Drupal
Site Implementation

Presentation on Drupal Install Profiles

I recently gave a presentation on Install Profiles in Drupal 6 and 7 at the Broward County Drupal Users Group. I use Install Profiles in conjunction with Drush Make in order to speed up development times, and automate as much repeatable steps as we can so we can focus on the custom work each website needs.

There are many steps that need to be repeated for a base Drupal install that can be solved by using Install Profiles, but most people have not bothered to create their own. They're actually quite simple to make. This presentation is a brief introduction into the anatomy of a Drupal Install Profile, the differences between 6 and 7, and a couple of basic code examples to get people started.

Drupal
Theming
Site Implementation

Five Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Using Drupal

I noticed the other day that my account on Drupal.org is coming up to its three year anniversary, which means I've probably been working with Drupal for four years now. So I took a look back at some of the old Drupal sites I had put together, and like most developers, almost cringed at what I had done to some of those sites. So, with nearly four years under my belt, these are five things I wish I had been doing in 2005, when I started.

Everything Goes in the Sites Folder.... Everything

Those /modules and /themes folder in the root directory are so tempting. They're clear as day, and it makes perfect sense to just put the modules and themes in those folders. That's what they're there for, right? Wait, you're telling me that instead of using those perfectly good folders, I'm supposed to make a /themes and a /modules folder inside /sites/all, or /sites/default, or /sites/example.com?

Usability

If You Have FAQs, You're Doing Something Wrong

Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs, as they're affectionately known, are a staple on the majority of informational and e-commerce websites. You can find them on a wide range of super popular sites, from Newegg to Digg, from Myspace to ABC.

Unfortunately, they're a cop out.

FAQs are a quick way to address an issue, but like the trivia section on Wikipedia, there's likely a better place to put it. Let's take Digg as an example and see how this can be improved.

Two Digg Examples: Taking Advantage of FAQs for Your Users' Benefit

Taking a look through Digg's FAQs, we stumble across this one:

I am getting a bad IP address warning when I try to login. What can I do?

Business

Using Your Portfolio to its Fullest

As your freelancing and studio work progresses, you eventually will have a body of work that you'll be able to pull from in order to woo potential new clients. There is a tendency for all of us to show our entire body of work. This gives the impression of more experience and a wider variety of work, so that potential clients from all areas will be more likely to choose you. However, is that what you really want?

I'd be willing to argue that it'd be much easier to get the same work by focusing within a certain area, as opposed to trying a little bit of everything. Not only does it make your job easier (albeit a bit more monotonous), but being a specialist, you'll be able to ask for more money in many situations. Of course, if you specialize in something you enjoy, then it's an added benefit.