Some rights reserved

Designer-FriendlyEngine Summit May 29, 2012

Environments for Humans☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 2

Web Designer Writer Instructoremilylewisdesign.com

Co-host, EE Podcastee-podcast.com

Author, Microformats Made Simplemicroformatsmadesimple.com

Contributing author, HTML5 Cookbookoreilly.com/catalog/0636920016038

Email: emily@emilylewisdesign.comBlog: ablognotlimited.comTwitter: @emilylewis

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Designer Friendly

3

☺☺ ☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 4

• User-friendly interfaces

• Standards-based front-end

• Organization and planning

What I’m Good At

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 5

• User-friendly interfaces

• Standards-based front-end

• Organization and planning

What I’m Good At What I’m Not

• Programming

• Databases

• Servers and hosting

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 6

• User-friendly interfaces

• Standards-based front-end

• Organization and planning

What I’m Good At What I’m Not

• Programming

• Databases

• Servers and hosting

✓

✓

✓

n/a

n/a

n/a

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Designer + EE = Advantages (?)

7

☺☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 8http://flic.kr/p/4iFgSi

• ExpressionEngine

• Add-Ons

• User Experience

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Projects

9

☺☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Plan of Attack

10

☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Documentation

11

• Process - installation, configuration, go-live

• EE dev - channels, custom fields, categories ... everything

• Server environment, version control

My Tools of Choice• Basecamp - basecamp.com

• Dev Docs - devot-ee.com/add-ons/dev-docs

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Basecamp

12

• Installation

• Configuration

• Go live

• Everything in between

To-do List Templates & Projects

Project Management

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Dev Docs

13

• Naming conventions

• Server environment

• Channels

• Custom fields

• Categories

• Templates

Project-specific Development

• Snippets

• Global Variables

• Add-ons

• File manager upload preferences

• Control panel customizations

eeinsider.com/articles/the-dreaded-documentation/

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Dev Docs

14

Project-specific Development

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Dev Docs

15

Project-specific Development

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Projects

16

☺☺

http://flic.kr/p/88pYrq

ExpressionEngine

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Installing/Upgrading

17

• Remove files you don’t needee-podcast.com/episodes/time-saving-tips-techniques

• Upload compressed fileee-spotlight.com/tutorials/a-better-way-to-ftp-your-expressionengine-site-use-zip-files

• Expansion scriptngenworks.com/blog/ee-upgrade-script/

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Security

18

Post-Installation Best Practices

• Rename system directory

• Move system directory above the web root

• Rename admin.php

expressionengine.com/user_guide/installation/best_practices.html

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Security

19

Recommended Settings

mijingo.com/products/ebooklets/securing-expressionengine-2/

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Security

20

Recommended Settings

mijingo.com/products/ebooklets/securing-expressionengine-2/

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Templates & Groups

21

• Chunkingtrain-ee.com/.../02-chunking-up-the-main-template-into-a-collection-of-embedded-templates

• Limit embeds, try out Snippets and Global Variables*loweblog.com/downloads/ee-parse-order.pdf

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Templates & Groups

22

• Smart conditionalsdevot-ee.com/add-ons/ifelse

derekallard.com/blog/post/simple-vs-complex-conditionals-in-expressionengine-templates

• Organization and naming conventions

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 23http://flic.kr/p/chdd4

Add-Ons

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Text Editors

24

• v2.5 Rich Text Editor*vimeo.com/37280018

• Wygwamdevot-ee.com/add-ons/wygwam

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Matrix

25

devot-ee.com/add-ons/matrix

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Matrix

26

devot-ee.com/add-ons/matrix

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Playa

27

devot-ee.com/add-ons/playa

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Playa

28

devot-ee.com/add-ons/playa

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Matrix & Playa & Wygwam

29

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Low Variables

30

devot-ee.com/add-ons/low-variables

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Low Variables

31

devot-ee.com/add-ons/low-variables

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Low Variables

32

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Single Entry

33

devot-ee.com/add-ons/single-entry

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Navigation

34

• NavEEdevot-ee.com/add-ons/navee

• Structurebuildwithstructure.com

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Devot:ee Monitor

35

devot-ee.com/add-ons/devotee-monitor

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 36http://flic.kr/p/4NWv4G

User Experience

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Custom Fields

37

• HTML allowed

• Instructions on steriodsee-garage.com/nsm-publish-hints

Better Publish Forms

Good Field Labels & Instructions

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Custom Fields

38

• VZ Addressdevot-ee.com/add-ons/vz-address

Better Publish Forms

The Right Fieldtype for Your Client

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Publish Layouts

39

Better Publish Forms

eeinsider.com/blog/help-troubleshoot-publish-layouts/

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Title & Title URL Labels

40

Better Publish Forms

devot-ee.com/add-ons/mx-title-control

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Title & Title URL Labels

41

Better Publish Forms

devot-ee.com/add-ons/mx-title-control

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Main Menu Buttons

42

Better Control Panel

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Access

43

Better Control Panel

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 44

• Modified install/upgrade

• Security changes

• Good templating practices

• Add-ons

• Dev Docs

• Matrix

• MX Title Control*

• VZ Address

• Wygwam*

• Devot:ee Monitor*

What I Will Always Do What I Might Do

• Low Variables

• Playa

• Single Entry

• NavEE/Structure

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

?45

How Far Do You Go

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Know Your Project!• Budget

• Timeline

• Functionality requirements

• Content authors - number, skill

• Publishing workflows

• Your own skill level

46

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit 47

• Document, document, document

• Plan, plan, plan

• Get out of your comfort zone

• Try add-ons

• Focus on user experience

http://flic.kr/p/5WrMdi

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

More Info• NSM config bootstrap

ee-garage.com/nsm-config-bootstrap

• ExpressionEngine Site Strategy with Dev Docsexpressionengine.com/blog/entry/expressionengine_site_strategy_with_dev_docs

• EE, Fasterspeakerdeck.com/u/jacobrussell/p/ee-faster

• Parse Order and Low Variablesgotolow.com/blog/parse-order-and-low-variables

48

☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

More Info• Relationships with Playa

mijingo.com/products/screencasts/playa-relationships-expressionengine/

• Switcheedevot-ee.com/add-ons/switchee

• NSM override.cssee-garage.com/override-css

• Nerdery Themegithub.com/litzinger/Nerdery-Theme

49

☺

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

Questions?

50

emily@emilylewisdesign.com @emilylewis

Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit

☺thanks

51