jQuery

I'm testing the new jQZoom module (still in development).  That said, it's a pretty cool tool! The downside is that it doesn't automatically work with 'image attach' though I'll leave a note to the developer to see if it'll be something that will be there in the future.  You need to define a new field 'image' in your content type and configure the settings in the 'display'.  Had to mess around to get the effect I wanted (not quite sure if that's the final on that).  But all in all - I got what I wanted!  Now no one can complain again about my collages (courtesy of the Picassa downloadable application). 

Modules I tried and cast away in the process:

Fancyzoom
Zoomify

Both of these modules looked easy at first - but didn't work with the way my website is set up.  Since I like to try out a few tools for any given problem before resorting to asking for help - I kept looking.

The Cumulus Module in Drupal creates the funky flash(?) driven animated tag cloud that you see on my page. The instructions were pretty simple - to download the module and also download a cumulus.js file to the cumulus directory. 

Thereafter, the really tricky bit was to find the 'number' of my tags vocabulary.  When you're on your taxonomy page roll your mouse over 'edit vocabulary' for your desired vocab - in my case 'Tags' to find out which number it is (in this case #4).

Its a dead simple module to install for instant gratification (don't forget to go to 'blocks' and add the block!).  Also, you can edit the block and change colors - size - to fit your webspace!

I started by looking at jQuery UI to see what can be done with jQuery.  Then I had the problem of trying to figure out how to incorporate these into my website.  I came across an excellent post by Sean Buscay titled "Where and How to Start using jQuery to Enhance your Drupal Site (jQuery Mini-series Part 3 of 3)".  

Then I managed to get my head around a few modules (jcarousel, views carousel, jquery_ui, views accordion) and to add some new features to my website. 

• To Browse all sites (added in the bottom right corner of the page)
• A recipe page (added to the menu above)

So that's quite a bit of practice for one day (combined with the usual holiday stuff associated with being with my husband's family and it being a Sunday and all!)

In France for another week - all documents for entering the US have been obtained and we're good to go.  I'm dreading the re-shuffle of things in our bags to ensure that the weight is all within the requirments of Iceland Air. 

For the moment, we're working diligently on minor projects (and in Steph's case major ones as the RDF in Drupal 7.x core does not come lightly).  I've taken the time to update all the websites I have in my keeping with the latest and greatest versions of Drupal and respective modules being used.  I've also re-themed my site to be a little more flexible and to have a cleaner layout.  This was done by combining the images from Theme 008 with the functionality of Blog Grail. I'm also tinkering with jQuery and css to teach myself more about how they can used.