#AberdeenCloud

• For those who missed the last time you were on the show, can you give us the run-down of what AberdeenCloud is?
• What’s the company philosophy.
• How long have you guys been around?
• What’s the pricing look like?
• In your original pricing structure you had a reseller plan kind of built in. Do you still have something available to resellers?
• What technology are you using?
• Why do you think #AC provides superior value?
• So, in your video you guys say that you are the most reliable Drupal platform ever built… What in the world does that mean?
• Command line tools
• Hosted repositories
• What kind of support is available?
• Why don’t you guys showcase your client sites?

Future Plans

• What’s in the future for AberdeenCloud?

NodeSquirrel Ad

Have you heard of/used NodeSquirrel?
Use "StartToGrow" it's a 12-month free upgrade from the Start plan to the Grow plan. So, using it means that the Grow plan will cost $5/month for the first year instead of $10. (10 GB storage on up to 5 sites)

Fabian Franz joins me this week to talk about what Twig is, and how it got into Drupal 8 Core.

Background on Twig

• Before we jump into what Twig is, what it does, and how it got into core, I want to get a little background on the topic.
• Twig is an external project that we’re integrating into Drupal, right?
• Who started the Twig project?
  • Fabien Potencier, founder of Symfony
• When was that?
  • October 07, 2009 (http://fabien.potencier.org/article/34/templating-engines-in-php)
  • When I started with Drupal, another coincidence?
• What is Twig replacing?
  • PHP Template
• Why?
  • Easier syntax
  • Security
  • Endless possibilities

Twig as it is now

Jen Lampton was on the Drupalize.Me Podcast back in September talking with Addie about Twig. But, for the three people who are listening to this, and aren’t subscribed to the Drupalize.Me podcast, can you tell us a little bit about:

• How it affects site administrators/clients?
• How it affects site-builders?
• How it affects theme developers?
• How it affects module developers?
• Is there a user interface that comes with Twig? Or is this just for coders?
• Does Twig affect the way we use Panels, Display Suite, Context or other layout modules?
• How does Twig affect:
  • Security
  • Performance
  • Multilingual sites

Twig in Core!

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Questions from Twitter

• Micah Godbolt (@micahgodbolt): what are the major frustrations in d7 that twig will be addressing in d8
• Cameron Eagans (@cweagans): Pretty much everyone knows that Twig is awesome, and the ones that don't are in denial =P
• Karyn Cassio (@TechGirlGeek): Kudos to the team implementing #TWIG for #Drupal 8's theme layer. Exciting stuff.
• Carson Black (@carsonblack): what kind of feedback have they received from designers about how it works?
• Carson Black: have they seen an increase in the # of designers since they created twig?
• Transition (@Transition): what are the best ways to get started learning it? It'll be new to most Drupal Front-End devs.
• Transition: also, are there any differences b/w using Twig on it's own vs. using it in Drupal?
• Jared Stoneberg (@rock_soup): really impressed that twig actually works w/render arrays

Jake Strawn and Michelle Lauer of ThemeGeeks join me this week to talk about their new distribution NodeMaker.

NodeMaker

Basic Features

• During installation, choose which Apps you want to enable. Using our admin UI, you can change this at any time.
• Install optional default content that really shows off the power of the distro.
  • Too many times when installing a distribution or Drupal core alone, you really get no idea what’s going on behind the scenes or what the site in front of you is capable of. Our powerful set of default content demonstrates all the features available to you and creates a complete site out of the box that is ready for you to dig into and customize with a much greater understanding of how all the pieces fit together.
• An interactive launch checklist so you know that you have completed all of the steps needed.
• Lots and lots of in-site documentation. (Although it is not all written yet.)

Feature Sets

• Global stuffs....
  • Intuitive URLs and Breadcrumbs based on those
  • Free tagging on every content type
  • A Headline Image so every piece of content is interesting, whether it is displayed as a teaser or you are looking at the full node
  • Associate related content with each other to increase intra-site linking
  • Display ANY of your social media site links so users can find you elsewhere on the web.
• Multi-user Blog with archive and browsing by category
• Announcements with archive and browsing by category
• Galleries
  • Responsive slide shows
  • Any piece of content can have an existing gallery attached
• Events
  • Event listing and FULL calendar feature where you can browse by year, month, week, or day.
• Testimonials
  • Any user can write one, you get notified and choose to publish
• Social Network Functionality
  • Discussion Forums
  • Advanced user profiles
    • Lots of fields
  • Facebook style status updates
  • Activity log

Front End

• Omega NodeMaker is a new subtheme of Omega that serves as the base theme for NodeMaker, and will serve as the base theme for all ThemeGeeks premium themes that target NodeMaker.
• Responsive out of the box, NodeMaker gives you a more complete experience regardless of the device your visitors use.
• Standalone web app mode on compatible iOS devices

Use Cases

• For new Drupal users, provides all the normal out of the box functionality that you know you want but might not know how to build yet.
• For the advanced Drupal site builder/developer, cut 2-3 weeks of development time out of every project when using NodeMaker as a starting point.
• For when that friend says: “Hey, you build websites right?!? Can you build me a website tomorrow? I only have 200 bucks... “ You can actually say “Sure... I can help you out” and launch a site with everything they need in just a few minutes! I mean, you know you really do hate telling your friends that they can’t afford your work, so NodeMaker makes it simple!!
• Whatever the need for you site, NodeMaker’s core functionality is a very sturdy platform to get you started on your next project.

Questions from Twitter

• @jerryitt: Is there plans for the future of #nodemaker #omega for a panel's type of interface for region and zone configurations?

This week Jeff Hanbury joins me to talk about the Livethemer project. A pretty sweet way to do Drupal theming. Here's the outline

Livethemer

• What is Livethemer?
• Why did you guys feel the need to create Livethemer?
• How is this different from traditional theming?
  • How is traditional Drupal theming done?
  • How does livethemer work?
• How does this affect performance
• How can it be extended?
• There are variations, collections and resources. What are those?

Use Cases

• When would you recommend this over traditional theming?
• When would you recommend traditional theming over Livethemer?
• Is this something you’re comfortable with giving to clients?

Questions from Twitter

• Tony Groff (@TGroff): I'd really just like to know more about their design process - #drupal never looked so good as @marmaladesoul sites, wow!
  • Do they start all sites with an in-house @livethemer distribution? Do they use style-tiles/mood boards?
  • Also interested if they design in-the-browser/Photoshop/Fireworks? Other #drupal design tool recommendations?thx!