besides - less is more).

The effort to engage by providing creative and original content
+ selective announcements will continue and 

many thanks 

to the people who have recently seen fit to contact me

and say they appreciate what is here.
You are welcome!

I need to 'finish' a basic Drupal 6 site, start on h2cm for Drupal 7. This will include tinkering with the old site. Yes, I know.... but it's a good way to learn about CSS3 and HTML5. I've invested a lot in the links pages and Autumn - Winter's the time to try Drupalesence.

So there will be some changes on the old site, content and formatting which may not look 'finished' (there's that word again) or work cross-browser. Thanks for your patience and your visit.

[I know there are 27 posts on the PostRank list, but there's quite an archive now so the top 27 of 700+ is still sorting itself out.]

Drupal musings 19 to follow just after midnight GMT on DrupalCamp Edinburgh ... ;-)

Drupal musings 18: healthcare group, DrupalCamp and #183

It's a fair trip to Edinburgh from NW England just for one day on the 30th October, but DrupalCamp looks like it will be worth it. I've just booked a room for the Friday night and will set out straight from work.

There's been a Drupal healthcare group for quite a while, now there's also a list of health sites using Drupal:

http://groups.drupal.org/healthcare-sites

One day, one day....!

I'm not sure if this post is contrived: a means of getting to post #183. That was the total for 2009 and here we are already.

If one day, one day is going to happen then this blog is going to slow down soon. No suspended animation though. There will be a pulse.

The involvement of a few link partners on W2tQ is very helpful. It seems the archives are of interest. This not only supports the IT side - future hosting ... but attending events (DrupalCamp travel, B&B) and possibly conferences...

As a full-time nurse I sometimes have to rely on holidays to attend events that really float my boat (or fly my plane). Drupalcons are a case in point. It's not easy trying to simultaneously span nursing, education and informatics, but it really is fascinating [and it makes me :-) ]. Take the following conference:

Celebrating the Past and Embracing the Future:

Evolution and Innovation in Problem-based Learning

March 30th and 31st 2011 in Grange-Over-Sands, Cumbria, UK

I raise this because problem-based learning is a real gift for the health career model, but this gift runs to £235 (which of course for two days training / education is very reasonable - there is a free half-day workshop too). 
So, One day, one day - but meanwhile enjoying the journey and the many bridges. ...

Drupal musings 17: PHPNW 2010, HTML5, DrupalCamp Edinburgh

PHPNW 2010 on the w/e 9th - 10th October was well worth attending. Sessions for me after the keynote included:

Let your toolchain set you free

Debugging – Rules and Tools

The curious case of php|architect

Designing HTTP URLs and REST Interfaces

All the sessions where very informative, but the latter proved the most interesting. I noticed REST interfaces kept coming up at the Ruby conferences in '08 and '09 and also in reading about Ajax. So David Zuelke's session was very interesting both with his critique of how REST is applied (twitter) and his humour. I look f/w to the videos appearing.

A dinner date with friends meant I had to leave early and so I missed the prize draw. The past week started with a smile when Emma Parker, PHPNW10 Events Team emailed to say I'd won a book in the prize draw. Last Thursday the book arrived:

Pro HTML5 Programming

Magic! Thanks to the conference team and Apress.


I have just learned about DrupalCamp Edinburgh on the 30th and have registered.

Drupal musings 16: 1% digital and analogue memories

At Drupalcon in his keynotes Dries Buytaert has highlighted that Drupal now powers approximately 1% of the web. While 1% is not much especially given the total size of the internet with its day on day, hour by hour growth this is nonetheless a significant milestone. Especially when Dries speculates on the growth of Drupal projected ahead to 2020.

Like all digital media Drupal is a tool that extends our personal and cultural memories. As all the keynotes showed Drupal, PHP, HTML[5] all have histories of their own and a role to play in providing a surrogate memory. The media and technology [IBM] regularly predict how technology will change our lives, including how we remember.

Amid such speculation memory still makes us who we are. You and I have a yesterday, today - and we pray - a tomorrow.

This is the bootstrap that counts

Bootstrapping or booting refers to a group of metaphors that share a common meaning:

a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap

Striking then the news this week that - dementia costs 'equal to 1% of global GDP'.

