webjoke.de

Dear Readers,

The DropTimes [TDT], as you know, is a news website with the vision of contributing to the growth of a vibrant community of users and contributors around Drupal through the process of covering and promoting everything happening around Drupal. To borrow our founder, Anoop John's words, 

"What we are doing as TDT is not just running a news website but we are trying to mobilize a whole community of users toward revitalizing the community."

 We are working towards improving the technology, driving the contributions back to the Drupal community, and ultimately contributing back to society at large. We are driving towards something bigger than all of us. 

The growth of such a venture certainly will be slow, like a writer adding a few words to their novel each day, a runner slightly extending their distance each week, or a business steadily enhancing its customer service. These small steps may seem insignificant in isolation, but they compound into significant advancements over months and years. These seemingly minor improvements compound over time, accumulating smaller strides and preparing for the dramatic leaps. The DropTimes has, day by day, accumulated the strength to make bigger leaps.

In digital innovation, embracing new directions and challenging conventional norms often leads to remarkable discoveries. Just as the Drupal community continuously strives to push boundaries and advocate for the principles of openness and community-driven development, we are likewise urged to delve into diverse domains with immense potential for creativity and impact. The DropTimes model is one based on resilience, fosters a culture of continuous learning, and ultimately transforms modest efforts into significant accomplishments. This method underscores the importance of the journey, teaching patience and discipline and proving that steady progress can lead to remarkable success.

While grateful to all the readers and loyal supporters of TDT, we seek your continued support in building something impactful and helping contribute to Drupal and open-source. With that, let's revisit the highlights from last week's coverage.

The DropTimes Community Strategist, Tarun Udayaraj, had an opportunity to converse with Tim Doyle, the first-ever Chief Executive Officer and the appointed leader of the Drupal Association. In this exclusive interview, the CEO of the Drupal Association shares his perspectives on the future of Drupal and the open-source community at large. Read the full interview here.

Preston So is a dynamic figure in software development. He showcases a rich career spanning diverse roles within the tech industry and emphasizes a leadership philosophy rooted in empathy and adaptability. Beyond his professional endeavors, Preston's commitment to the Drupal community is notable, having been a significant part of it since 2007. Learn more about this multifaceted individual and his contributions to open-source with an interview by Elma John, a sub-editor at TDT, "Navigating the Currents of Change: The Multidimensional Journey of Preston So."

In an interview with Kazima Abbas, sub-editor of The DropTimes, Adrian Ababei, the Senior Drupal Architect and CEO at OPTASY, shares his extensive experience in web development and Drupal architecture. He discusses overseeing full-cycle project management, conducting technology research, and leading a team of developers at OPTASY.

The third part of the hit Page Builder series by  André Angelantoni, Senior Drupal Architect at HeroDevs, came out last week. "Drupal Page Builders—Part 3: Other Alternative Solutions" discusses alternatives to Paragraphs and Layout Builder. This segment navigates through a variety of server-side rendered page generation solutions, offering a closer look at innovative modules that provide a broader range of page-building capabilities beyond Drupal's native tools.

March has ended, and TDT has successfully concluded its "Women in Drupal" campaign. As the series ends with the third part of Inspiring Inclusion: Celebrating Women in Drupal, The DropTimes reflects on the powerful narratives and insightful messages shared by women Drupalers from around the globe. 

In exciting news, TDT has been announced as the Media Partner for DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 and Drupal Iberia 2024 as a testament to the platform's growth and resilience. We are also seeking volunteers from the members of the Drupal Community to help us cover the upcoming DrupalCon Portland 2024. 

The Regular Registration window for DrupalCon Portland is now open. Registration for DrupalCon Portland will unlock an additional $100 discount on your ticket for DrupalCon North America 2025, in addition to the Early Bird discount during the Early Bird registration window. 

Every week, we will have some events somewhere around the world. A complete list of events for the week is available here.

