Category Archives: Featured

Git-Logo-2Color

Git Resources – Bringing the Team to Git

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So you like git eh? Awesome! However, I can see it, you work with some teams that still use SVN or worse yet, no version control. Fear not, me too. I’ll walk you through my experience in getting a team converted and some git resources along the way. (Why you should switch from Subversion to Git)

Now, if you work in a large corporate development shop with lots of tools, integrations and scripts as part of your dev process, there is much more to think about. However in the case where you work in a small or medium size dev shop where ideas are welcomed, this might be for you. This is the case for two different teams I work with in two different organizations. (This is where I say thank-you Lord for the blessing of these colleagues.)

I started dabbling with Git in 2011 when Drupal.org made the move from CVS to Git in the Great Git Migration. Admittedly, it was only late 2012 that I began to use Git for client work on of all things, WordPress. I went through plenty of resources getting my head around git. Now, I am working with my day job team to move to Git for our projects. This hasn’t happened over night.

“We” not I

One of the first things I find with change management of any sort, is a need to build some momentum and find some “friendlies”. Making the change to Git from another version control system is usually not trivial, so you want to make sure you have some good reasons for the change.

This shouldn’t be about dictating. It should be about a dialogue leading to a good decision.

Find another member of the team that can “get it”. Someone who you can talk with and will understand the reasons why the change would be good for the team. Hopefully this person will also be good at challenging you a bit and asking good questions. Doing this now, one on one, gives you and opportunity to think about your responses and be able to articulate well. No doubt, someone else on the team will have the some of the same questions and may not be so receptive to the change. Preparing to answer tough questions is part of the process.

Having at least one other person on board with the change has another benefit. It gives the broader discussion another voice. Going it alone means that at some point, there is a possibility that people become numb to your drum beating. Having another voice, lend a bit more credibility to the discussion but offers another person who can have one on one discussions with other team members as well.

Fear Not

Change has a very natural human reaction, resistance. However, resistance does not mean someone is just being stubborn. Learning to root cause(s) of the resistance is important. Fear may be the primary cause of resistance.

…uneasiness is to be expected from most people when the status quo shifts, simply because people need time to adjust their thinking, their job performance, and their social relationships to any changes made. (Source: Managing Resistance to Change – Sharon L Baker)

When it comes to skilled positions, including technology roles, fear tends to have a predominant cause. Fear of not being able to keep up. Others might put it differently, but my experience some technology people simply need to feel like they can conquer a new tool or technology in order to embrace the change. In our world of web development, this takes the form of training.

No, I’m not saying we need to send folks to expensive classes and have them master Git. Geesh, what overkill that would be. What I am suggesting that spending an hour with staff walking through how they will get their jobs done with Git on a daily basis will pay you dividends in getting staff on board. Do a Google Hangout, a GotoMeeting, or whatever you want and have staff walk through, hands on the keyboard. It is amazing to watch fear turn to excitement in a matter of minutes. Try it!

Give a Fish or Teach to Fish

Git Resources Bringing the Team to Git

Getting good with Git – Rockable Press.

Naturally, in reducing fear as a means of garnering support for your move to Git, you need resources to help staff feel comfortable. If you have studied education at all, you know that there are different learning styles. You team is probably made up of people with some different style of learning. Embrace those differences.

So with that in mind, here is a list of resources we’ve found helpful.

Git Resources

Books / e-Books / Articles

Videos

Web Resources

Branching and Merging

For every 1,000 email subscribers, nonprofits have 103 facebook fans, 29 twitter followers and 12 mobile subscribers. Visual story telling.

Facebook Leads Non-Email Nonprofit Communications

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How do nonprofits communicate electronically with constituents? According to the 2012 eNonprofit Benchmark Study, Facebook continue to be the leading non-email communication method for nonprofits. The study was written by Sara Wolfson and Cameron Lefevre of M+R Strategic Services and Holly Ross and Annaliese Hoehling of the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). It has a wealth of analyzed data about email messaging, email list size, fundraising, online advocacy, Facebook, Twitter and mobile programs from 44 U.S.-based national nonprofits for the calendar year of 2011.

Now, from our earlier posts about nonprofit infographic tips and 40 infographic online resources, you already know we are big fans of visual story telling. Kudos to NTEN and M+R Strategic Services for having created a short infographic providing a high level glimpse of the study results.

Did you know? As of November 2011, 89.6 million Americans use their mobile phone to access either work or personal email – an increase of 28% in the last year alone.

We’ve culled out some key take-aways below but be sure to download your free copy of the full 2012 eNonprofit Benchmark Study.

