iRolo.net

A lot of my work over the last few years has been working on migrations between various versions of Drupal. That usually means that I need to configure a local Drupal development environment with more than one database. And although this is relatively easy to do with Lando, I often have to look up how I did it before. So, I figured I should write it down and share with everyone else at the same time.

.lando.yml

Adding a database to an existing Lando environment is as easy as adding a few lines to the .lando.yml file and restarting.

Installing Lando on a Windows machine is easy. Just follow these 30 (or more) simple steps:

1. Review the directions.
2. Figure out which version of Windows you are running.
3. Realize that you need to upgrade to Windows 10 Professional, because apparently you have to pay extra to actually do work on a Windows machine.
4. Open the Windows Store.
5. Spend half an hour trying to figure out why the Windows store is only showing blank pages.
6. ...

When I worked at Sherwin Williams, they had a policy: Any time a key holder left a store, you immediately changed the locks, even if the person was still working for the company. This may seem to be over-cautious, but it actually protected the company and the employee. In IT, I have continued to use the analogy of "change the locks" in many scenarios.

This post explains how to use Drupal Webform select options to create four different types of HTML code: a drop-down select, radio buttons, a multi-select, or checkboxes.

Or, What does "scale" really mean?

If you interact with technical people, you will inevitably hear the word scale. They will say something like, "it doesn't scale well", or, "we need to make sure that this can scale up". Maybe you aren't sure what this means, but you nodded your head anyway. Well, let me tell you what they are talking about.

Three things to remember when participating in an online community

I have another article up 'How to Represent Your Organization in Online Forums' hosted by my employer ForeSite Technologies.

The paper covers what you should and shouldn't do when representing your company, charity or school online. Specifically, how to maintain a professional reputation in a world that is both immediate and permanent.

I'm on the intertubes!

Recently, I made two presentations at the Western MA Drupal Camp. One presentation was for people new to Drupal and the other was a very advanced look at the framework for database administrators. I have posted my slides on the camp website. Also, the first presentation was streamed live and is available for viewing. Feel free to take a look at the links below.

If you are interested in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) you may want to read a recent whitepaper that I wrote 'Writing for the Web - Guidelines for Prominent Content' hosted by my employer ForeSite Technologies.

The paper goes over what content a search engine is likely to look at first and how to optimize that prominent content without looking like you are trying to game the system.

For years, iRolo.net was both my personal and professional website. Since the site makeover, it has become purely a venue for my professional publications. However, I have always had a lot of fun, non-work-related content that I wanted to share. Therefore, Anna and I are announcing annadrew.name. Feel free to hop on over and take a look.