Dwees Design http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/atom.xml 2007-09-20T07:05:12-06:00 First Steps in creating our school site http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/299 2008-06-22T01:36:18-06:00 2008-06-22T01:36:18-06:00 dwees As you know, a colleague and I are working on our new school website. This part of a series of blog posts explaining what we have done.
The very first task we did was to look at the information we were provided on the needs of the school in terms of menu layout and functionality. This was actually fairly easily done since we had spent the previous year working in a committee. From this, we decided on a menu structure and overall plan for our site.

]]> As you know, a colleague and I are working on our new school website. This part of a series of blog posts explaining what we have done.

The very first task we did was to look at the information we were provided on the needs of the school in terms of menu layout and functionality. This was actually fairly easily done since we had spent the previous year working in a committee. From this, we decided on a menu structure and overall plan for our site.

Our idea is to segment the site using Organic Groups, largely because it's easy to create access control (just assign users to the groups they are allowed to view) and easy to maintain relationships between the content of the site and it's location within the site. We are also planning on using the Panels module to provide the display of the group nodes and the front page.

We plan on using the Views module to expose our site information, and using custom content types to make it easier for users to submit information for display within the correct view. We may end up using CCK to add some fields to our nodes, particularly for our Alumni users to submit user profiles and for our school bulletin items.

The site is already starting to come together a bit, which is exciting.

David

]]> Starting a Drupal site for my school http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/298 2008-06-12T23:19:55-06:00 2008-06-12T23:19:55-06:00 dwees I'm going to be working with a partner to create a Drupal site for my school. We have a full month to work on the main details of the site, and will work on improving it over the course of the whole year.
The idea is that we want to build a site which will serve as a marketing front-end for the school, and as an way to distribute information to parents and students from the school, and allow teachers to collaborate with each other and their students.
I know that Drupal can do the job. I plan on using this blog to document my process.

]]> I'm going to be working with a partner to create a Drupal site for my school. We have a full month to work on the main details of the site, and will work on improving it over the course of the whole year.

The idea is that we want to build a site which will serve as a marketing front-end for the school, and as an way to distribute information to parents and students from the school, and allow teachers to collaborate with each other and their students.

I know that Drupal can do the job. I plan on using this blog to document my process.

Today we started by setting up 2 domains for us to use, one as a back-up to the other, and installing a mirrored Drupal installation on both of them. Plan is to start with a huge bundle of modules (most of which will never be enabled) to remind ourselves of all of the features available to us through the active community at Drupal.org. We don't want to build anything from scratch that exists already.

The major difficulty with the site will be in the intended upgrades. We want to eventually have parents able to monitor their child's progress through their account on the website. So we have a lot of sensitive information that we need to protect, which means access control is going to have to be carefully checked.

]]> Request for Animated GIF script http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/297 2007-12-25T18:52:11-07:00 2007-12-25T19:25:40-07:00 dwees What this script does it allow the user to enter their text into a box, and when they click submit, it sends the information via Ajax to a server side script that processes the information and creates an animated gif from the information. The server side script (written in PHP) then sends back the location of the image, and the client side JavaScript updates the page with the image.
It doesn't have any features really, but it should pretty easy to add some.
Here is the link to the original post

]]> What this script does it allow the user to enter their text into a box, and when they click submit, it sends the information via Ajax to a server side script that processes the information and creates an animated gif from the information. The server side script (written in PHP) then sends back the location of the image, and the client side JavaScript updates the page with the image.

It doesn't have any features really, but it should pretty easy to add some.

Here is the link to the original post

See the download link at the bottom of this page.

]]> Scrabble cheater http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/296 2007-12-06T03:27:38-07:00 2007-12-06T03:27:38-07:00 dwees So I've created a script which takes some user input, and lets them search for all of the words in either the TWL06 or SOWPODS dictionary for words which match their input.
Some features:
1. The order that the user enters the letters doesn't matter.
2. The user can specify the exact location of some of the letters in the word
3. The user can use up to two wildcards in the letters (to represent blanks).

]]> So I've created a script which takes some user input, and lets them search for all of the words in either the TWL06 or SOWPODS dictionary for words which match their input.

Some features:

1. The order that the user enters the letters doesn't matter.
2. The user can specify the exact location of some of the letters in the word
3. The user can use up to two wildcards in the letters (to represent blanks).

I'd like to try some ways to minimize the memory required to do this, it's possible that I need to read each line of the file at a time, and close the file after I've done so, so that I can search through a larger file (there are 2 other dictionaries I'd like to include, but they push PHP over the limit in terms of memory).

Check out my Scrabble cheater here.

]]> Construction of a spiral in Geogebra http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/295 2007-12-01T03:09:02-07:00 2007-12-01T03:09:02-07:00 dwees If you drag point C left or right, you can see the point D travel in a spiral shape.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> If you drag point C left or right, you can see the point D travel in a spiral shape.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Conic section constructions using Geogebra http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/294 2007-11-29T01:19:06-07:00 2007-11-29T17:34:07-07:00 dwees The following constructions are all conic sections (as I was teaching this section to my 10th grade students) and are 'quick and dirty' constructions of conic sections. All you need to do in the examples is drag the point C left and right to see the shapes show up.

Parabola:

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

Ellipse:

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

Hyperbola:

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> The following constructions are all conic sections (as I was teaching this section to my 10th grade students) and are 'quick and dirty' constructions of conic sections. All you need to do in the examples is drag the point C left and right to see the shapes show up.

