Posts by Jon
DrupalCon San Francisco: sponsorship and session proposals
In case you haven’t heard, DrupalCon San Francisco is fast approaching. The conference, from April 19th through the 21st, promises to be the largest Drupal gathering of its kind, and we’re excited to be able to sponsor and attend.We also have several session proposal that are currently open for voting. Here is a quick overview of the sessions our team members have proposed:
Drupal for Learning: A Case Study
Presented by Justin Toupin, Brad Bowman and Jon Clark
Track: Under the HoodThis January, we launched a Drupal-based redesign of Poynter’s News University, the world’s leading journalism education website. In this case study, we’ll cover the design and technical challenges we faced, as outlined in Justin’s recent post. We’ll also touch on what we’re pushing forward in new online learning projects.
You should vote for the Drupal for Learning: A Case Study session here.
Enhancing Drupal Interfaces Javascript and Flash
Presented by Scott Reynen and Ken Woodworth
Track: Design, Theme, and UsabilitySimple well-stuctured Drupal markup is accessible on nearly all existing web browsing devices, and very likely devices that don’t even exist yet. JavaScript and Flash, on the other hand, can provide much more compelling user interfaces. We will discuss using the best of both worlds in Drupal, how to get all the interface niceties of JavaScript and Flash without sacrificing the broad accessibility of HTML.
We’ll take a look at two specific case studies of Drupal sites with interfaces that work well without JavaScript or Flash, but work even better with both: the United Nations Development Programme’s adaptationlearning.net and Richardson Sports, a leading sports apparel manufacturer.
You should vote for the Enhancing Drupal Interfaces Javascript and Flash session here.
Efficient Workflow for Design and Development Projects
Presented by Justin Toupin and Jon Clark
Track: Providing Professional Drupal ServicesWe’ll take a look at how we moves Drupal projects from concept, to design, to production, using Drupal as the technical backbone for much of the process. We’ll discuss how we communicate with clients and manage expectations. We’ll also touch on lessons learned and things we do differently after 10 years of doing business.
You should vote for the Efficient Workflow for Design and Development Projects session here.
Defining and Pitching Your Process
Presented by Jon Clark
Track: Providing Professional Drupal ServicesEffectively communicating how you work is a powerful way to convince clients to choose you. Before they make a decision, potential clients want to know what working with you will be like, and need to be confident that it will not only be effective, but that they’ll be comfortable in the process. This session will offer insights into thinking through your own work process, how to communicate that to decision makers, and the key role this will play in setting client expectations for the project.
You should vote for the Defining and Pitching Your Process session here.
Best Practices for Managing a Drupal Firm
Panel members: Glenn Hilton, Dave Terry, Jeff Walpole, Jennifer Hols, Eric Gundersen, Ben Finklea, Liza Kindred, Jon Clark
Track: Providing Professional Drupal ServicesIn this panel discussion, we will look beyond the technology side of Drupal and dig into the business end of what it takes to run a successful Drupal agency. We’ll touch on critical subject matter topics in areas like sales, recruiting, accounting, human resources, and how to effectively market your services. The panel members represent Drupal shops that include ImageX, Mediacurrent Media, Phase2 Technology, Development Seed, Volacci and Lullabot.
You should vote for the Best Practices for Managing a Drupal Firm panel discussion here.
Party for Friends of Drupal
This Thursday, we are opening up the old Aten office once again to throw a party for friends of Drupal and other folks who make interesting things on the Internet. Everyone is welcome, with or without one of our fancy invitation cards featuring another original Noah Smith illustration.
We'll have food, beer and such, so come on over. Roar!
When
Thursday, September 24th
Starting at 7:00 PMWhere
Aten Design Group
1629 Downing St.
Denver, CO 80218What the office looks like
Our office takes up a couple floors of an old house on Downing Street, so knowing what you're looking for will come in handy. There is an Aten Design Group sign in the window by the door.
Parking
Street parking on 16th, Downing or Ogden should be the most convenient.
Questions
If you have any questions, give me a call at 303-830-2252, or use our contact form to get in touch.
DrupalCon Paris Debriefing
A week after DrupalCon Paris, our team is still talking about the conference, and trying to find some good crêpes. You may say that any conference in Paris is worth going to, and I would not argue with you. Paris is a beautiful city. But DrupalCon also did not disappoint. There were plenty of interesting sessions, conversations, and people to make the trip worthwhile in any city.Here are some thoughts from a few of us at Aten who attended:
- Scott Reynen
I really enjoyed the Ice Cream Sprint before DrupalCon. It was my first experience working on Drupal core and I found the Drupal community makes it really easy to get involved. It was great to meet so many people I’d only seen as usernames previously.
