Coding by Day

[codingbyday-blog]

Chrome displaying exclamation points instead of spaces

H/T to this thread: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/DzNqhAh4R40

Certain (old?) versions of Chrome have issues with the text-rendering:optimizeLegibility; attribute, causing Chrome to render spaces between words as exclamation points.

The solution seems to be to either remove the text-rendering attribute altogether, or override it to auto;

[codingbyday-blog]

Drupal 7 Error: "The file could not be created."

Symptoms:

Error message: "The file could not be created."

All CSS formatting gone from the site, only plain HTML displayed.

Cause:

Incorrect temp folder setting in Drupal (Admin > Configuration > Media > File system) with "Aggregate CSS files" checked in Admin > Configuration > Development > Performance.

Thanks to Jerome Esperanza for the diagnosis and solution: http://www.jeromeesperanza.com/web-development/web-developer-blog-articles/31-drupal-web-developer-and-development-articles/168-error-the-file-could-not-be-created-and-styling-disappears-leaving-only-plain-text-html-on-website.

[codingbyday-blog]

Dates with Drupal Feeds

Drupal's Feeds module seems to need dates to be in a particular format in order to correctly import them (at least to set the Created / Published Date on the imported node; possibly for any Date field).

Through trial and error, here's what I've come up with today: D, d M Y H:i T (in PHP's date syntax). This translates to Sat, 08 Feb 2014 06:00 CST, for example.

I don't have any real documentation on this (didn't look too hard), but as this is working for me I am documenting it for future reference, and any possible Google searches.

[codingbyday-blog]

The complete guide to centering a div.

Worth bookmarking!

h/t http://www.hackernewsletter.com/

[codingbyday-blog]

http://www.newfangled.com/the_way_you_design_web_content_is_about_to_change

We need a way of handling content that takes some of that pressure off — that doesn't expect us to have planned for every possible thing we might want to do and manifest those million details in a complex and feature-bloated template. We need something that enables us to be creative at the right times and not have to resort to custom solutions outside of the CMS.

Intriguing. This fits right in with the conversations we've been having; I wonder how it will fit with my current project?

[codingbyday-blog]

Drupal: CKEditor removes links and images when using plugins

Drupal.org issue page

The current version of CKEditor seems to strip links and embedded images from content if the native link or image button is disabled (e.g. if you are using Linkit or IMCE instead). Observed behavior:

Node is created, with links and/or images in the text (added using Linkit, IMCE, directly in source HTML, etc.).

Node is saved: links and images appear as expected.

Node is edited: links and images are stripped out when CKEditor loads the content.

Adding the CKEditor link and/or image button to the toolbar solves the issue, even if you keep using Linkit and/or IMCE.

[neave]

... You and I have most likely never met. We may even live on different continents. Yet with a simple link I am able to show you anything I wish, created by me or someone else, from any time in recent history. This is why I create for the web. ...

[codingbyday-blog]

Never Heard of It

We're keen to appear up on all things dev. We work hard to stay informed, but sometimes we have to admit we didn't see that tweet or don't know about that new framework. Well, so what?

Yes. This.

[codingbyday-blog]

Highlights from BADCamp 2013: Sunday Sessions

d3.js visualizations Alan Sherry

The slides will tell it better than I can: http://2013.badcamp.net/sessions/d3js-visualizations

Make Publishing Rock! Improving the Lives of Editors Michal Minecki

“It's easy to build things that are hard to use." (in Drupal, particularly)

As Karen Magrane said at DrupalCon Portland: “The future of Drupal UX is you."

By default, users need to understand too much to create content in Drupal. Our job is to get out of their way.

Don't know what's going on.

Lots of clicks for common tasks.

They can't figure out uncommon tasks.

They can't remember your clever solutions.

Consistency is key.

Build the admin as you go. Start with a solid foundation, and invest in the admin experience of each new feature you implement.

Tools:

Dashboard (D7 core), or

Homebox

Total Control (uses Panels)

Contextual admin

Shortcut (D7 core)

Overlay? (D7 core; Possible performance issues)

Bootstrap Tour module

Mobile friendly admin (Not sure which module he was referencing.) (Less quick, not targeted at power users. Can install both, use one for them, one for you.)

Workbench (use only if really needed!)

Advanced Help (mainly for site-building users), and/or

Simple Help (lower friction, uses module readme files)

Views Bulk Operations

Administration Views

Field Validation

Chosen

Hierarchical Select

Easy wins:

Reduce permissions

Remove extraneous WYSIWYG buttons

Fill out the field help text

Set up some Shortcuts for your users

Reduce input formats (Better Formats module)

How schema.org will revolutionize site building Kevin Oleary

Schema: communicates content's structure in its html structure and markup. Lets search engines and others work with your content much more intelligently.

Schema.org module + Entity Fields Builder for initial site building

Adds settings to content types to match your Drupal content type with a standard schema.org content type.

Field UI has you assign schema.org content properties to fields.

Invisible to content editors

Adds appropriate markup

Use Google Rich Snippets tool to test results.

This has future implications: what if part of installing Drupal was browsing for the premade content types you need?

(See "The Future of Search and SEO" session from Saturday--content federation across sites.)

[codingbyday-blog]

Highlights from BADCamp 2013: Saturday Sessions, part 2

¡Vamos al Futuro! Molly Byrnes

Inspiring examples of online networks:

Indigenous Bon Buddhist Tibetan people sharing ancient wisdom via a YouTube series.

Independent local mobile network in the Oaxaca, Mexico community of Villa Talea del Castro, which had been ignored by telecom providers.

Mukurtu Drupal-based CMS designed to power digital archives for indigenous media.

Kids, teens as "makers", "hackers" and connecting online.

