DrupalCon Recap

Today is my first day back from work after DrupalCon D.C. I had a great time there and learn a lot. Here is a recap:

1. Day 1 Keynote - Dries Buytaert presented the idea of the internet as one machine, with computers, pdas, cells as views into the machine. Ideally if this were the case, your information would be centralized and you wouldn't have to enter your information on every site. Basically this is the vision for Web 3.0.


2. Apache Solr - Faceted search system that can search multi-sites and lets you filter by type and weight the results by various criteria, such as content type, date, author, etc. Also, would likely be a hosted solution. Not sure how it works with Views. Google CSE is also a possibility. Will need to investigate library sites that have a multi-search function for the Catalog and see how they do it.


3. Scaling Drupal - Use YSlow! to determine the speed of your website. Also advice on enabling slow query logs and utilizing load testing and caching techniques.


4. Front-end and Back-end Optimization - Lots of tips on how to optimize your website. Will definitely need to use these notes as a reference.


5. Drupal Security - Lots of tips on how to secure your website and server. Will also definitely need to use these notes as a reference. Interesting perspective on the use Full HTML filter, parameter, and embeds, all of which we are planning to use on the redesign. Luckily, two of the speakers are our consultants, so I'll be asking them about this.


6. Taxonomy - There are some really great contrib modules out there that utilize taxonomy, including Synonym module, Vocabulary Index module (lets you browse vocabularies in admin), and Relevant Content module (returns a "more like this" type block for nodes). The actual "more like this" module may be more robust, though.


7. Drupal Multi-media - ImageField and ImageCache modules are likely the best solution for us. Also some information that will come in handy on the ppld.tv website.


8. Closing Keynote - Work on something that matters to you more than money. Make the outcome greater than the input. Develop for the long run.

Other really great experiences:

• Twitter at Drupal


• IRC at Drupal


• New Groups: Media, Open Media, Taxonomy, Documentation


• BoFs: Library, Usability, including a discussion about usability in content entry


• SoPAC and the need for documentation


• Documentation Sprint

Things I need to do:

• Track down and watch presentations online:
  
  
  
  • Documentation is Hot
  
  
  • Gentle Intro to Drupal Code, etc
  
  
  • Why I hate Drupal Also located here
  
  
  • Advanced Theming Techniques
  
  
  • Data Migration - Migrate module & Table Wizard module
    
    
    
    • Import data into mySQL
    
    
    • Save in Drupal database
    
    
    • Create CCK with fields
    
    
    • Use Table Wizard to say what goes where
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Prepopulate module
  
  
  • Almost all session videos are now available online
  
  
  • Almost all session slide shows are available online
  
  
  • Others as posted