Resources
I am creating a collection of useful design/developer resources for those interested in developing sites in the Drupal way. In all of the posts I will quote from the original and link to it.
Display suite for Drupal 7 ... Way cool!
Thu, 2011-10-20 11:36 — dougI have just started using the Display suite module for a big Drupal 7 site that I am working on. I am really enjoying the functionality that this module offers.
It allows you to have pretty much full control over the display of nodes (all display types) without using all kinds of css tricks and creating separate node.tpl.php for all of your contrent types. The Wow factor is pretty high.
This is what it says on the project page:
Display Suite allows you to take full control over how your content is displayed using a drag and drop interface. Arrange your nodes, views, comments, user data etc. the way you want without having to work your way through dozens of template files. A predefined list of layouts (D7 only) is available for even more drag and drop fun!
Use of Display Suite is reasonably complex but it is reasonably easy to get going with it. It is even easier if you go to swentieman's YouTube channel where he has put up as series of excellent tutorials on the usage of Display Suite. In case you are wondering, swentel is Kristof De Jaeger the lead developer of Dispaly Suite (887 commits).
So there you have it, a Drupal module developer that not only was instrumental in creating a really useful killer module but one who is so enthusiastic about his project that he creates great in-depth video tutorials about its usage.
Thank you swentel
And for a real bonus check out another of his projects, Renderable elements. Here is the blurb from the project page. This is extremely cool.
Renderable elements enables you to register any piece of build on your installation and manage the display through Field UI. It will make (additional) elements available of existing entities on the manage forms/display screens or you can for example register the contact form and rearrange the fields through Field UI. Works currently fine on forms, support for other is coming in a second iteration.
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SaveIE6: Help us save the best browser around
Thu, 2011-09-22 09:37 — dougMaking sites work in all browsers can be a real challenge. Some browsers offer more of a challenge than others
I am looking at you Microsoft IE6, you have made me reach for the single malt on countless occasions.
For a humorous take on developing for IE6 check out saveie6.com.
Here are some snippets of developer wisdom to be found there:
Without IE6, we would only be able to charge less than half the money for creating cross browser compatible websites. IE6 is good for business, and will help us get through this crisis!
- Rick
Coding for IE6 teaches us valuable lessons, like patience and perseverance!
- Greta , Pangea Media
Trying to get your website to work correctly in IE6 is like a puzzle game! Challenging and fun!
- Nathan
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Curvy Corners
Fri, 2011-06-24 12:13 — doug
I have this one client that is in love with boxes with rounded corners.
I hate them. Normally they are a big theming pain in the butt.
I looked at this module http://drupal.org/project/curvycorners a long time ago and never tried it out.
I did this morning.
Wow!
This module maybe old news to some of you, but it is new to me.
I am using the D7 version.
The newest version of their js library is pretty darned cool.
Not sure of exactly how the sucker works but it does a beautiful job of taking the css below and making it work across all browsers (including IE6)
#content-area {
background: #FFF;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
margin: 20px 0 0;
padding: 3px 6px;
overflow: visible;
width: auto;
height: auto;
-webkit-border-radius: 4px;
-moz-border-radius: 4px;
border-radius: 4px;
}
This is a description of how it works http://www.curvycorners.net/instructions/
Using CurvyCorners the new way — using CSS
As from 2.0.x, CurvyCorners allows you to put rounded corners on your page elements using CSS. At present, there are two proprietary CSS syntaxes, one for Mozilla/Firefox and one for Safari and the older WebKit browsers. Opera 10.5 and Chrome now support the standard CSS3 syntax.
All you need to do is to put the appropriate rounded corner styles into the appropriate rules, and CurvyCorners will automatically draw corners for the affected boxes, whilst leaving it to the newer browsers to draw them using their native methods.
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Learn Rules screencast series summed up
Wed, 2011-06-22 16:13 — doug
Learn Rules screencast series summed up
This is a great series of video tutorials on the Drupal Rules module from the good folks over at NodeOne.
Rules is a powerful module that does amazing things. If you are just getting going with Rules, this is a great place to start.