Key Findings

  • For every 1,000 members of an email list, the average nonprofit had 103 Facebook fans, 29 Twitter followers and 12 mobile subscribers.
  • While one-time gifts remained the largest source of online revenue for participants, online revenue from monthly giving is growing at a much faster rate.
  • On average, 35% of online revenue was sourced to direct email appeals. The remaining 65% came from other sources, such as unsolicited web giving and peer referrals.
  • Between 2010 and 2011, the fundraising response rate held steady at 0.08%
  • Most organizations send 3-5 messages per month to subscribers.
Facebook Leads Non Email Nonprofit Communications
infogr.am

40 Infographic Story Telling Tools

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Infographics tools are everywhere. Whether you are a nonprofit or a small business, you can’t deny that infographics are a hot item. Used the right way, they can help tell compelling stories to generate interest or action on topics, for fundraising or organizational mission awareness. We have gathered 40 resources from around the web to help you in creating infographics or displaying compelling data in interesting ways.

Infographic Tools

  1. Visual.ly -  Quickly and easily create professional quality designs with your own data
  2. Infogr.am – Online tool to create stunning infographics
  3. Inkscape – Desktop vector graphics program. Can be used for putting together infographics
  4. Visualize Free – By Inetsoft. Online data visualization and story telling tool
  5. Re.Vu – Online personal infographic resume’s (Create a resume for your organization?)
  6. Visualize.me – Another online personal infographic resume tool

Create Diagrams

  1. Cacoo- Online diagram creation and collaboration tool
  2. Creately - Online or desktop Mockup/Diagram/Infographic creation tool
  3. Balsamiq - Online or desktop Mockup/Diagram/Infographic creation tool
  4. Gliffy - Online diagram creation tool

Text Analysis / Graphic Display

  1. ManyEyes – IBM visualizations including text tree, word clouds and more
  2. Wordle – Text analysis and display.
  3. Tagxedo – Online text display tools

Make Your Own Charts and Graphs

  1. Hohli Charts – Online chart creation tool. Bar/chart/Venn diagrams and more. Ad supported
  2. ChartsBin – Online interactive charts gallery and creation tool
  3. Gephi – Desktop data analysis and visualization studio
  4. ManyEyes – IBM Datasets and visualization tool. Charts and graphs
  5. Google Public Data – Existing or upload datasets and explorer with visualization tools
  6. GapMinder – Desktop application for analyzing and visualizing statistical data
  7. Chartle – Simple and interactive online charts tool
  8. Tableau – Desktop visualization toolbox

Maps and Geospatial Visuals

  1. StatPlanet – Interactive map maker in free and commercial versions. Part of StatSilk
  2. StatWorld – Interactive online data map creator. Part of StatSilk
  3. ManyEyes – IBM Datasets and visualizations fits under mapping as well.
  4. Google Public Data - Existing or upload datasets and explorer with visualization tools
  5. GapMinder - Desktop application for analyzing and visualizing statistical data
  6. Gunn Map 2 – Online map data display tool
  7. Bubbl.us – Online Mind mapping tool

Infographic Templates

  1. Advanced Infographic Charts and Templates
  2. Infographic Elements – By BitGorilla
  3. Vector Infographic Elements – Free SVG, EPS and PDF
  4. World Infographic Elements - From GraphicRiver
  5. Periodic Table of X - Here’s an example of how this can be used.
  6. Infographic template and charts V5 – By Cursive Q Designs
  7. Free Vector Infographic Kit – Nathan Brown
  8. Infographic elements + template – By Cursive Q Designs

Visual Data Presentation Tutorials and Resources

  1. Create Cool Infographics Tutorial – From Digital Arts Online
  2. Nicholas Felton Guides us through worlds of data – [Video]
  3. Infographr – Great tumblr account wich new infographic examples posted frequently
  4. Daily Infographic – A new infographic daily for inspiration
  5. Visualizing.org – A community and gallery of infographics and data visualizations
  6. How to create outstanding modern infographics
  7. Visual Journalism – “80% of the news in infographics”
  8. StrangeMaps – Cartographic curiosities for inspiration

Did we miss a tool you use or found? Let us know below.

Life of a hashtag #nptech

Tips – Infographics for Non-Profits

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There has been an up-tick in activity around infographics, but does it mean your non-profit needs to jump on board? That certainly depends upon your organization. Make a quick read of some the resources below and then take stock of what your organization does and whether this might be a fit. Infographics are but another way to communicate a story. Done poorly, they can reflect poorly on your organization. Do you fit the niche?

