content first – planning drupal content types
TRANSCRIPT
Content First – Planning Content TypesDrupalCamp Maryland
February 10, 2012
Carrie Hane Dennison
#DrupalCampMD#contentfirst@carriehd
Why Should You Care About Content?
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Better direction
• Less guessing
• Do it right the first time
When You Don’t Think About Content First
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Misdirection
• 11th hour $^*#storm
• Migration headaches
• Late, over-budget projects that don’t meet needs
• No content at all
• Re-dos
• Goals not met
• Unhappy end-users who toss out the site or Drupal
When You Think About Content First
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Clear list of tasks
• More depth to the content
• Smooth path to launch
• On-time, on-budget projects that meet needs now and in future
• Happy end users & visitors
Collaborate
• Pre-build meeting – content and development leads
• Pre-define content types based on the actual content of the site
• Content strategist leads meeting with lots of input from developer
• Go through site map and wireframes to ensure you’re covering all bases for use of content
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
Defining Content Types
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• What needs to be included from the legacy system?
• Review site map and wireframes –where are possible distinct content types?
• Ask the client what they foresee changing
• Name them, define the fields and taxonomies
• Use non-technical, non-circular words to describe
When to Divide Content Types
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Used in different ways across site?
• Many unique fields?
• Used in views?
• Goal: Just enough – not too many, not too few
What to Fields to Include
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Default - Rename fields? Include or delete?
• Custom
• List fields – name and type
• Taxonomy vs select-list field
• Labels?
• Display fields?
Think About End Users
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• How comfortable are the end users with “technology”?
• Make it easy for them to update site easily with little instruction
• When possible, set up fields so they do not have to format text
Futureproofing
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Today: content being transferred, some enhancements
• Tomorrow: add information and relationships, new types of content, known enhancements
• Ask the question: What do you see happening with this content?
• Make it easy to go from today to tomorrow
• Add taxonomy
• Think modular
• Think views and taxonomy
• Moving to mobile
Communication
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Don’t work in a vacuum
• Demand input
• Ask questions and give options
• Think like an end user and visitor
• Be creative and push your boundaries
Conclusion
Balance Interactive Inc. www.BalanceInteractive.com
• Avoid snowball effect
• Embrace the creativity that Drupal allows
• Everyone is happy – no do overs, time for fun things
QUESTIONS?
Contact me: [email protected]
Follow me: @carriehd
View slides: http://slidesha.re/w4IhtE