Drupal musings 15: modules and Drupalcon videos

Since picking up the health career model and publishing the model online in 1986 the term holistic bandwidth has emerged. The blog in 2006 and to date has seen other loosely defined terms:

care architecture
4-fold care
cogneography
holistic competency

Using Drupal 6 I've got to a position were I am getting to know core plus some contributed modules. One of the latter is webforms. It's bound to be help seeing what webforms can do in terms of one-way data submission, compared to using CCK - the content construction kit. In webforms the grid component holds great promise, but in creating a grid for music genres I notice there is no validation (which would be quite a trick!). Users should only be able to select one type of music they want to hear most of the time. The validation question is going to help force the issue of getting under the hood. All that reading revealed in previous posts is also needed to sort the theme too.

I remember first coming across the word instantiate. As I write, think about a h2cm glossary and experiment for real with Drupal 6 - I wonder whether the content types I create (in Drupal 7 especially) may help define some of the above and other terms?

The majority of the sessions from Drupalcon CPH are available on video.
There are some I still need to catch being in other sessions.

Drupal(con) musings 14: design, UI, UX, thinking and care

In his funny and very engaging session 'Designing UI with Seven' at Drupalcon CPH Mark Boulton discussed four user experience (UX) principles and introduced us to ten user interface (UI) guidelines.

Mark highlighted the need for a mental model and the challenge within publishing of there being someone who has the big picture. Who knows exactly what is going on? The health career model provides a model and can provide a canvas to support the big picture.

What really caught my attention though was as soon as Mark asserted -
"Don't make people think." -

I immediately thought -
'Make people care instead'.

Well, I'm not sure if an interface can do what public (mental) health policy, government public funded education programmes and the concerted efforts of the health professions has largely failed to achieve. The users of e-health information systems do need the design of the system to be transparent to them. IT mustn't get in the way. Mark's point of course is the the user's should be free to focus on the problem the system is to help solve. In health this includes:

• recording of a health (and social) care record;
• secure information / file management and access;
• information governance, reporting and archiving;
  
• timely, ready access for those who need to know;
• ability to manipulate the record to obtain knowledge: from data > from information;
• to provide patient (carer as advocate) access and verification;
• remote access with rugged devices.
  
• ...
  

This does not mean that people are oblivious to design: far from it (iThis - iThat!). My point is that as we follow Mark and other design expert's advice then users should be able to focus on care design and the care outputs arising.

So in health we need interfaces and user experiences that DO encourage reflection, thought: thinking.

P.S. In another session (or magazine!?) on creating mobile versions of sites the advice included getting rid of the crap - the clutter, the >1000px width adornments. Rhetoric aside - my design thought would be not to include anything that could be described in this way whatever the media type (maybe I should lighten up!) ;-)

To follow: update on my Drupal efforts.

Drupal musings 13: Packaged care and modules

Although I do not need to sit at the front for presentations anymore, I did so at Drupalcon as the electricity plugs were few and forward. There was a bonus. Being in the right place... I picked up a free book c/o Packt Publishing who were among the exhibitors and valued sponsors. The book is Michael Peacock's Social Networking (don't panic I'm not going to review it!). Since returning from Copenhagen I've been using Drupal 6 and 7 on a daily basis. Checking just what some of the key modules, such as Taxonomy, Taxonomy Manager, and Groups have to offer. What are the configuration options and how well do modules integrate?

In the book Michael lists the Drupal modules he relies on to create a site worthy of the book's title. He explains that many modules are themselves 'packaged' for example - the Activity module:

Activity: Activity
Activity: Activity history
Activity: Comment activity
Activity: Node activity
Activity: OG# activity (#organic groups) p.140

This highlights the multifunctional capability of modules which leads me to wonder* about what functionality might be found in future modules:

Intrapersonal: Communication Intrapersonal: Mood Intrapersonal: Cognition Intrapersonal: Diagnosis Intrapersonal: Interests Intrapersonal: Risk Intrapersonal: Skills-Education	Sciences: Observations Sciences: Physical attributes Sciences: Mobility Sciences: Nutrition Sciences: Diagnosis Sciences: Physical safety
Sociology: Relationships Sociology: Ethnicity Sociology: Interests Sociology: Religion Sociology: Carer assessment	Political: Marital status Political: Employment Political: Benefits-Welfare Political: Capacity Political: Autonomy Political: Mental Health Act status

Further news:
The new PC is ordered 10-12 days until its arrival. Yes, I could go DIY, but I'm busy.

This Saturday evening I will have some 4-5 hours with the client of the basic Drupal 6 site. Very much looking forward to that. Must remember KISS!