In other news, Drupal 10.2.5 is now available, featuring a collection of bug fixes. This patch release addresses various issues to ensure stability for production sites. Janez Urevc has reported a 10% improvement in Drupal core test suite runtime, attributed to Gander, a performance testing framework part of Drupal since version 10.2. The latest WebAIM Million report reveals insights into web accessibility, with Drupal holding strong in the CMS rankings. Discover the subtle shifts in WCAG 2 compliance and the strategic decision to exclude subdomains for improved analysis. 

In another interesting update, Mufeed VH, a 21-year-old from Kerala, India, and founder of Lyminal and Stition.AI, has created Devika, an open-source AI software similar to Devin. Devika, conceived initially as a joke, can understand instructions, conduct research, and write code autonomously.

We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we must pause further exploration for now.

To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Also, join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you,
Sincerely
Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.

Custom Entities are a powerful tool for building complex web applications and content management systems. Entities in Drupal provide a standardized way to store and manipulate data. Custom entity types in Drupal empower developers to define custom functionality, enhance performance, and maintain full control over data structures, supplementing the numerous built-in entity types.

Here are the steps for creating a custom entity.

Drupal 10 Custom Entity Development in easy steps:

Step 1: Create a custom folder for your module.

                                                     

Choose a short name or machine name for your module.

Innovative Methods of Integrating Drupal with Other Systems to Expand Your Website's Capabilities Editor Mon, 04/08/2024 - 12:42

Given the variety of tools and techniques Drupal offers, it is a must to estimate your business needs first. AI, VR, AR, blockchain, and other technologies will keep reshaping industrial processes, so your task is to ensure the overall Drupal site’s scalability and versatility. 
Businesses of any calibre won’t achieve excellent results if they don’t align the server-side and client-side aspects of website development. Expanding website capabilities with Drupal integration will help you keep the momentum and improve online experiences for your audiences. 
The demand for mobile-first designs, as well as emerging technologies and e-commerce growth, make surviving in the niche without implementing innovative methods of performance and communication impossible. Stay tuned to explore the palette of tools and techniques to level up the standards of website architecture and efficiency for your business.

Drupal use in the Australian public sector At the recent DrupalSouth 2024, Sean Hamlin from  amazee.io took us through some enlightening stats on CMS use for Australian government websites. This was as a follow-on to stats he provided at DrupalSouth 2022 . Once again, he analysed Drupal use for each state/territory and also for Federal Government sites.  After briefly highlighting his methodology, Sean dived into the stats.  Victoria The breakdown of CMSs used by government websites in Victoria is as follows: Drupal (.vic.gov.au) — 32.2% (based on aggregation by score)  Unknown — 20%  SquizMatrix — 15.5% Opencities — 9.4% New South Wales For New South Wales, the most used CMSs by the government are: Drupal (nsw.gov.au) — 23.7% Unknown — 19.5% SquizMatrix — 15.

Join The Drop Times at DrupalCon Portland 2024! We're seeking passionate volunteers to capture the excitement, insights, and moments that make this event unforgettable. From live updates to interviews and photo documentation, be part of our team and showcase the best of DrupalCon North America 2024! Sign up now to get involved.

Discover how the Better Permissions Page module simplifies permission management in Drupal by replacing the default permissions page, improving performance, and efficiently updating permissions and roles.

Discover the journey of Adrian Ababei, Senior Drupal Architect and CEO of OPTASY, as he shares insights into web development and Drupal architecture, alongside an overview of OPTASY's mission and services.

Drupal is pretty expensive to host and maintain. There is already work well under way to address this with automatic updates and project browser. It’s great, and it’s not enough. What if we could ship drupal with a production-ready webserver that can handle real-time features? What if we could make HTTPS certificate management easier? What if we could significantly improve the performance of Drupal?

Exactly 2 years ago I started to talk about how can drupal scale down and in 2 years things have changed! Last week I attended the very interesting (and well organized) Drupalcamp Rennes 2024 where I saw Kévin Dunglas give a talk about FrankenPHP: The Modern PHP App Server, written in Go. Turns out the last two point on my “drupal scale down” have a solution: it can replace apache/php-fpm and be distributed as a single executable. I haven’t tested it yet, it’s possible to bundle server and application code to ship everything in one executable.

