Merge

People seem to ask this question a lot. When you’re learning something, it’s comforting to know that you’re doing it correctly and efficiently and that you’re not learning the wrong way or the long way.

Therefore, once and for all, here’s our official 1 minute guide to learning Drupal.

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Do you know which web browser you're using? If so, do you know which version of that browser you're using? These two questions consume the working lives of web developers everywhere. We can name the top five browsers (and quite a few more), along with the approximate current market share of each, the most recent version of each, the rendering engine of each (i.e., what they're using under the hood), the features supported or unsupported in each, and we can probably rank them in order of speed.

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Google finally threw in the towel with Wave, saying that adoption rates just weren’t as they hoped. Many have said that Wave’s fail was that it launched as an invitation based service, which meant that you couldn’t really use it because Wave can only be used with other Wave users, and none of your friends had been invited yet. However, that’s not the reason.

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Calling software "free" can mean two things:

• Free as in beer (i.e., you don't have to pay for it)
• Free as in speech (i.e., you can do whatever you want with it)

Once upon a time, most software was neither of those. Now, a lot of apps are both.

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Here at Merge, we do a top-knotch thing that we like to call our Lunch and Learn. Your average Lunch and Learn consists of a randomly selected Merge-ian telling the rest of Merge all about something really awesome.

We also use a top-knotch CMS called Drupal. There's a new version of Drupal in the works: Drupal 7. The great thing about Drupal is that it's open source, which means that it's free and anyone can contribute. I just happen to be one of those anyones, and I spent a good bit of time talking with other Drupal developers about the new features, fixing bugs, contributing code, etc. Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped about the new release.

This time, it was my turn, and I chose to talk about the work done so far. Drupal 7 adds a lot of features and also changes a lot of things for the better. Some of those things include:

• A new administrative toolbar
• A new shortcut bar
• A new administration theme designed by the great Mark Boulton
• A new administrative overlay which allows you to access your site's administration without ever leaving the front end of the site
• A new bunch of really cool things that makes the lives of programmers a lot easier

The common thread behind most of the new additions to Drupal 7 is that they all make Drupal easier to use. In light of this, Merge is going to be taking a lot of the cool ideas from Drupal 7 and start giving them to our clients now. These new additions include a shortcut bar, a really easy to use administration interface, and a nice customized help section for each of our clients.

Why? Because Merge isn't in the business of cranking out websites. Merge is in the business of providing solutions for clients' needs.

Bottom line: Web development isn't about making pretty websites, it's about making sites that are usable a

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