Drupal
DrupalCamp LA 2010: Want a custom theme?
I just gave a presentation at DrupalCamp LA 2010 about creating a custom theme. I wanted to post links to some resources.
Using Cufon
Dealing with web typography can be a disaster. Finding a font that fits the site, setting the font-family CSS property (and "fallback option/s"), then testing the rendering in different browsers.
Drupal Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I have done some SEO work with a handful of different Drupal sites and I find myself installing the same modules over and over again so I thought I would share my recipe with other Drupalistas. There are a lot of other SEO modules available (Some which I use) but the ones listed below are pretty much used on every site I manage.
Drush, streamlining Drupal maintenance
I have written about upgrading Drupal modules, but at that time I was working on only a handful of Drupal sites. Now, I'm working on quite a few Drupal sites. So manually upgrading modules was becoming a bigger pain and I needed a way to automate the upgrade process.
Converting Drupal 5 Themes to Drupal 6
Drupal 7 is maturing and should have an official release before the end of this year. Once there is an official release support for Drupal 5 will stop. So if you have a Drupal 5 site and haven't upgraded now is the time to do it.
User Login Block, Drupal 6
While working on the Earthish theme, I wanted to theme the Drupal user login block. I did a quick Google search, but the results were not great. Many of the tutorials were about customizing the user form or customizing the login form on the user page.
Drupal Sub-themes (Not just for zen)
After reading a few posts in the Drupal forums I felt compelled to write this article to help people new to Drupal theming. Any Drupal theme can be a sub-theme and actually this is probably the preferred way of modifying a theme rather just modifying the HTML and CSS.
Creating a Drupal theme
Sometimes an existing Drupal theme just will not do. Or possibly you might have a designer that has PSD or InDesign file of exactly how you want your site to look. At this point you could try to find an existing theme that mostly works and just tear apart the CSS and HTML and customize it until you get the look you want.
Drupal and WYSIWYG Integration
What you see is what you get (aka: WYSIWYG) editors are a necessary evil when creating Drupal sites. These client side editors simplify the creation of HTML so that non-developers can create content using HTML mark up. WYSIWYG editors can be found all over the web from email programs like Gmail to social networking sites like Myspace.
CSS Specificity
CSS Specificity is one of those things that you might assume you already have a firm grasp of since you are able to write solid CSS. Yet, CSS specificity is pretty confusing. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but is well worth the effort. Have you ever created a CSS rule and wondered why it didn't apply to an element even though you thought it would?
