The document summarizes key points from Drupalcon Chicago including: - There were 3,000 attendees, 86 sessions, and 4,500 wifi devices used - Keynote speakers discussed communication in online communities and the unintuitive nature of intuitive designs - Sessions covered mobile development, lean techniques for performance, and certifications

1. Drupalcon Chicago Feedback from the Conference (proof that I actually went) Guy Bedford

2. Drupalcon 3000 attendees 86 sessions 24/7 bof rooms 4,500 wifi devices Ignite talks at the day stage

7. Made with Wordle.com

10. A (brief) history of Drupal It started as a message board in 1999 at the University of Antwerp Soon turned into an experimental platform Technologies like moderation, syndication and rating Dries was a Java programmer, php was better for keeping it open

11. 551,392 people in 228 countries 1.7% of websites run Drupal, based on crawler samples of over 100 million sites 1000+ core contributors, 7000+ modules Over 5m visits on Drupal.org monthly 130k unique visitors each day Higher job growth than Wordpress “ Drupal is uniquely positioned to be the dominant platform for the web” -Dries

12. Tsunami (Snowman) Describes 3 pain points: UX, Api (web services, context), Deployment (better exporting, uuids) Argues for framework and product separation This to be a new product profile - groups.drupal.org/snowman http://angrylittletree.com/11/01/drupal-8-road- ahead

13. Dries D8 Initiatives Spoke with many companies about Drupal pain points: Configuration Management, Content Staging, UUIDs and Exportables 3 year release cycle from D6 to D7 Initiatives for D8: Multi-device publishing, Interoperability, Delightful experience, Configuration management, Content staging

14. Keynote: Clay Shirky Author of: Here comes everybody, Cognitive Surplus

15. Clay Shirky Keynote Communication between users trumps communication from broadcasters Yet we still use old media terms: pc as user, audience from tv and radio Exceptional users are the norm We’re building communities and initiatives experimentally Sites create context We’re still figuring out the bigger solutions of pooling resources. Drupal is one of the tools.

16. Keynote: Jared Spool The unintuitive nature of intuitive designs

17. The unintuitive nature of intuitive designs Example - Avis website had a form with the asterisk next to the middle name and second address line. Good reason, but unintuitive!

18. Intuitive design is invisible It’s personal The unintuitive nature of intuitive designs Current Knowledge Target Knowledge

19. Target Knowledge < Current Knowledege Target Knowledge > Current Knowledge The unintuitive nature of intuitive designs

20. Natural product evolution: tech -> features -> experience Bring up current knowledge through training Lower target knowledge by simplifying the design “Watch users interacting with your design at least 2 hours every 6 weeks” Change disrupts current knowledge The unintuitive nature of intuitive designs

21. Mobile

22. Mobile “ Starting from scratch today, Drupal would be designed for mobile first and desktop second” - Dries

23. jQuery Mobile Create touch-optimised native-looking apps for the mobile web to work across many devices Ajaxes requests with css transitions NOT production ready, but one to watch drupal.org/project/jquerymobile Demo: http://tha.cm/jqm-demo http://tha.cm/jqm-proj ects

24. Native Mobile Apps Using Titanium - code in JavaScript Plug in with Drupal Services API json/xml API for CMS operations: login, registration, loading content etc. http://drupal.org/project/services http://civicactions.com/blog/sumit Other options: mobify

25. From Zero to Distribution Drush Make: creates a site from a makefile Downloads code (custom or modules) and applies them Allows for creating ‘install profiles’

26. Leaner techniques for faster websites PHP does garbage collection, costs cpu to manage Drupal has heavy memory use Use unset function to remove large allocations Use lean data structures Memory

27. Leaner techniques for faster websites Static variable cache http://www.lullabot.com/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-caching-data Memcache Exportable config (ctools). Allows for sharing static variables with other modules Avoid n+1 queries Database

28. Leaner techniques for faster websites APC Minimal number of source files Can specify file names in hooks Wait to include a function when it’s needed - move 90% into not executed on pageload In D7, hook_hook_info allows grouping and informing of includes Source Files

29. Design in the Browser Clients find it easier to review a working prototype than a photoshop file Easier to make some changes Stops last minute panic Play in CSS in combination with PS Modernizr, Selectivizr (ie css3!), Sass, Compass, xrefresh, live reload http://www.thecodingdesigner.com

30. Drupal Certifications Reputation Helps customers Helps new ‘drupalistas’ Cost a lot to run and take Can promote insiders Can create wasted work by unrelated organisations Benefits Issues

31. Certifications History Acquia announced plans in April 2008 NobleProg, Gloscon have announced in 2008. Not running. oDesk started a Drupal test in March 2009, but this is outdated Certified to Rock (April 2010)

32. The Story of Lullabot Started as a consulting company, not a development company Helped companies with developers in Drupal Technical architecture, support with lullabot people, developers and communicators Training was the next logical step And online training from that: drupalize.me

33. Certification thoughts from Lullabot Lots of varying skills around Drupal, always changing Basic certification ignores that - it is more valuable to an outsourcing company, which is not the sort of company they want to be Training should focus on empowerment, creating light bulbs Simple things like ‘go to your Drupal meetup’ and how to Google!

34. Introductions Nathan Haug quicksketch Ryan Szrama Ryan Daniel Kudwein sun

36. Winning with the ecosystem Ecosystems needed for Drupal - Drupal shops, specialist services. Lack of talent is the number one obstacle for Drupal adoption worldwide. Hire as many people as you can, train them (in only Drupal), and ultimately specialise to get better rates and differentiate yourself. “ The battle of devices has now become a war of ecosystems. Our competitors aren’t taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem.” - Stephen Elop, CEO Nokia