PSD to Drupal Theme

Today I gave an at least marginally successful presentation on Drupal Theme Development at DrupalCamp Atlanta. I hope everyone who attended learned something or at least know where to look for further advice and guidance on building their first Drupal theme. I apologize to anyone who may have wasted their time :)

Whatever your opinion is of my presentation, please give me some feedback!! - http://speakerrate.com/talks/1471-psd-to-drupal-introductory-theme-devel...

Below is my slideshow:

If you have any problems with that display, you can mosey on over to slideshare and see my slides there:
http://www.slideshare.net/sheenadonnelly/psd-to-drupal-introductory-drup...

I will also attach the .ppt file here, so you can have that, too :)

Top 10 Modules for Themers

Ok, there is more than just 10 here. In my presentation, I gave a list of helpful Drupal modules for themers, and below is that list of modules reiterated, and including links to the drupal project page for each!

• Devel
  http://drupal.org/project/devel
• Admin Menu
  http://drupal.org/project/admin_menu
• Block Class
  http://drupal.org/project/block_class
• Menu Trails
  http://drupal.org/project/menutrails
• Menu Block
  http://drupal.org/project/menu_block
• Menu Icons
  http://drupal.org/project/menu_icons
• Taxonomy Image
  http://drupal.org/project/taxonomy_image
• Imagecache
  http://drupal.org/project/imagecache
• Imagecache Actions
  http://drupal.org/project/imagecache_actions
• Imagecache Crop
  http://drupal.org/project/imagecrop
• Dynamic Rendering
  http://drupal.org/project/render
• Thickbox
  http://drupal.org/project/thickbox
• Galleria
  http://drupal.org/project/galleria
• Conditional Stylesheets
  http://drupal.org/project/conditional_styles
• Nice Menus
  http://drupal.org/project/nice_menus
• Taxonomy Menu
  http://drupal.org/project/taxonomy_menu

Drupal Design Inspiration

Here are some links to Drupal design galleries.
http://www.drupalmuseum.com
http://www.drupalbased.com

In addition, you may want to purchase or download some ready-to-use themes. Here are those links:
http://www.drupal.org/project/Themes
http://www.topnotchthemes.com
http://www.adaptivethemes.com
http://www.themeforest.com
http://www.templatemoster.com

Get More Theming Help

Here are a few good web links for theming and design-related tutorial and topics of interest:

drupal.org theming guide - http://drupal.org/theme-guide
Mustardseed Media Podcasts - http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast
Design 4 Drupal Camp Sessions - http://boston.design4drupal.org/sessions
Drupal Design Group - http://groups.drupal.org/design-drupal
triDUG (where I live) - http://groups.drupal.org/triangle-nc-raleigh-durham-chapel-hill

I can't emphasize enough how helpful IRC can be. It can be intimidating for designers, as it is very much a home for geeks, nerds, programmers and the like. But, I promise, it isn't any different than an AOL or Yahoo chat room, once you get inside. below is a quick tutorial on how to get set-up on IRC.

Get an IRC Client

I use:
Colloquy http://colloquy.info/downloads.html

Others have recommended:
Pidgin http://pidgin.im
Miranda http://www.miranda-im.org

There is also a Firefox Plugin:
download it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/16
learn how to use it here: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/rt-messaging/chatzilla/user-guide.html

If you're using Colloquy (I assume other clients are similar):

Install as usual, start it up.

choose File -> New Connection (or cmd+n)

type in a nickname (you don't have to register, but should http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#registering)
choose "IRC" as the Server Protocol
type irc.freenode.net into the Chat Server box
click "remember this connection" if you wish ;)
and click connect!

Now you have a little box with your connection info listed. Click on the "Join Room" button (or cmd + j)
type #drupal in the Chat Room box
click "Join"

Ta-da! Welcome to the main Drupal chat room! Easy peasy :)

Other Drupal-related chatrooms of interest:

#drupal-support (keep support out of #drupal)
#drupal-nc
#drupal-design (my fav)
#drupal-themes
#drupal-docs (documentation)
#drupal-views
and on and on.....

Have a Specific Question?

Feel free to contact me to ask a specific question! Also, hunt me down in IRC or on g.d.o. I will be more than happy to point you in the right direction to find answers to your problems!