drupal

For a Backdrop CMS site I'm currently working on, I needed to create a node programatically (i.e. via some PHP code, as opposed to the UI). Generally when I need to do something in Backdrop, I'll search for similar solutions in Drupal 7 and then migrate them over (Backdrop still has some catching up to do in the 'online help and tutorials' department; hence this blog post).

So I went looking for how to create nodes programatically in Drupal 7, and there were plently of results. The answer is basically to create an object or array of values (your 'node'), then run it through node_save()....

This site just got a bit of a makeover. I changed the layout and the theme, and I wrote about the how and the why in a Backdrop CMS Showcase article.

That got me thinking about the previous designs this site has had in the past. So I went hunting and found the different versions of my site over the years. The dates are approximate, generally the year that version was last used before I changed to the next one. The earlier versions I got from static HTML files I have backed up on my computer, the rest were from the Wayback Machine.

I have been thinking recently about porting Drupal's 'Antibot' module to Backdrop CMS. On the five Backdrop sites I've built to date I use the 'reCAPTCHA' module, however I'd like to get away from needing a separate (Google) account to avoid spam, and requiring users to take an extra step to submit a form (tick a checkbox to prove they're not a robot). Antibot looks good in this case, as it doesn't require any third-party accounts and is completely hidden from the user. But before I start porting Antibot to Backdrop, I'd like to know how effective it is in relation to other anti-spam...

One of the original iterations of this website had a page explaining how I came to learn web design. As that page no longer exists, I thought I'd re-create it here...

I was first introduced to web design in my early-teens when my uncle bought me a magazine on the subject ("How to make a web site from A to Z" by John Horner). With it, I learnt the basics of coding HTML and started down the path of becoming a web designer.

I soon started looking online for tutorials and came across HTML Goodies. That website taught me even more about coding HTML, introduced me to JavaScript, and served as a...

In January 2011, Australia hosted its first major Drupal conference in Brisbane, Queensland. This year, 'Drupal Downunder' (aka DDU) was hosted in Melbourne, Victoria from the 14th-15th of January and (as usual) the Coffs Drupal team attended (Matthew, Ruben and myself).

The Trip Down¶

Matthew and I met at Coffs airport on the Thursday afternoon and flew out together; first to Sydney, then on to Melbourne. This was really only my third time flying, so I'm still amazed at the view you get from a plane flying high above the world. At one point I looked out the window and all I could see was...