PSD to Drupal Theme

Ever wondered how you take a flat design file and make it into a gorgeous, interactive Drupal theme? You aren't alone. This was the most requested topic in a recent Design to Theme survey. Caving to public pressure, Emma Jane has written her longest-ever Drupal theming workbook covering one of the most in-demand topics: how the tofurkey do I made a frigging Drupal theme out of this Photoshop file?

Key concepts covered in the workbook include:

• The who, what, why, where and how of template files (tpl.php).
• Why you need to make wireframes -- hint they're not just a client deliverable. They're a very important tool for creating awesome themes.
• How to make those CSS Grid Framework things ... work.
• What a base theme actually does and how it will help you shave a billion hours off of your theme development time. (Give or take a few...)

The workbook is based on Emma Jane's very popular 2010 conference presentations at CMS Expo, FOSSLC SummerCamp and DrupalCamp Toronto. You can see the slides that were the building blocks for this workbook at SlideShare.

Accolades

This workbook puts PSD to Themes in a context that helps you get "it." The application of grids explanation is worth the cost alone. Another great workbook from Emma, can't wait for the next one. ~ Stephen Zablotny

FAQ

Questions about this workbook:

• "Which version of Drupal does this workbook cover?" Version 6.
• "Does it apply to other versions of Drupal?" Sort of.
• "I already know how to make a Drupal theme. Will this teach me anything new?"
  Uh. Maybe. But it's not really written for you. I mean it has chainsaws and voodoo and stuff, so that's pretty cool. But it's written for people who are struggling to convert their static design files into a Drupal theme.
• "Will this teach me how to theme Views, CCK, or some other weird module I found?"
  No. This workbook shows you how to get design files out of Photoshop and into Drupal. It shows you how to see page elements and explains why seeing is the most important part of theming.
• "Is this workbook serious? Because I'm sort of a no-fun, stick-in-the-mud."
  This workbook is definitely not for you.
• "Do you use any ecology analogies? I really liked Eaton's presentation that had beavers and stuff."
  Ecology analogies, Yes. Beavers, No.
• "Your PDF is broken. Send it to me."
  No. It's just really big. There are a lot of pictures and it's 44 pages long. If your downloaded file is less than 15.1M please re-download the file. The file has been recompressed and is now just under 5M.

Ok. Maybe I didn't actually get all of those questions...