*Not necessarily an actual proposal!

Drupal musings 12: Semantic Web, ICNP, Case studies and Care domains

Drupalcon 2010 Copenhagen is over for me. It's been a really useful week: awesome indeed. My head is dizzy with all the options, sources and resources to consider. I will contact the London Drupalcon group for 2011 with some suggestions regards beginners, networking and outreach.

Ever since setting off on the Drupal road, the semantic web has been a constant item of street furniture. In Szeged '08, Paris last year and this past week in Copenhagen the semantic web, RDF and terminologies have had a pivotal presence. I did not attend all the rdf / SW sessions but Wednesday's Semantic Terminologies was sit on the floor popular (even though at that point the program hit a bottleneck from 6 to 3 streams). Whatever the cause - I was there, late and my pivot ached (no padding!).

As a Drupal 7 prelude I'm creating a Drupal 6 site, a basic homepage for someone. The content for the latter is fixed - sorted. Apart from the pages for the archive, the new h2cm content involves me figuring out how to combine:

1. the health career model;
2. nursing - in theory and practice;
3. external sources and resources;
4. and Drupal.

Johannes Wehner's terminology session above did not emphasize RDF, but highlighted Open Linked Data by means of Open Calais as a tool to extend existing content. I've downloaded the Drupal OC module and obtained a key.

As for the list: #1 The health career model is straight forward really. Four care domains - get on with it! From there though it is quite a reach to encompass #2 & #3. My options appear to be:

• free tagging, auto tagging - let the users of the site decide;
• pre-define a data set, a terminology (classification) for the health career model;
• use an existing nursing classification / terminology scheme - perhaps a subset.
  

Before I decide I need to be aware of what is available. I e-mailed Derek Hoy in Scotland - contact for the International Classification for Nursing Practice® [ICNP]. This is another thing I pick up, put down. ... Now thanks to Derek I'm sorted now with ICNP downloaded (and I will need a module to import .csv files). There are videos on the ICNP website.

I have followed the development of nursing terminologies for quite some time. The most striking thing to me is how removed they are from the day-to-night life on wards and other care encounter situations. With mental health as a Cinderella in terms of the politics and recognition of nursing service provision I am in effect professionally twice removed. For the vast majority of nurses on the ground and from where I work in community mental health the ICNP, SNOMED CT, Omaha and other schemes are rather esoteric things. They are there in the background, part of management and reporting 'function'. This is not to say that the above initiatives have few followers, or lacks experts in this field. Make no mistake nursing has its own geeks, nursing classification its experts!

The scope of ICNP makes it a great candidate (from the website) -

Diagnosis/outcome

Interventions

Individual 7 axes

1. focus
2. action
3. client
4. judgement
5. location
6. means
7. time

Plus:

• it's International;
• it's by nurses, for nurses;
• it has momentum (political and financial support);
• So it is credible, and research based.

Despite this, I must take a critical look at what is available for my needs and time available. All the above provide way too much for a first bash - prototype, proof of concept. I have the luxury of not worrying about safety. My project does not constitute an electronic health record or other variant. Yes, I want to prove the health career model and to this end I must also find or create several nursing case studies to interrogate within Drupal and h2cm.

Perhaps as things improve economically, nursing classification will be revived and will allowed the time to fully mature? I recall in 2006 plans to explore mental health within SNOMED which unfortunately did not materialise. So, when I say mature, I mean like cheese in the holistic senses of the ingredients: nursing care concepts across contexts that also incorporate self-care, recovery, demographic trends ...; and the process across communities of practice (integrated care) through to academic and management applications - research / reporting.

In March 2010 plans were announced of plans to harmonize the efforts of the ICNP and SNOMED CT nursing:

http://www.ihtsdo.org/nc/about-ihtsdo/harmonization/icn/?sword_list[]=nursing

So, with a possible jumpstart - a sprint for my site this autumn in Manchester, UK and work afoot to make nursing classification matter on the 'ground' there is more to follow on several fronts. ... I remember a presentation Derek did in the 1990s about classification and making nursing visible - let's do it!

contact: h2cmng @ yahoo.co.uk

Drupal musings 11: Git up and go ...

For more than I care to remember I've recognised that version control is an essential facet of software development. During this time though I've not had a need for version control. Renewed awareness of this tool was inevitable as I decided to identify a content management system [CMS], which brought me to Drupal and I simultaneously also discovered Ruby.

