Stanford Drupal Camp - Design/Theme

Custom Themes without the Custom Theme. Pushing the Visual Style of Stanford Sites

pixelwhip — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 01:49:45 +0000

Stanford Sites offers an amazing platform for Stanford students, faculty and institutions at no cost. While there is large amount of flexibility built into the platform, there is one limitation that would make most developers freeze up: NO CUSTOM CODE!

No using your favorite base theme. No writing custom modules. In fact, you can't even upload contrib modules.

Have no fear! Stanford Sites includes an extensive list of curated modules that allow you to create just about anything you'll likely need. It also features a solid base-theme in Open Framework which can be extended via the CSS Injector module.

In this session we'll focus on the process we implemented when asked to push the design of a Stanford Sites project as far as we could. Using a style guide driven development process allowed us to develop an independent design system quickly and efficiently using tools we were comfortable with. This system could then be applied to Drupal using tools such as Display Suite and CSS Injector.

We'll walk through some of the tools, techniques and strategies used to create an effective user experience. Come see just what's possible when building a site on top of Stanford Sites!

Experience level:

Advanced

Status:

Accepted

Speaker(s):

pixelwhip

Session Time Slot(s):

Friday, April 18, 2014 - 14:00 to 14:45

Track:

Design/Theme

Catalyze your creativity and save time and money with open tools and resources

Darius — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 20:47:36 +0000

Link to slides:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0wbyfli7wpgebia/CatalyzeYourCreativity.pdf

Can you have it all?

In an ideal world we would be able to get the things we want immediately, in perfect condition AND at just the right price (preferably free). Unfortunately the real world of business doesn’t work that way. We have to make some compromises and choose the project parameters we value most, while sacrificing others.

Because of time and budgetary restrictions, clients are normally forced to pick from only two of the following three project goals - Fast, Good and cheap, while sacraficing the latter. It doesn't have to be this way anymore. Discover how open tools and resources are helping designers do the impossible and create amazing work despite their limitations.

Make it work

Open source design tools and resources can help designers break out of the "pick two" paradigm. Open resources enable designers to work more quickly with smaller budgets, but still deliver professional results.

In this session, we will discuss:

Brief history and introduction to copyright and licensing
Ways designers are using open licensing in their work and to empower others
How to find open tools and resources

Join me and learn how sharing our collective creative resources can help us be better designers and create something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Experience level:

Beginner

Status:

Accepted

Speaker(s):

Darius

Session Time Slot(s):

Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 13:00 to 13:45

Track:

Design/Theme

Site Building with Open Framework and Stanford's Themes

hyperboy — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 21:44:53 +0000

In the first part of the talk we will use Stanford as a case study for how we have employed a “content first” approach to designing centrally-provided responsive themes for use across the university, and specific tools and techniques we have developed along the way.

In the second part of the talk, we will demo the features of Open Framework Drupal 7 theme and Stanford's Drupal theme stack. We will also go over the recommended modules to use when building sites with Open Framework.

View presentation slides on Google Drive

Experience level:

Beginner

Status:

Accepted

Speaker(s):

hyperboy

Session Time Slot(s):

Friday, April 18, 2014 - 13:00 to 13:45

Track:

Design/Theme

Site Building

Don't Design Websites. Design Web SYSTEMS.

Todd Nienkerk — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:50:45 +0000

(UPDATE) Download slides here!

The purpose of this session is to rethink what we mean by "website," the role of the designer, and the purpose of a CMS. We will discuss:

The role of designers in a web project. Drupal's theme layer is very flexible and can accommodate just about any design. It's important for designers to remember, however, that they're not really creating a page — they're building a complete system to house the all of the site's content and functionality.
The design process used at Four Kitchens to ensure a successful web project.
The tension between a design and a CMS. Should your design be optimized for your CMS? Or should you modify your CMS to achieve your design? In other words, are you walking the dog, or is the dog walking you?
The future of the CMS and how you can "future proof" your web project and process. For example, we will discuss when a CMS should be "decoupled" so that the frontend and backend are entirely separate.

Get ready for some really big, innovate ideas!

About the speaker

Todd Nienkerk is a Digital Strategist and Partner at Four Kitchens. He and the other Web Chefs spend their days making big websites.

Experience level:

Intermediate

Status:

Accepted

Speaker(s):

Todd Nienkerk

Session Time Slot(s):

Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 11:00 to 11:45

Track:

Design/Theme

Creating Best-in-Class Product Experiences: Lessons Learned in the Trenches

cperfetti — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 15:30:35 +0000

We all want to create products that are the best they can be. We’d like to eliminate all of our users’ frustration and have them talking about how amazing the experience is. In this presentation, Acquia's Christine Perfetti will share research, design, and organizational best practices that your team can use right away to see great improvements in your product’s experience.

Christine Perfetti picked up these approaches, refined them, and started using them in her daily work at companies including Acquia, Carbonite, and Cisco WebEx.

You’ll walk away with:

Data-gathering techniques, including usability tests and field studies, to collect insights to inform your web sites and products
Approaches for communicating user research, including journey maps and personas
Quick research experiments, including 5 second tests and comprehension tests, that will help you vet product concepts and designs
Best practices for involving all stakeholders early in the design process
Tips for facilitating teamwork and collaboration on your product team

Experience level:

Beginner

Status:

Accepted

Speaker(s):

cperfetti

Session Time Slot(s):

Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 13:00 to 13:45

Track:

Design/Theme