Tips Infographics for Non ProfitsThink First

Here are a couple of points we’ve distilled:

  • Define a goal for the infographic. Absolutely do not create one just to create one. Are you wanting to incite an action? What is it? Do you want the reader learn more? Where?
  • It needs to tell a story that includes how your organization is impacting a positive outcome or goal.
  • Strong visual appeal is critical. Do not skimp on this, get a professional designer if you don’t have the skills.
  • It is tough to visualize data and tell the story without information. Find out what story you want to tell in the future but are not yet tracking the corresponding data. Start tracking it.
  • Simple colors. Two to three colors only and stick with it. If you end of printing these as posters, it’ll save your print costs as well.

Creating an Infographic: Tips for Nonprofits

  • Look at a wide variety of infographics, from nonprofits, businesses, and other sources, to get ideas.
  • Decide what the charity wants the infographic to achieve. Don’t create one just because it’s a trendy approach.
  • Identify what data the organization has collected, but also look for outside sources, such as Census figures, that could bolster the message or help put the group’s data in context.
  • Follow the organization’s style guidelines on fonts, color schemes, and tone to maintain the group’s brand.
  • Keep it simple. Convey the message quickly and clearly. Too many numbers or ideas can confuse or overwhelm viewers.
  • Balance esthetics and substance. An infographic needs to be useful as well as visually appealing.
  • Credit sources of data.
  • Experiment. Try free and low-cost software to see what’s possible.

Informational Resources

Tools

  • Google Docs Templates – has templates for charts and maps
  • Tegxedo - allows you to create infographics of the tag or word cloud variety
  • Gapminder.org - a fact based view of the world. See trends and data
  • Visual.ly – still beta but will allow you to create online visuals for sharing.
  • Balsamiq – mockup and diagramming tool. Non-profit friendly with their licensing. Friendly folks.
  • Creately.com – makes creating online diagrams a breeze

 

Editing php.ini

Cpanel and Custom PHP.ini

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Cpanel and Custom PHP.iniI was working on helping someone migrate a WordPress blog to Drupal. It began with a review of of a couple of modules to do the trick including wordpress_import and wordpress_migrate. To sum it up, we went with wordpress_migrate for its handling of attachments and leveraging of existing infrastructure including the migrate module. The problem we ran into was when dealing with attachments. The content created by the import still referenced images from the WP blog rather than grabbing them and saving them as files in the Drupal site and modifying the post image source tags.

After review a few things, it became apparent that the host being used, A2Hosting.com, correctly has PHP’s fopen function disabled. Kudos to A2Hosting for that. Now, they offer a form that the customer can request this to be enabled with the caveat of security blah blah blah. We didn’t want to enable this permanently, only for the duration of the import. Again, some quick searches regarding Cpanel and custom php.ini’s led to the following solution.

Copy PHP.Ini and Force reading in .htaccess

Make a copy of the existing php.ini that the server uses and place it in your account home directory.

Next, edit the PHP.ini to set allow_url_fopen = On

Finally, edit the .htaccess file in the root of the Drupal installation directory and add the following:

Save. This now allowed our Drupal installation to run php with the directives in our custom php.ini with fopen allowed. The migration took all of maybe 30 seconds and we were done.

When we finished, we just reversed the process so we didn’t stay on our special php.ini and complicate life later down the road with the host.

Hope it helps.

gfxCardStatus App - Discrete vs. Integrated mode

Poor Battery Life – MacBook Pro OSX Lion

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MacBook OSX Lion Problem

Poor Battery Life MacBook Pro OSX Lion

I know what you’re thinking. It is one of two things. Either, it is going to be something like “Dude, battery life depends on how you use your system.” or you may be in the “Please, I hope he has something that will really help.”. You are both in luck.

I completely agree that battery life is quite dependent upon how you use your system. High processing power, high disk activity, CD/DVD spinning away, etc… all contribute to a reduction in the amount of time you will be able to squeeze out of a battery charge. However, since moving from Snow Leopard to Lion on a Late 2011 MacBook Pro, I have indeed noticed a 25-30% drop in the amount of time I can run per battery charge. Sure, I run a few different settings and applications since moving to Lion, but overall I have noticed a general drop in battery life.

Recently, I got fed up and went to do a bit of quick searching. I came across this post from the Pundit Reporter. It indicated that they noticed that the built-in graphics switching was staying in discrete mode only (higher power consumption mode) rather than switching down to integrated mode (lower power consumption) when the higher graphics capability was not needed. They reference the gfxCardStatus app by Cody Krieger.

Macbook Battery Life Solution

So I installed the gfxCardStatus app and saw that in fact, even with all my normal apps closed, the system was still running in discrete graphics mode. After using the status bar app to switch to integrated mode only, I immediately noticed the time remaining  for my battery began to increase. This got my thinking that there must be an app or service that was causing the system to never switch back to integrate graphics mode. Let the testing begin.

