front end development

Drupal has always been on the forefront of image processing and configuration in the content management world. Simple things, like real-time generation of image presets and an administration interface for creating and displaying different image styles, are a dream for site builders and designers.

There is a wide range of contributed modules that extend the power, flexibility, and responsiveness of Drupal core image management.  This session will highlight some of the leading solutions for managing your imagery, the pros and cons, and where their usage is most appropriate.

Accessibility can be overwhelming and a little mysterious. Dive in and experience one developer’s story filled with lessons learned, and invaluable tools and tricks picked up along the way. You’ll walk away with the skills to better serve users, and an appreciation for the magic behind the curtain.

Design systems are a powerful tool in any company’s arsenal. They provide consistency, support brand recognition, and streamline the design process itself. There are many benefits, but implementing systems across a large product portfolio can be cumbersome for the most nimble of teams.

With the component-based approach becoming more popular in Drupal 8 we’re beginning to see some slick front end environments show up in Drupal themes. The promise that talented front enders with little Drupal knowledge can jump right in is much closer to reality. 

However, before diving into this new front end bliss, there are still some gotchas, plus lots of baked in goodies Drupal provides that one will need to have a handle on before getting started.

This talk will cover: 

Decoupled Drupal sites are hard, right? Wrong! In this session, we’ll detail a method for rapidly scaffolding a progressively-decoupled Drupal 8 site with a React-powered custom content area in no more than thirty minutes. Leveraging JSON API's zero-configuration API solution and Create React App's single-command React app build tool, we'll throw together a rock-solid decoupled Drupal 8 solution in no time flat.

Brace yourself, this will be a fast one!

Watch the session video here.

As an organization who needs to step up their accessibility compliance, accessibility testing and remediation is a big deal.

Accessibility testing has a lot of moving parts! There are so many tools. So many! Plugins, suites, crawlers, dashboards, CI tests, and more.

Watch the session video here.

Themes can become a beast. Over time, features get added and new patterns get introduced. Tight deadlines may also cause you to make inefficient decisions with the desire to one day go back and refactor. There are also times you will inherit a project built by another team and need to understand how to add on and reduce duplication. How do you size up a theme to ensure you are efficient and not growing out of proportion?

SVGs are simply amazing. You are able to do so many things that are just not possible with JPEGs and PNGs. In this session we will demonstrate how Wilson Sporting Goods uses JavaScript to manipulate SVGs to change colors, insert logos, and rotate text to configure products. By using this technique, we are able to generate thousands of combinations allowing users to create stunningly realistic customized products.

Watch the session video here.

Pattern libraries (living style guides) have existed for years as a way to formalize design systems across applications. In the past year or so a number of compelling modules and themes have emerged to integrate pattern libraries with Drupal 8.

Watch the session video here.