Now I'm pleased that over the past three years I did not commit to Concurrent Versions System [CVS] as used by the Drupal community. I listened to talks, downloaded, and tinkered, but now - the (old) news that Drupal 8 development will use GIT.

So, for me it is time to jump on-board with git for version control: a book and presentations next week:

http://cph2010.drupal.org/sessions/git-fundamentals

It's not that I'll be contributing to D8, it just makes sense to git up to speed on this (sorry!). I've been through the program and created my schedule for next week in Copenhagen. There is so much to look forward to!

Version control is one thing, having the need and discipline for testing is another ...

Drupal musings 10: Archive & FAQ

There are now three archive pages more or less complete. I'm using HTML 5 and CCS3 (well trying) to mark and style the pages, with the addition of the new semantic tags:

article, aside, figure, footer, header, hgroup, menu, nav, section {display:block;}

(I'm not sure if these disappeared at one point in the editor, so everything is a work in progress.)

Next up - the FAQs. As a live document this will be styled differently. As yet I am not quite sure how, but I still need to sort the way to handle quotes. The method I found includes blockquote: hover: after in the style sheet, then combines blockquote, cite and p on the page. The problem is you can't copy and paste, something that visitors may wish to do. A related issue is how to display when the page was updated and accessed - an essential piece of page furniture. A search reveals many other examples and now is the time to experiment.

I also have to remember that I still don't know what the final theme and look for the site will be. So global settings, columns and such like need to be kept in-check for the moment. There may be Drupal modules to add page access / updated details, so time to check on this and accessibility. And all with just ten days more to work - then Drupalcon! :-)

The questions and answers are being be completely revised; so if you have any you would like to see please get in touch: h2cmng at yahoo.co.uk

Drupal musings 9: Copenhagen next month & the archive

With less than a month to go now until Drupalcon 2010 in Europe - Copenhagen; it's time to look at the program:

http://cph2010.drupal.org/news/initial-program

- and the tracks available. Already, the session choice is dizzying. In the mix is -

• Designing UI with Seven, Mark Boulton
• Semantic Taxonomies, Johannes Wehner
• Add a mobile version to your Drupal site, Martin Jørge
• Imaginary users can save your Drupal site, J-P Stace
• Writing Better CSS for Drupal, Maarten Verbaarscho

It will be worthwhile considering previous events and sessions attended and building on the content there. I must also check on the education app related sessions, birds of a feather.

I showed someone the styled archive pages - apparently they look old - good to hear! ;-)

Drupal musings 8: Styling the archive

I've been editing the basic html pages (as mentioned before on W2tQ) these include:

• Brian Hodges' introduction with a content listing and the scope of the model to help bridge theory and practice.
• My introduction to the model based on an interview with Brian conducted 28th May 1998 in Manchester, England.

I've been here before and lost the thread, working within Drupal. This time though editing the pages in Textmate, things are taking shape. Three headings, three fonts (currently) Georgia, Droid Serif, Tangerine; styled lists and striped tables. It might be basic, but there is a style sheet that is almost breathing as it INFLATES : deflates, the result of various experiments. The fonts look good except for the FOUT 'flash of unstyled text'. As the previous link shows there are some fixes for that - which I hope will follow in due course. That would be a distraction at this point though as there is much to focus upon. Although the archive will have a style of its own, other parts of the site must reflect its content. That said, there still needs to be some stylistic coherence. ...

Written in Padstow, Quayside Cottage listening to a children's show on the bandstand.

Drupal musings 7: HTML5, CSS3 ... & Mr Hodges meets Drupal

At Manchester airport in May I noticed Web Design Essentials (WDE). Reasons of cost £14.99 and weight meant it was put back on the news stand. The content was excellent! Back in the UK a week later, no sign of it in the supermarket. I found a copy this week at WH Smiths and made the 'investment' - a belated holiday treat.

This is gold mine of nuggets on HTML5, design - wireframes, user experience (UX), fonts and typography:

http://www.font-face.com/
http://fontdeck.com/

- personas, CSS3, jQuery and much more. Now I think about it UX has been around for quite a while, it's a sure sign of how web design has matured such that practitioners can and must focus on the experience. There's another blog post there contrasting UX in web design with UX in health services. Reading about the use of personas in design and planning for a site might also deserve a specific post. As WDE indicates there are companies dedicated to UX. I do not have that luxury and yet I do have to define my initial target audience and their anticipated experience.