Parabola:

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

Ellipse:

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

Hyperbola:

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Geogebra on Ubuntu http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/293 2007-11-16T00:58:17-07:00 2007-11-16T00:58:17-07:00 dwees I got it working on Ubuntu. Turns out the problem was my version of Java, I had 5, Geogebra says it wants 4, but apparently on Ubuntu it actually needs 6.
Whatever, it works, cheer! I love Geogebra, I'm not ready to give it up.

]]> I got it working on Ubuntu. Turns out the problem was my version of Java, I had 5, Geogebra says it wants 4, but apparently on Ubuntu it actually needs 6.

Whatever, it works, cheer! I love Geogebra, I'm not ready to give it up.

]]> Geogebra: Weird problem in Ubuntu http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/292 2007-11-12T08:32:49-07:00 2007-11-12T08:36:53-07:00 dwees So I just started using Ubuntu, and decided that I needed to set up my Ubuntu installation with all of the cool cross-platform programs I've been using in Windows. I swapped Wamp5 for Lampp, and am using Eclipse successfully instead of Programmer'as Notepad. It's only been a couple of days, but so far I am pretty happy. Apt-get is my new favourite command.

]]> So I just started using Ubuntu, and decided that I needed to set up my Ubuntu installation with all of the cool cross-platform programs I've been using in Windows. I swapped Wamp5 for Lampp, and am using Eclipse successfully instead of Programmer'as Notepad. It's only been a couple of days, but so far I am pretty happy. Apt-get is my new favourite command.

Anyway, I can't for the life of me get Geogebra to work. Below is a screen-shot of what happens when it tries to run. This behaviour makes me suggest that the main applet is running, but that it is unable to find or access the other files it requires.

Screenshot.png

Java is definitely working fine, I can see Geogebra web applet files, and I can run Eclipse on Java. So far my trouble shooting steps have been to sudo chmod -R 0755 /opt/geogebra and see if it is a permissions issue. I've also tried running Geogebra as root with nother success.

Any other suggestions?

Dave

]]> Cubic polynomial with sliders http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/291 2007-10-31T19:07:08-06:00 2007-10-31T19:07:08-06:00 dwees You can use this applet to show your students how to examine cubic polynomials and determine the effect of changing the 4 coefficients of the equation f(x)=ax^3+bx^2+cx+d.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> You can use this applet to show your students how to examine cubic polynomials and determine the effect of changing the 4 coefficients of the equation f(x)=ax^3+bx^2+cx+d.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Area of a triangle http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/290 2007-10-08T20:24:59-06:00 2007-10-08T20:24:59-06:00 dwees This applet is an attempt to show that the area of any triangle with a fixed base and height (but different shape!) has the same area.

You can drag point right and left, and see that the area of the triangle remains the same. This applet also shows the height of the triangle and the base of the triangle, which are shown as being at 90o.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> This applet is an attempt to show that the area of any triangle with a fixed base and height (but different shape!) has the same area.

You can drag point right and left, and see that the area of the triangle remains the same. This applet also shows the height of the triangle and the base of the triangle, which are shown as being at 90o.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Complex multiplication using vectors http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/289 2007-10-07T20:28:32-06:00 2007-10-07T20:28:32-06:00 dwees In this applet, we can see visually what happens when we multiply two complex numbers (each of which has a length of 1). Vector u, and vector v are multiplied to give vector w.

Try dragging B and C, the endpoints of v and u respectively to try and see what the result of the multiplication of two complex numbers is.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> In this applet, we can see visually what happens when we multiply two complex numbers (each of which has a length of 1). Vector u, and vector v are multiplied to give vector w.

Try dragging B and C, the endpoints of v and u respectively to try and see what the result of the multiplication of two complex numbers is.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Triangle Angle Bisectors http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/288 2007-09-23T22:28:32-06:00 2007-09-23T23:23:25-06:00 dwees This applets allows the user to see the complete construction of all 3 angle bisectors of a triangle.

Notice anything about the three bisectors? Where do they intersect?

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> This applets allows the user to see the complete construction of all 3 angle bisectors of a triangle.

Notice anything about the three bisectors? Where do they intersect?

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Perpendicular Bisector http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/287 2007-09-23T22:25:07-06:00 2007-09-23T23:21:24-06:00 dwees This applet allows users to see a quick animation of how to construct a perpendicular bisector.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> This applet allows users to see a quick animation of how to construct a perpendicular bisector.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Bisecting an Angle http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/286 2007-09-23T22:00:03-06:00 2007-09-23T23:25:40-06:00 dwees Below is a short step by step animation that shows the steps in constructing an angle bisector.

If you press play, you can see the steps animated one at a time.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Below is a short step by step animation that shows the steps in constructing an angle bisector.

If you press play, you can see the steps animated one at a time.

Please install Java 1.4 (or later) to use this page.

]]> Mathematical Equations in Drupal http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog/node/285 2007-09-20T06:13:06-06:00 2007-09-20T07:05:12-06:00 dwees I'm the maintainer and creator of a filter module for Drupal where users can enter mathematical equations (using MimeTex.cgi created by John Forkosh) and create graphs which are built on the fly (using the JavaScript grapher created by Walter Zorn).

Some examples:

x^n+y^n=z^n

x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}

]]> I'm the maintainer and creator of a filter module for Drupal where users can enter mathematical equations (using MimeTex.cgi created by John Forkosh) and create graphs which are built on the fly (using the JavaScript grapher created by Walter Zorn).

Some examples:

x^n+y^n=z^n

x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}

]]>