planet drupal

Improve scripts loading - Head JS loader and Drupal

By Marek Sotak on Sun, 2010-12-05 21:46

Stumbled upon head.loader.js which drastically improves scripts loading. See the tests here http://headjs.com/test/script.html

From the documentation (http://headjs.com/#theory):
"Head JS frees the page from script loading burden. The scripts loading is separated from the page rendering and they are always loaded in paraller no matter how many of them and what the browser is. The difference on the user experience can be dramatic especially on the initial page load when the scripts are not yet in cache. It's your crucial first impression."

Experimental code for implementing head.loader.js in Drupal 7. Comments welcome




Drupal theming nightmares part 2

By Marek Sotak on Fri, 2010-07-30 21:33

Welcome to the second part of the Drupal theming nightmares series. Not really surprised by the feedback I've got in the previous post. Most of you were enough lucky to stumble on the same problems. While the post was focused on the theming mistakes, it raised a discussion about unfinished jobs too. So if you haven't read it, it is right here: Drupal theming nightmares part 1.




Drupal theming nightmares part 1

By Marek Sotak on Mon, 2010-07-26 20:25

And yet again, took a job that someone else started long time ago, although I did say that I won't do this ever again. "It is almost finished, it needs only few tweaks there and there and we are done." they are saying. I am staying calm, due to time pressure (and the fact that I had to log in to a windows xp machine through vnc - actual server), throwing down some estimates without looking at the site build. Easy tasks you would say, add a border there, fix margin, login box there and mostly styling issues. Nothing I haven't done before.

They wanted to launch the site as soon as possible and of course, only these little things needed to be done. It's ok, shouldn't take me longer than half a day and surely it will help them. So they signed off the budget and we were ready to fix few simple issues and get it out. But...




Using RootCandy to create a simple interface for clients

By Marek Sotak on Sat, 2010-07-17 20:52

admin theme v front endRootCandy is an administration theme specificaly developed to streamline the process of creating an admin interface for clients in Drupal. In this blog post I am going to show you what we did for our client eCommera (http://ecommera.com) and will highlight some of the RC functionality. Officialy 4,808 sites are using this theme and I am quite curious how, so feel free to leave a comment below.




DrupalCamp Prague 2009

By Marek Sotak on Wed, 2009-10-07 09:29

swag

The very first DrupalCamp in Czech Republic is being held in Prague on 31st October to 1st November. Overall capacity is 250 attendees, so far 122 people registered and most importantly the registration is free.

If you are considering coming and have some questions (hotels, expenses, etc...), head over to the forum or get in touch directly with me (irc: sign, skype: drupalcampcz)




Menu description field in node/add form

By Marek Sotak on Tue, 2009-09-08 11:38

A simple solution how to add a description field to your node/add forms.

What is that for?

We are building a website that has landing pages. Structure could be like:

  • About Us (landing page)
    • Who we are?
    • What we do?
  • Locations (landing page)
    • United Kingdom
    • Ireland

The site structure is based on a menu, thus each page has its menu and most importantly parent menu item if it is not landing page. When visitor is viewing a landing page, the page consists of a text from landing page node and a list of first level sub-menu items with its description (views can't do this afaik).

Here is the landing page layout:




Another update on Root Candy

By Marek Sotak on Sun, 2009-05-10 18:20

Just noticed that I forgot to post about a version 1.0 being released some time ago. We are almost ready to roll out 1.1 version with several bug fixes and new features so I would like to summarise what has been done so far and invite testers to test latest dev version.




Rootcandy getting darker - rc3 out

By Marek Sotak on Sat, 2008-10-25 19:51

We are almost there, RC3 is out and I am thinking how many RC's are ahead. One, maybe two, and then release. In the last RC, I know it's not a good practice, however I had to add a new feature, just because I liked it too much. So a new sub-theme RootCandy dark has been committed.

rootcandy dark




RootCandy alpha release

By Marek Sotak on Sun, 2008-10-05 15:05

After long nights and many hours spent on this theme, finaly I am able to release alpha version.

The first blog post about rootcandy is dated on Sat, 01/12/2008 - 14:33. Thats quite a long time ago. It went through a lot of itterations (see all blog posts related to rootcandy).

So here it is. An alpha version of rootcandy.

More info and specs after the break.




Calendar icons revisited - bubble with comment count

By Marek Sotak on Sat, 2008-09-27 20:25

My blog-post with calendar icons is nearly one year old. I've seen quite a lot of people using it and was surprised. One of the best upgrades was by Joost de Valk (Yoast.com). His article on CSS-Tricks shows his idea to place a bubble with comment count over the calendar icon. Read how it works and how to implement it in your drupal theme.




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