In 2008 anthropologist Dawn Nafus delivered a short talk at OSCON on rapid social change and how the tech industry can jump ahead and be the leader in this industry. While I see action by the environmentalists to use more open source tech, I don't see a lot of action within the open source community to look at environmental problems. Am I not looking hard enough?

Here are three challenges Dawn identified:

Over and over again the Drupal community has lamented the lack of workshops for designers and very novice themers. Based on feedback from designers and novice themers I am offering two new online workshops. They start next week and are designed to fit your busy schedule and small training budgets. They will teach you the skills you really need to know to succeed in theming Drupal:

• Design to Theme in Five In this workshop you will learn how to convert graphic files to completed themes. Perfect for designers who've yet to create their first theme, and those who are looking for best practices and a few more tips. An understanding of HTML and CSS is required; no PHP experience necessary.
• PHP for Designers By the end of this online course participants will be using PHP and creating Drupal-specific functions to customize their themes.

Sometimes the only way to write a proper announcement is to write it in the third person. This way I can say things about myself that I'd never say in real life and you don't have to dig through my charming Canadian modesty to figure out why my mother thinks I'm awesome. So here we go a third-person account of what I'll be doing on January 11, 2010...

For the first time ever Emma Jane Hogbin, co-author of Front End Drupal, is going to teach a whole-day workshop on the guts and glory of how to theme Drupal. Using student-centric, outcome-based instruction, designers and themers will learn how to convert their imagination into themes that dreams are made of. The workshop will include sample code, tips and tricks not available anywhere else.

Using Front End Drupal as a spring board, participants will leave the workshop able to:

• create new themes with custom regions and context-aware design elements;
• customize Drupal page, node and view templates;
• generate context-sensitive templates based on taxonomy, content type and URL;
• dissect and re-create complex Drupal 6 theme functionality;
• create custom theme variables using preprocess functions;
• apply sustainable theming techniques that save time and future-proof designs;
• find and apply useful community-contributed PHP theme snippets.

Time will also be available to tour through Front End Drupal and ask additional questions about topics that are covered in the book.

Front End Drupal is the best-selling book on theming Drupal 6. It has ranked top-1000 out of all books on Amazon.com and moved to its second printing within six months of its release. Praise for the book includes:

• "Drupal has always been a developer’s platform, even with the many designers in our ranks. It’s about time those designers had a great book. In fact, this book is valuable not just to the designers we have, but to the designers we want…." Dries Buytaert, Founder of the Drupal project.
• "I can't say enough good things about this book." Victor Kane, author of Leveraging Drupal
• Front End Drupal "does a fantastic job of describing the role of pre-process functions. There are countless examples of how to name, use, and extend them. Outstanding." Michael Anello, DrupalEasy
• "Front End Drupal is a book the Drupal world has needed for years..." Jeff Eaton, Lullabot

Emma Jane is known around the world for her crazy analogies and the human touch she brings to  technical instruction. CMS Expo organizer, John Coonen, referred to Emma Jane a "power house" presenter in December at Drupal Camp Chicago. Amber Graner says of Emma's classes, "Emma Jane is patient, clear, knowledgeable, and understanding when it comes to any question you ask her on this subject and more." In addition to her international conference presentations, Emma has taught Internet technologies at Seneca College and Humber College in Toronto. She continues to work with Humber College as a program mentor.

Space is limited for this intensive Front End Drupal workshop. Emma has no additional workshops planned in Vancouver for 2010. If you want to learn hands-on how to make amazing Drupal themes you need to be at this workshop. Your registration fee includes: a free copy of Front End Drupal, a full day of instruction, take-home hand-outs not available elsewhere, a one-year membership in an exclusive graduate club and bragging rights. The event is hosted by Affinity Bridge and The Jibe Multimedia, Inc and generously sponsored by W2 Community Media Arts.

Register now for the Front End Drupal Intensive Workshop on January 11 in Vancouver, Canada.