Designer-Friendly EE

Designer-friendly tips and tricks for working with ExpressionEngine and making your clients happy. Presentation for 3rd annual Engine Summit

Transcript

1. Some rights reserved Designer-Friendly Engine Summit May 29, 2012 Environments for Humans
2. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  Web Designer Writer Instructor emilylewisdesign.com Co-host, EE Podcast ee-podcast.com Author, Microformats Made Simple microformatsmadesimple.com Contributing author, HTML5 Cookbook oreilly.com/catalog/0636920016038 Email: emily@emilylewisdesign.com Blog: ablognotlimited.com Twitter: @emilylewis
3. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Designer Friendly  ☺ ☺ ☺
4. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  • User-friendly interfaces • Standards-based front-end • Organization and planning What I’m Good At
5. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  • User-friendly interfaces • Standards-based front-end • Organization and planning What I’m Good At What I’m Not • Programming • Databases • Servers and hosting
6. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  • User-friendly interfaces • Standards-based front-end • Organization and planning What I’m Good At What I’m Not • Programming • Databases • Servers and hosting ✓ ✓ ✓ OB OB OB
7. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Designer + EE = Advantages (?)  ☺ ☺
8. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  http://flic.kr/p/4iFgSi • ExpressionEngine • Add-Ons • User Experience
9. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Projects  ☺ ☺
10. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Plan of Attack  ☺
11. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Documentation  • 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
12. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Basecamp  • Installation • Configuration • Go live • Everything in between To-do List Templates & Projects Project Management
13. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Dev Docs  • 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/
14. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Dev Docs  Project-specific Development
15. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Dev Docs  Project-specific Development
16. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Projects  ☺ ☺ http://flic.kr/p/88pYrq ExpressionEngine
17. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Installing/Upgrading  • Remove files you don’t need ee-podcast.com/episodes/time-saving-tips-techniques • Upload compressed file ee-spotlight.com/tutorials/a-better-way-to-ftp-your- expressionengine-site-use-zip-files • Expansion script ngenworks.com/blog/ee-upgrade-script/
18. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Security  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
19. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Security  Recommended Settings mijingo.com/products/ebooklets/securing-expressionengine-2/
20. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Security  Recommended Settings mijingo.com/products/ebooklets/securing-expressionengine-2/
21. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Templates & Groups  • Chunking train-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
22. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Templates & Groups  • Smart conditionals devot-ee.com/add-ons/ifelse derekallard.com/blog/post/simple-vs-complex-conditionals-in- expressionengine-templates • Organization and naming conventions
23. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  http://flic.kr/p/chdd4 Add-Ons
24. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Text Editors  • v2.5 Rich Text Editor* vimeo.com/37280018 • Wygwam devot-ee.com/add-ons/wygwam
25. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Matrix  devot-ee.com/add-ons/matrix
26. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Matrix  devot-ee.com/add-ons/matrix
27. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Playa  devot-ee.com/add-ons/playa
28. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Playa  devot-ee.com/add-ons/playa
29. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Matrix & Playa & Wygwam 
30. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Low Variables  devot-ee.com/add-ons/low-variables
31. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Low Variables  devot-ee.com/add-ons/low-variables
32. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Low Variables 
33. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Single Entry  devot-ee.com/add-ons/single-entry
34. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Navigation  • NavEE devot-ee.com/add-ons/navee • Structure buildwithstructure.com
35. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Devot:ee Monitor  devot-ee.com/add-ons/devotee-monitor
36. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  http://flic.kr/p/4NWv4G User Experience
37. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Custom Fields  • HTML allowed • Instructions on steriods ee-garage.com/nsm-publish-hints Better Publish Forms Good Field Labels & Instructions
38. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Custom Fields  • VZ Address devot-ee.com/add-ons/vz-address Better Publish Forms The Right Fieldtype for Your Client
39. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Publish Layouts  Better Publish Forms eeinsider.com/blog/help-troubleshoot-publish-layouts/
40. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Title & Title URL Labels  Better Publish Forms devot-ee.com/add-ons/mx-title-control
41. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Title & Title URL Labels  Better Publish Forms devot-ee.com/add-ons/mx-title-control
42. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Main Menu Buttons  Better Control Panel
43. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Access  Better Control Panel
44. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  • 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
45. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit ?  How Far Do You Go
46. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Know Your Project! • Budget • Timeline • Functionality requirements • Content authors - number, skill • Publishing workflows • Your own skill level 
47. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit  • Document, document, document • Plan, plan, plan • Get out of your comfort zone • Try add-ons • Focus on user experience http://flic.kr/p/5WrMdi
48. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit More Info • NSM config bootstrap ee-garage.com/nsm-config-bootstrap • ExpressionEngine Site Strategy with Dev Docs expressionengine.com/blog/entry/ expressionengine_site_strategy_with_dev_docs • EE, Faster speakerdeck.com/u/jacobrussell/p/ee-faster • Parse Order and Low Variables gotolow.com/blog/parse-order-and-low-variables  ☺
49. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit More Info • Relationships with Playa mijingo.com/products/screencasts/playa-relationships-expressionengine/ • Switchee devot-ee.com/add-ons/switchee • NSM override.css ee-garage.com/override-css • Nerdery Theme github.com/litzinger/Nerdery-Theme  ☺
50. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit Questions?  emily@emilylewisdesign.com @emilylewis
51. Designer-Friendly EE Engine Summit ☺ thanks