Some magic with Drupal, Flickr and Georgia
Update: Further developments of both tourgeorgia.eu and instagram wall have been stopped. I have created a new Travel Map section instead.
Since I bought my first Android phone so many new thoughts and ideas has run through my head - I mean in opportunities of development. One of them I already realized - I created my custom Instagram wall, where I'm syncing all my photos taken by phone, and putting them on map. I really like this approach. Update: I have stopped further development of Instagram wall
When I first landed to Georgia, back in 2011, I wanted to start fresh, not only my life abroad, but to make some fresh start up/project. And I created Tourgeorgia. The idea behind scenes, was…
Import your Instagram photos to your blog using Flickr + Flickstagram
Recently I bought my first Android phone, and I found Instagram app really useful. What I like the most is it's mapping options, so you can add latitude/longitude auto, if your GPS is turned on.
Then I wanted to import my Instagram photos to my blog and found some problems with it. As I'm using Drupal as my blogs CMS, at first I headed to Drupal.org to search for some ready built modules, to import my Instagram photos, so I could later use views, for example, to tune things up. There are few solutions provided by Drupal community, but Instagram requires SSL, and at this stage, I'm not ready to enable some Open Source SSL. I just want a solution that works.
So then I remembered, some…
Gremi monastery complex in Georgia
Another very interesting tourist attraction in Kakheti close to Kvareli - Meet the Gremi Monastery complex. Features rich history and very spectacular views. For the first time I visited Gremi monastery complex back in 2014, when we booked a private tour from Hotel Royal Batoni. Next time I was here was during another short one day trip around region Kakheti together with my mom. This definitely means there are places in Georgia where it is worth to return.Impressive fortification walls at GremiThe monastery complex is located just right next to the highway making it impossible to miss this place. It is worth to mention that since 2007 the monuments of Gremi have been…
Lisi Lake in Tbilisi (Georgia)
Lisi lake is a popular recreational area in Tbilisi. Some will find a lazy walk around lake while others will enjoy a mountain biking here. I prefer both. As well I like here capturing spectacular views using my DSLR camera.You can get to Lisi lake by using public bus #29, taxi (costs around 6 GEL from the city center) or by a car. There is a large parking lot in front of the lake.Recently Lisi lake has undergone through major improvements, a new concrete slab road around the lake is built (the total distance is about 3 km). There are some vendors selling coffee and sweets, and there is a Hard Rock Cafe (seems working just during the Summer months)Concrete slab road…
Nekresi Monastery Complex in Georgia
Nekresi once was a town in Kakheti, Georgia. Nowadays Nekresi is a monastery complex located high up in the hill offering breathtaking views to surrounding plateau, not to mention that monastery complex is really interesting by it self. Located close to Kvareli town.
The church was recently restored, stone masonry repaired, roof rebuilt, windows put in place.
For the first time I visited this place back in the Spring of 2014, during a short day trip around region of Kakheti, offered by a hotel we stayed (Royal Batoni). Second time I paid a visit here in Autumn 2015, when I was taking my mom on about the same day trip around region of Kakheti.
Visitors of Nekresi…
Boris Grebenshchikov and Aquarium @ Tbilisi Concert Hall
Yesterday Boris Grebenshchikov and his band Aqurium performed at Tbilisi Concert Hall. Although I'm not huge fan of him I must admit, he is so called Russian Rock Grandfather and it would be a crime to waste an opportunity to visit his concert right next door, here in Tbilisi.About concert:Since I was not very familiar with his creation, first part of concert I just listened, to determine, do I like him or not. His music is really eclectic, so I found something from Visotsky and Tsoi (Kino), then Russian Rock Grandfather turned to reggae, I found both Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, even some Irish folk music was found in his creation. By now, I can tell you this - Boris Grebenshchikov…
Drupal 7 Archive Drop Down Menu
In this tutorial I will show how to create Drop-down menu for your monthly archives using Drupal 7 and views.
At first, please read this Drupal 7 tutorial on how to create Drupal archive page. By following this guide, you will learn how to create monthly archive page using views, and we go to add one minor change to change it to drop down menu.
Open that views page, select contextual filters, and change settings from unformatted to jump menu:
That's it, so easy.
