Drupal 8 An Introduction

H5P framework: rich content and applications in Drupal

If I ever get to create a new site devoted to Hodges' model it will be an enjoyable experience. A couple of weeks ago I learned of a framework H5P (also a file format) that can be integrated into Drupal to create content types for educational purposes.

In addition to the archive material on the model, it is important to offer students a means to test their knowledge. This might involve a trial of several modules, including H5P:

H5P is a framework for creating HTML5 content and applications that can be easily moved between web-sites. H5P facilitates sharing and reuse of code used in rich content and applications. H5P also includes an authoring tool so that H5P content may be created and edited using a web-browser.
Organizations and governments spend millions of dollars creating rich Internet content, games and applications. The code used may be shared here on h5p.org as libraries so that others may fill in their own content and reuse the code.

Drupalcon Portland is now underway and I'm looking forward to tuning in live and following sessions, starting with Dries' keynote. This should begin at 7.30pm here in the UK. Drupalcon Munich seems ages ago now (4.7 even longer ..! ) and suddenly Prague is on the horizon.

Additional link:

Quiz Questions Import for Drupal 7 released

A model, HTML5, games, the normal and the pathological

In the UK the powers that be finally recognise the need to introduce children to computer programming. Our future economic viability depends on no less. So many children are too locked into playing games to consider how games are created. New developments including the Raspberry Pi should help change this.

Here's a possible book intro....

While this book is considered an introduction to building HTML5 care applications with Hodges' model a conceptual framework, it is also intended to be a companion guide to help get you started making, and more importantly, finishing your care applications.

Now I'm not seriously proposing that a care application could be written in HTML5 (am I?). In trying to encourage a teen game player to try game programming, I came across a sentence in Jesse Freeman's short book Introducing HTML5 Game Development which I've revamped above.

The book is about Impact (not open source), a javascript framework. Skimming through the text's potential as a present, you appreciate the potential of games and simulations in health care.

In health care we talk about levels of care. In Impact there is Weltmeister a level editor.

The reader is also encouraged:

"Think of the canvas as an image, that we can bitmap data into." p.8.

There are maps: background and collision. There are Classes, Person is an inevitable example. Admittedly there is also a zombie, but then one of the domains of Hodges' model is frequently described as being populated by zombies (well, look at their movement and the fact that they are non-living).

There's talk of a GDD - a game design document. There is a need for a high concept, plus an asset pipeline, and if the design includes complex levels the likely need for a background, middle ground and foreground. If Life is about sprites running ragged around levels of game play, Death is in there too.

Additional link: Normal and Pathological

Drupalcon Munich 2012 [ii]

I've greatly enjoyed a talk by Mark Boulton before at Drupalcon and as a contributor to LHC@Home this collision of the Internet's birth, Drupal, web design and high energy physics was not to be missed.

I'd heard of the LHC experiments before, but not the fact of there being four [how could I miss that ;-) ].

Mark explained about his work with CERN, the legacy site, the culture and the creation of a new site he has been tasked with in Creating Wonder. The Facet API for search and resort to personas to identify and appreciate the needs of the sites users proved key tools. There is quite a coincidence here in that CERN's user communities reflect the potential audiences I envisage for h2cm. One allied to each of the knowledge domains on the old site:

Students and Teachers (SCIENCES)

General Public and Carers (SOCIOLOGY)

the Patient, Client (Inter- Intrapersonal)

Policy Makers, Managers and Citizens (POLITICAL)

Mark also explained some of the ways he has differentiated content across the CERN community and its organisation. All very helpful advice.

Maintaining the design angle, Morten Birch Heide-Jørgensen delivered Theme < 3 drupal in his usual irascible style.

I r a s c i b l e  here means - 

insightful, Röyale, accessible, singular, commonsensical, inspiring, besuited, and leading edge.

If there is a nightmare in learning Drupal apart from the learning curve and sound of the rolling rock (ppuuussshhh!!), it is the nature of the markup that Drupal currently produces. Morten explained his frustration with the problem of DIV-itis and his resolve to address this producing a theme - Mothership which seeks to get the markup right. There are other ongoing challenges and how they will be resolved in Drupal 8, accessibility and HTML5.

As we contemplate the various processes set to try us, we become accustomed to the notion of 'lead time'. Morten's highlighting the 'time lag' in the latest and greatest HTML and CSS compared with Drupal releases was a very helpful dose of realism.

Mustn't forget Morten's fun delivery - this helps the medicine go down. In addition to the sessions there were many contacts made, people I really do hope to meet again.

More to follow.

Additional link:
BBC 2 Horizon: How Big is the Universe?

Drupal ScienceCamp Cambridge 20-21st Jan 2012

Two weeks ago Drupal ScienceCamp was a great success thanks to the organisers and sponsors. There were about 60 attendees with a European flavour too. Being a Science Park we had to circumvent the fence, the alternate access gates closed over the weekend. The three of us who left the hotel soon became six ... as we walked around to the very smart venue - Napp Pharmaceuticals Limited.

On the Saturday I attended sessions on responsive design, Drupal modules, Less CSS (at this point I wish I could have split in two Drupal search and Solr Wizardry had very positive comments), From flipcharts to Drupal Features, and Migration, upgrading and moving house. All very helpful.

Sunday was spontaneously self-organising. People offered to deliver sessions and meetings in a BoF - birds of a feather format, others requested the things they were seeking. Whether a sign of my time in Drupal [v. 4.7], or possibly Drupal's ever increasing diffusion or both; seven of us gathered around mental health and disability.
More on this to follow.  ...