Building a Drupal site from scratch - part 3 - Better administration

3 November, 2013 | Drupal Development | 10 seen

Recently I started a tutorial series - How to build a Drupal site from scratch. In part 1 I'm talking about planing a site. In part 2, I'm showing how to make a subtheme from Bootstrap theme. 

Before digging deeper in site customization, I'm willing to show how to tune a little bit up Drupal administrative tasks. By default (out of box) Drupal is not very user friendly for making admin related tasks. But it can be easily solved by adding few (actually just one module)

Administration menu:

From creators:

Provides a theme-independent administration interface (aka. navigation, back-end). It's a helper for novice users coming from other CMS, a time-saver for site administrators, and useful for developers and site builders.

Administrative links are displayed in a CSS/JS-based menu at the top on all pages of your site. It not only contains regular menu items — tasks and actions are also included, enabling fast access to any administrative resource your Drupal site provides.

• Download Admin_menu
• Extract to sites/all/modules
• Enable it from modules page

Building a Drupal site from scratch - part 2 - Applying a subtheme

2 November, 2013 | Drupal Development | 18 seen

Recently I started a tutorial series - How to build a Drupal site from scratch. In part 1 I'm talking about planing a site. In this tutorial I'm giving a real example for building a tourism companies web site for real customer.

In part we learned that it's a wise to create a content type, which best describe products/services we gonna add (in our example tours).

So I have added few tours to our site:

As you can see from picture above, I'm using default Drupal bartik theme. Now is the right time to change it, and start building our own theme.

For this I'm gonna use Bootrap theme, to serve all files, and sub-theme, to theme for our needs. Whats so special in Bootstrap? It's responsive! 

Lets make a sub-theme from Bootstrap:

• Download Bootstrap theme
• Extract it to sites/all/themes folder
• Download Jquey_update module
• Extract Jquery_update module to sites/all/modules folder
• Enable Jquery_update module from modules page
• Enable Bootstrap theme from site appearance page and set as default theme

Today will be announced new Prime minister of Georgia

2 November, 2013 | Living in Georgia | 4 seen

Recently I wrote an article about Georgian press discussing whether the new Prime Minister of Georgia will be David Seergenko.

To this day Georgian Press, has already 3 candidates: David Sergeenko, Irakly Gariabshvili and Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

As I wrote about Georgian president candidates before elections -  I had no clue who is who - so I can confirm, I have no idea who are these guys except some of these or somebody else, will be appointed by Bidzina Ivanishvili (current PM of Georgia).

Either I should interest more about Georgian politics, either - it actually doesn't matters? 

Display YouTube videos on Drupal site with YouTube field module

2 November, 2013 | Drupal Development | 13 seen

Recently I started a new topic series - documentaries, where I publish documentaries I have watched and recommend to watch others. I write a brief description of what each documentary is, and then I embed a YouTube link to show a video on my blog. 

How To Embed YouTube video in Drupal 8 (CKEDITOR)

But lately I started to think of creating my own Screen-casts, and the idea of embedding a video on content didn't satisfy me anymore.

What I wanted - to populate a video in the field, so later by using views I can display video on top of content, not in the content:

To achieve this, I just needed to add one small module and create a new view.

• Download YouTube module
• Extract it to sites/all/modules
• Enable it from modules page
• Add a new YouTube field to your Content type field

I will not write this time how to create a view containing your video, it's too straightforward if you are familiar with views, if not, please leave a comment below, and I'll guide you through in some of my next posts.

First Month Blogging Results: Blog Statistics October 2013

1 November, 2013 | Blogging | 1 seen

As a new blogger, it's exciting to reflect on the progress made in the first month of blogging. I've put in a lot of effort to create content, and it's interesting to see the results.

One of the key metrics to track as a blogger is the number of visitors to the site. In the first month of blogging, I had 39 unique visitors. Although this number may not seem high, it's important to remember that the site was only online from October 10th. With more time, I am confident that the number of visitors will increase.

At this stage, my blog is still very young, and it has a PageRank of N/A. I haven't used much social sharing, so it's expected that the number of visitors would be low. However, 39 unique users for a personal blog in its first month is a good start.

As a blogger, it's important to have goals and expectations for the future. I have thought a lot about the statistics I want to achieve. The goal is to reach 6000 unique visitors by the end of October 2014. However, it's difficult to predict where I will be a year from now.

For the next month, my goal is to attract 150-200 unique visitors. I have decided to try Twitter as a way to drive…

30 days Twittering in a row

1 November, 2013 | Blogging | 4 seen

As you may have noticed, I recently ran a contest for 365 days of consecutive blogging. Now that it's the start of November and I'm brainstorming ways to drive more traffic to my blog, I've decided to give Twitter a try.

