WordCamp Philly: A bit of a follow up
In the gentle words of an aging pop star: “If I could turn back time.”
Due to technical issues (stupid 1st-generation MacBook Air and its esoteric video out) the presentation I was able to give only amounted to about half of what I had hoped to do. The goal was to demonstrate with live code the way a WordPress theme folder’s different files affect the browser output. The goal was to demonstrate how, armed with this knowledge, a designer can make it easier for themselves and the developers who will slice their layouts.
You can see the slides at the end of this post. A few colleagues and they have commented that the use of labeled overlays was a good way to demostrate the relationship between the theme files and the Photoshop layers. When I came to that point in my talk and kept the slides up for a bit, I scanned the audience. Most of them had a look of realization. Not all, but most, and that was what I was looking for, ultimately: that moment where everything clicks into place.
I had left out a demonstration of the reusability and modularity of theme files using get_template_part, which was a segue into DRY not just for developers but also for designers. We all have our base templates in Photoshop with which to create comps, right? I had left out a demonstration of the use of conditionals in the theme, and how it can be shown in comping.
Basically, my favorite bits, the parts that blur the line between digital graphic design (a medium of pixels) and web design (a medium of HTML, CSS, Javascript, and related technologies) were lost. But I do have other opportunities to expand on this, on this here blog and also in future talks. So, here are my slides. Hopefully they help.
The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some “intervention” to assist in the transition. Ideally the process is informed by pedagogically (process of teaching) and andragogically (adult learning) tested theories of learning and may take place in student-only, teacher-led or community-based settings. The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. As a field, instructional design is historically and traditionally rooted in cognitive and behavioral psychology , though recently Constructivism (learning theory) has influenced thinking in the field.