Insights by Chris

Rebranding Chromatic

A quick recap of our new branding and positioning.

Don’t Sink Your SEO Efforts by Neglecting Site Performance

Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics are factored into search algorithms. Learn how website performance and speed impact SEO and page rank.

Is a Decoupled Website Structure Right for Your Client’s Needs? The Answer Is Complicated.

A decoupled website architecture gives your clients access to a high-performance machine to serve their business. But will that machine wind up being more trouble than it's worth? Learn the deciding factors that play a big role in securing an organization’s digital future.

A Guide for Avoiding Website and App Deployment Problems

Having a clear process is the key to avoiding website downtime and buggy application launches. Read this guide to website and app deployment best practices.

Limiting the Influence of Third-Party Code

Our guide to improving website performance when using third-party assets.

Have your cake and eat it too — run your agency, keep your sanity

Zoom Etiquette – Tips & Tricks

New to remote working? Here are some tips to make your Zoom calls the best they can be.

JSConf US 2019 Blew Us Away

Our crew had an amazing time at JSConfUS 2019, a fun, engaging, eye-opening, and inspiring conference about much more than just JavaScript.

Headed to JSConf US 2019

JSConf is less than a week away and a solid contingent of Chromaticians will be headed to sunny California to soak up some of the exciting ways JavaScript is taking shape in the browser and beyond.

My Sabbatical – A Recap

How did my time away from the company go? What follows is a recap.

Some Time Off

The what and why I'm taking some time away from the company.

Chromatic Celebrates International Women's Day

Members of the Chromatic team highlight women's achievements to celebrate on International Women's Day

Chromatic at DrupalCon Seattle 2019

DrupalCon Seattle is about a month away, and we're putting the finishing touches on this year's plans. Drupal's biggest annual conference affords us the opportunity to support the project, share our expertise, and connect with our colleagues from far and wide. We love DrupalCon. Here's what we've got in store this year.

2018 Team Retreat to Gatlinburg, TN

This year's team retreat was one of my favorites to date. My recap follows.

So You Want to Start Your Own Digital Agency?

The path to running a successful agency is riddled with obstacles, hoops to jump through, and laws to comply with - and that's all before you do the actual work. How about some real world advice from someone who transitioned from being a fledgling freelancer to a successful agency owner?

Chromatic at MidCamp 2018

We’ll be attending and presenting at this year’s MidCamp in Chicago. If you’re also going to be in there, be sure to check out our sessions on Twig and application monitoring.

2018 Advice for Would-Be Web Developers

Looking into a career in web development? Wondering where to focus your efforts? Our team shares their advice for the next generation of web professionals.

Chromatic Featured as Clutch Global Leader in Drupal & PHP Development

Some well-deserved recognition for the Chromatic team.

Announcing our Drupal Coding Standards Series on Drupalize.me!

The folks at Drupalize.me provide the best Drupal training materials on the web, so we were more than happy to oblige them when they asked if they could release our Coding Standards guide as a free series on their platform.

How To: Link to Dynamic Routes in Drupal 8

Properly linking to pages with dynamic routes can be tricky. Here's how to do it right.

Chromatic Featured on Clutch as a Top Drupal Developer

Top reseach firm Clutch recently rated us as a top Drupal shop!

Code Reviews are Worth Their Weight in Gold

Code reviews are not just a quality assurance (QA) process with a different name. They offer a wide variety of benefits to everyone involved, that go well beyond the inherent advantages of a QA process benefits.

My Favorite Mac in a Decade - The 13" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

I've been a lifetime Mac user and a professional web developer for over 10 years and the new 2016 MacBook Pros are, hands down, my favorite Macs in a decade.

Annual Retreats for Distributed Teams — Worth Every Penny

Investments into team retreats are not insignificant, but when done right, they are worth every penny.

Introducing "ShouldIUpgradetoDrupal8.com"

We find that there's still uncertainty out there around upgrading to Drupal 8. The natural answer in the Drupal community is, "Yes, of course go with Drupal 8!", but in the world of tight deadlines and tighter budgets, the answer isn't so clear. Enter [ShouldIUpgradetoDrupal8.com](https://shouldiupgradetodrupal8.com/), an interactive tool we built to help the community answer that very question.

Responsive Images in Drupal 8 Using "srcset"

There are a handful of tutorials out there that explain how to implement responsive images in Drupal 8, but none seem to address how to do so using `srcset` over the `<picture>` element. That is, until now.

Chromatic at DrupalCon Dublin

Learn all about Twig templates in Drupal 8 from our very own Larry Walangitan.

Digging Into Drupal 8: Code Snippets for Site Builders

The transition to Drupal 8 can be tough for those new to OOP. Finding the correct "Drupal 8 way" can be difficult. Here's our list of Drupal 8 snippets with explanations along the way.

