So, you’re going with Drupal, eh? Let me be the first to pat you on the back! You’re joining the likes of The White House, National Association of Realtors, Forrester Research and Harvard, all of whom have web sites built in Drupal. This open source content management system is a developer favorite because of its robust and flexible capabilities for managing large amounts of content.

As with all things, the first step you probably took was a Google search to learn the basics of Drupal. But that quick search may bring up some overwhelming results as a lot of the information out there is actually for the thousands and thousands of Drupal developers who have made this content management system what it is today.

But you’re not a developer, and no one expects you to be! (That’s what we’re here for.) You’re what we call a content administrator. And we’ve put together some of the Drupal basics you’ll need, without all that developer mumbo jumbo.

CONTENT TYPES

There are three main types of content on a Drupal site – Basic Pages, Articles, and Webforms. Each type has its own set of fields and purposes:

• Basic page – Just what it sounds like, a basic page. This content type will usually have fields like a main header, sub header and body content and is used for most of the pages on your site (like About Us, Products, or Services).
• Articles – These can be used for blog entries or news items. They have fewer fields than a basic page and include special fields like author and date.
• Webforms – This content type is for the forms on your site, like Contact Us.

MENUS

Every site needs some form of navigation. The menus let you take the different pieces of content on your web site and organize them in an outline. The main menu, for example could be made up of a few basic pages like About Us, Products, and Services, and a webform for your Contact Us page.

BLOCKS

Blocks are smaller chunks of content that might show on a page but wouldn’t be part of the content type. For example, you might have a callout on all the pages of your site. If this callout is a block, you can edit it once and the changes will show on every page.

CONTENT + MENUS + BLOCKS = YOUR WEB SITE!

When you take these different pieces and add them together, they make up your web site! Look at the example Drupal web site below and see if you can identify the different elements:

BASIC PAGE CONTENT

Although we call it a basic page, not everything on the page is part of the basic page content. Notice in the image below that the basic page content only takes up the center of the page…

MENUS

That’s because the rest of the information on the page is either a menu or a block. There are three menus on this page—the main menu on the top left, the secondary menu below that and a utility menu in the upper right corner.

BLOCKS

Finally, the callout on the right is a block. It would be edited separately from the basic page content in the center, and the changes would be carried over to any other pages on the site that include the block.

There you have it, now you understand content types, menus and blocks! The basics of Drupal are easy to grasp, and once you log in and start updating, you’ll love the ease and flexibility of it. Of course, if you ever need more than content updates, our Drupal developers would love to work on your web site!

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Our Chicago web design firm is looking for an experienced web developer with solid HTML, CSS and jQuery chops to join our team. Our immediate needs are for front-end development and we expect this position to grow into PHP, MySQL, AJAX, etc. You’ll also contribute to strategic discussions about websites, mobile deployments and other technology decisions.

Required skills include 2+ years programming experience with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery (XML and AJAX a plus), as well as experience developing web pages and front-end solutions from provided wireframes and designs. You should also have a strong understanding of web standards and web browser peculiarities and the ability to create cross-browser and cross-platform compliant pages. Proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop and Illustrator) is important, and having advanced knowledge of content management systems such as Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, etc. will be key.  Sandstorm is a collaborative environment. So, in addition to doing great work independently, you will a member of a team for most projects. Overall, the ideal candidate should have a strong commitment to excellence, usability, and coding standards, all with an intense attention to detail.

The successful candidate will need to be flexible in day-to-day activities and embrace change as required, working both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment with many projects, priorities and opportunities.

Sandstorm Design creates powerful brand experiences with our unique blend of strategic marketing, web design and usability services. Located on Chicago’s north side, we help companies identify, craft, and clearly communicate their marketing messages in a creative, intuitive and strategic way. We’re a creative bunch with a witty sense of humor. Why it’s awesome to work here: paid day off and free lunch for your birthday, you don’t have to dress up, you get all the traditional perks of a big company (401K, healthcare benefits, etc.) without the politics, free snacks (and COFFEE) all day! Lots of growth potential, too.

If you think you’d be a great addition to our team, please send your cover letter and resume to jobs@sandstormdesign.com. Please include “Experienced Web Developer” in the subject line.

Local candidates only. No phone calls please. No recruiters.

When Adobe announced their decision to stop Flash development for mobile devices, we certainly weren’t surprised. It’s been a year since we’ve had any requests for Flash of any kind. But if you’ve been hearing that this is the end of Flash altogether, don’t think that means it’s time to toss it if you’ve got it.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

When styling practices started moving away from tables-based layouts (way back when) there was a rush to convert anything and everything to tableless layouts with CSS. While many sites really did need to overcome some huge inefficiencies, others that were working perfectly fine in tables underwent redesigns just to be able to say they were now up-to-date. In reality, they could have waited until the need to change arose.

