Aaron Dudenhofer's blog

Some of you have been noticing error messages over the last couple months. You may also have noticed some funky things going on with the site since the last meeting. Today I was able to fix those issues and run some needed updates.

In the course of making these changes, I added some extra features. One of them having to do with your 'name fields'. You will notice that if you go to  My Account and select the Profile tab, you now have a field for First Name and Last Name.

Have you ever tried to design a website and become stumped about where to begin? I found a resource for design element ideas that help me get through that slump.

Pattern Tap is a site where you can browse different collections that people have found inspiring. The 45 collections include web page elements like forms, headers, comments, and much more. If you're designing the comments on your next website, maybe it would be worth checking out what they have on Pattern Tap.

Be sure to check out the Indiana Linux Fest coming up March 25-27. Check out the schedule and see if there is anything that interests you. You may find that you don't have to be a linux user to enjoy the conference.

There is also a Drupal session going on all day on Saturday. You can follow the proposed drupal schedule on the Indiana Drupal Group page. I will be presenting an "Intro to Drupal Theming" session, but there will be other interesting topics as well.

Most of our clients appreciate having a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor for managing their website's page content. These allow users who are familiar with the layout of document editing programs, like Word, to use a similar means to stylize and lay out the page. The WYSIWYG Editor actually translates these styles and layouts into HTML, which is read by the browsers.

One of the biggest problems with WYSIWYG Editors is that they don't always display what you see. Here are some common problems that we have addressed with clients:

Indy GiveCamp is a weekend-long collaboration between local developers, designers, database administrators, and non-profits. It is an opportunity for the technical community to celebrate and express gratitude for the contributions of these organizations by contributing code and technical know-how directly towards the needs of the groups.

The Indy GiveCamp 2010 will take place on November 5-7 at MID, 9800 Association Ct, Indianapolis, IN 46280.

Indianapolis is hosting it's FIRST EVER Drupal Camp on October 23, 2010. I'm posting to this group about it because we (I say we because I am helping to organize the event) will have a full track dedicated to beginners and getting started into Drupal.

A lot of neat and exciting things are happening in the world of the web. With the advancement of both HTML 5 and CSS 3, the way we experience the web will soon be changing dramatically. Some argue that HTML 5 will mean the downfall of Flash. It is already being used on mobile devices to allow the viewing of videos and audio players. Despite these advancements, one major browser is a constant hold up. I'll let you guess which one that is!

As the webmaster for the Indy Media Artists group, I wanted to welcome all of our new users to the website! I hope all of you will take the time to create an account and become as active here as you are in the meetups.

Here are a couple of the new items:

Members Area - Members of all areas are welcome to join. Paid members will receive a "Premium Member" level that will give them access to the member benefits and other areas that are restrictred to the Premium Members.