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Read moreA post about dreaming about what Drupal could become and the long term potential of Drupal.

Dreaming about Drupal its long term potential

drupalWednesday, September 4, 2024 - 18:02

Michael Kinnunen, Backend Engineer at CivicActions, recently shared his insights on A/B testing at Drupal GovCon, focusing on its application within Drupal using LaunchDarkly. Writing for The DropTimes, he reflects on the event's rich learning experience, highlighting how sessions on content translation, large-scale content management, and Drupal’s new Recipes feature deepened his appreciation for Drupal’s growing impact on government websites. The conference left him inspired and eager for the future of Drupal and its community.

Why Drupal is the Ultimate CMS for Your Business: Flexibility, Security, and Scalability bhavinhjoshi Wed, 09/04/2024 - 15:44

When it comes to choosing a Content Management System (CMS) or framework, the options can be overwhelming. WordPress, Joomla, Squarespace, and many others each have their own strengths. However, there's one CMS that stands out among the rest for its power, flexibility, and scalability: Drupal. Here’s why Drupal should be at the top of your list.

Unmatched Flexibility

Drupal is known for its modular architecture, which allows developers to create highly customised solutions. Unlike WordPress and Squarespace that offer limited customisation out of the box, Drupal’s framework enables you to build virtually any type of website, from simple blogs to complex enterprise-level applications. Joomla also offers flexibility, but Drupal surpasses it with its extensive range of modules and themes.

Robust Security

Security is a critical concern for any website owner. While WordPress is often targeted due to its vast user base, and Joomla has had its share of vulnerabilities, Drupal boasts one of the most secure CMS frameworks available. With a dedicated security team that actively works to identify and patch vulnerabilities, Drupal ensures that your site is well-protected against common cyber threats.

Scalability

One of the most compelling reasons to choose Drupal is its ability to scale. Whether you're running a small business website or a high-traffic enterprise portal, Drupal can handle your needs. Major websites like NASA trust Drupal to manage their vast amount of content and traffic demands. While WordPress can also scale, it may require significant customisation and optimisations, which come naturally to Drupal.

Active Community Support

Drupal has a large and active community of developers, designers, and contributors who constantly improve the platform. While WordPress boasts the largest community, Drupal’s community-driven approach means you benefit from a wide range of modules, themes, and plugins that can extend the functionality of your site. Joomla also has a strong community, but Drupal’s focus on high-quality, enterprise-level solutions sets it apart.

SEO-Friendly

Having a website that ranks well on search engines is crucial. Drupal offers extensive SEO capabilities right out of the box, comparable to those of WordPress, which is often praised for its SEO plugins. From clean URLs to meta tags and mobile optimisation, Drupal provides the tools you need to ensure your site is easily discoverable by search engines. This built-in SEO functionality means you can focus more on your content and less on technical tweaks.

Cost-Effective in the Long Run

While initial development costs for a Drupal site might be higher compared to simpler platforms like WordPress or Squarespace, the long-term benefits make it a cost-effective choice. Its robust architecture reduces the need for frequent redesigns or overhauls, ensuring you get a higher return on investment over time.

Integrated Digital Ecosystem

For businesses looking to integrate their website with other digital tools and platforms, Drupal offers seamless integration capabilities. Whether it’s CRM systems, marketing automation tools, or e-commerce platforms, Drupal can easily connect with your existing digital ecosystem, streamlining your operations and enhancing user experience.

if you're looking for a CMS that offers unparalleled flexibility, robust security, scalability, active community support, SEO-friendliness, and long-term cost-effectiveness, Drupal is an excellent choice. Make the smart move and consider Drupal for your next project.

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Takeaway: Drupal is the superior choice for large government agencies compared to DotNetNuke CMS due to its greater customization, flexibility, security, scalability, and adaptability to emerging technologies. While DNN might be easier to use and integrate with Microsoft technologies, Drupal's robust features and active community make it better suited for the complex needs and long-term digital strategies of large government entities.