The Learn Rules with NodeOne series has been going on for a while now, and yesterday the final screencast was posted. This wrap-up post summarises the series and gives some perspective.
Overview of Rules and the screencast series
Rules is a module and a framework that allows you to automate a lot of things on your website. Technically it is a event-condition-action system, meaning that Rules reacts when certain events occur, check a number of conditions, and then set off a chain of actions on your website.
In simple cases you can use Rules to create URL aliases when nodes of certain types are created, or have e-mails sent to administrators when new comments are posted. These rather non-complex cases are covered in episode 1, 2, 3 and 4.
In more complex cases, you have chains of actions that allow Rules to fetch and process data from other parts of your website – copy field content from a referenced node or send an e-mail only if the user has a particular setting in her profile. In some cases these kind of rules require that you create rule sets – chains of rules that allow you to load new objects and then use them to evaluate conditions.
These more complex situations are covered in episode 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
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Is Drupal the right tool for the job?
Fri, 2011-06-17 13:05 — doug
Is Drupal the right tool for the job?
This is a book page from the new Drupal documentation.
It provides an overview of use cases where Drupal is definitely the right tool for the job.
Drupal is a powerful and flexible framework for building virtually any kind of website. Below are some circumstances in which Drupal is a particularly compelling choice.
- You need a site that is flexible enough to evolve in any direction. For example, you might start with a blog but want the option of adding other features like a wiki, electronic commerce, forums etc.
- You need a site that can easily be configured to interact with other sites or with other technologies.
- You need a site that can easily handle complex forms and workflows.
- You need the ability to create your own content types. For example, you need to add a custom field to a page.
- You need the ability to quickly organize and display lists of information.
- One or more of the many contributed Drupal modules addresses your needs.
- You need to quickly develop custom functionality.
- You need to create web applications and mashups using third party API's.
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Hiring Drupal professionals, part 1: Know what you need
Fri, 2011-06-10 16:27 — doug
This is a very informative blog post by by Sharon Krossa (Mon, 6 Jun 2011). In the post she gives some pretty good insight about what to look for when hiring a Drupaller to create a site for you.
http://sharonkrossa.com/drupallets/hiring-drupal-professionals-part-1-kn...
You're much more likely to be successful finding and hiring a good Drupal professional if you know what kind you need and ask for it by name. If you're new to Drupal, start by looking for a "Drupal site builder" and emphasize Drupal knowledge and web best practices, not PHP skills. If you already have a site builder but need a graphics professional for your visual design, look for a "Drupal themer" and emphasize graphic design and CSS skills as well as Drupal theming knowledge. If you already have a site builder but determined that existing modules can't do what you need, then it's time to look for a "Drupal module developer" (not just a "Drupal developer") and emphasize Drupal module development knowledge, especially Drupal core and contributed module APIs and best practices.
Don't design websites. Design web SYSTEMS!
Fri, 2011-06-10 09:06 — doug
This is a presentation given at DrupalCon Chicago on March 9, 2011 by Todd Ross Nienkerk and Adam Snetman.
http://chicago2011.drupal.org/sessions/don-t-design-websites-design-web-...
This presentation gives a great overview of concepts involved in designing a complex Drupal site.
It provides real world examples of how to design the structure and functionality.
The presentation is an hour long and well worth it.
Intended audience:
This session is intended for anyone who has had to create or implement sitemaps, wireframes, and mockups. Those unfamiliar with Drupal will learn what Drupal "wants" to do and will be able to more easily prepare these materials, and those who already work with Drupal will learn tips and tools for managing the expectations of clients whose designs haven't been optimized for Drupal.Questions answered by this session
- What should a designer know about a project before architecting a site or creating its look and feel?
- What are sitemaps, wireframes, and mockups important, and what are they supposed to communicate?
- What does it mean for a design to the "Drupal-optimized," and why is that important?
- What happens when you're given a design that wasn't created with Drupal in mind?
- What are the challenges a design firm faces when they aren't the ones implementing their design?
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This is the first site that I have done in Drupal 7.