The web design related listing I maintain at LINKS I (Intrapersonal) are being updated as a result of the leads in WDE.

Through the scheduling and poll services of Doodle (thanks Chris) and with the Drupal NW England list I'm checking on which day in the autumn - November - is best for a group of volunteers to help jump start the new site. Everything is sorted now for Drupalcon next month.

Drupal musings 6: Content types - Reflection!

Does anyone have any experience in using established models of reflection in:

• education (nursing, public health, information technology)
  
• practice
• therapy
• supervision
  
• carer support
• eHealth
  
• ... ?

If so please get in touch [h2cmng at yahoo.co.uk].

In its initial downloaded state Drupal has two content types:

1. story
2. and page.

The option then is to use these which would be rather limiting. Add to these two by enabling other core modules. Drupal administrators can extend the core functionality by adding other modules which provide new content types.

You can also roll your own. A key content type for the new site is one that uses the health career model to facilitate - reflection - one of the original purposes for the model.

This also provides an opportunity to adopt a model of reflection that is itself supported by research. This may be Gibbs:

• Stage 1: Description of the event
• Stage 2: Feelings and Thoughts (Self awareness)
• Stage 3: Evaluation
• Stage 4: Analysis
• Stage 5: Conclusion (Synthesis)
• Stage 6: Action Plan

John's Model of Structured Reflection

• Aesthetics – the art of what we do, our own experiences
• Personal – self awareness
• Ethics – moral knowledge
• Empirics – scientific
• with its Cue Questions

Smyth’s Framework for Reflection on Action

• Activity
• Inform (Analysis)
• Confront (Self awareness)
• Reconstruct (Evaluation and Synthesis)

There are many others. ...

Once the hedgehog-headlights glare has passed, this is going to be a really interesting project. There must be a way to link one (or more) of the above with each of h2cm's care (knowledge) domains. There must be a way to create a first version that can be extended and support other content types. The possibilities are really exciting - hence the glare (reflected of course!).

Some reflection sources:

http://www.practicebasedlearning.org/resources/materials/docs/reflectiononpractice.pdf

http://www.communityhealthcarebolton.co.uk/SHA/LLL/resources/reflective/Framework%20for%20Reflection.doc

Drupal musings 5: Jump start for a new blog / site

Last month I had a great offer from the Drupal North West UK user group members at Manchester's - MadLab.

The proposal is using a central Manchester venue with wifi for a day engage some volunteers and create a new version of this blog in Drupal. This has woken me up! Putting a request out MDDA - Manchester Digital Development Agency have kindly offered to help out in terms of the venue.

At this months meeting I explained where things are up to and it was clear I still had some sorting to do.

As Chris and the others asked: What can Drupal do that Blogger cannot deliver?

Recently Blogger have extended their template design and functionality. So, now I should be able to find a new (and clean) template and re-introduce comments. In 2006 when I started the blog there were problems with spam.

So... it looks best to leave the blog as a going concern and focus on a new site for Hodges' model and the specific content and functionality requirements there.

I have my ticket for Drupalcon Copenhagen, for me this is 3rd time lucky, last chance saloon. This would be great timing and with the darkening nights too. ...

A phantom outline (currently an example of the 'living-dead') has been known for a while:

• Archive
  
• Case Studies (content types)
  
• Glossary
• Introduction - beginners guide to the health career model
  
• ...
  

If in one day a group of Drupalers can help me jump start this project that would be - awesome! First though I have to get an idea of numbers and a poll to gauge which day is the best for people - looking ahead to October - November. Before then I have some work to do...

Drupal musings 4: Modules and the nursing masquerade

Periodically I go through the list of available modules for Drupal both the current version and that in development - at present that is versions 6 and 7.

Reading the descriptions and reflecting on a module's functionality it is surprising where they can take you. Some of the modules stand out, prompting thoughts of potential applications. This is not just a case of descriptions fulfilling their role. Some of them shout out just by virtue of their name.

'Organic groups' will change to 'Group' in Drupal 7. If there is one thing about groups in nursing they are organic - whether that's disciplinary groups, groups held by nurses. Groups are a basic part of the structure and content of Hodges' model, and so it may be well worth factoring in the Group module from the outset.

As I read about the Masquerade module:

The masquerade module is designed as a tool for site designers and site administrators. It allows a user with the right permissions to switch users. While masquerading, a field is set on the $user object, and a menu item appears allowing the user to switch back. Watchdog entries are made any time a user masquerades or stops masquerading.