Discover Dresktop, the open-source tool revolutionizing Drupal management. From local development to cloud integration, Dresktop simplifies the way you handle Drupal environments with its powerful blend of Docker, SSH, and Drush. Whether you're searching for an alternative to Acquia Desktop or a streamlined solution for your Drupal projects, Dresktop offers the features and flexibility you need.

For years, digital marketers have loved Universal Analytics (UA) for its simplicity. It made tracking website performance easy. But then came Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Now, things are more complicated. With GA4’s event-based tracking, redefined metrics, and a less intuitive interface, many marketers are struggling to navigate this new, less familiar landscape. Even with GA4's advanced features, the steep learning curve and changes to key functions have left marketers searching for alternatives that offer both power and ease of use. Enter Matomo—a customizable analytics platform that prioritizes privacy and addresses many of the pain points GA4 users face. In this blog, we'll break down the complexities of GA4 and tell you why we moved, explore the challenges of moving from UA, and introduce Matomo as a powerful alternative that might solve your analytics headaches.  We can help if you're having trouble adjusting to GA4's new data model, finding it hard to work with its interface, or searching for a platform that offers you more control over your data. But hey, don’t skip—read the whole article first! Why we made the switch: Google Analytics 4 & its complexities After years of leaning on Universal Analytics (UA), its intuitive interface, familiar metrics, and straightforward reporting made it an indispensable tool for us at Specbee and for digital marketers everywhere. However, with Google’s shift to GA4, we were left grappling with a steep learning curve and several challenges, particularly in reporting.  Here are some details about the challenges faced.  Understanding the new data model Event-based tracking: Unlike Universal Analytics, which relied heavily on a session-based data model, GA4 uses an event-based approach. This means that every interaction, from page views to clicks, is treated as an event. While the event-based approach provides more granular data, it also requires a paradigm shift in how reporting is approached, by mapping the new events to the metrics & dimensions. Custom parameters: GA4 encourages using custom parameters for events, but setting these up is more complex than UA’s straightforward event tracking. The lack of pre-defined event categories, actions, and labels means investing time in defining and standardizing the parameters. Navigating the interface Learning curve: GA4’s interface is markedly different from UA. While it’s designed to be more flexible, it is less intuitive. Features easily accessible in UA, like certain reports and metrics, are now buried deeper in the UI or have been renamed, leading to frustration and additional time spent searching for information. Exploration reports: GA4 introduces Exploration Reports, which offer powerful custom reporting capabilities. However, the flexibility comes with complexity. It takes a considerable amount of time to learn how to effectively use these reports, especially in understanding how to apply filters, segments, and comparisons to get the data I needed. Changes in key metrics New definitions: Some important metrics from Universal Analytics have been redefined or replaced (e.g. engagement rate in GA4). While these changes are aimed at providing a more holistic view of user interaction, they make it difficult to compare data with historical reports from UA. Understanding these new metrics and how they align with business goals is a significant challenge. Conversion tracking: Setting up conversions in GA4 is fundamentally different from UA. The process now involves defining events and marking them as conversions, which is more flexible but also more prone to errors. Misconfigured events lead to discrepancies in conversion data, making it challenging to trust the reports. Limited pre-built reports Fewer default reports: GA4 comes with fewer pre-built reports compared to UA. This is a double-edged sword; while it forces customization to better align with business goals, it also means more time spent creating and configuring reports that were readily available in UA. Audience segmentation: The segmentation features in GA4 are more advanced but also more complex to set up. Building audience segments requires a deep understanding of user behavior and event parameters, thus making it hard to create meaningful insights. Attribution modeling Changes in attribution: GA4 offers more sophisticated attribution models, including data-driven attribution, which is a significant improvement. However, the challenge lies in understanding these models and how they differ from UA’s last-click attribution. The shift requires a reevaluation of marketing strategies and reporting to reflect the new attribution data accurately. Matomo: An Open-Source, Privacy-Centric alternative for web analytics Matomo is a potent open-source web analytics platform that prioritizes data ownership and privacy. In contrast to a lot of popular analytics tools, Matomo gives you total control over your data by letting you host it on your own servers or in the cloud. A wide range of features is available with Matomo, which is well-known for its adaptability and customization. These include advanced analytics tools like heatmaps and session recordings, real-time visitor tracking, and customizable dashboards. It offers a strong and intuitive substitute for systems such as Google Analytics, particularly for individuals who value customized insights and data privacy. Setting up Matomo in Drupal In Drupal, setting up Matomo is a simple process. Matomo’s privacy-focused analytics can be set up in two ways. You can choose to host the Matomo analytics on your server or set it up as a cloud-based analytics platform. You can find more details on the pricing here. Here is a quick guide on how we to set up Matomo on your server: Install Matomo on your server Download Matomo: Visit the official Matomo website and download the latest version of the software. Upload to your server: Use FTP or another file transfer method to upload the Matomo files to your web server. Typically, this will be in a subdirectory of your domain, like `yourdomain.com/matomo`. Run the Installer: Access the directory in your web browser to start the installation process. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up the database and complete the installation. Install the Matomo module in Drupal Download the Module: Go to the Drupal Matomo module page and download the module. You can also install it directly via Drupal’s admin interface by searching for "Matomo." Enable the Module: Once installed, navigate to `Extend` in the Drupal admin menu, find Matomo, and enable it. Configure the Matomo module Access Configuration: Go to `Configuration > Matomo` in your Drupal admin menu. Enter Matomo URL: Provide the URL where your Matomo installation is hosted. This could be something like `https://yourdomain.com/matomo/`. Site ID: In Matomo, every tracked website is assigned a unique Site ID. You can find this ID in your Matomo dashboard under `Administration > Websites`. Enter this ID in the corresponding field in the Drupal configuration. Matomo Token: You’ll also need to enter your Matomo API token, which you can find in your Matomo user profile under `API`. This token allows Drupal to communicate securely with your Matomo installation. You can also add advanced configurations like heatmaps, session recordings, and more, depending on your requirements.  Get your website to the top with our specialized Drupal SEO services. And guess what? Your first SEO audit is on us—completely FREE! Matomo's data insights features Previously known as Piwik, Matomo provides a powerful, privacy-centric alternative to mainstream analytics tools like Google Analytics. Let’s dive into the key features that make Matomo a top choice for businesses and developers.  Customizable dashboards and all websites dashboard Create dashboards tailored to your needs and manage multiple websites from a single interface. Arrange widgets, select metrics, and monitor performance across all your sites efficiently, ensuring you have quick access to the insights that matter most. Real-time data updates Track visitor activity on your website as it happens. Matomo’s real-time data updates provide immediate insights into traffic trends, user behavior, and engagement, allowing for quick decision-making and responsive action. Analytics for ecommerce and goal conversion tracking Monitor your online store’s performance and track specific goals. Matomo allows you to analyze product views, purchases, revenue, and conversion rates to optimize your e-commerce strategy and measure the success of your marketing efforts. Event tracking and Content tracking Monitor interactions with specific elements and content on your website. Track button clicks, video plays, and downloads to understand user engagement and improve content effectiveness. These features provide granular insights into how users interact with your content. Custom dimensions Create custom dimensions to track additional data specific to your business needs. Matomo’s Custom Dimensions feature allows you to customize your analytics setup to gain deeper insights into user behavior and enhance your data analysis capabilities. Geolocation Identify where your visitors are coming from with Matomo’s Geolocation feature. Use geographic data to tailor your marketing efforts and content strategy based on insights into regional user behavior and preferences. User segmentation Segment your audience based on various criteria to gain a deeper understanding of different user groups. Analyze behavior, engagement, and conversion rates for each segment, allowing for targeted marketing strategies and personalized user experiences. Pages transitions and Page overlay Visualize how users navigate through your website. Pages Transitions and Page Overlay help you identify common paths, drop-off points, and popular routes, enabling you to optimize site structure and improve user experience. Analytics campaign tracking and Track traffic from search engines Measure the performance of your marketing campaigns and analyze search engine traffic. Track conversions, understand user journeys, and optimize your marketing efforts based on insights into how visitors find and interact with your site. No data limit Enjoy unlimited data storage with Matomo. Analyze extensive datasets without worrying about data limits, ensuring comprehensive insights into your website performance and the ability to track historical data over long periods. Other powerful features Annotations allow you to add notes to your analytics data, providing context for significant events and changes, which aids in better data analysis.  Scheduled Email Reports keep you informed by delivering customized, automated reports with key metrics directly to your inbox, making it easy to share insights with stakeholders.  Site Search Analytics lets you track and analyze user search queries, helping you identify content gaps and optimize your site's search functionality.  Visits Log and Visitor Profile offers detailed insights into individual user behavior, visit history, and preferences, enabling personalized marketing and a better user experience. Matomo's premium features Matomo's premium features offer deep insights, extensive customization, and advanced tools for confident data-driven decisions. Learn how these features, from heatmaps and session recordings to A/B testing and funnel analysis, can enhance your analytics capabilities. Heatmap analytics and Session recording Gain valuable insights into user behavior with Matomo’s Heatmap Analytics and Session Recording features: Heatmaps: Visual displays of user interactions, helping identify engaging areas and usability issues. Scroll Maps: Understand how far users scroll down a page. Click Maps: See where users are clicking most often. Session Recording: Capture all visitor activities, including clicks, mouse movements, scrolls, window resizes, page changes, and form interactions. Replay these interactions in video format to see exactly how visitors engage with your site and use these insights to improve user experience and troubleshoot issues. A/B testing platform Optimize your websites, apps, and marketing campaigns by running A/B tests: Experiment with different versions of your pages. Determine which performs best to increase conversions. Make data-driven decisions to enhance performance, ensuring that your changes lead to improved user engagement and higher conversion rates. Custom reports Create custom reports tailored to your needs to gain new insights and save time: Pull out the exact information you require for success. Reduce the risk of human error. Generate new reports quickly, streamlining your data analysis process and allowing you to focus on the metrics that matter most to your business. Form analytics Improve form conversions by analyzing where and when visitors abandon your forms: Gain insights into user interactions with your forms. Identify and fix issues that prevent successful submissions. Optimize your forms to enhance user experience and increase conversion rates. Visualize conversion funnels Understand where visitors drop off in your conversion funnels to increase conversions, sales, and revenue with your existing traffic: Identify bottlenecks in the user journey. Optimize your site to improve conversion rates. Make informed decisions to enhance the user experience and drive more conversions. User flow Analyze the most popular paths users take through your website or app with User Flow: Visual representation helps you understand user behavior. Identify common exit points and optimize navigation. Gain insights into how users interact with your site to improve their experience. Multi-channel conversion attribution Understand the contribution of each marketing channel to your conversions: Clarity on how much credit each referrer deserves. Allocate marketing efforts and budgets more effectively. Optimize your marketing strategy to drive better results. Advertising conversion export Get insights into your paid ads, including Google Ads, Microsoft Bing Ads, and Yandex Ads, with better privacy and simplified implementation: Integrates with these platforms, providing comprehensive data without needing third-party tracking codes. Saves implementation time and ensures that your advertising data is accurate and privacy-compliant. Other advanced tools Media Analytics helps you track and optimize video and audio engagement by monitoring views, play duration, and interactions. SEO Web Vitals enhances your website’s performance and search ranking by identifying and addressing key SEO issues, ensuring a seamless user experience.  Roll-Up Reporting saves time by aggregating data from multiple websites and apps, offering a holistic view of your digital properties. User Cohorts allow you to analyze and compare the behavior of different user groups, enabling you to boost retention and satisfaction. Matomo VS GA4 Both Matomo and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are prominent web analytics platforms that provide valuable insights into website performance and user behavior. However, they differ significantly in features, user experience, data control, and pricing. Here’s a detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your needs. Data ownership and privacy Matomo: Offers full data ownership, allowing businesses to ensure compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR. Users can choose where their data is stored, which is a significant advantage for organizations concerned about data privacy.GA4: Data is stored on Google’s servers, which can raise concerns about data privacy and sharing. While GA4 provides robust analytics capabilities, it may not offer the same level of control over data as Matomo. Historical data import Matomo: Supports importing historical data from Universal Analytics, allowing users to maintain continuity in their analytics without losing past insights.GA4: Does not allow importing historical data from Universal Analytics, which means users starting with GA4 will not have access to their previous data, potentially complicating year-over-year comparisons. User interface and usability Matomo: Known for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Matomo is rated highly for ease of use. Users can quickly navigate the platform and access insights without extensive training.GA4: While it features a modern design, many users find the interface complex and challenging to navigate, especially those accustomed to previous versions of Google Analytics. It requires a steeper learning curve to fully leverage its capabilities. Reporting and insights Matomo: Offers customizable reports and a variety of analytics tools, including conversion tracking and A/B testing. Users can easily create dashboards that reflect their specific needs.GA4: Provides advanced reporting features, including custom reports and data visualization tools. However, its reliance on machine learning can sometimes obscure direct insights, making it less straightforward for some users. Pricing Matomo: Offers both free and paid options, with the free version requiring self-hosting, which may incur additional costs. The paid version is generally more affordable than GA4's premium offerings, making it a cost-effective choice for many businesses.GA4: The free version is powerful but comes with limitations, such as a 14-month data retention policy. The paid version can be expensive, particularly for larger organizations that require extensive data analysis capabilities. Final thoughts Choosing between Matomo and GA4 ultimately depends on your organization's specific needs and priorities. If data ownership, privacy, and ease of use are paramount, Matomo is likely the better choice. Conversely, if you require advanced machine learning features and seamless integration with Google products, GA4 may be more suitable. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, and understanding these can help you make an informed decision that aligns with your analytics goals. With experience working extensively with GA4 and Matomo, we’re ready to help you improve your web analytics and SEO experience. Learn more about our Drupal SEO services and get in touch with us today!

