Drupal

We are thrilled to share that one of our clients, the Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping (GLEAM) project, was just honored by the Great Lakes Information Network as their February 2013 "Site of the Month".

The folks over at GLEAM have worked very hard to produce a wide variety of maps that help demonstrate the huge impact we have on one of our most precious environmental resources, the water in the Great Lakes, as well as its entire ecosystem, which we all rely on and take for granted. One look at the large map on their home page and the impact that tourism and fishing on the Lakes is clear. Digging further in to the site, you can learn so much more about the things that we do, and nature does, that are shaping the future of the Lakes. As someone who lives in Michigan, I find it well worth exploring.

This team of amazing people at GLEAM has been a true joy to work with, and we couldn't wish better things to a nicer group of people.

Congratulations GLEAM!

Our clients at Open.Michigan were just recognized with the 2011 Technical Innovation Award for OpenCourseWare Excellence by the OpenCourseWare Consortium for their courseware delivery system, known as OERbit. We wish them a sincere congratulations!

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with Acquia’s impressive Drupal Gardens service. As a designer, I’ve enjoyed the amount of theming control available through the web interface. While I do have a few wishes, it’s really hard to complain; this thing provides nearly everything you need for complete custom theming, especially if you’re willing to get a little creative.

We recently completed the first round of major development on a new courseware publishing system for Open.Michigan, the University of Michigan's contribution to the Open Education initiative. In the spirit of open education, the system is freely available for download, modification and, use by anyone interested in contributing to the Open Education Resource (OER) community—the code will soon be available through github.com. 

As far as starter themes go, the AdaptiveTheme is both flexible, robust, and has dozens of options within the admin interface for changing the layout and other site features. It also comes Skinr-ready.

However, it was lacking one minor feature,  which is usually desirable in most designs. The sticky footer.

Steve and I recently sat down with Jon Zemke of Concentrate for a lively discussion about working and living in Ann Arbor. Check out the full article, Young & Entrepreneurial: A Q&A with Switchback, for our thoughts on some of the best food in town, the appeal of Drupal and Switchback, and how Ann Arbor can attract more young entrepreneurs.