Vegas Vegan Option for Saturday DrupalQue

I've asked Brian Shae Sveniker to cater our workshop this Saturday. Of course, we want the usual options for a 'Que' or 'Cue' as some refer to BBQ's. That is, burgers and dogs. But I asked Brian to host because he's a creative chef and he's a vegan. I figured he'd come up with something interesting as an alternative to the usual faire. Many of our Drupal friends are vegetarians and vegans, so we thought we'd do something special for them.

Well, it looks like Brian's going to really knock our socks off!

He's planning to make something called a 'Vegas Vegan' which sounds like a great dish. He described it to me and I was immediately hungry for it :) Here's some pics from a wonderful article at quarrygirl. They graiously licences there content cc-by-nc-sa and so we can share some of it here. Enjoy until the real thing.

Please let us know if you want the Vegas Vegan option when you reserve your spot in the workshop. Also, each workshop participant may invite one guest to lunch (see the workshop posting).

Drupal Clinic in Ojai, Ventura, Wednesday evening, June, 23rd, 2010, 7pm-9pm

This week's Ventura clinic (aka workgroup/studygroup) will be at

Ojai Digital Dojo
963 W. El Roblar Drive
Ojai, California 93023
http://ojaidigitaldojo.net

Google map:
http://tinyurl.com/ojaidigitaldojo

Wednesday, June, 23rd, 2010, 7pm-9pm

This is actually what is known as 'Meiners Oaks' area of the Ojai Valley.

Free wi-fi, coffee, tea, kitchen access if you want to brown bag it. We can also send out for Pizza. There are organic market, burgers, Mexican food, etc within a few blocks if you want to pick something up.

No presentations on Wednesdays, just a small group of folks helping each other with Drupal questions.

Aimed mainly at newbies, but open to anyone with questions or anyone willing to help others find answers to their questions.

Flickr photo licensed cc-by-nc-nd thanks to deadstar

It's summer and time for a DrupalQue

UPDATE: we have about 4 seats open for this small workshop. Please contact Markus Sandy @ 805-798-0436, or skype msandy for reservations. This workshop is suitable for beginning level Drupal users who have some experience with using Drupal and building websites.

UPDATE 2: Local chef Brian Shae Sveniker has graciously agreed to cater this event. This means that we can offer a gourmet vegan alternative to the usual BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs, which of course we'll also have on hand. Watch for a post on his great menu. Please note the date change from the original posting.

The vloggers are having a VloggerCue, so what the heck! Let's have a DrupalQue. :)

A DrupalQue is two slices of lean Drupal learning, wrapped around a Bar-B-Que. So let's all queue up for some Drupal learning fun on Saturday, June 26th. It's lean, because each session is about one a specific aspect of Drupal.

For our first Que, we'll be giving a brief introduction to using the Views module in the morning session. The afternoon session will be about theming views.

These sessions are aimed at people who want help getting up to speed on specific topics, The first session is aimed at beginners and assumes no specific prerequisites, but you should know what Views is basically for and have a goal in mind for using it. The second session, builds off of the first and assumes a basic understanding of CSS and HTML in addition to a basic understanding of Drupal views, types, displays, settings and uses as explained in the first session. Note that we will not be covering the use of too many views plugins unless specific requests received in time to add that plugin information to the session handouts. Sessions are designed to encourage participant questions on specific uses.

Here is an outline for each session:

Morning Session - Introduction to Using Drupal Views
Example views. Finding and using existing views.
Creating views.
View types. View displays. View and Basic settings.
Page, block, feed and attachment settings.
Fields. Sorting criteria.
Arguments, filters and relationships.
Additional display and style plugins.

Afternoon Session - Theming Views
Blocks, pages, feeds and attachments.
CSS styles common to various views display styles.
How CSS and HTML change with view setting changes.
Theming information and theme template files.
Quick theming aids and tools.
Brief tour: Using Skinr, panels and 960 grid-based themes.




Watermelon photo licensed cc-by-nc-sa by jliba

Please note:

• THESE ARE SMALL GROUP WORKSHOPS WITH GENERALLY NO MORE THAN 8 PARTICIPANTS. SPACE IS LIMITED.


• YOU MUST HAVE A CONFIRMED RESERVATION TO ATTEND SESSIONS.


• PREFERENCE WILL BE GIVEN TO PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL AND CAN ATTEND BOTH WORKSHOPS.


• WALK-INS ARE NOT ALLOWED AT THESE WORKSHOPS (please come to one of our open Wed night events instead).


• PARTICIPANTS SHOULD HAVE A WI-FI EQUIPPED LAPTOP OR NET-BOOK COMPUTER TO USE DURING WORKSHOP (we may be able to provide a limited number of workstations for participant use if prior arrangements are made).

The first session is from 10:00am - noon. Lunch/BBQ/Swim is from noon - 1pm. The afternoon session is from 1-3pm.