Drupal has always been about giving people more power than they expect (or even want in some cases…). On the content management side of things we’re very, very advanced, even if some interfaces and interactions can look and feel a bit dated. Defining content types, creating custom fields, workflows, content listing, layouts, decoupled, media library, and more we’ve been doing that for a long time, we have a very wide range of modules for practically any use case you can think of. And the vast majority of the modules work together without conflicts, and they’re all free.

What I would like to see is Drupal using FrankenPHP in the worker mode as the default way to put Drupal on production. This will make it possible to host Drupal more easily. Hook the included webserver to a startup/monitoring script (we’ll give examples) and you’re ready to serve the website. No need to install apache, nginx, or even PHP!

Now you can use the server to power your real-time features, without having to write or maintain a separate nodejs server, all in PHP. If we make sure Drupal can work in the worker mode, there won’t be a performance issue for this either. Without doing anything you’ll get a performance boost for all your users thanks to early hints, your CSS and JS will start loading before the HTML even arrives from the server. To get there we need a few steps:

1. Create a configuration file suited to Drupal: #3437187: Add Caddyfile configuration
2. Include FrankenPHP as a webserver option in DDEV: Feature request: FrankenPHP Support #5655
3. Add a FrankenPHP runner to the gitlab testbots: #3438767: Support FrankenPHP as a webserver
4. At this point if Drupal tests pass we’re ready to go, with a bonus step to increase performance.
5. Bonus make Drupal work in the “worker mode”: #2218651: [meta] Make Drupal compatible with persistent app servers like ReactPHP, PHP-PM, PHPFastCGI, FrankenPHP, Swoole
6. Implement early hints for CSS/JS assets in Drupal (issue to be open, proof of concept in the caddyfile issue)

Right now I need help making the DDEV integration work well with the recommended version of FrankenPHP, and making this available to the Drupal testbot. If you have a Drupal website using DDEV you can already try it out with ddev get theodoreb/ddev-frankenphp-drupal && ddev restart and it should mostly work (with some https problems for now). I would love to know what you think, leave a comment or let’s chat in #drupal slack.

If you’re interested in sponsoring me to work on this or other Drupal things, that would be great!

For those of you who usually read my blog, it's no news that I dabble with the content management system Drupal. This website is built on Drupal, as well as many of my other websites such as Alla Talar Svenska or the podcast platform Voffor Då Då. Drupal is more or less a Swiss Army knife when it comes to building different kinds of solutions, and behind it is an open-source community that ensures its development and maintenance.

A community that also has a sense of humor. Which is evident when there's a bunch of add-on modules that are more or less made for fun, or to have fun. Here's a dozen of such add-on modules and a brief explanation of what they do.

Pirate

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a parody holiday created in 1995 by John Baur and Mark Summers. When the 19th of September, which is the special holiday International Talk Like a Pirate Day, arrives, the text on your website changes to pirate talk. A simple text filter in this module makes the magic happen - but only once a year.

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/pirate

Thanos

How's your Marvel knowledge? Do you remember the purple supervillain Thanos who had a mission to ensure the universe's survival - by simply removing 50% of all living beings? This module has the same mission. Kind of. It removes half of your uploaded files. Randomly. Every now and then. Really makes you feel alive, doesn't it?

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/thanos

Christmas lights

Colorful lights hanging from the top of your webpage? Absolutely! And you don't have to feel restricted to Christmas time when setting the dates for when the lights should be displayed - you can simply choose to have them shown from January 1st to December 31st. So you'll always have a bit of Christmas spirit on your website!

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/christmas_lights

Christmas snow

And while you're hanging up the Christmas lights - why not install this module to have a lovely snowfall on your website. "Man it doesn't show signs of stopping, and I brought me some corn for popping, the lights are turned way down low. Let it snow! Let it snow!"

