Grid Systems should underpin any well-considered web layout. Applying a cookie-cutter approach to this – but using a CSS framework such as Blueprint or 960 (and the Drupal 960 theme) – means you're cutting out a vital process in the design of your site: the design of the grid system itself.
This presentation will detail my grid design process. Throughout the presentation, I'll cover:
The typographic grid: its history, usage and application on the web
Different types of grid: modular, columnar, hierarchical, rational, irrational,
There are more interface patterns available to Drupal module developers then ever before. Drupal has standars for writing code. But what about the interface?
Tabs, accordions, fieldsets, overlays, hover links etc. When to use which?
Join Bojhan Somers and Roy Scholten from the UX-Team for a tour of the available options and some advice on when to use each one. Consider this talk the kick-off for getting our ui-pattern library in shape. It's been asked for a lot.
Ever walk up to a door and pull on the handle, only to discover the door is push-only? Do you really know how to operate your clock-radio? Doors may be pretty, clocks may look cool, but when we have to actually use them, the measure of their design changes.
Same with websites. A website may be pretty at first blush, but can you find what you're looking for? Can you do what you want to do? Can you even figure out what you're supposed to do?
Started as an 'prove it by doing it' challenge concept in design for presenting in a session at Design4Drupal Boston in June, ComicPlaces is now intended to become an installation profile and theme, to allow anyone to easily use Drupal for Web Comic publishing (or photo blogging, or any other visually focused content management), as well as an good example of 'This does not look like a Drupal site!' to help inspire others to push the envelope of Drupal theming to new heights.
Too often, we see sites that “look like a Drupal website”. To me, that’s an obvious design FAIL. If you’ve ever felt restricted by Drupal’s default rendering of its content and HTML, this is a must-attend session.
We’ll discuss techniques for Themers and Designers to break out of Drupal’s default markup by using the tools already available to us. No kittens will be harmed.