The idea is to use Twitter to interact with like-minded individuals and, of course, to promote the content available on my blog. I'm not sure yet whether I'll end up writing a bot to automatically publish tweets to Twitter, but for the next 30 days, I'm committed to manually posting a tweet each day.

Starting my 30-day Twitter contest on November 1st, 2013, I had only five followers on Twitter. By the end of the month, I hope to have 100 followers and at least 50 referrals from Twitter to my website. Does that sound fair enough?

Please follow me: Reinis_Fischer

Getting Started with Building a Drupal Site from Scratch: Content Types, Fields

31 October, 2013 | Drupal Development | 10 seen

Building a website, whether it's using Drupal or not, requires careful planning and consideration. It's important to determine what the purpose of the website is, who the target audience is, and what value it will bring to your business.

For instance, if the website is for a tourism company that offers fishing, hunting, and skiing tours, the first step would be to gather high-quality photos that showcase the destinations and activities offered. This could involve hiring a professional photographer or using photo editing tools.

In addition, the website should also have descriptive descriptions of each tour, which can be written in-house or by hiring a copywriter to make the text stand out. The tours could also be divided into different levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) to cater to different audiences.

When using Drupal, it's recommended to start with a minimum installation profile rather than a standard one. This will allow for greater flexibility in creating custom content types that are tailored to the needs of the website.

Keep reading to learn more about how to create Content Types and add fields to…

Google Analytics (not provided) - how to solve

31 October, 2013 | Blogging | 6 seen

Lately, more and more webmasters (including me) are complaining about huge increase in (not provided) keywords in their Google Analytics reports. Well this actually started to happen, since Google introduced it's new TOS back in March 2012.

[block:block=38]

Update: This tutorial originally was written back in 2013, but it still applies in 2017

I can just agree, how annoying is to see this (not provided). 

Seems there is no ultimate solution how to get rid of not provided keywords, but there is a workaround using Google Analytics filters, to filter out these (not provided) keywords and convert them to page title in our Analytics dashboard. As I've said, not an ultimate solution, but still better than nothing, right?

Filter to apply

Go to your Google Analytics dashboard, log in, click on Admin button

• Screen with your sites (site) settings will appear.
• Choose site to apply new filter:

• Click on red button + NEW FILTER.
• Call it Not provided filter
• Filter type:…

The Lost World of Communism, Documentary about East Germany (2013)

30 October, 2013 | Documentaries | 46 seen

The recently released BBC documentary sheds light on the experiences of life in East Germany, providing a deeper understanding of the country's tumultuous past. The film focuses on the deportations of ethnic Germans to Siberia in the late 1940s and early 1950s, highlighting the extreme measures taken by the East German government to maintain control over its citizens.

One of the key features of the documentary is its exploration of the role of the East German security agency, the Stasi, in monitoring and controlling the lives of ordinary people. Through extensive research and interviews with former Stasi officers and citizens who lived through this period, the film provides a chilling account of the pervasive nature of state surveillance in East Germany.

The documentary also touches on the more lighthearted aspects of life in East Germany, featuring episodes of the beloved children's cartoon "Sandsman." Despite the restrictive nature of the regime, the film shows that people still found ways to express their individuality and creativity, even amidst the strict control exercised by the state.

However, the documentary does not shy away from the darker…

Future Forecast of GDP in CIS, Baltic States, and Georgia in 2018 - An Analysis

29 October, 2013 | Macroeconomics | 11 seen

I recently wrote an article exploring the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Baltic states, and Georgia in 2012. Now, I'm turning my gaze to the future and examining what the economies of the former Soviet Union republics may look like in 2018.

Why 2018? I'm relying on IMF forecasts, and as of now, the closest future projections available from the IMF extend until 2018.

As per the data provided by the IMF, in 2018, the largest economy in the CIS, Baltic states, and Georgia will be Russia, with a GDP of $3 trillion (up from $2 trillion), while the smallest will be Kyrgyzstan with a GDP of $10.7 billion (up from $6.7 billion).

Comparing the economies from 2012 to 2018, the placements will not experience dramatic changes. Russia will remain the leading economy, followed by Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The exceptions will be Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, which will outperform the Baltic states, such as Latvia and Lithuania, in terms of GDP.

Let's take a look at the percentage change:

Although Russia's economy will soar to reach $3 trillion by the end of 2018, its overall GDP role will…

Upgrading Your Drupal 7 Site: Tips and Tricks for a Smooth Transition (Minor Upgrade)

29 October, 2013 | Drupal Development | 6 seen

Upgrading a website can be a daunting task, especially if you're not familiar with the process. But upgrading your Drupal site is necessary for security, bug fixes, and new features. In this article, I'll be discussing the process of upgrading a Drupal 7.10 site to the newest version of Drupal, a minor upgrade.

