Web development and web design have long been siloed into separate skill sets, but for the Drupal theme ninja, both are indispensable. A theme developer understands PHP, $vars manipulation, theme_overrides, and how Drupal content loads dynamically into the page. A themer adds to this an understanding of more traditional design skills, including CSS, grid theory and facility with the necessary graphical tools. Though many come to theming from a design background, there is little reason a developer could not also make the transition. The first requirement is that the Drupal developer shed any unease about design. Once over this hurdle, he or she can leverage their excellent development skills towards curating what Drupal is ostensibly for, the display of content.

This talk will cover the necessary tools and tricks of the trade, of the sophisticated Drupal themer, and how a developer can become one. It will cover the plugins, the theme stack, the necessary files and coding skills. Most importantly, though, it will attempt to demystify the design process and show just how useful development skills are to theming. The overall goal is to understand the overall design of a Drupal site and that we are not just serving information, we, as developers, are serving content, and content is king. We should be like the monks of Ellesmere's Chaucer, but with better and faster tools to make the web a beautiful, powerful plac