Chromatic at DrupalCon New Orleans

Chromatic will be in full force at DrupalCon New Orleans! Our entire team will be on hand, we're sponsoring a BoF room and our very own Gus Childs will be presenting on render arrays in Drupal 8!

Vintage Tee Giveaway at DrupalCon New Orleans

Going to be at DrupalCon New Orleans? We created some limited edition tees and we want to give you one for free!

Backup Your Drupal 8 Database to S3 with Drush & Jenkins

See how Chris leveraged Jenkins, Drush and `s3cmd` to create nightly database backups.

Drupal 8 Deployments with Jenkins, GitHub & Slack

Learn how to automatically deploy your Drupal 8 code and configuration with Jenkins, GitHub and Slack.

Creating Links Within Twig Templates Using path() and url()

Some real world examples of generating URLs from within your Twig templates in Drupal 8.

Common Drupal Problems - Solutions Included

Whether you are a Drupal newcomer or a seasoned Drupal developer, you're bound to run into one, some, or all of the issues outlined below. Some are obvious, some not so obvious, but we'll show you how to troubleshoot them all regardless.

Mark Dorison on The Path to Performance

Hosts Katie Kovalcin and Tim Kadlec invited Chromatic's Mark Dorison on the latest episode of The Path to Performance.

Chromatic at MidCamp and DrupalCamp NOLA

<p>We have two team members slated to speak at two different Drupal Camps in March! </p>

Automated Servers and Deployments with Ansible & Jenkins

<p>In a <a href="http://chromaticsites.com/blog/january-month-introspection-and-growth" target="_blank">previous post</a>, Dave talked about marginal gains and how, in aggregate, they can really add up. We recently made some infrastructure improvements that I first thought would be marginal, but quickly proved to be rather significant.

A (Very) Belated Introduction to the Webform Hints Module

This module allows users to enable automatic placeholders to textfields, textareas, select lists, and email fields within a webform created by the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/webform">Webform</a> module.

Easily Upgrade Your Image Fields for Retina!

What if you could create hi-res versions of images without a ton of added filesize overhead? What if you could do this all within Drupal? No special coding, no uploading of multiple versions, no special field templates or unnecessary javascript.

Chromatic Adds Mark Dorison as Partner

Our annual trip to [DrupalCon](https://austin2014.drupal.org/) always yields exciting project opportunities and new connections for Chromatic.

Free Year Of Drupalize.Me Giveaway!

Drupal is awesome, but it is also infamous for having a steep learning curve. From beginners to seasoned professionals, everybody has areas they could improve upon.

Gotchas to Look Out for When Inheriting a Drupal Site

Here's a list of some common gotchas to look out for when inheriting a Drupal site from another developer or Drupal shop.

Sublime Text Configuration for Front-Enders

Sublime Text is the best text editor on the market right now. If you do work on the web, you should consider using it. The interface is clean, intuitive and out of the way. The back end is fast. But most of all, Sublime is highly pluggable and configurable.

How I Use TextExpander to Save Loads of Time

I've been using [TextExpander](http://smilesoftware.com/TextExpander/index.html) for a while and I absolutely love it. If you aren't familiar, TextExpander allows you to create shortcuts to frequently used pieces of text. Its a tool that everyone can use, but programmers like me find it especially useful.

The Black Magic Effect

Drupal development can feel a bit like "black magic" when you're getting started. Here's a high level guide aimed at beginners to help point them in the right direction.

Project Follow-up: Applied Motion Products Website Redesign

Over the past year or so, CHROMATIC has worked closely with <a href="http://www.applied-motion.com">Applied Motion Products</a>. Applied Motion manufactures and sells precision motion control products, and have been doing so since 1978.

10 Must-Have Drupal Modules for Drupal Web Developers

Each Drupal developer out there has their own list of their "must-have” modules. The following list is partially mine and partially that of my Twitter followers.

jQuery Tutorial: Selecting Multiple Select Form Elements on the Fly

A couple of weeks ago, a client of ours needed a simple way to select some or all options in a multiple select form element that contained hundreds of options. They asked if there was a an easier way. jQuery to the rescue!

Drupal Tutorial: Form Overrides and Element-Specific Validations

Last week, I was working on some Drupal form customizations and validations for a client’s site (launching soon) and thought I’d share how you can easily alter Drupal forms. That is, if you know how and where to tap in.

Drupal Tutorial: Adding a 'Related Posts By This Author' Block With Views

In this post, I’m going to show you how you can easily leverage the power of Views 2 to create a simple <em>block</em> that displays “Related Posts by this Author” information.