The fundamental problem with wireframes and mockups is that they almost always describe an entire page. However, the secret to great Drupal architecture is understanding that a page is a combination of experiences. A blog page that contains an article, menu, search box and poll is not one experience but instead a container for four separate experiences.

In Acquia's Professional Services team, we've found that the most successful projects are the ones that ask questions like, "Is this reusable?" "How does this impact performance?", and "Does this add value?" These questions are asked early and often, not just for each page on a website, but also for every content type, block, view, panels layout and user interaction. A component-based architecture driven by these experience-focused questions can help teams build simpler, more sustainable and maintainable projects.

In this session, we will teach you a new perspective for translating wireframes and mockups into a Drupal implementation that acknowledges the individual experiences that come together to create a page. Together we will deconstruct various web pages in order to demonstrate:

• How to leverage Drupal concepts such as display modes and contextual filters to create more versatile and reusable components.
• An approach for theming Drupal from the inside out that avoids common theming mistakes.
• Methods for detecting performance issues before functionality is even created.
• A design philosophy that defines how busy a page is not by how it looks, but the number of possible user experiences.

Jeff Beeman is a Technical Team Lead, and Dave Bailey is a Technical Consultant, in Acquia's Professional Services.