DRUPAL 7 Vs DRUPAL 8

The most awaited Drupal8 which is yet to be released has created constant interest and expectations over the advanced features compared to that of its previous version, Drupal7.  Drupal 7 has been in development since February 2008 and was released during Jan 2011.

The key features of Drupal7 includes:

• Great usability improvements

Drupal 7 features a menu bar built in, with quick shortcuts for creating and finding content (which should have icons eventually). It also has a customizable dashboard feature, which lets an individual to arrange blocks to show the most recent comments and quick links. It also improves the organization of forms which used to get incredibly long. Now instead of an endless sea of collapsible boxes, there is a set of tabs at the end of the form, letting an individual to set things like revision information, comment settings, urls. It is also easier to change input formats by using a drop down box.

• Less modules to download

Usually whenever an individual starts a new Drupal site, one needs to download CCK and Image cache before doing much of anything. In Drupal 7, they’re built in. One can add a new text field, image field or file field to a content type right out of the box. Image cache, renamed Image Styles, is there as well, so that one can crop and resize pictures.

• Now with unit testing

One can’t see this feature in the interface, but unit testing is huge leap forward for Drupal source code. It now uses the Simple Test framework to automatically make sure everything is functioning correctly, and that means less bugs. It also means that in the future, Drupal developers will be able to make changes more confidently, without having to worry if they’re breaking something.

Even though it is too early to talk about the features, as the feature freeze of Drupal8 will occur not before 1st week of December 2012.

Here are some of the great features speculated to be included in Drupal8 are:-

* Better HTML5
* Better mobile support
* Improved multilingual features
* Setting up Drupal 8 on a modern web development framework

Apart from the above Drupal8 developers are trying to overcome the following issues faced by Drupal7:-

• Learning Curve: Once an individual gets familiar with the basic mechanics of the system, it becomes second nature in how to do the most common things via programming. However, this requires referencing the documentation a lot in the beginning. The curve has steepened with Drupal 7, with the introduction of entities but in most cases one won’t need to create a custom entity. Also learning how to best use the theme layer can take time in figuring out.

• Updating: Updating the core code is not difficult. But when compared to WordPress, it is a little more time consuming especially when one does it via FTP. There are ways in speeding up this process. But most people won’t know how to take advantage of these techniques.

• Speed: There is a performance hit when using a system like this with all of the moving parts of the system. The cache does help things, but it still is not the fastest system out there. An improvement can be definitely seen through Drupal 8.

Drupal 8 is the first development cycle introducing so called Core initiatives. These are areas with named leads to improve Drupal core in certain areas. However, this does not limit core development to the main areas; there are many community initiatives as well. The reality is that Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 are still very similar.

DCKAP Builds HealthCare Infotainment for Lyceum Health

DCKAP Builds HealthCare Infotainment for Lyceum Health
MyHealthTips.com brings accessible & entertaining evidence-based health information

Useful and funny health films from Dr. Robert Buckman, with MONTY PYTHON star Terry Jones help people understand and manage chronic diseases, complemented by online tools and coaching-support systems from Lyceum Health. The health tips are validated by evidence-based research from medical experts.

Myhealthtips.com brings the top ten tips for health videos featuring Dr. Rob Buckman and Terry Jones. Myhealthtips.com also has News & Digests, Online Tools & Resources, Points & Rewards, Experts Stories and Patients Stories. The site offers five online, subscription-based programs created with medical experts and award-winning entertainers. Videos discuss Type 2 Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Weight Control, How to Quit Smoking and Asthma.

DCKAPdeveloped the health care application Myhealthtips.com for Lyceum Health. Powered by the open source content management platform running millions of web applications, Drupal, this versatile edutainment site was built by DCKAP to the unique business requirements and precise client specifications in seventy seven days. The site effectively demonstrates configurability and customization, creative use of media, content delivery and payment processing functionality, with a delightful user experience. And don’t forget the gift option at checkout!

Technologies Used

• Drupal 6.22
• PHP 5.3
• MySql 5.1.37
• Wowza Media Server 3.0.3

Myhealthtips.com implements Ubercart for online sales of the programs offered (videos, web tools and pdf documents), along with processing for VAT. It helps the users to purchase the programs in their currency of choice, including the US Dollar, the Euro and the Canadian Dollar.

Payment processing in enabled using Paypal Payment Pro.

Videos of all the chapters of every program are shown on the site using JW Player.

WowzaMedia Server and Windows Media Security are used to make the videos highly secure. Health Programs content is loaded as a PDF documents. Document reader is embedded in the website using Scribd so that the user can easily read, search, print and download the files.

Wowza Media Server is a unified server software used for streaming of live and on-demand video, audio, and rich Internet applications (RIAs) over public and private IP networks to desktop, laptop, and tablet computers, mobile devices, IPTV set-top boxes, internet-connected TV sets, and other network-connected devices.

A team of world-class support program facilitators, health educators, medical copywriters and editors, designers, medical illustrators and technology experts, Lyceum Health researched and developed over 1,500 patient and family education programs over the last 14 years. Lyceum Health teams up medical experts with award-winning comedic entertainers. MyHealthTips.com is owned and operated by Lyceum Health.

In 1994, Dr. Buckman was made Canadian Humanist of the Year, and in 2003 received the Fleming Medal of the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science. Rob had passed away in his sleep on his flight home to Toronto in October 2011. This would honor Rob’s legacy, not only as a leading expert in doctor-patient communication, but also as a gifted comedian and entertainer.

Writer, film director, performer, comedian, popular historian, political commentator and TV

documentary host Terry Jones is best known for his Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Terry studied English and History at Oxford. He continues to lecture and has received honorary doctorates from several universities.