Consultants

We met with the consultant this morning and he pretty much reinforced what I already suspected Drupal would and wouldn't do for our website. There are many advantages of using this CMS, and of course a few disadvantages. I'm going to compile a report summarizing the meeting and listing pros and cons. Then we will report to the Website Team to make a decision. All of us felt that Drupal would be a good CMS for us to use.

One interesting thing that the consultant suggested was for us to switch the web server to an Linux environment. Right now we operate in a Windows environment and while Drupal works with Microsoft, it works better with Linux. My System Administrator is actually excited to learn about Linux, so I was glad for that. If we do decide on Drupal, we will use a Linux machine.

Redesign Project Step 1 - Research CMSs

I've been researching CMSs for quite some time now, mostly through word of mouth and some online sources. Right now I'm leaning toward Drupal. I'm about to slog through some Drupal documentation now so I'll be ready for a GoToMeeting with some consultants in the morning.

Wish me luck.

So it begins

PPLD is undergoing a website redesign. I've decided to blog our project's progress (and pitfalls) for posterity (say that 3 times fast). Besides, I think it will help me keep track of the project as well as provide a reference source as the project continues.

Most people that read the entries that follow will probably think I'm boring. I'm not.

Thing 23

Summarize my thoughts regarding 23 Things:

• My favorite Things were LibraryThing, Google Labs, and the Web 2.0 Awards.
• This program made me take the time to look at technologies that I need to know for my job. I was already familiar with most of them, but there were a few surprises.
• The CakePHP and ColorTheme (?) technologies were neat and I plan to use them in my work. Same goes for LibraryThing.
• Require users to include the URLs to the Things they create so we can look at them.
• Of course I would participate if this would be offered again. Mainly because I'll likely be involved in making it.

Thing 22

Subscribe to a podcast. I subscribed to This American Life in Google Reader AND iTunes. Yip.

Thing 21

YouTube. I use YouTube quite a bit. I love it. I have even posted videos to it for the Library. Yay me.

Thing 20

Web 2.0 applications. I really liked ColorBlender and CakePHP. I saved them to my del.icio.us for future use. I think they will come in handy.

Thing 19

Apparently I've used Zoho writer before when I was at CiL and I guess I was having a hard time getting my Mac to let me take notes. I don't really remember this, but the document is sitting right here on my desktop so who am I to argue.

Zoho writer is cool. So is Google Docs. However, I usually have Word on my pc so I'm not that likely to use these tools. Both times I've tried to use an online document editor in the past my online session has been iffy, resulting in lost work. So in most cases, no thanks to Zoho and Google Docs.

I DO like that you can Publish to a Blog. That is very cool and a good way to format your entries before publishing.

Thing 18

Google Labs. Google Mars was very cool. But in my opinion, the coolest by far was the Google Ride Finder. I mean, it follows those cabs around in real time. That's so neat and big-brother like to me! It's like I'm God watching over my children from above! I can watch a cab drive around Baltimore for example, and imagine all the devious and strange things that are going on in the lives of the people driving to and from wherever it is they are going. Is that so wrong?

Thing 17

I read a few articles on Library 2.0. I liked the point Michael Stephens made that librarians should not use a specific technology just because it's the new cool thing. It's easy to fall into that trap and try to one up your colleagues. The best thing to do is find what technology works best for your needs and the needs of the staff and public, and use it consistantly.

Thing 16

I did some poking around Technorati and I'm not impressed. I already subscribe to way too many blogs and when I searched for 'bagpipes' none came up that interested me. Also, I tried to join so I can register my blog and it wouldn't let me enter my confirmation key. I tried twice, to no avail. WTF? Technorati? Not so much...

Thing 15

Dude, I LOVE del.icio.us. I use it all the time, especially since now I'm researching and compiling links for the redesign. I like that I can easily share my findings with the rest of the Website Team. Although I always feel like a dork saying, "Look at my del.icio.us for links to..."

That said, look at my del.icio.us for links on all kinds of web redesign stuff:

http://del.icio.us/vfranklyn


P.S. When we do 23 Things again next time, I'm going to make staff include the links to the Things they created...

Thing 14

I belong to Ning because my boss is into it. I could take it or leave it, to be honest. There's so much technology out there that you have to pick and choose. I just haven't seen a terrific use for Ning yet. However, I may start really using it with the Website Team as the redesign progresses. Never say never...

Thing 13

MySpace and Facebook. Well, since I created the MySpace Teen Zone space and I also created the PPLD facebook group and Catalog search engine widget, I think I got this one finished. Ah, the perks of being web developer.

Thing 12

Rollyo. It's pretty cool. I'd like to one day make a repository of custom searches created by PPLD patrons and staff and include it on ppld.org.