Be True to ExpressionEngine
When some loud braggart tries to put me down / And says his school is great
I tell him right away / Now whats the matter buddy
Aint you heard of my school / Its number one in the state
Train-ee is pleased to offer ExpressionEngine classroom training in the native region of EE - the Pacific Northwest. We’ll have 4 days of Portland Oregon hospitality and scenery while learning about EE elbow to elbow with other like-minded folks. Some folks from EllisLab will also be making an appearance during the week—so if you missed them at SXSW in March here is your chance to catch up.
Days will be spent in an informal yet informative learning environment, and evenings we’ll get out on the town and see the sights.
Update!
EllisLab will be on hand at this class for an EE 2.0 demo, and an open Q&A time with Lisa Wess, Leslie Comacho, and Rick Ellis all in attendance. More details on the ExpressionEngine Blog.
The Location
This class will be in Portland, Oregon, USA.
70 miles from the Pacific and located between the Columbia and Willamette Rivers—Portland has a historic old town plus galleries, museums, Saturday Market, and theatre companies. It’s also a short distance from wineries, skiing and ocean beaches. The biggest draw for the class, however, is the nucleus of EllisLab employees and EE users in the area.
If you are from out of town, getting to Portland should be a breeze - just book a flight into the Portland International Airport. The venue for the class is just minutes away from the airport.
The Venue
This class will take place at the McMenamins Kennedy School.
What better place for a Train-ee class than in a former elementary school?
With guest rooms, classrooms (complete with chalkboards), restaurants, a soaking pool, and its own microbrewery all contained within the 1915-era building the Kennedy School is a unique venue and a simple choice for this class.
Room rates start around $115 and we’ve 10 of them on hold for the class. The hold only lasts until 30 days before the class, however, so make sure to book by June 11th if you want to stay with us at the school. You’ll need to mention Train-ee when you call or you will probably be told that the hotel is sold out. However - don’t give up if we run out of rooms at the school—downtown Portland and other lodging options are only 10 minutes away (and yes, you can then take the bus to school).
The Instructor
This class will be taught by Michael Boyink.
I’ve worked on dozens of ExpressionEngine-based websites, wrote the first ExpressionEngine book, produced the first commercial EE screencasts, and offer the first (and currently the only) EE classroom training available.
If the class size warrants it I’ll also have a skilled TA to help with the class as well.
The Schedule
This class runs from Monday, July 13th, 2009, through Thursday, July 16th, 2009.
The daily schedule is:
- 8:00 - 9:00 AM: Breakfast (provided)
- 9:00 - 10:30 AM: Instruction Time
- 10:30 - 10:50 AM: Break
- 10:50 - 12:00 PM: Instruction Time
- 12:00 - 1:00 PM: Lunch (provided)
- 1:00 - 2:30 PM: Instruction Time
- 2:30 - 2:50 PM: Afternoon Break (snack provided)
- 2:50 - 4:00 PM: Instruction Time
- 4:00 - 5:00 PM: Q&A
- 6:00 - ??: Optional evening activities (TBD, dinner may be provided, bring your friends/family)
Note: If you have any special dietary or physical requirements please let us know when registering so that we can accommodate you.
The Class Details
During the class we’ll cover the following:
- Brief history of EE
- Review of the “EEcosystem”
- Getting a conceptual understanding of EE
- EE Control Panel Overview
- Basics of coding in EE - tags and loops
- EE linking variables
- Loading an existing design template into EE
- Chunking the visual design into parent and embedded templates
- Passing variables to embedded templates
- Designing an ExpressionEngine architecture to power the visual design
- Implementing EE weblogs, custom fields and categories to hold content
- Building dynamic navigation menus
- Building page titles and setting navigation states dynamically
- Working with categories
- Working with relationships
- Using EE conditionals
- Using EE variables
- Troubleshooting tips
- Using plug-ins, modules and extensions
- Implementing different content types
- Setting up the site for client access and workflow
- Fighting SPAM
- Improving performance
- EE search engine - constraints and implementation
- Discussion forum module overview
- Wiki module overview
- Multiple Site Manager Overview
What If EE 2.0 Comes Out?
As of this posting, EE 2.0 has not been released in either beta or final form. What if EE 2.0 comes out between now and the start of this class? What version of EE would be used in the class then?
Here’s the deal: If EE 2.0 is out in beta form, I’ll work a preview/tour into the class. If EE 2.0 is through beta and has been released, I will try to gear as much of the class towards 2.0 as is humanly possible. Realize, however, that in order for all of the class materials to be ready on time I need to wrap them up roughly 2 weeks before the class, so depending on the birthdate of EE 2.0 there may or may not be time to work it into the course materials.
However - while EE 2.0 will have a redesigned Control Panel, and be re-implemented on CodeIgniter, and probably have some new features, the fundamentals learned in this class will still apply and be valuable.
The Testimonials
Mike Boyink offers quality hands on EE training that makes you wish he’d hit the road and tour annually. I have never come across such a humble developer who has the patience and dedication that Mike gives to his students. EE is an amazing CMS tool and Mike certainly helps make EE more inviting and manageable. I highly recommend his training and his educational materials.
Josh Rubinstein
Imagine a CMS like Drupal or Joomla as Lego Duplo, while ExpressionEngine is regular Lego. With Duplo, if you want an elephant, you grab the elephant shaped Duplo. With Lego you can build as many different kinds of elephants as you can imagine and figure out how to build. That’s EE. The Train-ee class provided clear, concise, hands-on training on how to look at all those bricks and figure out the best way to build an elephant with EE.
John Green
The Train-ee classroom training was excellent. The real life examples conveyed the best ways to extend ExpressionEngine’s capabilities. The environment was exceptional! The optional evening gatherings made the experience fun. We were able to brainstorm many of our ideas even after the class time was over! This allowed the formation of many relationships and extremely beneficial resources. If there is another session you are willing to teach, keep me posted!
Marianna Martinez
The Train-ee Class in San Antonio was a life saver! Mike taught a 4 day session on EE that allowed me to completely understand the CMS. I couldn’t wait to get home and start working…even though I didn’t want to leave the beautiful weather and B&B. Not only that, he continues to mentor through our learning, after the class is finished!
Lauren Gray, Flipboxstudios.com
Train-ee was the best training experience I’ve ever had. It gave me solid skills I could immediately apply. The course was very well organized and extremely adaptable. Mike was responsive to the needs of the class. The evening events Mike organized and hosted for us through the week made it really special. The sunset cookout on the beach was the best!
Bree Rodrigues, eBree
Class Prerequisites
- Working knowledge of (X)HTML and CSS
- A Laptop
- MAMP/WAMP installed
- ExpressionEngine installed
To Signup
This class has already taken place - visit the Classroom Training page for information on current classes.
