CMS Expo: Drupal Themes (and rumors)

By John B Vanover Apr 30, 2009

3 comments

I finally got to drop in on CMS Expo. The brainchild of Linda and John Coonen (they have done an amazing job) it is a smorgasbord of CMS buzz, chat and the lunch wasn't bad either. A couple sessions were especially interesting this afternoon.

As a Joomla lover I thought I would check out the competition so visited Colleen Carroll and a session on Drupal design.

Colleen emphasized that using a grid to build Drupal themes always renders a better end product.

She worked with her own theme she has modified from Zen available at drupal.org/project/austin.

Tip: Colleen says to activate css compressor during development (in configuration) to speed dev time.

I found the Drupal community contribution feature interesting and wonder if other CMS should adopt it.

Familiar to us Joomla users, Colleen advised not to hack Drupal core if possible, as updates will wipe away your hacks.

Colleen showed us that good theme development is as much about deconstruction as building. A fitting philosophy for a self professed lover of Zen.

Drupal update rumor: Colleen says she has heard it through the grapevine that ~~Drupal 7~~ the theming on Drupal.org's redesign should be released by September 09.

[Editor's Note: Colleen has pointed out a correction on the Drupal update rumor, saying the September timing was related to the theming on Drupal.org's redesign and not the Drupal 7 release. ]

About the Author

John runs a growing marketing and PR firm in Chicago using Joomla as the primary platform. To speak with John about smart, cheap digital marketing using the Joomla CMS contact him at John@BuildBuyer.com