SiteGround is a popular hosting provider for Drupal, WordPress or any PHP powered website.

They offer a wide variety of hosting packages, from shared, managed, and cloud hosting.

However, in this video we focus on their shared hosting product.

They offer three plans; StartUp, GrowBig and GoGeek. The StartUp plan only allows for a single website so we recommend that you go for the GrowBig or GoGeek as they offer more functionality and allow you to host unlimited websites.

All plans offer free SSL (using Let’s Encrypt) and “Out-of-the-box Caching”, where they use NGINX to cache static assets such as images and files. They also offer Memcached, which can help with speeding up your Drupal site.

The GoGeek plan allows you to host and deploy your Drupal site using Git, which could be helpful if you use Git to manage your Drupal site.

In this video, you’ll learn how to install Drupal using the GoGeek plan on SiteGround.

The Advanced CSS/JS Aggregation Module

The Advanced CSS/JS Aggregation module aggregates and compresses CSS and JavaScript files to make your site run faster. Speed became a ranking factor in 2010. All else being equal, the faster site will rank higher in Google.

Florida DrupalCamp🌴 to Host a Half Day of "Mini-Sessions" mherchel Fri, 01/06/2023 - 16:53

Let’s imagine that each department in your local government had its own brochure.

What if they were printed out and spread across a large surface? Would they all have a consistent brand, voice tone, color scheme, and typography?

If you’re shaking your head, then we’ve quickly arrived at the typical pain points surrounding content creation and governance in large organizations.

Reflect on How You Deal with Assets Everyday

Are your brand kits, style guides, images and media files easily findable across teams without typing in the exact details like file names and dates? Do you regularly see file names like .final.final.version? 

A lot of this boils down to not having a central source of truth for your organization’s assets, which leads to brand inconsistency and your teams working harder (not smarter) to create and publish content. 

Instead of spending more time searching and sending links to the latest version of assets, teams could invest these valuable resources to strategize, create, and make sure content is staying relevant to your audiences’ needs.

Why is Brand Consistency Important?

Creating relevant content and ensuring brand consistency is the indisputable gateway to developing trust and making sure your brand is memorable. A memorable brand means your audience can spot your brand through different channels, which will influence their decision when it comes time to make a purchase. 

But with the many content formats available today, and the trend of audiovisual content on the rise, it is increasingly difficult to ensure consistency. Institutions and content teams need efficient workflows and reusable assets to avoid brand inconsistency. 

The ease of selecting a file format and purpose from the original source in DAM. Image Credit = Acquia DAM

Keeping a Centralized Source of Truth

74% of marketers say they struggle to create content that can be rapidly released across all of their organization’s digital platforms in one go.

By leveraging the benefits of DAM (Digital Asset Management), your teams can stick to the COPE method when it comes to content strategy: 

COPE = “Create Once, Publish Everywhere.” 

With DAM technology, teams can work together more efficiently, strategically, and with more brand consistency because they’re all using the same assets from a centralized location.

Let’s consider how DAM can unite silos between communication and marketing teams, designers, and decision-makers to prevent the slippery slope into content chaos.

What is DAM and Why Should You Use One? 

DAM stands for Digital Asset Management, and it is a platform for managing a brand’s most critical assets throughout the entire content lifecycle.

DAM systems enable the reuse and repurposing of assets across multiple platforms from a single source of truth. Think of it as a database in which anyone can access approved digital assets, including up to date information about them - from format to version and more.

Another benefit of using DAM is the ability to find assets internally that will help your organization avoid silos of communication and strategy. 

Whether it’s a webpage, a printed brochure, or newsletter software for your email campaign, images, templates, and media must stay consistent with your brand no matter if it’s IT, Marketing, or Comms team members handling a task.

How Content Management Thrives with Acquia DAM

Acquired by Acquia in 2021, Widen DAM was one of the pioneers of DAM technology. 

Now known as Acquia DAM, it works as a central control center and single source of truth that enables administering, organizing, and distributing digital assets with speed, intention, and control. 

Your team might be already using file-sharing tools like Google Drive or a media manager like Drupal’s Media Library, but there are many powerful features of Acquia DAM that create immense value for organizations seeking to streamline their content strategy and workflow across teams. 

Here are three ways that Acquia DAM by Widen benefits content management practices on the daily. 

1. Efficient Workflows

You might be wondering about DAM, “Can it integrate with my stock image library? How about my Content Management System?” Yes it can.

Acquia DAM has a wide variety of integrations to centralize and harmonize content production, communications, workflows, marketing insights, and Ecommerce software.

Common integrations with Acquia DAM.

Image Credit = Acquia DAM

For a communications campaign, for example, imagine a graphic designer retouching images in an Adobe product that is updated immediately in DAM where a communications manager can make comments and approve. 

At that point, a content editor can immediately locate, contextualize, and implement the image from a single source of truth. 

At the same time, a marketing team member can keep an eye on the engagement metrics of clickable images in your email campaign or on your landing page within your Mar Tech software.

Acquia DAM performance insights provide valuable metrics for content strategy and management. Image Credit = Acquia DAM

At the end of the day, it’s the same asset that’s traceable, usable, and informative across all these teams.

With DAM, no emails or extra steps are required to pass assets and versions back and forth because all of your products are clicking together as content is being created, approved, published, and measured for success.

2. Quick Access for all Stakeholders

How many times have you had to send a separate dossier of assets or files for a client or another stakeholder to view or approve? How many emails did that take?

Acquia DAM has a feature called Portals which enables you to share assets with internal and external stakeholders straight from the DAM system.

Here’s what’s great about DAM Portals:

• Controlling who has access to which assets through three levels of security settings
• Setting expiration dates for access to the portal 
• Sharing portals by generating a link, embedding assets into web pages, or connecting them to Salesforce
• The ability to translate portals into 12 different languages for partners and clients 

Acquia DAM portals are a convenient way to share assets with stakeholders in a controlled and secure environment. Image Credit = Acquia DAM

Say your PR and communications team wants to launch an awareness campaign about an upcoming event. 

For external stakeholders, this means that when a graphic for feedback and approval, the DAM Portal provides a secure access point where comments and suggestions take place. With a controlled access point and assigned permissions in the DAM system, there’s never any question about the integrity of the file at hand or doubts about which version of the logo has client approval. 

For internal stakeholders, Acquia DAM’s portals enable an immediate understanding of where the content stands in the pipeline, what blockers need to be addressed, and which versions of assets are meant for all the different digital channels when it comes time to publish. 

Again, the single source of truth that DAM provides for both internal and external stakeholders means that units and team members can stay in sync and on brand without hunting down file names or writing messages that start with, “Do you know where I can find…?” 

3. If You are on Drupal, More Power to You

Acquia DAM makes building web pages in Drupal seamless across teams working with the same assets from a centralized location. Here’s what you can do with Acquia DAM + Drupal. 

• Integrate DAM with your Drupal Media Library
• Search and select assets from DAM in the WYSIWYG editor
• Place images from DAM through embed codes
• View Drupal integration links for assets in the DAM system to see exactly where assets are being used
• User governance in DAM allows for permissions access to assets in Drupal
• Assets are copied to Drupal and stored as media entity references

Acquia DAM product views provide a global snapshot of the product and its usage across multiple channels. Image Credit = Acquia DAM

Want More Tips for Content Strategy?

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+ more awesome articles by Evolving Web

Security hardening - deploy your project with fewer attack vectors Editor Fri, 01/06/2023 - 13:05

KW: security hardening, cyber hardening, security hardening in 2023, security hardening best practices, server hardening, cyber security strategies, system hardening guidelines, cyber hardening.

Any website can potentially be attacked in various ways, and it is desirable to eliminate the main vulnerabilities at the initial stage. Which types of attacks will be applied to your site and for what purpose - it does not matter. The important thing is that the site is vulnerable, which means it can be hacked. For security hardening, there are several effective tools that we will discuss in this article. By the way, it's great to know you're reading the Golems web development agency blog!

DrupalCon Pittsburgh call for sponsors still open! Attract new talent & grow business and more benefits for sponsors.

Jordana is a Senior Technical Community Manager at Mattermost and a Drupal enthusiast. She became a part of the Drupal CWG along with Rachel Lawson in May 2017.

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence based chat system developed by the same folks behind DALL-E, one of the recent AI based image generation services. 

We decided to play around with ChatGPT's capabilities by asking it about learning Drupal, considering our upcoming Drupal Career Online and Professional Module Development long-form courses that we have starting in late January and early February. Below are ChatGPT's (amazingly) unedited responses. 

Prompt: Tell me why learning to be a professional Drupal developer is a good thing.

There are several reasons why learning to be a professional Drupal developer can be a good thing:

• Demand for Drupal developers: Drupal is a popular content management system (CMS) used by many organizations around the world. As such, there is a demand for professionals with Drupal development skills.
• Career opportunities: Learning Drupal development can open up a range of career opportunities, including positions as a Drupal developer, Drupal site builder, or Drupal consultant.
• High earning potential: Drupal developers can earn competitive salaries, particularly if they have a strong skillset and experience.
• Continual learning: Drupal is a constantly evolving platform, so there is always something new to learn and stay up-to-date with. This can be an exciting and rewarding aspect of being a Drupal developer.
• Flexibility: Drupal developers can work on a variety of projects, including building and maintaining websites, developing custom modules and plugins, and integrating with other systems. This allows for a lot of flexibility and the opportunity to work on a range of interesting and challenging projects.
• Overall, learning to be a professional Drupal developer can be a rewarding and fulfilling career choice, with the potential for a good income, a range of career opportunities, and the opportunity for continuous learning and development.

Prompt: Tell me about the advantages of learning Drupal module development

There are several advantages to learning Drupal module development:

• Customization: By developing custom modules, you can tailor Drupal to meet specific needs and requirements. This allows you to build websites and applications that are tailored to your clients' needs and can differentiate your projects from others.
• Reusability: Custom modules can be reused on multiple projects, which can save time and effort. This is especially useful for commonly needed functionality such as custom content types, views, and blocks.
• Extendability: Modules can be used to extend the functionality of Drupal core and contributed modules. This allows you to add new features and capabilities to Drupal without having to modify the core codebase.
• Community: Drupal has a large and active developer community, which means there are many resources available for learning and getting help with module development.
• Career opportunities: Proficiency in Drupal module development can lead to career opportunities as a Drupal developer, Drupal site builder, or Drupal consultant.
• Overall, learning Drupal module development can be a valuable skill that can open up a range of career opportunities and allow you to build custom, tailored solutions using Drupal.

Prompt: What is the best way to learn to be a professional Drupal developer?

There are several steps you can take to learn to be a professional Drupal developer:

• Familiarize yourself with the basics of web development: Before diving into Drupal development, it can be helpful to have a strong foundation in web development concepts such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.
• Get hands-on experience: The best way to learn Drupal development is by doing it. Start by installing Drupal on your local machine and experimenting with the core features and functionality.
• Learn about Drupal's architecture and concepts: Understanding Drupal's architecture and key concepts such as nodes, blocks, views, and hooks is essential for developing custom modules and making the most of Drupal's capabilities.
• Explore online resources: There are many online resources available for learning Drupal development, including tutorials, documentation, and online courses. Some good places to start include the Drupal documentation and the Drupalize.Me website.
• Join the Drupal community: Drupal has a large and active community of developers who are always willing to help and share their knowledge. Consider joining online forums, attending local meetups, or participating in online events such as DrupalCon.
• Build and publish your own projects: As you learn and gain experience, try building and publishing your own Drupal projects. This can help you practice your skills and showcase your work to potential employers or clients.
• Overall, the best way to learn to be a professional Drupal developer is to get hands-on experience, learn from online resources and the Drupal community, and build and publish your own projects.

End of ChatGPT's responses - back to human-based writing again…

A few thoughts about all this:

• We love that the response includes Drupalize.me, and are happy to note that they've been a long-time supporter of Drupal Career Online. In fact, all of the DCO students get free access to Drupalize.me while enrolled (and a steep discount after that). 
• Amazingly, we don’t see anything incorrect about any of ChatGPT's responses. 
• The main thing that this experience has taught us is that, as is being reported in many, many places, ChatGPT is good. Scary good. So much so that we're going to go on record and say that all of DrupalEasy's content, unless otherwise specifically denoted, is written by a human!

DrupalEasy's beginner- and best-practice-focused Drupal Career Online begins February 13, 2023. Our intermediate-level Professional Module Development course begins January 31, 2023 (with a Lite version starting February 14, 2023). 

The pixel art image used in this blog post was generated by the DALL-E project of OpenAI.  

Finding the Right Drupal Maintenance Partner: Tips and Tricks

Finding the right support and maintenance partner for your Drupal site is easy if you know how

Kristina Ivanovanik Thu, 01/05/2023 - 06:47

Microsites can be a useful tool. If you need sections of your website to look different from the main theme, or you have an initiative that needs greater emphasis, or you want a content team to have more control over a specific group of content, then implementing microsites can be a good solution. 

What's the best way to implement them? And how do you know you need a microsite versus a new website altogether?

Let's start with a definition.