Before you start, it's important to understand the difference between a major and a minor upgrade. A major upgrade, such as upgrading from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7, involves significant changes in the codebase and can result in breaking your site. A minor upgrade, on the other hand, is a more straightforward process that brings small updates and bug fixes to your site. In this article, we'll be focusing on the latter.

The first step in upgrading your Drupal 7.10 site to the newest version is to back up your entire Drupal system, including files and database. This is crucial in case something goes wrong during the upgrade process. You can use a backup module, such as Backup and Migrate, to create a backup of your site. Make sure to store the backup in a secure location, such as an external hard drive or cloud storage.

Once you have a backup of your…

Georgian Fishing tours: Jandari lake

28 October, 2013 | Lakes | 42 seen

I first met Giorgi from Georgian fishing tours back at the end of 2013, when we did a fishing tour at Jandari lake organized by his company. I noticed a free fishing tour offer on their Facebook page. I claimed that offer and I was the lucky to actually get a free fishing tour. Make sure you follow their Facebook page as well - who knows, maybe more such offers will follow. If not - price for such tours are not very expensive and is worth of every tetri spent.

So, that's how I get familiar with Girogi and his friend Temo from Georgian Fishing tours. Couple of days later a fishing tour to Jandari lake near border of Azerbaijan was organized.

Girogi arrived to our apartment at around 4AM in his 4x4 wheel Nissan car, he had prepared spinnings, nets, bait and all the rest what is necessary for a decent fishing tour, we just took a waterproof clothing, boots and some snacks.

We arrived on site about after an hour drive (which led us through Rustavi town). It was still dark and I had an option to capture sunrise over Jandari lake

Sunrise over Jandari lake

I was…

The Aftermath of the Soviet Union: Exploring the Economies of the CIS, Baltic States, and Georgia (2012)

28 October, 2013 | Macroeconomics | 6 seen

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of a massive political and economic entity, leading to the creation of several independent states. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Baltic states, and Georgia are some of the countries that emerged from the Soviet Union's ashes.

But what happened to these countries after the collapse and what has become of their economies in the present day?

First, let's take a look at the economy of the former Soviet Union countries as a whole. In 2012, the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of these countries stood at 2.732 trillions USD, with Russia leading the pack as the largest economy. This is not surprising, considering Russia is the world's largest country and has the largest population. On the other hand, Kyrgyzstan, the smallest economy, accounted for just 6.7 billion USD of the total GDP.

When we break down the GDP into percentage units, a clearer picture emerges. Russia accounted for a staggering 73.2% of the total GDP, followed by Kazakhstan at 7.4% and Ukraine at 6.5%. The remaining countries contributed only 12.9%.

The upcoming Eurasian Union, which includes…

Georgia's Next President: Giorgi Margvelashvili Takes Office (2013)

28 October, 2013 | Living in Georgia | 4 seen

Yesterday, Georgia held a presidential election and the winner, according to exit polls, is Giorgi Margvelashvili. He will serve as the country's president for the next five years.

In a previous article, I stated that I had limited knowledge about Margvelashvili. Despite this, I predicted his victory. And now, I have a feeling that after his five-year term, he may become a well-respected figure in Georgian society.

You may argue that he's already popular, given that he won with around 68% of the vote. But the truth is, his popularity is linked to Bidzina Ivanishvili, who appointed him. In fact, many Georgian news portals did not even mention his name in their election coverage, instead referring to him as the "candidate from the Georgian Dream".

Some have said they don't care who the new president is because they are still bitter about the previous administration led by Mrs. Sakashvili. Meanwhile, voter turnout was relatively low, with only about 45% of eligible voters casting their ballots.

I hope that the newly elected president has the determination and will to work towards a better Georgia for all its citizens during his five-year term. And,…

Spellchecker for TinyMCE WYSIWYG Drupal

27 October, 2013 | Drupal Development | 4 seen

TinyMCE is a popular WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor used in Drupal and many other content management systems. It is a powerful tool that allows users to easily create and edit rich content, including text, images, and videos. However, one feature that is missing from the default TinyMCE editor is a spellchecker, which can be a major inconvenience for content creators.

Fortunately, there are several options available for adding a spellchecker to TinyMCE in Drupal. In this article, we will look at some of the most popular and effective methods.

To use the WProofreader plugin, simply download and install it on your Drupal site. Then, enable it in the TinyMCE settings and configure it to your liking. You can choose from a variety of languages and customize the spellchecking options to meet your needs.