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/christmas_snow

Nyan cat

Every now and then you do things in the Drupal interface that triggers a progress indicator to appear, so you can see, in a user-friendly way, that something is happening. That indicator isn't the sexiest in the world, needless to say. But now you can fix that. With this module, you'll see Nyan cat count up from 0 to 100%. And you'll get the song too! Not bad! Not bad at all!

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/nyan

Konami code

I grew up with a Nintendo 8-bit game console and through the game manufacturer Konami, the Konami code became part of popular culture. You know, you pressed UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A and you got more lives, or better weapons, or could become invisible, or something else that made the game a bit easier. This code has found its way into various places, and through this module, you can make different things happen on your website. Such as flipping the text on the page, randomly changing images, sending the visitor to a new web address - or why not have dinosaurs running around on the screen like in Jurassic Park?

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/konamicode

Fun modules for Drupal 7

In 2011, version 7 of Drupal was released and became a favorite among many web developers. That version became so big that its End of Life has been prolonged many times. You could almost say that Drupal 7 is Drupal's version of Windows XP. However, it should be noted that the later versions of Drupal are so much better, so those of you who are still on version 7 - upgrade! But before you do that, you can try out these fun modules, which only work in Drupal 7!

dRuPaul

The fashion model, actor, and drag queen Ru Paul is not entirely unknown, and if you feel like you want more Ru Paul, by activating this module, you can ensure that images are replaced with an animated GIF, provided that the fields for the image use Field API, which is highly likely that they do. Extra credit to the module's maintainer who has one of the funniest project descriptions I've seen on drupal.org.

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/drupaul

Malkovichification

Have you seen "Being John Malkovich"? Then you probably already understand what this module does to your website. It replaces every single word with Malkovich, and then it's Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich, Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich, Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich; Malkovich Malkovich! Malkovich!!!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/malkovichification

Little helper

Do you remember the Microsoft Office assistant Clippy? Of course you do. That little creature has eternal life through its annoying way of popping up and absolutely not helping in any constructive way! Now you can have the same functionality in Drupal ( 7)! Install, lean back, and look forward to getting annoyed!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/little_helper

Beer o'clock

When is it time to crack open the beer? With the help of this module, you can easily have a webpage that simply tells you when it's "beer o'clock."

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/beer_o_clock

Lebowski

Another wonderful movie is "The Big Lebowski". This module sends out lovely quotes from the movie. A way to get a little encouraged when visiting your website!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/lebowski

Cornify

Who doesn't like unicorns and rainbows? Answer: Nobody! This module uses the service cornify.com/ and with a simple click, you'll flood your website with unicorns, pink colors, rainbows, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Highly recommended!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/cornify_block

Are there more?

Here you have a selection of fun modules for Drupal, both modern versions as well as for Drupal 7. I hope they can brighten up your and your visitors' day a bit. Have I missed your personal favorite? Write in the comments section, it's always fun to get new tips!

For those of you who usually read my blog, it's no news that I dabble with the content management system Drupal. This website is built on Drupal, as well as many of my other websites such as Alla Talar Svenska or the podcast platform Voffor Då Då. Drupal is more or less a Swiss Army knife when it comes to building different kinds of solutions, and behind it is an open-source community that ensures its development and maintenance.

A community that also has a sense of humor. Which is evident when there's a bunch of add-on modules that are more or less made for fun, or to have fun. Here's a dozen of such add-on modules and a brief explanation of what they do.

Pirate

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a parody holiday created in 1995 by John Baur and Mark Summers. When the 19th of September, which is the special holiday International Talk Like a Pirate Day, arrives, the text on your website changes to pirate talk. A simple text filter in this module makes the magic happen - but only once a year.

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/pirate

Thanos

How's your Marvel knowledge? Do you remember the purple supervillain Thanos who had a mission to ensure the universe's survival - by simply removing 50% of all living beings? This module has the same mission. Kind of. It removes half of your uploaded files. Randomly. Every now and then. Really makes you feel alive, doesn't it?