Skype 5.7.0 is causing the system to remain in discrete graphics mode even when not in a call!

I set the gfxCardStatus setting back the dynamic switching. Instantly the mode went back into discrete mode. Quickly, the culprit was found. Skype. Boy, Skype has really been a bane for me on Lion already. When doing video chat, which we use extensively in our daily work, CPU goes high, the twin turbines on the MacBook go into high gear and  it sounds like a 747 taking off. Now, I noticed that as soon I killed Skype, the system switch to integrated mode and battery drain significantly decreased.

If you use gfxCardStatus, toss a donation Cody’s way. Heck, he just gave you back 2 hours of untethered life back and is pursuing Software Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology

Well at least the culprit in my case was found. Now unfortunately I need Skype daily for work so it appears the only option is to live with the gfxCardStatus app forcing the system into integrated graphics mode in order to get  my 6+ hours of battery life versus my previous 3-4 hours, or….plug in more often. Someday I hope Skype will really listen to the Mac community and address the silliness their product is causing. If it wasn’t for needing Skype to communicate with our organizations staff, I’d use an alternative. Time for change management to kick in perhaps.

CoRD Screenshot

Mac OS X – First 30 Days – Top 5 Favorite Apps

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So after my experiment of running Ubuntu 11.10 as my primary operating system, several of you suggested trying out Mac OS X. Of course, the big downside to this is that you really need Apple hardware to do this justice. (I know, a hackintosh is possible, but I’m looking for productivity not gadgetry right now.) Thankfully, I’ve been able to use a MacBook Pro A1286 (Mid-2009) running Mac OS X 10.6. Yes, I know it is behind, but so be it. I’m just blessed to be able to use it for a while.

So, over the course of the last month, I’ve been able to try out many apps/add-ons that have really helped productivity.

CoRD Remote Desktop Client

Mac OS X First 30 Days Top 5 Favorite Apps

The built-in Microsoft Remote Desktop Client 2.1 works ok. However when sessions timed out, I was getting application hangs that would not force quit. I’d have to get into terminal and kill the process. Also, the saving of remote desktop connection information as separate files for some reason bugged me.

CoRD is a Mac OS X remote desktop client for Microsoft Windows computers using the RDP protocol. It’s easy to use, fast, and free for anyone to use or modify.

The CoRD project on sourceforge was just the ticket. This great little replacement to the Microsoft Remote Desktop client for Mac was a home run for me. One of the big pro’s for me right away was the Servers panel. Once I connected to a terminal server, I could right-click on the connection ans choose “Keep after disconnect”. Boom! It is now in the saved servers list. Double-click it and a session is started. That is much easier to me than hunting for the right remote desktop connection saved files.

Secondly, I found the way the windowed and fullscreen to be fantastic. Rather than setting before you connection, you can toggle this easily using two big buttons, shortcut keys or the view menu. Scaling was great and rendered well. Heck, RDP is RDP. If you want to get into some of the advanced settings for a specific connection, just open the inspector. Pass through printers or disks, audio, screen resolution and more.

Get you copy today.

Website: http://cord.sourceforge.net/

Coda

Mac OS X First 30 Days Top 5 Favorite Apps

I’m a technologist at heart dealing with the full gamut of I.T. technologies and management. In my current role, managing web and database technologies, the opportunity to do PHP development with Drupal is something I always look forward to. Sublime Text 2 has been my go to application for editing for some time. However, that may just be changing.

Coda claims to be one-window web development. In this, I think they are pretty darn close.  The folks at Panic, Inc. have a history of simple, easy to use tools and Coda is no exception. The concept of “sites” seems like GUI user overkill when the command line works fine and I know where stuff is even with the plethora of projects. However, once you configure sites, it really does make getting to the right files, on the right server with the right credential, quite simple and efficient.

Sites also include configuration for source control integration. I’ve tested both standard local Subversion as well ass SVN on Beanstalk and both work well. I will say that I think the messaging and UI for downloading, publishing, reverse publishing could be better. Especially in the instance of existing files. The window requesting your action identified the local and remote copy dates and sizes. This is confusing as I think it should better indicate source versus destination to help with confidence of which file is going to get overwritten. The terms used in some cases required me to actually read the help document to understand the intricacies of the function.

As for PHP development, syntax highlighting, spaces instead of tabs, function navigation plus available add-ons gives it a good thumbs up in my book without the heavy weight of other IDE’s like Eclipse PDT.

