the “designer vs. developer divide” and “making drupal dance: techniques for beautiful,...
DESCRIPTION
Given the state of the miscommunication between Designers and Developers just before Drupalcon Paris, I’ve re-written the first half of my presentation to talk about the improperly-named “Designer vs. Developer” divide.Second half of presentation: For too long the Drupal community has lamented the lack of high-quality themes that are freely available. But the solution to this problem is much simpler than we’ve ever thought. We need learn how to communicate with the Design community and make Drupal dance!TRANSCRIPT
DESIGN
4DRUPAL
PARIS PRESENTORSEPTEMBER 3, 2009 JOHN ALBIN WILKINS ( JOHNALBIN )
MAKING DRUPAL DANCE!TECHNIQUES FOR BEAUTIFUL, CORE-WORTHY DESIGNS
Drupal 6 Core Themes
Themes
That Suck
Garland
Drupal 7 Core Themes
Designers vs. Developers
Designers and Developers
( This fighting is just a phase. )
http://webchick.net/node/9
New Community Member Experiences
Bad Assumptions
“And designers, in most discussions, assume that developers are visually illiterate and uneducated about UX matters. It’s a double-edged sword.” — Jeff Eaton
“In most discussions, developers assume that design proposals are ill-informed … about the complications for the user.” — Bojhan Somers
Solutions• There is no “Us and Them”.
• Instead of thinking that something is the product of ill-informed decisions, ASK what those decisions were.
• Be patient.
• Be welcoming.
• Improve the usability of the issue queue:http://groups.drupal.org/node/26016
DESIGN
4DRUPAL
PARIS PRESENTORSEPTEMBER 3, 2009 JOHN ALBIN WILKINS ( JOHNALBIN )
MAKING DRUPAL DANCE!TECHNIQUES FOR BEAUTIFUL, CORE-WORTHY DESIGNS
Collaboration TechniquesFor making core-worthy themes
• Understand what Designers want
• Find a partner
• Communicating your desires
• The back and forth of the design review tango
• Dealing with missed cues and mis-steps
• After the dance
Understanding Desire• Designers want to work on interesting design
problems
• Content shapes
• Developers want to work on interesting technical problems
Finding a Partner• groups.drupal.org/d4d
The Design Review Tango
• Communicate!
• Email is okay. Skype is better! Desktop sharing works best!
Dealing with Missed Cues and Mis-steps
• Apologize!
After the Dance• Proposing it for inclusion in D7
• Write-up the motivation andcreate a new issue
• Add a link to it from here:“New default theme for D7”http://drupal.org/node/293540
• If it doesn’t go into core,Make it a kick-ass contrib theme!
• And remember… groups.drupal.org/d4d