- Brad Bowman
As always, I think my favorite part was connecting with people who I interact with in the issues queues and irc on a daily basis but rarely get to see.
It’s a great experience to connect face to face and learn from other peoples experience and ideas. Whether it was talking with people about dealing with large data imports, improving the design and development process, or managing an effective communications strategy, I was consistently walking away from conversations with a combination of affirmation for our current path, and plenty to think about for the future.
- Justin Toupin
I can’t think of a better, more inspirational setting for this kind of event. The conference was stacked with informative talks, and full of people doing a huge range of work with Drupal. The resulting breadth of perspectives was powerful.
I was particularly pleased (and surprised) to hear as much talk as there was about an “iterative approach.” We’ve been talking about, implementing, and refining an iterative process for several years now, with really positive results. It was good to hear about others’ experiences in a similar direction.
As Jon already pointed out, the city itself is beautiful — what better setting for discussing strategy around development, design and communication than the cafes, metro cars and museums of Paris.
We left excited and inspired about the projects we’re working on and the growing opportunities we have to help advance the Drupal community. It’s just hard to believe we have to wait until April for the next one. DrupalCon San Fransisco, here we come!
- Scott Reynen
DrupalCamp Colorado was a success - let's keep the party going
DrupalCamp Colorado ‘09 was the best yet! We had double the attendees (over 200), a bigger venue with better sessions, a great party and UberCamp to boot. Justin, Eric and Brad got to present in a couple different sessions. Afterward, we met with other planners and presenters to review this year’s Camp and start the planning for next year’s. We’re thrilled with DrupalCamp 09 and are really excited about what’s in store for 2010.
But there are some things we shouldn’t have to wait a whole year for. So to keep the spirit of DrupalCamp Colorado alive, we’re going to host another party.
Thursday, July 16th we’re throwing a shindig for the area Dupal community at the Aten office so we can pick up our conversations where we left them - in meatspace. We’ll provide the beer, the Wii and the AC. The upstairs patio even has a view of downtown, so you might even feel like you’re back at the DrupalCamp party.
Aten Design Group is located just a few blocks East of Downtown Denver.
When
Thursday, July 16th
Starting at 7:00 PMWhere
Aten Design Group
1629 Downing St.
Denver, CO 80218
DirectionsWhat the office looks like
Our office takes up a few floors of an old house on Downing Street, so knowing what you’re looking for will come in handy. We’ll put a sign on the door too.
Parking
Street parking on 16th should be the easiest.
Questions
If you have any questions, give me (Jon) a call at 303-830-2252, or use our contact form.
Doing Drupal Justice
By improving the user experience, admin_menu.module and admin.module help tell clients the real story about Drupal.
Until recently, Drupal’s administrative interface has been a big hurdle, and I don’t mean limited capabilities or functionality problems. I’m talking about a presentation hurdle. Too often clients miss the power of Drupal simply because the default admin interface doesn’t effectively bring commonly-used controls to the surface, leaving first-time users underwhelmed and confused.
At Aten Design Group, we tend to prototype in Drupal early in development and get our clients engaged with the prototype as soon as it is practical. This approach provides several advantages - a shorter feedback loop, a gentler learning curve, and a transparent development process. But for many of our clients, this requires a conceptual leap past the default interface to grasp all that even the simplest Drupal prototype has to offer. We work hard to prepare clients for the leap, but things could be so much better, and thankfully there are a lot of talented folks pushing Drupal’s administrative user experience forward.
First up, admin_menu.module
The admin_menu module brings all the options below “administer” into a low-profile dropdown menu at the top of the website independent of other themes being used. In our experience, the results have been great. Clients can easily get the lay of the land by quickly drilling down through the menu tree without leaving the context of the public website.
Next, admin.module
The latest contributed admin UI project, admin.module, provides a more immersive experience based on some of the work done by Mark Boulton and Leisa Reichelt for the Drupal 7 User Experience Project. The interface utilizes a control panel-style theme with a tiered top-level menu featuring a slightly recategorized set of commonly-used administration options. Prominent icons for each menu element help illustrate and bring clarity to the wide range of options. While acting as a real-world proving ground for new ideas from the D7UX Project, admin.module also allows developers building Drupal 6 websites right now to show off Drupal’s powerful administrative tools to the uninitiated.
Like most of the community, I have high hopes that Drupal 7 will provide an even more elevated user experience for administrators, among other things. In the meantime, these two modules have taken significant steps toward a UX that demonstrates Drupal’s capabilities.