Tips and thoughts:

Idea, problem, solution.

Ask lots of questions.

Define scope well. Measure twice, cut once.

Never forget context.

Teach and learn. Write documentation. Attend events. Take the risk and give a talk. Learn how to execute from inspiration.

Contribute! The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Attend DrupalPicchu 2014! http://picchu2014.dlatino.org/

Knockout.js (Pure HTML front ends with REST/AJAX) Matt Chapman

Why create a pure HTML/CSS/JS frontend?

Bring back separation between front and back end developers

Easier upgrades

Better server performance, if done right.

Resources:

RESTful Web Services module

Slides / recording for details

[codingbyday-blog]

Highlights from BADCamp 2013: Saturday Sessions, part 1

Project management BOF

One thought: there's no such thing as a perfect project. If you say a project went perfectly, then you haven't talked to everyone involved.

Educating clients: Introduce the idea of "internet-level" or "Drupal-level" problems. I can't both make your main site really mobile-friendly and give it a video background. That's an internet-level problem. As web developers we can do quite a bit, but we can't do everything.

Why users are irrational and what we can do about it Kevin Oleary, Acquia

Some important biases, and ways to (help users) avoid them:

Confirmation bias People tend to believe most what confirms what they already know.

Provide answers, not raw data. People are not good data parsers.

When reporting test results, provide anecdotes, not statistics. Stories are strong.

When running tests, observe users' experiences, not metrics.

Congruence bias People tend to rely on direct testing of their hypothesis and neglect indirect testing or developing alternate hypotheses.

Have only one or two direct, clear paths to a given task.

Ensure your customer surveys have a broad base.

Don't just ask people to evaluate your possible designs; run tests on other similar sites as well, especially direct competitors' sites.

Curse of knowledge Experts find it hard to see perspective of novices.

Follow ubiquitous patterns where possible.

Capture video of actual site users. How are people actually experiencing your UI?

Test even design patterns you consider established. Your users may not be aware of the same conventions.

Illusion of correlation Misinterpreting sequential events as cause and effect.

Limit feedback to only things related to the task. Limit possible actions in a given context.

When asking how a site update or redesign affected conversions,  be fully aware of the context. What else happened at the same time? Was there a shift in the economy? In your competition? ...

Limit the variables when testing changes in a design.

Loss aversion People prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains, and remember losses much longer than gains.

This can increase customer retention if users can create something before having to decide to commit. Used ethically, it can drive stickiness.

Compare only future cost. Past investment in designing something has no value if it will cost more to fix its problems than to rebuild from scratch.

Maintain emotional detachment from the work you produce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

The Agile Drupalist Adrian Jones, ImageX Media

Agile Manifesto:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Working software over comprehensive documentation. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Responding to change over following a plan.

Why be Agile?

Research shows greater chance of success. (Chaos manifesto, Standish Group)

Easier, less costly, to adapt to change.

Often better at managing risk.

Necessitates more involvement from stakeholders.

Developer ownership.

Quality-driven focus.

Better chance of building something useful.

Greater transparency.

Quicker feedback from end users.

Actually kind of fun!

Things to consider Fixed budget/scope? May to take a more waterfall approach. Uncertainty or end goal not completely clear? Agile will likely give better result.

[codingbyday-blog]

Highlights from BADCamp 2013: UI / UX Summit

Essential Techniques for Designing Delightful Web Sites, Christine Perfetti

Signs of user failure on web sites:

The Button of Death The back button. It's most likely (statistically) that if your user clicks the back button even once, they will never find what they're looking for.

Pogosticking Going back and forth up and down your navigation hierarchy.  Not a good sign.

Search If users have to resort to the search box to find what they want, you are failing. They won't generally find it. Exception is sites like Amazon where each content item really is uniquely identifiable--and that unique identifier is what people will be searching.

Five-second tests of content pages can be really helpful!

"Our goal--and it's possible--is to bring our users to delight."

Design Decision Making Julie Ann Horvath, Github

She advocates for HTML mockups: “A website's design should start where it's going to live."

http://julieannhorvath.com/web-resources

Great Design Through Prototyping Garen Checkley & Becky Gessler

Prototype, in order to run user tests!

Goals for testing: Challenge your assumptions. Find users' assumptions.

Questions for what to test: What would break your project? What is your team fighting about?

http://goo.gl/iHZiMw

My time in the Majors: What millions of users have taught me about content strategy Nate Parsons

Observation: Your homepage might be your about page.

Most website traffic no longer comes in through the home page, so it can be more of a resource than a marketing landing page.

Effective example: charity:water. Homepage is a simple overview of the organization. All detail content, even the new, active content, is in interior detail pages.

[codingbyday-blog]

Highlights from BADCamp* 2013: Nonprofit Summit

Suki O’Kane: "Have a quiet belief in the power of a million baby bunny feet." (Summary: Change, and progress, happens slowly, incrementally. You don't have to bang someone over the head with an idea--gentle, slow pats on the cheek with a furry baby bunny foot can affect great influence.)

Activism and Drupal Discussion:

See http://bit.ly/drupal-activism.

Erik Mathy, Tech Soup Global: 

Mindset on technology for a nonprofit: "Not cutting edge, but close enough to feel dangerous and cool."

Helpful workflow techniques:

Require people (clients/other departments) to use a ticketing system for work requests rather than add hoc requests or 'project management by email'.

You must, must, must deliver what you promised, on time. This builds trust, which is crucial in working with stakeholders to shape the workflow to work for you.

"Learn how to say no, in a gentle, kind, helpful manner that doesn't close doors." Find the bit to which you can say yes.

"Every day is an adventure at a nonprofit. Embrace it!"

(*That's the Bay Area Drupal Camp.)