Media is more than images right Media module?

I downloaded the Media module to see if I could create a video field for Yoxview. The media module can add media into any textarea. This requires Wysiwyg module. The module can also add media field and mass importing of files. I could only get images to upload using this module. 

1. I downloaded Media, Styles module, and Media:YouTube module since I wanted to display a youtube video. 
2. To add or try to add video as a field I went to configuration/media/types. I choose video, audio, image, and other types. 
3. Then I went to my Yoxview content type since I was trying to add video to Yoxview. I added a video content field with multimedia asset field type. 
4. I then clicked on my Yoxview content type, scrolled down to the new video field and tried to upload a youtube video. The popup screen said paste url or embed code here from supported provider. The supported provider was youtube so I tried to copy both the link of the video and embed code. Both did not work.

Rereading documentation they said to add the field to an article content type. I tried this and this time it would let me upload the video url but it uploaded it as a link only. Then when I clicked the link up popped code. 

I can upload images using these module. I can upload from my images folder. 

This module is still in beta and and on the drupal page for the module it does say there are some critical issues that still need to be fixed. This module does seem like an easy to use module when everything does work properly. 

Yoxview the new colorbox/lighbox

     I knew that I wanted to have a colorbox type module on my site. People seemed to have some difficulty with it but they got it to work so I was going to try it out until I saw Yoxview. Yoxview caught my attention because it is like lightbox but it can also display video and other media. Intrigued I downloaded and was confused by then documentation. Then I came across this issues discussion about the module on drupal.  

http://drupal.org/node/1063134

     The person who posted the question was exactly like me so I read on. I found out that it is just a matter of adding a content type and field. Then the module creates the yoxview for you. 

1) Create a content type for yoxview
2) Create a type Gallery field for the content type. The field and widget type is Image.

3) Go to the Manage Display tab for field, and for Gallery field you have to indicate that the format is yoxview and style "thumbnail"

     That’s all you have to do. Much more less confusing. Just click on the yoxview content type and below the body there will be an image upload gallery field. Upload as many pictures as you want and save the page. The pictures will then be there to click on and start yoxview. 

     The images were easy. Yet I could not figure out how to add videos to yoxview. I thought of making a video field to format to yoxview but that did not work. To create a video field I tried the module Media. We didn't entirely get along. 

Wysiwyg Module

     As I am typing this right now I like the options that I have in the toolbar. Bold button, text color button, and text align button to name a few. When typing a page in Drupal you have none of these options unless you just code the words yourself. This isn’t difficult but having modules that make things even easier is always a good thing.

Wysiwyg is a module that easily formats HTML text. 

Wysiwyg will only work if a third party editor is downloaded. As said in the video below it is the “glue” that holds everything together. Wysiwyg does nothing unless an editor is installed.

Once downloaded you can choose which type of editor you want. Then configure that editor to a input format. I chose filtered HTML since that was the format I usually used. After this you can choose which buttons and plugins you want for the editor. Then the editor will display when adding content. 

View content how you want it with Views

     Some modules just have perfect names. The views module is about viewing content. The module allows to organize content and create custom blocks and lists of content. 

     

     I used views for my main page menu links. Fashion, Accessories, and Beauty are all separate views that I set to a page and set to a different content type. I have a fashion, accessories, and beauty content type on my website. 

The user interface for views was a bit imitating at first but after watching this video I was easy to understand. 

     Basically to set up views you just need to filter what type of content you want for that view. Then you change the page settings and path to where you want the page. The module does require Chaos Tools Suite module as well

5 stars for Rate Module

     After switching the idea for my site after difficult modules that do not want to work or just couldn't figure out how I felt a sigh of relief. This came from a simple module called Rate. Simple is good sometimes. 
     Rating can be used on many different types of websites. It is a good way to see what visitors to your site think about a topic or idea.

The Rate module is as simply named as it is easy to use. You can choose from 6 different widget types. 

• Thumbs up
• Thumbs up / down
• Fivestar
• Emotion (this makes me mad, angry...)
• Yes / no
• Custom

All you need to do is upload the module along with the Voting API. 

I found this helpful video on Youtube.

Basically after everything is installed and enabled you can choose which widget you want to use, modify it, and then assign it to a content type. I did this for my fashion content and Yoxview content type which I will talk about soon. 

5 stars to Rate for simplicity and ease. 

Drupal Therapy Indeed

     I need a remedy. Why? I am a college student dealing with a content management system for the first time. It’s name is Drupal. Screencasts from www.drupaltherapy.com have helped me and will hopefully help other beginners to Drupal. The screencasts deal with fundamental modules thus probably not for advanced Drupal users but great for us newcomers. 

     Each screencast is “a prescription by Sean Effel.” He has a calm voice that is not distracting so viewers can pay full attention to the screencast. Effel goes through each module needed, what the module does, and how to use the modules. For instance, in the Date + Calendar screencast he turns on the modules and shows how to make an event content type along with how to make an event on a calendar. 

There are 3 screencasts for Drupal 7.

1. Wysiwyg + CKEditor screencast 
2. Pathauto + Token screencast 
3. Date + Calendar screencast 

     There are 5 older screencasts for Drupal 6 as well. These screencasts can be useful to get a sense of how other modules work. Even though the screencasts are for Drupal 6 several modules included in the screencasts such as views, imagecache, and filefield now have Drupal 7 versions or included in Drupal 7 core.

     

     To get a stronger prescription Drupaltherapy is actually more about training sessions than screencasts. They can be contacted through their website for public or private sessions. Now time to get off the long chair and start to Drupal. 

 

The Internet Not the Web

      The Internet and the web, do you know the difference? For several years I assume that many including myself did not or at least did not think of them separately. If one got on the Internet they got on the web. Fast forward to today and the distinction is clear. The internet is used but more for apps, not web surfing. After reading the wired. com article “ The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet ”, I agree with both Chris Anderson’s and Michael Wolff’s take on the matter but I’m leaning more toward Anderson. Wolff suggests it is them (media moguls) to blame for web’s demise while Anderson says that it is us. 

The introduction of the Internet and countless other technologies has turned our world into a very fast paced and impatient society. We want something and we want to it now. Anderson spoke of the convenience and reliability of apps. He gave the example of google maps being better to have on one’s phone they bring to their car than on one’s laptop at home. With apps information is given rather than having to search for it. It is easier for information to come to the screen than for one to go to the screen. “The web is not the culmination of the digital revolution,” says Anderson. It is the Internet that fuels many technologies and services with the web only being one of the many. 

On the other hand, Wolff focuses on the them. The media moguls of today like Apple CEO Steve Jobs. They are after control and power. Jobs and others like him have realized that product has power over technology. Apple has control over content, the delivery of content, and the devices that content plays on. This does not go with the openness of the web. Internet services like Netflix are taking people away from the web. Apps and Internet services give people what they want. People are looking for product and “them” know this. Product is more easily accessible through controlled apps than searching for it over the open web. 

I agree with both but I lean more toward Anderson’s explanation due to my own use of the Internet. Once I got an iPhone I do use it more than the web and I do this because it is faster, easier, convent, and reliable. The apps on my phone give me the content I want without me having to go on the web and search for them. I am rarely ever on Facebook on an actual computer. At times I can remember myself on my Facebook app while on my laptop. Why didn’t I just log in? I am already logged in on my Facebook app and can scroll and tap faster than clicking. The only time I am on the web is if I want to see something on a bigger screen than my phone or YouTube. Even though there’s an app for that..... There really is an app for EVERYTHING. There is now even an app store on my MacBook. Now I can use my computer for more than schoolwork and the pages application I use to write such things as this blog. Still not using the web so much though.