For more Drupal tutorials please visit: Drupal development
P.S. If you are considering a hosting for your Drupal website check out Bluehost, their shared hosting starts as low as $3.95/mo or read more about cheap…
Add Menu Classes In Drupal 7
In this Drupal tutorial I'll show how to add menu classes to your Drupal 7 website using template.php file.
Original of this tutorial has been found here.
Add this function to your template.php file:
<?php
/**
* theme_menu_link()
*/
function THEMENAME_menu_link(array $variables) {
//add class for li
$variables['element']['#attributes']['class'][] = 'menu-' . $variables['element']['#original_link']['mlid'];
//add class for a
$variables['element']['#localized_options']['attributes']['class'][] = 'menu-' . $variables['element']['#original_link']['mlid'];
//dvm($variables['element']);
return theme_menu_link($variables);
}
?>
P.S. If you are considering a hosting for…
A Time Lapse of green wall - Day 1
There is a one really nice looking wall located in Tbilisi, I would like to show it to you, that building is left from the brick wall building opposite to me, and I'm seeing it every day, for the last one year.
The wall is grown with some greens, and in Summer it looks cool green, in Autumn it turns red, in Winter it's naked, and now I'm looking to make a time-lapse of this wall turning from naked into the green.
Here is a Day 1 photo:
I'm not sure how many days I will need, to see that wall completely green, but I promise that at the end I will create a Time-lapse video, like some 30 seconds or like that.
Performing Joomla 1.5 convert to Drupal 7
Over past couple of years, I have many times seen a bad Joomla site, which either is hacked or is not working as it should, and I have converted those sites to Drupal.
The most strange things is, there is always some Joomla developer, who has created that site, but when problems occur, that Joomla developer is gone.. Strange right? How can one call himself a Joomla developer, when first problems occur, he is gone?
So I got another Joomla site request to perform a Joomla major Upgrade from 1.5 to 2.5.
I thought, hell, why not - let's fix this site, by not converting it to Drupal (As I usually do), but let's stay on Joomla.
Site works, there has been no hackers yet. So I started to…
Node reference views display using relationships
I started doing some Drupal powered site rebuilding.
By first of all I deleted all views and un-installed and deleted modules that are not must-have.
Then I started from scratch building with views:
It took me some time (about 5 minutes) to remember how to display referenced nodes on other node page.
Here is what you will need to achieve such behavior:
Create a new view, add Contextual filter nid, and add Relationships - referenced nodes, then add your fields and make them related to relationship, then just put block in your content area.
New hinges added to my HP Compaq 6510b
Today, finally my new used hinges arrived, and I had an opportunity to change the broken ones with new ones. Hinges traveled to me from China to US and the to Georgia, pretty impressive route, right?
Anyway I'm happy with my new hinges, and hope that my beloved laptop HP Compaq 6510b will please me for few more years.
Update: The good old HP Compaq 6510b still pleases me, but I have finally bought a new ASUS laptop (September, 2015)
DIY: How to change laptop hinges by yourself
New hinges for old HP Compaq 6510b
I ordered them via Amazon and had to wait for about a month to get them in Georgia.
DIY: Changing hinges for laptop
Removing keyboard
Broken hinge…
Cycling in Tbilisi: Left Embankment of Mtkvari
Left Embankment of Mtkvari is one of the longest asphalt pavement cycling distances in city of Tbilisi - it stretches from Didube to Ortochala (passing Tbilisi Old Town). It is among the easiest routes as well. For today's cycling assignment I decided to use section Marjinashvili - Didube - Marjinashivli from Left Embankment of MtkvariEmbankment of Mtkvari in Tbilisi is really cool place for riders (and not only), except sudden obstacles, like inappropriate parked cars, or superficially repairs. Left Embankment is cool by one more reason - it' s cool for photography - you can get some cool Tbilisi architecture shots from here:Right Embankment of…
Tbilisi Botanical Garden
Tbilisi Botanical garden is located at the foothills of the Narikala fortress in the city center of Tbilisi. The National Botanical Garden of Georgia occupies the area of 161 hectares and possesses a collection of over 4,500 taxonomic groups.There are at least to entrances at the garden - one is from the top of Narikala fortress (You can get there by using Aerial tram from Rike Park) and other entrance is from Abanotubani just behind the Tbilisi Mosque. Entrance fee: 2 GEL (As of 2018). Entrance is free for kids. Annual and six-month subscription is available starting 40 GEL. Probably if I would live in this neighborhood I would make sure I have…
My Journey to a Fitter Lifestyle - From Aspria to Champions Academy
Starting a fitness journey is never easy, but finding the right gym can make all the difference.
