"How do you build a website?" I have been asked this question by friends and family over the years, but I never know how to answer the question — mainly because there are too many variables, too many paths to the same goal. The funny thing is that I can quickly spot bad development on a site, and can come up with constructive criticism on the code or the design within seconds of seeing it.
I love "shiny" new things, but I am also cautious and want to ensure I'm using things that are going to work well down the road. Here are a few Drupal projects I've been following and I'm excited about trying them out. Any input is very welcome!
When I discover a new product or service that is amazing, I have to share…especially when something small has a big impact. I recently discovered two new tools that help you speed up the development process by auto-slicing a Photoshop file and generating CSS3 for your layer styles.
The next time you are ready to slice up a Photoshop design and begin implementing a custom design, don't reach for your favorite Drupal theme—try using a framework like Zurb Foundation. There is already a Drupal project underway, let's lend a hand!
Meta elements are an important part of any SEO and even Social Media strategy for a website. Drupal has a number of excellent modules for adding meta tags to nodes, but Views integration is lacking. To add meta tags to a view in Drupal 7 there are two meta tag modules and many hurdles to implementation.
Identifying the difference between a good website and a great website has everything to do with the care put into the details. Elements the site visitor never consciously notices combine in such a way as to affect them on a deeper level to convey stability, credibility and competency.
I'm just going to get this out of the way: CiviCRM is complex. Of course, it is complex. We are not comparing CiviCRM to a simple blogging platform or little piece of software to perform a simple task.
Last week we were evaluating solutions for a client and I had the opportunity to install and test Drupal Commerce (DC) for the first time. Digett and I both have a long history of Ubercart use, but since we made the move to Drupal 7 in the middle of last year none of our new website builds have needed a full shopping cart system.
I have developed very large, very small and every size website between. I have rolled my own CMS, used (and even developed extensions for) Typo3, Wordpress, Expression Engine, Mambo & Joomla, WebGUI, SharePoint, MonkCMS/Ekklesia360, DotNetNuke and Drupal. By far, I have been most loyal to Wordpress and Drupal.
I am such a nerd about Drupal modules … I get really excited when I think I need something that does [blank] and then I find a module that does exactly that. I love even more when I find a module that makes some UX or usability problem go away. We have talked about the Drupal 7 contrib modules Digett considers foundational to every project. Today I'm sharing three of my personal favorites that make UX or usability problems go away.
