October 2009 Meeting: IA for Drupal - A User Based Approach

Join us at 6:30pm on Thursday October 29, 2009 at Appnovation Technologies (note, different location this month) for the Vancouver League of Drupalers October meeting. This month's feature presentation: Information Architecture for Drupal - A User Based Approach with Vanessa Turke. Implementing a fresh design or new CMS without giving some significant thought to the organization of the actual content of the site can be a costly mistake – a new look or a new system is not a fix for a poorly-structured website with boring content! Vanessa discuss hows how some careful planning at the beginning of the process can help.

We'll also have a case study on the newly relaunched Vancouver Observer by Dave Egan and discuss doing a Vancouver Drupal Camp in 2010.

Date: Thursday October 29, 6:30pm
Location: Appnovation Technologies, L200-560 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC [Map]
Cost: There is no charge and all are welcome

For those who don't need to leave right away there's typically a more social discussion at a local pub afterwards.

Agenda

Information Architecture for Drupal - A User Based Approach

Installing a new content management system doesn’t automatically guarantee that the content will be presented in an intuitive way. That's why it's important to advocate for an Information Architecture stage in a project. Information Architecture (IA) is the art and science of structuring and classifying web site content to help site users find and manage information. Part of the IA Process is to examine the way your site presents its content to make sure it’s easy to navigate through, relevant to your site visitors and consistent with your site goals. During this presentation I'll discuss some best practices for approaching information architecture with the end-user in mind.

Case Study: The Vancouver Observer

The Vancouver Observer is a dynamic online magazine that offers broad-based features reporting, blogs, commentary, events and reviews -- and breaking news. Vancouver developer David Egan presents a case study on the newly relaunch site.

Vancouver Drupal Camp 2010

It isn't too early to start discussing a Vancouver Drupal Camp for 2010. The process has started in earnest with the Drupal Camp Vancouver 2010 - Call for Organizers. This will be an opportunity for the Vancouver community to discuss.

Drupal Q&A

Bring your questions on anything related to Drupal from how to do something technical in PHP to what modules are needed to implement a feature you want.

Our Thanks

We wish to thank Appnovation Technologies for hosting this month's meeting.

Updated Oct 6 w/Vancouver Observer case study