If you’ve ever added a link to a website on your Facebook profile, you may have noticed that you can choose an image to go with your page link. These images are typically just images that Facebook has found that already exist on the linked page.

These images may not have any meaning outside the context of the entire page, or they may not show off the website to which you’re linking.

If you’re a site owner, why not create a screenshot of your site’s home page, so that when Facebook users want to share something from your website with their friends, they can select an image that truly shows off your site?

Here’s simple instructions on how to create a thumbnail image of your site that Facebook users can attach to a link to your site:

How to get your Website Preview Thumbnail to Show Up on Facebook Share

On many websites I create for small businesses, the site owner wants (and should have) a blog. Drupal’s blog tools are set up to be designed for multiple users by default. Many times, this is functionality I don’t want or need.

One glaring element that I typically want to remove if a blog is by a single user is the “username’s blog” link that appears in each blog post.

The following, found here, added to my theme’s template.php file, did the trick:

function mytheme_links($links, $attributes = array()) {
// Hide username’s blog
if (isset($links['blog_usernames_blog'])) {
unset($links['blog_usernames_blog']);
}
return theme_links($links, $attributes);
}

Change mytheme to the name of your theme, and remember to clear the cache after uploading the new template.php file.

A list of modules I commonly use on Drupal sites, with links to the project page for easy landing and downloading.

• Content Construction Kit (CCK)
• Views
• Views Slideshow
• View Cycle
• Administration menu
• Admin role
• Advanced help
• Devel
• Google Analytics
• Token
• ImageField
• FieldField
• ImageCache
• ImageAPI (required by ImageCache)
• Transliteration (required by ImageCache)
• jQuery plugins
• Pathauto
• Frequently Asked Questions
• SpamSpan
• Skinr
• Fusion (theme)
• Root Candy (admin theme)

This is one big “note to self” for me to reference as needed for current and future Drupal installs. If you found this through google, maybe it will help you, too.

Bluehost and Clean URLs

Problem: After basic install, system would not enable Clean URLs. Site is not live, but currently accessed through bluehost utility domain url.
Solution: First, make sure .htaccess file exists on server. Second, since Drupal is not on a production site, but rather on the utility domain, change the following in .htaccess

# Modify the RewriteBase if you are using Drupal in a subdirectory or in a
# VirtualDocumentRoot and the rewrite rules are not working properly.
# For example if your site is at http://example.com/drupal uncomment and
# modify the following line:
RewriteBase /~username

Note: When site goes live, this line will need to be changed again.

Memory Limits in php.ini

Depending on the modules installed, the memory limit in the php.ini file will likely need to be increased. If php.ini is not already installed, install it through the control panel. Then open the file, and find the line memory_limit = . Increase the memory limit.

Bluehost change in February 2010 regarding uploaded images

On February 2, I and many others woke up, checked our Drupal sites and discovered that they were broken. After 45 minutes on the phone to tech support, conferring with another local Drupal user who turned out to be on Bluehost, and the twittervine, the following solution emerged and now needs to be implemented on Bluehost Drupal installs:

In /sites/default/files/, edit the .htaccess file, change the line that reads Options +FollowSymLinks to Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch. So the new .htaccess file in the sites/default/files location should now read:

SetHandler Drupal_Security_Do_Not_Remove_See_SA_2006_006
Options None
Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch

It’s almost time for Do It With Drupal!

I’m excited to be heading to New Orleans on December 8, 2009 for three solid days of Drupal learning from the good  folks at Lullabot. This is training by the people who wrote the applications and the books, rock stars like Earl Miles (views and panels), Ryan Szerma (ubercart), and a keynote by Dries Buytaert (the founder of Drupal.)

I’m most looking forward to the case studies of Drupal sites like the New York State Senate and MTV.co.uk, to learn how the experts built their sites with Drupal and any challenges they encountered. Second on my list is the fantasy site builds, where the pros will clone popular sites like Etsy and Craig’s List using Drupal. Hey Lullabot, why do the fantasy builds have to run concurrent with the site dissections? Bummer, but hopefully I’ll catch what I miss on the post-conference videos.

Others on my list of must-attend sessions are the Geolocation and Event Management master classes, since these functions are on the features wish list of a site that I’m currently developing.

The bonus is the conference location in New Orleans. I haven’t been back since Katrina so destroyed the city, so I look forward to visiting one of our country’s most unique cities again. I can always use a good Zydeco fix. Laissez les bons temps roulez!

I first tinkered with Drupal a few years ago. I didn’t dig too deep, but I realized very quickly that Drupal lived up to its reputation of having a very steep learning curve.

Flash forward to 2009. It was time to redo a client’s website, www.livingyogadallas.com, and add features to turn it into a community portal. Once again, Drupal appeared on my radar. After a bit of research, I made the decision that Drupal was the right tool for the job.

Wow. If I had known what I was in for, I might have made a different choice. Learning Drupal is quite the task. Someday soon, maybe I’ll revisit all the frustration that accompanied that nasty learning curve. But through all my cursing, lynda.com trainings, module finds and google research, I laid the foundation for future Drupal endeavors. Along the way, I launched a beautiful and functional client site that is fabulously expandable and has been embraced by its target community.

But there’s so much more to learn. That’s why I’ll be heading to Austin next weekend for DrupalCamp Austin. Two days of full-on Drupal sessions, learning from others to expand and enhance my Drupal knowledge. With a powerful tool like Drupal, the learning will never end.