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Drupal Design Skills 2012 presented by Chris Charlton http://xtnd.us

Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

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Does learning to design for Drupal feel hard? Does theme building feel like a mountain sized task? Feel like there’s still a lot to learn about designing for Drupal but not sure what to start with? Fear no more! This session will dive into specifics of what skills, technologies, and tools Web Designers need to know so as not to fall behind or feel obsolete. NOTE: This is not a session teaching you how to edit Drupal templates – other sessions & videos are available for that training. With this session you will walk away feeling focused about what you need to know and where everything is! If you already know a little Drupal, HTML & CSS then you’ve already completed three steps. Come see what’s left to learn when designing for any CMS – especially Drupal. Covered in this session: What parts of Drupal theme design do I really need to know? What parts are easy or hard? What skills & tools do I need to be competitive designer today? How can I generate repeat business? How much JavaScript or PHP do I really need to know for Drupal? What modules, themes, software, and tools should I be using? How should I be using my tools? What skills should I have? What should my resume not be missing? What skills do Drupal developers have? How do I work with or within a team? How can I plan ahead a design for Drupal to not waste time or add more work for myself later? Drupal theme design tips How and where do I keep learning Drupal? http://2011.drupalcampla.com/sessions/drupal-design-skills-2012

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Page 1: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Drupal Design Skills2012

!!

presented by Chris Charlton http://xtnd.us

Page 2: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Coding Languages

Page 3: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

What languages you should know today

• XHTML

• XML

• CSS 2

Page 4: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

What languages you should know tomorrow

• HTML 5

• Basic PHP (variables, functions, arrays)

• jQuery (instead of JavaScript?!?)

Page 5: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

What languages you should know in 2012

• JSON (smaller than XML, devs love it)

• Intermediate PHP

Page 6: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

What do devs know?

• SVN/Git, FTP, SSH

• HTML/XHTML/XML/CSS

• JavaScript, jQuery; JSON

• SQL

• Devel module & Drush are must haves

Page 7: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Tools

Page 8: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

What tools you should have today or soon

• Testing & Development environment

• Front-end debugger (Firebug, WebDev Toolbars)

• Favorite Drupal theme framework

• Grasp of “960grid”

• FTP

Page 9: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

What tools you should learn & use (soon)

• Drush (basic commands)

• SVN & Git (code management software)

• Devel (module)

• Coder & Coder Tough Love (modules)

Page 10: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Drupal Design

Page 11: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

The order of Drupal

1.Drupal core (bootstrap)

2.Modules (contrib; non-core)

3.Theme

1.theme engine (PHPTemplate)

2.parent theme (Zen, Omega, Fusion, etc.)

3.sub-theme

Page 12: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Drupal Theme parts: Level 1 (easy)

• Files (.info, css)

• Theme Regions

• Theme Templates (*.tpl.php)

• Sub-Themes

Page 13: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Drupal Theme parts: Level 2 (medium)

• template.php

• Theme Hooks (theme_*)

• Forms API

Page 14: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Drupal 7 Theme parts to know (medium)

• Required Theme Regions

• $page (array)

• Module Hooks (extra credit)

Page 15: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Working in a Team

Page 16: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Plan together

• Will there be a plain parent theme and a “colored” sub-theme, or just one theme?

• What CSS #ids & .classes will be used or made (core styles, module styles, custom)

Page 17: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Split Duties & Code

• DEV

• Code Modules (module hooks)

• Generic markup for anything on screen

• DESIGN

• Detailed markup (templates or theme hooks)

• CSS styling

Page 18: Drupal Design Skills (2012) - DrupalCamp LA 2012

Learn more Drupal

• http://lynda.com

• http://drupal.org

• http://ladrupal.org

• http://drupalcampla.com