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/thanos

Christmas lights

Colorful lights hanging from the top of your webpage? Absolutely! And you don't have to feel restricted to Christmas time when setting the dates for when the lights should be displayed - you can simply choose to have them shown from January 1st to December 31st. So you'll always have a bit of Christmas spirit on your website!

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/christmas_lights

Christmas snow

And while you're hanging up the Christmas lights - why not install this module to have a lovely snowfall on your website. "Man it doesn't show signs of stopping, and I brought me some corn for popping, the lights are turned way down low. Let it snow! Let it snow!"

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/christmas_snow

Nyan cat

Every now and then you do things in the Drupal interface that triggers a progress indicator to appear, so you can see, in a user-friendly way, that something is happening. That indicator isn't the sexiest in the world, needless to say. But now you can fix that. With this module, you'll see Nyan cat count up from 0 to 100%. And you'll get the song too! Not bad! Not bad at all!

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/nyan

Konami code

I grew up with a Nintendo 8-bit game console and through the game manufacturer Konami, the Konami code became part of popular culture. You know, you pressed UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A and you got more lives, or better weapons, or could become invisible, or something else that made the game a bit easier. This code has found its way into various places, and through this module, you can make different things happen on your website. Such as flipping the text on the page, randomly changing images, sending the visitor to a new web address - or why not have dinosaurs running around on the screen like in Jurassic Park?

Read more and find the module at https://www.drupal.org/project/konamicode

Fun modules for Drupal 7

In 2011, version 7 of Drupal was released and became a favorite among many web developers. That version became so big that its End of Life has been prolonged many times. You could almost say that Drupal 7 is Drupal's version of Windows XP. However, it should be noted that the later versions of Drupal are so much better, so those of you who are still on version 7 - upgrade! But before you do that, you can try out these fun modules, which only work in Drupal 7!

dRuPaul

The fashion model, actor, and drag queen Ru Paul is not entirely unknown, and if you feel like you want more Ru Paul, by activating this module, you can ensure that images are replaced with an animated GIF, provided that the fields for the image use Field API, which is highly likely that they do. Extra credit to the module's maintainer who has one of the funniest project descriptions I've seen on drupal.org.

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/drupaul

Malkovichification

Have you seen "Being John Malkovich"? Then you probably already understand what this module does to your website. It replaces every single word with Malkovich, and then it's Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich, Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich, Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich; Malkovich Malkovich! Malkovich!!!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/malkovichification

Little helper

Do you remember the Microsoft Office assistant Clippy? Of course you do. That little creature has eternal life through its annoying way of popping up and absolutely not helping in any constructive way! Now you can have the same functionality in Drupal ( 7)! Install, lean back, and look forward to getting annoyed!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/little_helper

Beer o'clock

When is it time to crack open the beer? With the help of this module, you can easily have a webpage that simply tells you when it's "beer o'clock."

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/beer_o_clock

Lebowski

Another wonderful movie is "The Big Lebowski". This module sends out lovely quotes from the movie. A way to get a little encouraged when visiting your website!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/lebowski

Cornify

Who doesn't like unicorns and rainbows? Answer: Nobody! This module uses the service cornify.com/ and with a simple click, you'll flood your website with unicorns, pink colors, rainbows, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Highly recommended!

Read more and test it out at https://www.drupal.org/project/cornify_block

Are there more?

Here you have a selection of fun modules for Drupal, both modern versions as well as for Drupal 7. I hope they can brighten up your and your visitors' day a bit. Have I missed your personal favorite? Write in the comments section, it's always fun to get new tips!

