Web Content Management, Drupal, government, open source

Whitehouse.gov Moves to Drupal CMS October 30th, 2009

The team responsible for the Whitehouse.gov Web site has switched over to using the open-source Drupal CMS to manage the site.

From TechPresident.com:

The great Drupal switch came about after the Obama new media team, with a few months of executive branch service (and tweaking of WhiteHouse.gov) under their belts, decided they needed a more malleable development environment for the White House web presence. They wanted to be able to more quickly, easily, and gracefully build out their vision of interactive government.

More thoughts on the change and what it means in terms of technology and the public adoption of open-source software is available from Dries Buyatert (original creator and project lead for Drupal development) and Tim O’Reilly.

Social Networking, Web Development, Messaging, Mozilla, Raindrop

Mozilla Raindrop Aims to Help Filter Signal from Noise October 27th, 2009

The Mozilla Labs team has announced that they’re working on a new project named Raindrop which aims to gather up the various messaging sources that people get input from (email, Twitter, messaging apps, etc.) and then filter them to only what’s directed at the actual user (eliminating spam, messages to other users, etc.).

Raindrop Demo and Explanation Video

Application Development, Social Networking, Web Content Management

ExpressionEngine – Beta Test V2! October 21st, 2009

It looks like Ellis Labs is about to enter into the second phase of its beta testing for its ExpressionEngine V2 offering. If you haven’t had a chance to learn about it, here’s your chance! Looks to be an exciting offering, sitting on the CodeIgniter framework (also developed by Ellis Labs).

Application Development, Information Architecture, Web Development

Knowing When to Say "No" October 21st, 2009

Something to think about….

Steve Jobs gave a small private presentation about the iTunes Music Store to some independent record label people. My favorite line of the day was when people kept raising their hand saying, “Does it do [x]?”, “Do you plan to add [y]?”. Finally Jobs said, “Wait wait – put your hands down. Listen: I know you have a thousand ideas for all the cool features iTunes could have. So do we. But we don’t want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.”
-Derek Sivers, president and programmer, CD Baby and HostBaby (from Say NO by default)

Social Networking, Web Development

Web 2.0 Applications October 10th, 2009

Ever tried to keep up with all the differing Web 2.0 applications out there? Yeah, me either. But just in case you are trying, this blog has a set of them already collected for you.

Web 2.0 Applications

Application Development, Social Networking

Jive Talking to Microsoft – More to Come October 10th, 2009

With products like NewsGator already on the market and targeted directly at Microsoft’s SharePoint audience, Jive Software has introduced its newest module for its Social Business Software package.

This will enable users to collaborate in a social setting on data typically stored in a CMS. The first module will target Microsoft Sharepoint and the company has plans for a Documentum one as well. As this market place will only become more crowded, getting in early and getting it right are key.

Project Management

Dan Pink on the Science of Motivation October 8th, 2009

Once the task called for “even rudimentary cognitive skill,” a larger reward “led to poorer performance.”

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

Application Development, Visual Design, Web Content Management, Web Development, performance

Web Site Performance Software October 6th, 2009

At NavigationArts, the client-side development team focuses heavily on optimizing the performance of Web pages and how fast they load. Some of the leading research in the area is from the likes of Yahoo! and their front-end engineering team.

Application Development, Web Development

Build Applications for iPhone and iPod Touch Using ActionScript 3 October 6th, 2009

“Flash Professional CS5 will enable you to build applications for iPhone and iPod touch using ActionScript 3. These applications can be delivered to iPhone and iPod touch users through the Apple App Store.”

Webcast

Applying IA Fundamentals to Create a More Effective Web Site October 1st, 2009

If you missed the live session of “Applying IA Fundamentals to Create a More Effective Web Site,” you’ll find the presentation and the recording below.

During this session, I define fundamental IA principles and how they can be applied to achieve a more effective Web site. If your Web site is poorly organized, difficult to navigate, or overwhelming for your users, you’ll want to hear how to apply best practices in user experience design to create a website that’s useful, usable, and searchable.

During this session you’ll learn: