Dear Readers,
Imagine a bustling workshop filled with developers, designers, and enthusiasts collaborating to build something extraordinary. This is the scene as Drupal 11 emerges, packed with features designed to make web development more intuitive and efficient.
"In recent years, we've seen an uptick in innovation in Drupal. Drupal 11 continues this trend with many new and exciting features."
notes Dries Buytaert, Founder and Lead of Drupal.
He emphasises that Drupal 11 is designed to empower ambitious site builders to create exceptional websites and accelerate Drupal's innovation. With this release, Drupal has become more intuitive, powerful, and flexible, ensuring it remains a leader in web development and digital experience creation.
Key among these innovations are Recipes and Single-Directory Components (SDCs). Recipes act like pre-assembled kits, allowing developers to add features to their websites with ease. Meanwhile, SDCs gather all necessary code for each component into one tidy package, simplifying the workflow.
Drupal 11 boasts superior performance, running up to 50% faster on PHP 8.3 compared to its predecessors. This improvement ensures swift page loading and an overall enhanced user experience. Accessibility remains a key focus, with Drupal continuing to support over 100 languages, ensuring inclusivity and usability for a global audience. This new release is the product of a vibrant community effort, with 1,858 individuals from 590 organizations contributing their expertise and passion. It’s a shining example of what can be achieved when people come together with a common goal: to push the boundaries of what’s possible with Drupal.
But the excitement doesn’t end with Drupal 11. The community is already buzzing about the upcoming Drupal Starshot project. Starshot aims to make Drupal more accessible than ever, especially for newcomers. By integrating user-friendly tools like the Project Browser and automatic updates, Starshot promises a smooth journey from installation to launching a fully functional website. With 148 days left for the year, the community is eagerly anticipating the arrival of the initial version of Starshot.
These developments are more than just updates; they’re part of an ongoing story of innovation and collaboration. With Drupal 11 and the forthcoming Starshot project, the Drupal community is not just keeping pace with the future—they're shaping it.
Moving on to stand-out stories of the past week.
The most important and currently happening update from the Drupal Community is the announcement of candidates for Drupal Association Board Elections. This year's election will fill one at-large board seat, with candidates Albert Hughes, Will Huggins, Alejandro Moreno, Janna Malikova, Kevin Quillen, Matthew Saunders, and Dominique De Cooman vying for the position. Voting will open on 15 August, requiring active Drupal Association memberships by 14 August to participate. The election results will be ratified between 6-13 September, with the new board member announced at DrupalCon Barcelona.
Last week, Daniel Cothran, in a conversation with Kazima Abbas, sub-editor of The DropTimes, shared his journey into web development and the creation of Views CSV Source. He explained how this module not only simplifies the data presentation process but also improves the efficiency and performance of Drupal sites, making it especially valuable for projects requiring reliable and streamlined data handling. Read the full article here.
In an email conversation, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jürgen Haas, Co-Founder of LakeDrops, and the creative mind behind the ECA module. During our discussion, Jürgen delved into the development of the ECA (Event, Condition, Action) module, which he designed to modernize workflow automation within Drupal. He shared the story behind the ECA module's inception, its development path, and its potential integration with future Drupal core updates, emphasizing its value in enhancing the user experience through intuitive tools.
The second part of the Thoughts on Starshot feature revealed widespread excitement within the Drupal community, highlighting the potential of the Starshot initiative to transform the Drupal platform. With contributions from seasoned community members like Kristen Pol, Murray Woodman, Nicolas Loye, Martin Anderson-Clutz, and Tim Hestenes Lehnen, the consensus is clear: Drupal Starshot promises to streamline the user experience, foster greater collaboration, and lower the barriers to entry, making Drupal more accessible to a wider audience.
DrupalCamp Ottawa 2024, held on August 2, brought together web development enthusiasts of all skill levels for a day of learning and networking centered around the Drupal platform. Highlighting key speakers like Martin Anderson-Clutz, the event emphasized community, inclusivity, and the latest advancements in Drupal, ensuring a successful and collaborative experience for all attendees. Read here.
The Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit is set to return for its 10th event, taking place from October 11 to 13, 2024, in Seattle, Washington. Since 2009, this summit has been a key regional event for Drupal professionals in the Pacific Northwest.
The Acquia 2024 Digital Freedom Tour will make its next stop in New York City on October 24, 2024. The event aims to advance a safer, more inclusive, and accessible digital world. It will bring together prominent digital leaders who will share their expertise in creating impactful digital experiences.
Anoop Singh, Tech Lead at Valuebound, announced on LinkedIn the upcoming release of the FlexiStyle Bootstrap SCSS theme on Drupal.org. This follows the success of the original FlexiStyle Bootstrap theme and promises even greater customization and flexibility for Drupal projects.
Additionally, amazee.io has released Lagoon V2.20, a significant update to its open-source application delivery platform. This release includes enhancements in user management, security, and onboarding efficiency designed to better support business needs.
Backdrop CMS 1.28.0 has been released, bringing significant enhancements to the platform, including new options for configuration storage. Laryn Kragt Bakker, Senior Developer at Aten Design Group, detailed the update, which allows users to choose between storing their configuration data in the file system or the database.
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. You can also, join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.
Thank you,
Sincerely
Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.