Programmer

Overview

Now that we have SimpleTest in core, the obvious step still remains: writing thousands of tests to completely cover Drupal core. But writing automated tests can take time, and with the sheer quantity of tests that need to be written, writing them manually is not altogether practical. The SimpleTest automator module aims at speeding up the test-writing process by allowing you to create tests entirely through the user interface.

Agenda

* What is this ugly SimpleTest thing doing in my Drupal core?
* How do you write a SimpleTest?
* What is SimpleTest Automator?
* What's the point of using it?
* What are its limitations (if it even has any)?
* Everyone will create and submit a test using the SimpleTest Automator.

Goals

By the end of this session, you should have basic knowledge of what testing is, feel comfortable using the SimpleTest Automator module to assist you in writing automated tests, and have already contributed one or more tests created using the SimpleTest Automator module.

Resources

http://drupal.org/simpletest
http://drupal.org/project/simpletest_automator

Overview

At Drupal for NGOs in London, UK, strong interest was expressed in sharing development practices for Drupal development.

So let's do it!

We'd like to share some of our experiences and ideas with you, and find out how you guys deal with things like auto-deployment, developmen-staging-live syncing issues and the use of version control systems to protect and distribute your work.

Agenda

* We'll share with you our workflow and development best practices
* Hopefully you guys will share yours!

Goals

We hope everyone will walk away with more tools and techniques for deploying, and maybe come to some kind of agreement on best practices for Drupal workflow.

All in all I think this could be a very productive session.

Resources

We require no resources, but we might print out a little write-up regarding our experiences and techniques to hand out during the session.

Recap of the conference, farewell until the next Drupalcon.

Overview

In this second session on jQuery we plan to focus on Drupal-specific usage and also on more advanced topics such as effective debugging of js code and adding AJAX functionality.

Agenda

* How Drupal and jQuery relate to each other
* The Drupal js object
* AJAXifying Drupal with jQuery
* AHAH and Drag&Drop

Goals

By the end of this session, attendees will understand the fundamentals of how jQuery and Drupal work together; they will have learned some best practices regarding the use of jQuery in Drupal and be able to add AJAX, AHAH and Drag&Drop functionality to their modules (the latter two for Drupal 6 only!)

Resources

Prior knowledge of jQuery basics or attendance at the first session recommended. Attendees should also be familiar with basic Drupal module development.

Overview

Coding standards matter. Why? Because they free the mind to get to the more interesting bits of programming. Programming is more than just problem solving, and it is best when you can contribute patches and modules which provide the most elegant solution. With help from the audience, we can share our experiences of successes, rabbit holes, and hitting brick walls (and how to get past them too). This talk is aimed at programmers of all levels of experience.

Agenda

* Creative: it's not just for graphic and UX designers
* Code Quality: standards, coder, devel, api.drupal.org, code examples
* Creativity Killers: deadlines and budgets
* Rabbit Holes and Brick Walls
* Resources to Help You Stay on Track
* Further Reading and Recommendations

Goals

After participating in this talk, people will walk away with inspiration to write high quality code. In addition, more experienced programmers may take heart when seeing a beginner show their first contributions.

Resources

Recommended reading:
* coding standards - http://drupal.org/coding-standards
* http://api.drupal.org

Modules:
* devel
* coder

UPDATE: Never mind, there is still a chance.

Overview

Drupal's bot module is an IRC bot that is pretty awesome, but it can always get better. This session will walk you through setting up a bot to run on your channel, and then coding for your bot to make it better.

Agenda

* What is bot module?
* Installing bot module on your site, and configuring it for your needs.
* Running your bot
* An introduction to developing modules based on bot.module - bot.module's hooks.
* I'll build a sample bot module.
* Bot_autenticate: user authentication with the bot module: how to use it and why to use it.

Goals

The participants should walk away ready to provide patches to the bot module to make it even awesomer!!!!!!

Or at least know how to set up their own bot.

Resources

It is recommended that you know how to build modules, unless you just want to know about installing and running bots.

Overview

There are numerous tools to help you translate the interface and content of your Drupal websites, and there are obviously (still) missing items in the implementation. This session will show off Drupal 6's capabilities and the latest developments with contributed modules, such as i18n module and l10n_client.

Agenda

* What do you need vs. what Drupal does
* How to get closer the two with core features and contributed modules
* Translating the interface live with l10n_client, contributing to an l10n_server
* Content translation, listing, filtering and administration
* What's missing, and where projects are going

Goals

I intend to provide you with an understanding on where Drupal core and the contributed modules fit with your needs and goals, and where should you still expect some custom coding required for your top-notch multilanguage site.

Overview

The formal user tests at the University of Minnesota and Baltimore have got quite some attention. They also had a common bottom line: Drupal is quite hard to get into for novice users.

We want to improve this. But how can we make sure we really tackle the major issues? And how do we find out if improvements are really improvements?

Repeated testing is the answer. Make sure to find out how the user experiences Drupal for our own attitude cannot be but biased. How is someone who is not accustomed to the workflow and UI able to perform a given task?

And how to make user testing fun? I'll try to depict how this can be done utilizing the
Usability Testing Suite (UTS).

Agenda

• Tests in U of Minnesota and Baltimore: have there been reliable results?
• A bit of theory: how is user testing generally carried out in other projects and companies
• The Usability Testing Suite (UTS): A way to go?
• A plan how to encourage and organize constant testing

Goals

Find a way to make user testing an asset to Drupal. Just like code testing has got a key role in Code Quality.

The talk will have an ensuing BoF to discuss the further steps in user testing. If we could come up with a plan that feels feasible, this would be wonderful.

Resources

Usability Testing Suite
In dev state,
maintained by boombatower

Overview

Come up with a plan how to encourage and perform constant user testing in Drupal. The BoF continues on what has been said in the Session "User Testing in Drupal".

Agenda

• User testing is tedious, what can we do to make it more fun?
• The main problem is that in a test, you question your own work. This is unpleasant, because you might find out it has issues. Or is this no issue?
• One needs testing persons. How can one make it easy for them so they may participate in testing Drupal again? Who are the people we need for that?
• Generally two ways of testing can be done: completely remote, or with you directly watching the Tester. Which one is better?
• There is also the "big solution" (formal Studies like in Minnesota and Baltimore. We also need those. What role do they play, and what role play smaller ones?
• How can we utilize existing Infrastructure to minimize redundant work? Maybe the DROP program can be used and extended? Do the issue queues help?

Resources

Usability Testing Suite
In dev state,
maintained by boombatower

Some 40 Indymedia sites worldwide are now using Drupal, with different approaches to solve some of the general and specific requirements of their sites and collectives.
Other collectives are currently migrating their sites from other CMSs to Drupal.

Agenda:
* exchange ideas and updates face-to-face, sharing what's done
* Discuss and develop the survey
* discuss ideas for a basic install profile

http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Devel/ImcDrupalDevUsingList
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Devel/ImcDrupalDevModules#How_IMCs_use_Dr...