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Expert

Showcase: mein!KI.KA – A Safe Community for Kids

Jutta Horstmann 27 May 2010
Type:  Not planned session

In 2009 the TV channel "Kinderkanal" (KI.KA) launched its community "mein!KI.KA" based on Drupal (http://www.mein-kika.de). KI.KA is the German children's channel of the public television channels of ARD and ZDF. It provides one of the largest and most successful Internet service sites for children in all of Germany.

In this presentation, the project leaders Jutta Horstmann and Tobias Freudenreich will talk about their experiences in building a successful and safe community for children and the lessons learned.

Additional Presenters:  Tobias Freudenreich

Non-English and Multi-Language Search with Apache Solr

Markus Kalkbrenner 26 May 2010
Type:  Not planned session

We will explain the fundamental language specific problems of full text searching using Apache Solr, present some real life multilingual examples from Switzerland and demonstrate the corresponding features of Apache Solr Multilingual.

Apache Solr is a powerful search engine well integrated with Drupal. Solr provides faceted or "guided navigation" which allows site visitors to quickly find what they are looking for by narrowing or refining their query by simply clicking on the links provided as "facets".

Unfortunately, the standard Apache Solr Search Integration module is not very suitable for non-English websites. A lot of manual work is necessary to provide a working setup e.g. for German or French websites.

Additional Presenters:  Philipp Schroeder

Why Drupal projects fail and how to avoid it

Janus Boye 23 May 2010
Type:  Not planned session

Too many Drupal projects are not finished on time or on schedule. Why not?

In this session an industry expert will deal the straight dope on the current state of and future prospects for Drupal projects.

Drupal and most web content management systems have been with us for around a decade, prompting the vendors, trade press and analyst firms alike to call this a "mature" and "consolidating" market. However, the truth is that both buyers and consultants are still figuring out how to obtain the value they expected from the immature tools, including Drupal, and young marketplace.

The consequences are nothing but the usual:

  • Budget overruns

Performance: how slow is your drupal?

Nicolas Deschildre 21 May 2010
Type:  Not planned session

Your high-traffic newspaper Drupal is slowing down and sometimes hanging? We have some tips for you!

In this session, we will assume a high traffic newspaper website based on Drupal which begin to have performance issues: long loading times, and even sometimes pages failing to load at all.
This session will cover:

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  • State assessment: how bad is the situation in production? How can I assess that? What tools can I use?
  • Early emergency aid: some initial quick tips to boost performance before going to the root of the problem, which very often is in the code itself.
  • The Plan That Dare Not Speak Its Name

    Jeff Eaton 18 May 2010
    Type:  Not planned session

    For almost a decade, there's been one constant: Drupal doesn't do roadmaps! Except, of course, when we do. This session will examine the successes and failures of roadmaps in Drupal's past, and make the case for core roadmaps that fit the way Drupal's community works.

    Few things can liven up a room full of core developers like the word "Roadmap." Some say it would bring order to a chaotic development process, while others argue that a rigid plan would stifle Drupal's famously organic developer community. Fortunately, we don't have to speculate! While our community avoids official roadmaps, there are ample examples of long-term plans that have been used to make Drupal better.

    This session will explore those successes, as well as a few notorious failures, and identify what sets them apart. We'll also take a look at important questions like:

    Drupal Distributions: The Dos and Don’ts

    Irakli Nadareishvili 17 May 2010
    Type:  Session in official program

    Drupal Distributions are a hot topic in the Drupal community. This session is intended to share first-hand experience building multiple, popular Drupal distributions , what works and what to stay away from. The talk covers both architectural challenges, solutions such as Installation Profiles, CTools, Features, Drush etc., as well as recommendations for engaging and managing the community, business incentives behind starting a distribution.

    Drupal Distributions are a hot topic in the Drupal community. This session is intended to share first-hand experience building multiple, popular Drupal distributions: Managing News, OpenAtrium, OpenPublish, Tattler, recently announced OpenPublic.

    Additional Presenters:  Jeff Miccolis

    Improving your user experience with CSS popups (menus, blocks, views, etc)

    Scheepers 14 May 2010
    Type:  Not planned session

    Popping up menus, blocks, views and even forms can greatly reduce clutter on your site, improve user experience, simplify design as well as reclaim your oh so precious real estate above the fold.

    One of the most valuable modules in site development is surely the Admin menu. Why? It reduces page loads significantly and makes almost everything easier to find - without taking up much space. Why not extend that same courtesy to your users... and animate it.

    You can, thanks to the Popup module and its little helpers.

    Writing Better CSS for Drupal

    Maarten Verbaarschot 14 May 2010
    Type:  Session in official program

    Making style sheets easier to maintain for yourself and others, by fully understanding and leveraging Drupal’s theming system, and thinking of what will happen tomorrow.

    Making style sheets easier to maintain for yourself and others, by fully understanding and leveraging Drupal’s theming system, and thinking of what will happen tomorrow.

    We’ve all seen them; style sheets so large and confusing that we ended up adding new styles at the bottom of the file we happened to have open in our editor, instead of looking for a proper location. It’s unacceptable, especially when working together with multiple themers. In this session we’ll take a look at common pitfalls, ways to prevent these situations and keep our styles more sustainable.

    Coverage:

    About Drupal SEO (search engine optimization for Google & Co)

    Ivo Radulovski 14 May 2010
    Type:  Not planned session

    Learn about basic & advanced SEO tactics, best practices and profitable strategies.

    When optimizing a website, you should consider how search engines work and what exactly is your potential target group looking for. Generally, optimizing a website aims at increasing the website's relevance to specific keywords and removing barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

    This presentation is highly recommendable for e-commerce, corporate and rich content websites.

    Search engine optimization (SEO) helps improving the volume and quality of traffic to your web site from search engines via "organic" search results.

    When optimizing a website, you should consider how search engines work and what exactly is your potential target group looking for. Generally, optimizing a website aims at increasing the website's relevance to specific keywords and removing barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

    Elevating 960gs Theming in Drupal 7 with the Omega theme

    Jake Strawn 13 May 2010
    Type:  Not planned session

    A revised overview of the Omega theme and its potential for Drupal 7.

    This session will cover the advanced usages of 960.gs bypushing theming & grid based layouts further with preprocess functionality in the theme layer. The Omega Theme is currently a leap ahead of any other base theme in Drupal 7, and is continuing to expand new features that will revolutionize theming in D7.