Ming Quah at DrupalSouth 2024 Ming’s DrupalSouth 2024 presentation was on Day 2 of the event. The session gave attendees an overview of the NIST domains and showed what Drupal developers and DevOps specialists should do to comply with the NIST CSF. The framework was analysed in the context of seven key layers for Drupal security. View the presentation description on DrupalSouth website

Suchi Garg at DrupalSouth 2024 Suchi’s workshop at DrupalSouth 2024 on Day 2 prepared first-time contributors for the code sprint. The session focused on the dynamics of mentored contribution and explored the benefits and types of contribution, tooling and documentation, and more. View the presentation description on the DrupalSouth website

Gaurav Garg and Govind Kumar Malu at DrupalSouth 2024 Gauravg and Govind’s session was on Day 2 of DrupalSouth 2024 and took attendees through Drupal testing using Cypress and automation. The session showcased practical examples that illustrate how Cypress commands interact with Drupal sites. Attendees learned strategies for executing tests, analysing results and maintaining synchronisation between evolving Drupal applications and the test suite.   View the presentation description on the DrupalSouth website

Steve Worley at DrupalSouth 2024 Steve’s second session at DrupalSouth 2024 (Day 2) was as a co-presenter with Joseph Zhao from GovCMS. They took attendees through how they test and ensure that government websites are strong, safe and easy to use. The presentation also covered practical testing methods and tools that will help government agencies deliver high-quality digital services. View the presentation description on the DrupalSouth website

Amey Mudras and Govind Kumar Malu at DrupalSouth 2024 Amey and Govind’s session at DrupalSouth 2024 focused on simplifying the complex web of structures in Drupal and explored how consolidating components into a single directory can be a game-changer for projects. Attendees left the session armed with practical insights that can be immediately applied to enhance their Drupal projects. View the presentation description on the DrupalSouth website

DrupalCamp New Jersey unites hundreds of attendees with varying professional backgrounds to share their knowledge, ideas, and passion for the Drupal project. My first DrupalCamp NJ was in 2023 and it was also my first experience of presenting at a conference! It was a nerve-wracking but fun experience—and since then I’ve delivered 9 conference presentations across Canada, the U.S., and France on topics like accessibility, caching, migrations, and discovery.

Fast forward to March 2024: I returned to DrupalCamp NJ to present another session and deliver training.  Eight of our team members piled into a minivan to make the 700 km road trip from Montreal to New Jersey. The event was held in Princeton University’s Robertson Hall—a stunning piece of architecture set in a beautiful plaza. We joined more than 150 participants for the three-day event, which featured 23 incredible talks and three days of training.

Read on for our highlights! Plus, learn what to expect from your first DrupalCamp.

 

Princeton University hosted DrupalCamp New Jersey, so we got to revisit our client’s stunning campus.
What We Presented

What Non-Developers Should Know About Content Migration

I co-presented this session with my colleague Marien Regnault, Drupal Developer. We shared insights that our team has gained from dozens of complex migrations over the years, including Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 migrations. We helped a non-technical audience understand the process at a high level with a focus on planning, preparation, dealing with common challenges, and collaborating with developers. 

Watch the talk. 

 

Harmonizing Creativity and Code: Collaboration in Design Systems

This session was delivered by my colleagues Bryenne Kay, UX/UI Designer and Robert Ngo, Solutions Architect. It looked at building and maintaining a design system from both a developer’s and designer’s perspective. Bryenne and Robert dived into creating libraries of reusable Single Directory Components (SDCs), streamlining workflows, and improving collaboration between teams. 

Watch the talk. 

 

Bryenne at her first ever DrupalCamp, waiting with Robert to begin their presentation on design systems. 

 

Use Drupal as No-Code Content Platform for Your Next(.js) Decoupled Project

Our Director of Technology, Simon Morvan, talked about the core principles of a decoupled Drupal architecture and why it improves performance, user experience, SEO, and security. He demonstrated that this approach doesn’t require back-end development, making Drupal a low-cost alternative to other no-code options like commercial cloud SaaS solutions. Simon used our collaboration with Planned Parenting Direct (PPD) as an example. Interestingly, the co-founder of Pantheon—which hosts the PPD website—was in the audience! This led to some interesting additional questions and answers at the end of the session. 