While mobile is growing and eventually we’ll all want to have our sites accessible from any device, that doesn’t mean we all need it immediately.

Analytics

Check your analytics. If you don’t have a very large mobile audience yet, and you’re already using Flash effectively—then keep it! There’s no reason to get rid of a perfectly wonderful experience built in Flash if your audience is accessing it just fine.

HTML5 for Mobile

If after checking your analytics you find that you do have a growing mobile audience, then HTML5 is the way to go. Along with Adobe’s Flash statement, they also said they would be contributing to HTML5 for mobile. It’s universally compatible with mobile devices (iPhone, Android and beyond). The downside is that it isn’t completely functional in all desktop browsers yet.

Beyond the web site

Let’s not forget, Flash isn’t just for web sites. It’s been used to create some amazing applications for use at tradeshows and conferences. And the great news is that these applications aren’t affected by the mobile barrier, so Flash is still a great option for creating them.

At Sandstorm, we love the beautiful interactive work that has come from Flash. The Johnny Cash Project is one of our favorites. Within our portfolio, we’re so proud of the AskBlue Medicare application for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. And while we’ll always have a soft spot for Flash, we’re also extremely excited about the opportunities HTML5 creates. Regardless of the technology, we’re just happy to be building powerful interactive experiences.

Sandstorm takes home silver in the prestigious 13th annual Web Health Awards℠. (WOO HOO!) This competition recognizes the nation’s best digital health resources and top interactive agencies. A panel of 32 experts in digital health media served as judges and selected gold, silver, bronze, and merit winners.

Our work creating Ask Blue Medicare received a coveted Silver Award for the Web Based Resource Category. This interactive web application helps users understand Medicare health care coverage options from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.  With closed captioning as well as the ability to increase the type size, this application was designed to educate people around 65 years old on the benefits available through Medicare.

We launched this highly interactive and accessible application in August 2010.  To offer this helpful tool to an even broader audience, the application was also launched in Spanish in April 2011.

We’re really excited about this accomplishment and look forward to developing more award-winning web applications, Drupal websites, and interactive user experiences in 2012.

REALTOR^® University and the National Association of REALTORS^® partnered with Sandstorm’s Drupal development team to build their first ever master’s degree program. The web site was developed through a combination of marketing messaging, copywriting, tagline development, user interface design and implementation of the Drupal 7 CMS. Featured on the homepage are rotating graphics emphasizing the core advantages the university offers. We are so excited to announce this launch!

2011 has been an award-winning year for Sandstorm Design! Earlier this year we were recognized by BtoB Magazine as a Top B2B Interactive Agency. Today, we’ve been recognized again—This time as a top Chicago Web Developer for 2011 by Crain’s Chicago Business. Not only does this mean we’re in the printed newspaper, but we’ll also be included in the Book of Lists for 2011.

Our developers work closely with the design team to create powerful results. And when it comes to content management systems, our Drupal 7 developers build robust and flexible web sites customized to your needs. We love the work we do, and are so honored to be included as a top Chicago Web Development firm!

Chicago is a booming city with a robust pool of developers—web developers, software developers, application developers. We’ve got them all. (Chicago even hosted DrupalCon this year.) So we are pleased to see our government agencies taking notice and utilizing the city’s developer resources by challenging them to “build apps that solve problems and improve services in Metro Chicago” with the Apps for Metro Chicago Illinois Competition.

While our Chicago web design firm focuses on user-centered design, we’d like to give kudos to the City of Chicago, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Cook County, and the State of Illinois for taking a user-centered approach to government and working to build useful tools for Metro Chicago. Bravo!

Now, while we’re pleased to see Chicago building useful apps, there are some pros and cons to the competition method, also known as crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing has become very popular, even as a tool to leverage as part of a marketing strategy. But even with the possibility of benefiting from the talent that fills Chicago, in the end, there is just less creative control of the end product. Instead of choosing one dedicated team that builds a relationship with you, learns your business needs, and provides a customized solution to your problem, you end up hoping someone in the crowd finds the right idea.

But what if none of the entries solves your problem? During the two month entry period, how do you feel about sitting in the dark, unable to truly guide the direction your solutions are headed? And what do you say to all the unselected artists and programmers who put in dozens of hours creating an app for you and get nothing in return for their hard work? However risky their methods, we are still very excited to see Chicago focusing on technology!

At Sandstorm we do custom quality work, gathering requirements to make certain that the end product meets the clients’ specific needs. Let us know what your needs are!

Sandstorm Design recently launched AskBlue Medicare, a health care web application for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.  The interactive experience educates users on Medicare health care coverage options. To offer this helpful tool to an even broader audience, the application has now launched in Spanish! Ver aquí la nueva aplicación! (See the new application here!)