I thought of the tribes and camps within nursing and health care in general. Have we moved on? Well OK, let's see how holistic, integrated, multidisciplinary nursing is these days: picture then the nurse in medicine, surgical, operating theatre acting as a mental health nurse, learning disability nurse and vice versa?

Can we spot the imposter? One suspects (surely) that given a technical case study, care scenario then the game would be up very quickly. As to basic nursing care situations, there might be an interesting party there?

Image source: http://www.mchooksinc.com/catalog/index.php

Wageningen MultiMedia Research Centre

I am away for a week and will be e-free. Amongst reading materials I'm packing Learning Drupal 6 Module Development. Last evening I came across Wageningen MultiMedia Research Centre (WMMRC) a treat to explore for when I return. Rather than a more complete educational Drupal distribution there are some specific modules that might work as a plug-in:

• ClosedQuestion
• Proteus
• LinearCase

The publications are extensive and of relevance too.

(Bye for now ... There's a post scheduled for 1st June on Proteus)

Drupal musings 3: PHP, Textmate, h2cm and Forms

Happy International Nurses' Day!



For quite a few months I have not connected the MacBook to the external monitor. I did so last night using:

• MAMP (server software)
  
• Textmate (an editor Mac only)
  
• prompted by reading - Robin Nixon's, Learning PHP, MySQL & Javascript, O'Reilly.
  

(Experienced programmers may at this point want to go review some political party broadcasts - coalition news as there's a lot more happening there.)

I typed in a PHP file, purposefully trying Textmate's 'Bundles' > 'HTML' > options to mix some PHP and HTML.

The file does not do a lot, but like creating, reading and writing a file it's a start. All this effort does is display four text box input fields (Chapter 11 Form Handling) with submit buttons. Previously I have mirrored the laptop screen to the external 24" Acer, that appears to be the default. ;-) Tinkering with the display options and turning off mirroring I found that I could pick up the Textmate window and move it to the big screen on my right. Meanwhile on the laptop I could preview the output in the browser. Apple's Spaces is a related facility to master.

Not only that, but suitably editing the PHP file in Textmate resulted in updates on the browser (Refresh after change. Delay 0.40 s.) To me - that's Magic!

On the Drupal front - despite the title of this post - there's not much to report. The news is brief and yet kind of major in that I've bought my ticket for Drupalcon in Copenhagen. I am really gutted that this year I did not get to the Scottish Ruby Conference in March, after '08 and '09. At least getting to grips with Textmate will also help with Ruby (and Rails) too.

OK, back to Textmate to try the other PHP input types: text area, check boxes, hidden fields, select and labels.

Drupal musings 2: Drupalese and Nursese - help or hinder

As I repeatedly wade into the blue Drupal waters and then run out again (the water's hot) I note ongoing conversations at Drupalversity, Drupal dojo, Drupal-kata and similar forums about the challenge of learning Drupal. (I know the cure. That - is so simple, just do it: CREATE A SITE!)

On Drupalversity a comment by Becky Kinney caught my attention as Becky also refers to Drupalese. There's been discussion about how learners can make progress getting to grips with Drupal, but then because they lack prerequisite knowledge and skills the learning materials / instructions lapse into Drupalese.

Coming to Drupal is like nursing in so far as experiential learning is helpful. Any programming experience may help (or hinder), at the very least newbies (do I hate that term?) will be familiar with how websites appear to work, in the same way that would-be nurses are aware of the effects of infection, trauma, basic healing processes and treatments, what it feels like to be 'sick' to some degree, symptoms and signs. There's a point though that with a burgeoning new vocabulary of nursing, medical and care terms this challenge also becomes Nursese.

That reference above to help or hinder is a little like nurses who work as care support workers initially. There is a risk (which should not exist these days) that prior to starting formal nurse training they may pick up bad habits. Drupal is no different in the sense that it is complex and there are several ways to achieve the same outcome, but which is the most effective, efficient, future proof, safe and secure. ...?

Hodges' model can help nurse learners, but what about Drupal learners - this one included?

Not a chance.

A conceptual framework is not going to help here. While Hodges' model does have socio-technical credentials, it is no software engineering shoe-horn, life jacket...

It will take (several) new Drupal websites to exercise the beast, my mind, fingers and what I hope is a potential community out there. Time for another paddle!