 

Revamp or Redesign: Navigating the Crossroads of Website Evolution

Evolving Web has a long-standing relationship with Princeton University, so I was delighted to co-present this session with the institution’s Assistant Director of Web & Digital Initiatives, John Cloys, along with Alex Dergachev, Co-Founder and Technical Lead at Evolving Web. We explored the ever-changing nature of the digital landscape, and addressed the challenge of deciding when to update your website, how, and how much.

Watch the talk. 

 

Drupal Site Building & Tools for Digital Asset Management

It was so much fun to deliver this training session with my colleague Marien and Acquia’s Senior Solutions Architect, Martin Anderson-Clutz. It was my first time providing training in-person since I started at Evolving Web, and I really enjoyed the advantages of being physically present; I was able to see people’s reactions and give more personal support than is possible over Zoom. The course gave participants a run-through of the Drupal site building process—including creating an information architecture in Drupal, and leveraging media management and Acquia DAM on top of Drupal. 
 

“This was my first DrupalCamp. It made me realize that the Drupal community isn’t just a source of modules I can use—it’s a community of people with common goals who collaborate with and support one another.”

– Marien Regnault, Drupal Developer, Evolving Web

What We Attended

Intermediate Drupal Front End Development 

Led by Ashraf Abed at DebugAcademy.com, this course shed light on some of the most powerful aspects of Drupal's front-end system, including render arrays, caching, and twig. It was fascinating to discover how powerful render arrays are for piling on properties all the way down the stack. We heard about useful tools like Twig Xdebug, which allows you to use Xdebug breakpoints with Twig templates. And we learned some best practices for security, such as only translating hardcoded strings to avoid exploits from user-generated content. 

Watch the talk. 

 

Navigating The Migration Landscape: Lessons Learned From Princeton University’s Migration of Over 1000 Drupal Websites To A Single Platform 

Led by Mandee Englert and Jill Moraca, this talk provided an impressive example of a highly complex migration and the planning, organization, and post-migration processes that made it a success. We left with plenty of useful ideas to implement and recommend to clients. 
 

Between sessions, our team enjoyed wandering around Princeton University’s beautiful campus in the sunny weather. 

 

Drupal be DAMed

Ray Saltini and David Hernandez explored key reasons and considerations for adopting a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution. We really enjoyed their practical insights into preparing, optimizing, and scaling a DAM solution, as well as an exploration of alternatives. Overall, a DAM good session. 

Watch the talk. 

 

Protecting your site with Automatic Updates

We were excited to hear updates from Acquia’s Ted Bowman on his almost-complete work to bring automatic code updates to Drupal deployment. Ted  gave a refresher on the Automatic Updates module, including how to determine if your hosting is compatible and ensure your site is configured to run it securely. 

Watch the talk. 

 

See what you missed at DrupalCamp Florida 2024, too!

 

“It was my 9th visit to Drupalcamp NJ so one of the best parts is seeing old clients, collaborators, and dozens of other amazing Drupal community members who have become friends.”

– Alex Dergachev, Co-Founder & Technical Lead, Evolving Web 

What to Expect From Your First DrupalCamp

DrupalCamps are regional, community-driven events that foster innovation, collaboration, and skill enhancement within the Drupal ecosystem. Each has its own style and flow, but they all have consistent themes at their core:

1. Knowledge sharing. DrupalCamps are a great place to swap ideas, gain skills, and learn best practices. Sessions, workshops, and trainings provide more structured learning, but there’s also a treasure of wisdom to be found simply by chatting to fellow participants at lunch. Success stories and case studies also serve as valuable inspiration for future projects. 
2. Community building. DrupalCamps encourage professionals to connect, collaborate, and develop valuable relationships. The organizers emphasize inclusivity, welcoming the participation of diverse groups and finding ways to lower barriers and increase accessibility. 
3. Volunteerism. DrupalCamps are organized and run by volunteers, making them a sustainable model and a true reflection of the Drupal community’s interests and values. Volunteering opportunities are also a great opportunity to gain exposure and experience through speaking, training, or organizing. 
4. Collaboration. DrupalCamps often feature hackathons, collaborative workshops, and contributions days focused on improving open source projects such as Drupal core, modules, and themes. These activities foster team-work beyond the event, too. More than one Drupal initiative has started out as a conversation at a DrupalCamp or DrupalCon. 
5. Innovation. Participants are encouraged to collaboratively solve real-world problems, and informed about new technologies, trends, and challenges. It’s a chance to not only get ahead of the curve but also to help shape open source innovation. 
6. Feedback. DrupalCamps serve as platforms for gathering UX feedback on community-driven initiatives that support Drupal’s growth. As a Drupal user, this is an opportunity to ensure your needs and priorities are considered. 
7. Professional development. DrupalCamps are a friendly space where you can connect with potential employers, find mentorship, and gain insights from peers and experts. There are sessions where you can develop your technical, strategic, creative, and leadership skills. Also, volunteering to lead a session or workshop can help you gain industry exposure and carve out a niche. 

Interested in attending? Visit drupal.org to find a DrupalCamp near you. 

If you’re looking for an event that covers a wider variety of  topics, with fewer simultaneous talks, check out EvolveDrupal! This unique summit fosters open source innovation and digital transformation with sessions on technology, UX design, digital strategy, content, marketing, higher education, and much more. The next EvolveDrupal summit is taking place in Atlanta on April 12. We hope to see you there!

+ more awesome articles by Evolving Web

Dive into the final chapter of The DropTimes' "Women in Drupal" series, a captivating campaign launched to celebrate International Women's Day 2024. This concluding segment brings together the voices and visions of women who have shaped the Drupal community, driving forward the message of inclusion and diversity. Featured individuals like Kat Shaw, Nneka Hector, Nikita Aswani, Nina Ogor, Masami Suzuki, Tearyne D. A., Anushri Kumari, Shefali Shetty, Aastha Shrivastava, and Libbna Mathew share their experiences, challenges, and hopes for a more inclusive future.

From advocating for web accessibility to fostering diversity in tech leadership, their stories reflect a collective aspiration for change and renewal within the Drupal ecosystem and beyond. Join us in this inspiring journey as we explore the powerful narratives of these remarkable women, each contributing to the vibrant tapestry of Drupal. It's a call to inspire inclusion, celebrate achievements, and embrace the diverse voices that propel the community forward. Don't miss this insightful finale of "Women in Drupal" – let's inspire inclusion together!

Across its 50-year history, the Sydney Opera House has welcomed musicians, dancers, actors, playwrights, filmmakers, contemporary artists, and thinkers who have both challenged and defined the cultural scene. As a result, the Sydney Opera House draws millions of visitors from around the world each year.

Not only is the Sydney Opera House of incredible cultural importance, it's also an architectural masterpiece. Its unique design makes it one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and has earned it a place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Last year, the Sydney Opera House chose to migrate its website to Drupal. Today, it is running Drupal 10. The decision by such a prestigious institution to relaunch their website on Drupal highlights Drupal's flexibility, security, and ability to manage complex websites.

A couple of weeks ago, during my visit to Australia, I met with the Drupal team at the Sydney Opera House. I was particularly impressed by the team's dedication to using Open Source to expand cultural access and their enthusiasm for collaborating with other arts and cultural organizations. Their focus on innovation, inclusivity, and collaboration perfectly aligns with the core values of Open Source and the Open Web. Drupal is such a great solution for them!

Steve Worley at DrupalSouth 2024 — Day 1 Steve’s session on Day 1 at DrupalSouth 2024 looked at the benefits of a static Drupal website and different static options, including QuantCDN . From security and performance to scalability and greenness, the session explored the many big wins of static Drupal. View the presentation description on the DrupalSouth website

From the Women in Drupal Awards to news of exciting developments in Drupal and inspiring keynotes, there was much to take away from DrupalCon Lille