After searching for a while, I found Aspria, a gym with several branches throughout the city. Initially, I was impressed by the reasonable pricing of 99GEL (~$57) for 24/7 access to the Dinamo Stadium branch. However, as time went on, I found that the best choice for me was actually Champions Academy.
Back in 2014, I had set a goal to lose 17 kilos, and I was hoping that Aspria would be the solution. Although I had made plans to visit, I never ended up making it due to laziness. Unfortunately, I also never lost the 17 kilos I wanted to. But now, as spring approaches, I am renewing my…
Get Your Broken Laptop Hinges Fixed with Amazon: A Guide for Expats in Georgia
In Georgia, it's challenging to find good and affordable electronics, and repairing items can seem like a daunting task. If your laptop breaks, the common response is to take it to Laptop Center, or "Leptopi Centri" as it's known locally, located on Uznadze street in Tbilisi.
While they have been of help to me in the past three years, I've found their prices to be on the high side, with a flat rate of 100 GEL (~$57) for most services. What's more, they often blame problems on a bad hard drive or motherboard without identifying the root cause.
Since August 2013, I've taken matters into my own hands and started repairing my electronics, including bad hard drives and broken motherboards. The…
How To Display Image Galleries with Thumbnails on Drupal with Flex Slider
Recently, I faced a challenge while trying to display image galleries on a Drupal-powered website.
While there are a few modules that you can use to build your gallery view, such as the Views Slideshow Gallery module, I recently discovered some Drupal-powered sites using the Flex Slider library.
Excited by this new discovery, I tried to create a gallery with thumbnails, but unfortunately, it didn't work out as expected. However, I eventually found a solution on how to configure Flex Slider to work on Drupal.
Here are the steps required:
Download the Flex Slider module, extract it to sites/all/modules
Enable the Flex Slider and Flex Slider Views Display
Download the FlexSlider…
Cycling in Tbilisi: Marjanishvili - Ortachala
Left Embankment of Mtkvari is one of the longest asphalt pavement cycling distances in city of Tbilisi - it stretches from Didube to Ortochala (passing Tbilisi Old Town). It is among the easiest routes as well. In today's Tbilisi cycling series post I'll share some photos from Marjanishvili to Ortachala ride, you will see interesting and beautiful views with buildings next to river Mtkvari. Make sure you check out Part 2 in these series: Cycling in Tbilisi: Left Embankment of Mtkvari or alternatively check out cycling topic.Metekhi church in Old TownDam over Mtkvari river in TbilisiMonument in OrtachalaFancy buildingDwelling houses on cliff in…
How to Create a Stunning Masonry Front Page in Drupal: A Step-by-Step Guide
Creating a Drupal masonry front page can be an effective way to showcase your website's content in a visually appealing way.
Masonry layouts are popular for their ability to display content in an organized and dynamic manner, allowing users to easily navigate and explore your website.
In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the steps to create a Drupal masonry front page.
Step 1: Install and enable the Masonry module
To begin, you'll need to install and enable the Masonry module in your Drupal site. This can be done through the Drupal administration dashboard by navigating to Extend > Install new module, and then searching for "Masonry" in the search bar. Once you've…
How to Use Drupal Web Widgets Module to Embed Custom Content on External Websites
Drupal is a popular and powerful open-source content management system (CMS) that provides a wide range of tools and features to create and manage content on websites. One of the most useful tools in Drupal is the Widgets module, which allows users to create and embed custom content on their websites and other external sites. In this article, we will explore how to use the Drupal Widgets module to embed content on other websites.
The Drupal Web Widgets module enables site administrators to create custom widgets that can be used to embed content on other websites. These widgets can be customized to match the look and feel of the website they are being embedded on, allowing users to provide…