Fall Into ExpressionEngine
Breeze blows leaves of a mustard-coloured yellow,
So I sweep them in my sack.
Yes, yes, yes, its my autumn almanac.
Train-ee is again hosting the world’s only ExpressionEngine classroom training back where it all started in Holland, Michigan. Enjoy 4 days of hometown hospitality, great scenery and tasty food while learning about EE elbow to elbow with other like-minded folks.
Days will be spent in an informal yet informative learning environment, and evenings we’ll get out on the town and see the sights.
The Location
This class will be in Holland, Michigan USA.
While being best-known for the annual Tulip Time Festival, Holland is nicely situated on Lake Macatawa, which connects to Lake Michigan. Fall in Michigan means color - make sure to bring your camera to capture the full blaze of Michigan’s foliage.
Besides trees turning color Holland offers beautiful sunsets, clean sandy beaches, lighthouses, historic shopping districts, microbreweries, coffeehouses, bikepaths—and I’m going to do my best to get you out of the hotel and enjoy the area with some after-hours activities.
Getting here is easy— you can fly into the Gerald R. Ford International Airport (a free shuttle is available), grab one of the daily Amtrak trains from Chicago (the Holland terminal is 2 blocks from the hotel) or drive from either Chicago or Detroit in less than 3 hours.
The Venue
This class will take place at the CityFlats Hotel.
CityFlats is one of those fun, funky spaces that will really inspire your creative side - I’ve never stayed at a hotel quite like it. CityFlats is a “green hotel” - one of the first hotels in the United States to attain LEED certification.
CityFlats is offering a great rate of $109/night, discounted from $189, for the training. Train-ee is partnering with CollectiveIdea for this class - so if you book at CityFlats you’ll need to mention “CollectiveIdea” to get the special rate.
There are other local options as well.
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.
The Schedule
This class runs from Tuesday, September 29th, 2009, through Friday, October 2nd, 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 been released in a limited beta 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 public 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
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 class was phenomenal! It was both comprehensive and easy to understand. Held in a fun location, it made for a great week. I’m willing to bet that even those who think they know ExpressionEngine could learn a thing or two from Mr. Boyink!
John Knotts, S3VN2
Loved the training. The overview of concepts and work flow, hands-on group exercises and behind-the-scene peeks at existing sites really brought to life what you read in the forums and documentation. The resulting “a ha” moments made it all worthwhile. Combined with the
Paula McIntyre, Loracs Design LLC
thoughtfulness of Mike Boyink and our Idea Foundry hosts, the week was a real pleasure!
Thanks for a great week of training and fun. I wish you and your team (wife) the best in the future and I hope to do more training with you in the future as well.
Bryan Juber, US Synthetic
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
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.
