Birds of a feather (BoF) space

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

The panel will discuss their experiences producing the last several Drupalcon conferences (Boston, Szeged).

Topics include

* Effort level description
* Budgeting
* Venue selection & infrastructure logistics
* Attendee travel logistics
* Event website; registrations / commerce
* Session proposal management
* And other topics

Resources

The presenters will likely need a projector for showing PPT/Keynote presentations.

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.

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

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...

This is a BoF for librarians and library technologists.

Agenda

* What libraries need from Drupal
* What libraries and librarians bring to Drupal
* Version migration issues and challenges
* Integrating with library systems

Overview

"How do you keep your priorities straight when there's so much to learn and so much work to be done?"

A story is being told by the Drupal community, and you're a part of it whether you know it or not. As a Drupal user, developer, or advocate, you are learning what Drupal is all about and how the community around it operates. You're understanding the community goals and desires. You're figuring out where you fit into the big picture and trying to be productive, earn a living, and have fun doing it.

But wait... didn't you have a life before coming to Drupal or diving into a fast-paced, time intensive industry? What happened to all those hours you used to have, or have you not seen them in so long you don't remember what you'd do if you had them again? What is your story and how does it mix and mingle with the community's? How do you want it to?

This session will be devoted to briefly covering the idea of metanarratives (or worldviews), thinking about our own, and thinking about the way ours mix with the "community" (as ambiguous as that is). Being convinced of your own values, beliefs, and distinctives is the first step toward not losing them along the way as you engage with the exciting, global Drupal world.

Or maybe... you don't consider that a bad thing at all. : )

The BoF will be an informal discussion moderated but not dominated by me. I'm interested in folks who know more about the topic showing up and pitching in, and I'm interested in helping people maintain their pursuit of who they want to be apart from and engaged with their work environment and the global Drupal community.

Should the BoF not materialize (since there's so much other cool stuff going on), I'd be more than happy to broach the topic over dinner or drinks on the town.

Agenda

* Define metanarrative/worldview with examples.
* What is yours?
* What would you say is "Drupal's"?
* Gauging your engagement with the Drupal story.
* Understanding how to communicate with others who are more or less engaged than you.

Goals

The goal is to have a little bit of fun thinking thinking outside the code. Attendees should be willing to take part in the discussion or at least not get bored listening to others talk. The goal is not to confront the way people are engaging with the Drupal story, but to spend some time focusing on the unconscious decisions we make that have very real, long term effects on the things we do and accomplish.

(Disclaimer: I do approach the topic from a Christian theistic worldview, but this BoF is not purely interested in religious practice so much as it is actions, priorities, and values. Obviously, for many people like myself, this includes faith, but the discussion will be moderated in such a way that attendees should not expect a religious defense, debate, or Bible study.)

Overview

Running a Drupal business, especially with responsibility for staff and balance sheet, requires a shift in the way you support Drupal open-source.

There is less opportunity to focus on drupal.org, and the result is that SME Drupal enterprises are often in the dark about is happening in similar businesses - even though the attitude towards open-source (knowledge sharing) has not changed.

To be effective, a company must make compromises: the move to D6 will come later, employees are not always open-source enthusiasts, and the lead developers need to justify what they consider best-practice (and document it) rather than 'just doing it'.

This session is based on a review of Em Space's current practices. We seek up to 2 additional companies (5+ employees) who are willing to share and compare.

Agenda

* Preferred contrib modules
* Using a code repository
* Managing live sites
* Ready for Drupal 6?
* Design and theming best practices
* Working with Design and Advertising companies
* Support and training
* Contributing back to Drupal

Goals

To get a clear sense of how other Drupal houses are using Drupal, to un-earth many varied and successful techniques.