At the same time. there will also be a meeting of the unofficial Drupal widows and orphans group. This group has nothing to do with style sheets and intends to join in on the bar-b-que, but otherwise intends to just relax, hang around the pool, take nature walks, visit Ojai shops, swim, get a massage or partake of the treats and libations offered at the Ojai Dojo Guest House next door while session participants geek out. Dog friendly. Less so for kids.

Notes:

• Swimming is at your own risk. Clothing is optional. Minors must be supervised by an adult guardian with the understanding that this is an adult oriented event with alcohol present (e.g., we might all have a beer with lunch, jump in the spa and start telling racy Drupal stories).


• Smoking is allowed outside on the decks. Please do not smoke in the Dojo, house or offices. Please watch your butts :)


• Please feel free to bring food and beverages, especially if you have special needs. Sharing is encouraged. Kitchen available.


• Please park on the street outside the gate. Dog friendly with both open and gated areas


• Please be respectful of neighboring orchards and ask before picking. There's plenty, but not all ours.


• Certified massage therapists available with prior arrangement (for your partner foo! you get Drupal!)


• Overnight lodging or camping available. Campers must supply their own gear or make prior arrangements.
  

Drupal Workgroup and Clinic Starting up in Ventura

We're starting a Drupal Study Group in Ventura. Last night was the first meeting at Chief's Pizza in Ventura.

At first, I thought it would be more convenient for folks if we tried to hold meetings closer to the main parts of town or nearer to the freeways. To my surprise, the first meeting was attended by people from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, as well as Ventura and the location did not really seem to help or matter to people.

It was a small group, but we quickly ate up the 2 hour meeting time discussing and working on solutions to specific questions that we had about our day to day use of Drupal. We pretty much just opened our laptops, moved some benches to make for better viewing and jumped in on specific questions. Here is a summary of our main discussion points.

* Installing multiple Drupal sites under OSX, using MAMP. This turned out not to be a discussion of Drupal multi-sites,but more about simple Drupal configuration issues in settings.php. Also mentioned how etc/hosts and Apache configuration files can make this easier.

* Discussion of specific theming challenges associated with the Nice Menus module. In particular, we discussed how certain CSS selectors effected menus made from <ul> and <li> elements. Also discussed related id's css classes and selectors, such as .menuparent and #block-nice_menus-1

* Turning on built in web developer tools in Safari to examine Nice Menu html and CSS.

* CSS selector weighting and matching and how it applies to Drupal theming, especially sub-menus.

* Discussed use of jQuery Cycle plugin and corresponding Views Cycle module with Views in order to create a 'slider' like one that a participant had seen on an existing site.

The participants made it clear that what they want is basic help. They feel that Drupal Camps and regional meetups are great fun, but that many of the discussions and presentations are either way over their heads or not something they can directly apply to their own Drupal sites at this time. They appreciate those events, but are also looking for something more basic and practical.

We plan to hold bi-weekly meetings of a 'clinic' nature; one where you come in and get help on specific questions and work on your own projects and exercises.

One thing I noticed is that the Pizza parlor was a nice place to meet, but not an ideal working and learning environment like the Dojo is. Wifi, no sports/TV's, more space, projector, etc all make for a nicer workspace. Also, it looks like being in central Ventura is not that big of a convenience and that Ojai is not that far out of the way for many.

So we plan to hold future work group, or clinic if you prefer, meetings in people's homes or at the Ojai Digital Dojo (which is part of our home). In the spirit of the Drupal Dojo, we will open our homes and dojos to small groups who wish to improve their Drupal skills. I've emailed one of the Drupal Dojo organizers and they are supportive of our goals. We plan to post future event notices in the Drupal Dojo group and here on the Ojai Digital Dojo blog.

Image from Drupal Dojo group at groups.drupal.org

All are welcome, but these clinics are aimed at addressing specific questions, with an emphasis on helping 'beginners'. Please leave a comment or send us an email to let us know you are coming.

For Digital Dojo located events, directions are in the sidebar (be sure you come to the 963 West El Roblar address, not the mailing address on Ojai Ave). Also, If folks are hungry, there are pizza, burgers, BBQ and several Mexican food takeout, plus an organic market within a few blocks of the Digital Dojo and people are free to come by during the 6-7pm hour to work on their own or eat pot luck. Pizza can be delivered. Kitchen facilities are available. We have filtered water, teas, coffees and various jucies and sodas. You are always welcome to squeeze all the fresh orange juice you like.

There is no cost for these workgroup meetings, although it would be nice if you chip in a few bucks towards any food or drinks if you can't contribute to pot luck.

For more information or to set up your own private digital dojo learning session, please contact Markus Sandy at 805-798-0436 or via markus.sandy@gmail.com.

We will also be announcing some Drupal learning events coming this summer. The first will be a Views intro and theming class on June 19th. Stay tuned for more info.