Four Kitchens
Insights

Vote for Web Chef offerings at DrupalCon Chicago!

3 Min. ReadEvents

Voting on session proposals for DrupalCon Chicago ends tomorrow, December 23rd. The Four Kitchens’ web chefs have added delectable entrées to the impressive buffet of offerings. From theming to performance, jQuery to hiring developers, we’re serving a little something for everyone. You must be registered to vote, so register today and cast your vote for the sessions you’d like to attend.

Our Chi-Town à la carte menu:

Theming From Scratch

Prepared by: Zach Meyer
This session is designed to explain some basic to intermediate concepts about theming to non-developer types. Much of the information revolves around demoing these concepts using a short tutorial and building a basic theme from scratch.

The state of web typography

Prepared by: Aaron Stanush
See how far fonts for the web have come, understand the current battle over licensing, and finally learn how to implement the sexy @font-face method to make your web typefaces sing.

Don’t design websites. Design web SYSTEMS!

Prepared by: Todd Ross Nienkerk and Aaron Stanush and Adam Snetman
In this session, we will talk about concepting and creating a Drupal-optimized design and the importance of understanding a CMS during the initial design phase of a project. Standard practices and tools will be discussed in detail.

Panel: Mad Skillz. What’s on your resume?

Prepared by: Diana Montalion Dupuis and Todd Ross Nienkerk (more panel members TBA)
Even in this tough economy, there are more jobs for expert Drupal developers than there are developers. Want to be a rising Drupal star? Which mad skillz get you sought after, fought over, and hired by Drupal shops? What’s important to get onto your resume and what’s not? What kind of experience should you seek? The answers may surprise you!

PHP for NonProgrammers

Prepared by: Diana Montalion Dupuis
This is a friendly programming introduction for people new to coding. We’ll take a “Physics for Poets” approach to basic PHP concepts like variables, if/else statements, and functions. You’ll write some code, speak some geek, and start down the addictive path of programming logic. There’s also a geek quiz – in case you don’t know your Picards from your Kirks.

Drupal Sex Appeal: Attracting More Female Developers

Prepared by: Diana Montalion Dupuis
We will take a clear and organized approach to meeting the goal: increase the percentage of female Drupal developers.

Introduction to jQuery

Prepared by: Aaron Forsander
An introduction into the powerful javascript library that powers Drupal and countless other web things. This session is for people just starting out with jQuery and for people looking to learn more advanced uses and best practices.

Writing High Performance Drupal Modules

Prepared by: Aaron Forsander and Rob Ristroph
This talk is aimed at developers writing modules that have to perform well under heavy load and lots of traffic. We will present an overview of a number of techniques that we have used with success on high traffic Drupal sites.

Debugging Techniques for Drupal

Prepared by: Rob Ristroph
A general approach to debugging Drupal problems will be presented, followed by an overview of a variety of tools such as the Devel suite, krumo, xdebug, and client side debugging such as Firebug and LiveHTTPHeaders. In addition to debugging functionality, approaches to performance related problems will also be covered.

Introduction to GIT Version Control

Prepared by: Rob Ristroph
A goal of this talk is to convince developers and site builders that are not using version control that starting does not have a steep learning curve and using it does not come with a lot of overhead. People should be able to come away from this session able to start using Git with immediate payoff, and be able to interact with hosting systems that use version control for code promotion and continuous integration.

User-Centered Development

Prepared by: Shannon “Heathen” Lucas
This high-level session will teach developers how to include user experience in their process. We’ll talk about developing usable software for end users as well as developing usable code for other developers.

Panel: Recruiting, growing, and keeping Drupal developers

Prepared by: Shannon “Heathen” Lucas
The demand for Drupal knowledge is higher than it has ever been, and there’s a shortage of Drupal talent. While this seems like an ideal situation for current Drupal developers, it presents a challenge for businesses that are wanting to either implement a new Drupal solution or maintain an existing one. This panel will share the experiences of both Drupal developers and the business leads of Drupal shops.