Website: http://panic.com/coda

Google Chrome

Mac OS X First 30 Days Top 5 Favorite Apps

I know, you say “Duh”, but indeed I count this as a favorite app for now. It’s like that favorite pair of jeans. It just feels good and integrates well with all the standard OS X shortcut key normalities.

Built-in developer tools are a great help with web development just as Firebug for FireFox has been. I switched to Chrome about a year ago after Firefox just got to feeling too bloated, slow and resource intensive.

Navigating tabs is pretty cool also. Option + Command + arrow keys allows you to quickly go through an extensive list of tabs. Option + Command + i toggles the developer tools.

By the way, the built-in screen capture utility in OS X is nice also. Shift + Command + 3 takes a screenshot of the full screen, while Shift + Command + 4 allows you to select the area from which to take a screenshot.

Website: https://www.google.com/chrome

PS3 Media Server

Mac OS X First 30 Days Top 5 Favorite Apps

Yes, that’s right. This one is not a productivity tool directly, but maybe I’m more productive listening to my music, podcasts and more via the surround sound at home.

This is a project that is very Windows-esque. The UI really isn’t anything to write home about, but that’s not too important. The great thing is that just by starting the app, my PS3 can almost immediately see the Mac as a media server and makes the entire iTunes library, and more, available to play piped into the big audio equipment. No more headphones or puny laptop speakers. <grin />

So, I must say I am really enjoying this. No, it is not Mac only but as for iTunes, I refused to use iTunes until I got on this Mac. Now, I see some positives, but only for DRM free music. I won’t buy DRM crippled media from the iTunes store.

Website: http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

Remind Me Later

Mac OS X First 30 Days Top 5 Favorite Apps

This little gem takes the work out of creating reminders and appointments. With one shortcut key combo, natural english and a click you have a nice iCal event in no time at all.

The combination of Option + Command + R brings up the minimalistic Remind Me Later window. Now just type the appointment details as you would say them.

Meet with Brent tomorrow at 9:30am

This then creates a nice iCal event for exactly what you asked for. This is so much nicer than scrolling through dates, times, etc. I find it a real time saver to keep things on the calendar without spending too much time creating the items.

The one down side is that I only could find support for a single calendar defined in the application preferences. It would be great if you could type the calendar for it to be added to also.

Website: http://www.bdunagan.com/remind-me-later/

Well this rounds out the last of my top five favorite apps during my trial with OS X on a MacBook Pro. There are actually a number of other apps I really like but these are the ones I am enjoying the most at this moment in time.

Thanks and blessings.

Snow Leopard Mail.App Archive

Snow Leopard – Mail.App – How to Archive to Local Folder

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If you are a long time reader of this blog, you are probably thinking, “What? Mac? I thought he used Windows and Linux?” Well, you are right. However, where I serve during the day, and wee hours, had a MacBook Pro that was not in use. Rather than having it sit on the shelf, I decided to try to make it my daily driver for a while to really give it a test drive and attempt to determine if in fact there was any benefit to the cost for the things I do. During this time, I figured I post things I’ve learned or found that have been beneficial or a complete failure.

So why Snow Leopard? Because that’s what came on this machine. Snow Leopard Mail.App How to Archive to Local Folder I’m too cheap to purchase the upgrade personally unless I ended up having this assigned as my permanent organizationally assigned laptop. Work with what you got I say. For those of you on Lion, yes, I know that the built-in Mail.App now has archive built-in. Yippee.

Now, for Snow Leopard Mac folks. Coming from Linux (Thunderbird) and Windows (MS Outlook), local archiving of email is something I’ve done for so long, I don’t know how to manage email without it.  It seems that someone always ends up asking a question about something months or even years ago and is quickly found via archived emails, provided you have a good search tool.

Lo and behold, I was astounded to not find an Archive feature in Mac Mail.app on Snow Leopard. A quick Google search and a few forum posts and I found a solution that seems to be working well. Archive, a button for Mail.App was to ticket. A quick and easy installation that only required a restart of the Mail.app.

By default, the archive tool archives to a folder called Archive in the mail account itself. So for us IMAP folks, that’s and Archive folder on the server. What I needed was to archive to a local store so I didn’t hit my mailbox quota on the sever. In order to change this setting. Opening a terminal window I ran the following:

Then all that is needed is a restart of the Mail.app. Upon restarting the application I see that there is now an Archive button and new menu items for archiving individual messages or an entire mailbox.

Snow Leopard Mail.App How to Archive to Local Folder

Now, I can archive like the packrat I am and be happy. The best part is that the local archive mailbox is exposed to Spotlight so quick searches are fully integrated.