Master the tools in your Drupal site-building arsenal to future-proof your information design! See sloppy blobs battle discrete chunks - and lose! Learn basic concepts AND expert tips for organizing your website. Uncover secret strategies for making findable, usable content. Some of the topics covered include the importance of planning your names, entities versus content types, why NOT to share fields, always being multilingual, when and why to use taxonomy, connecting with entity reference, and more! No Drupal knowledge required, and a number of these insights will apply to ANY Web project you are planning.

1. Plan your Chunks!
Future-proofing your Site’s
Information Architecture
@adellefrank (adellefrank.com)
2014 October 23
USG Rock Eagle #USGre14

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A bit about me & about Drupal
Hi, I’m drupal
I make websites …
with and help YOU!
from Adelle

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Who are Y’ALL?

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Outline
*PRIZES for participation!
1.Why Plan your Chunks?
2.How to Plan?
3.Which Chunks to Plan?

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Practice: What do we do?

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Why Plan? Zombie / Device Apocalypse
Photo Credits: hello world by Windell Oskay
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/472097903); Samsung Galaxy Gear by Hi-tech@
Mail.Ru
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samsung_Galaxy_Gear_Comparison.j
pg); Flat Screen LCD television by Vector Fresh
(http://vector4free.com/vector/flat-screen-lcd-television)

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Why Plan? Karen McGrane 2013 Keynote
"It’s a war of blobs
versus chunks:
sloppy blobs of where
there’s no distinction
between content & form
VS.
clean, flexible,
presentation-independent
chunks.”
http://karenmcgrane.com/2013/05/23/drupalcon-

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My definition of Information Architecture
Designing and building
STRUCTURES
that make it easier to
FIND, USE, & MANAGE
shared information
on any DEVICE.

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What do we do?

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Why Plan? Change happens
• Changes
–Updates
– Migrations
–New web technologies
– My organization

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YOUR examples: Web-ish Changes

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Why Plan? Change is HARD: be Kind
• Easier to change in PLANNING than on LIVE
site! (know system limitations & gotchas)
• Be nice to your future self, authors, & those
who come after you.

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What do we do?

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How do YOU Plan sites?

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How to Plan?
• Think BEFORE you click
• Self-documenting, as you go
• Use simple tools (like Checklists)
– Drupal Groups, Content planning checklist for a
Drupal site
https://groups.drupal.org/node/144374
– John Walling, Drupal Project Check List
https://checkvist.com/checklists/61331?simple=
true
• Think in CHUNKS

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Which Chunks to Plan? Drupalese 101
Drupalese 101:
http://drupalcampatlanta.com/node/
154
@annikagarbers is a better
explainer than me, but I’ll try!

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Which Chunks to Plan? Layout vs. Content

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Layout/Design Chunks: make it pretty
• Theme = all the Design things
• Page (vs. Web Page vs. Article) = Layout (&
sometimes “About”)
• Regions = Sections/Areas/Parts (of a Page)
• Blocks = content-having box, inside a Region
• Views = lists or other ways to Show content

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Find the Layout Chunks

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Planning Content Chunks: Gooey Insides
• Entities & Fields = orange with cloves (an Idea)
• A specific Node = an instance = my dog Jasper
• Even More Abstract stuff:
– Content Types (I need more containers)
– User accounts
– Taxonomy terms (Linnaeus)
– etc.

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Find the Content Chunks

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Find the Content Chunks, redux

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The Content Chunks strike back

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Which Chunks to Plan? Mental Map
http://druvision.com/content/drupal-information-architecture

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Which Chunks to Plan? Imitate Gurus
• Larry Garfield, Developing Drupal sites: Plan or Perish (Build
Spec)http://www.palantir.net/blog/developing-drupal-sites-plan-or-
perish
• Jody Lynn, Semantic Site Architecture
(Naming)https://austin2014.drupal.org/session/semantic-site-architecture
• Kristen Pol, Hook 42 Presentations at Stanford Drupal Camp
(Tune-up Checklists, Migrations, Features, and more!)
http://www.hook42.com/blog/hook-42-presentations-stanford-drupal-
camp
• BadCamp & DrupalCon Amsterdam: some great sessions!
https://2014.badcamp.net & https://amsterdam2014.drupal.org/

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Questions?