Have you seen the menu?

And did you like it? Hardly possible to miss I think. It kept me nicely busy for a few hours. Got some great examples, and this one is purely based on css and unnumbered lists in combination with anchors. Unfortunately the menu worked with non-classed <ul>, <li> and <a> tags. So embedding the css, caused my other elements to be redefined. (It even redefined the padding of all elements).

But with some trial and error I got it working in a subclassed form. And I like it, do you?

I also found that besides articles, you also can create pages in blogger. Did not know about that, completely overlooked that. I think I try something out, so if you're a regular visitor, you might find that there's work in progress.

The wish for a menu popped up a little while ago, and I kept thinking about it, to be able to get some structure in my articles. From the beginning I tagged every article, but not with a real plan. So I got tags stating 'Oracle BPM Suite', but also 'SOA Suite'. And 'Database', but also 'Database 11g'. Not so straightforward and purposeful.

But a purpose arose. For a longer while I'm thinking about if writing a book would be something for me. I like to write articles on a (ir)regular basis. On this blog you can find a broad range of subjects. But could I do a longer series on a particular subject? And could it lead to a more structured and larger form like a book? I learned from a former co-worker that he had this idea to write articles on a regular basis to buildup a book gradually. And I like that. But what subject would it be? My core focus area is SOA Suite and BPM Suite. But loads of books are written about that. Well, maybe not loads, but at least some recognized, good ones. And even PCS (Process Cloud Service) and ICS (Integration Cloud Service) are (being) covered.

But when Oracle acquired Collaxa in 2004, I worked at Oracle Consulting and got to work with it in the very early days. And I think in the Netherlands at least, I was (one of) the first one(s) from Oracle to provide training on BPEL, at least for Oracle University in the Netherlands. So I got involved in BPEL from the first hour Oracle laid hands on it. Could BPEL be a subject I could cover? Of course I'll not be the first one to cover that. Both on BPEL 1.1 as on 2.0 you can google up a book (is that already a term?), the one on 1.1 I still had stacked in a pile behind another one on my bookshelf.

So let's see where this leads me. You can expect a series on BPEL, in parallel of other articles on subjects that come around during my work. From real novice (do you already use scopes and local variables?), up to some more advanced stuff (how about dynamic partnerlinks; are you already into Correlation Sets, transaction handling, BPEL and Spring? )

It might bleed to death. It might become a nice series and nothing more than that. And it might turn out a real informative stack of articles that could be re-edited into a book. But when I'm at it, turning to cover the more advanced subjects, I plan to pol for what you want to have covered. I think I do know something about BPEL. But as you read with me, maybe you could point me out to subjects I don't know yet. Consider yourself invited to read along.