Today we are talking about The Greater Cleveland RTA, How they use Drupal, and how they built a Drupal team with guests Mike Cermak & Rithya Lath. We’ll also cover Geofield Directions as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: www.talkingDrupal.com/465

Topics

• What does the Greater Cleveland RTA do
• Is the RTA a state agency
• What kind of Digital Service do you provide
• How does the GCRTA use Drupal
• Whay was Drupal selected
• Let's talk about the team
• How long has the team existed and how many people
• What type of skill makeup doest hte team have
• Local development and deployment
• Point and click learning, how do you keep up to speed now
• Day to day responsibilities
• Drupal con and Starshot

Resources

• Greater Cleveland RTA

Guests

Rithya Lath - ral1239 Mike Cermak - riderta.com MikeCermak

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to make it easy for visitors to your Drupal site to get directions to a location via Google Maps? There’s a module for that.
• Module name/project name:
  • Geofield Directions
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Feb 2021 by Christopher Martin (ccjjmartin), though recent releases are by Allan Chappell (generalredneck)
  • Versions available: 1.0.1, compatible with Drupal ^8.8 ^9 || ^10 ^11
• Maintainership
  • Minimally maintained, Maintenance fixes only
  • Security coverage
  • Test coverage
  • Documentation? Not even a README
  • Number of open issues: 1 open issue, not a bug
• Usage stats:
  • 26 sites
• Module features and usage
  • The module provides a new field formatter, so you can install it and then update a view mode to use Geofield Directions. Now your content display will include a link to get directions
  • You can figure the text of the link, whether the link should open in a new tab, the magnification of the destination map, and more
  • The module also includes token support, so you can dynamically include things like the name of the location in the link text
  • I think the only downside I can see is that because this is implemented as a formatter, you have to choose the directions link OR a map, where I could foresee sites wanting to show both

Mobile Apps Powered by Drupal Backend (Android, iOS) Editor Mon, 09/02/2024 - 13:24

There are new CMSs coming into the market almost every year. Aggregation of ratings and other dull figures are carried out to see how they match with each other. However, there is a solo survivor – Drupal among the rest. While this CMS has competed for the Viewers' Choice Awards for the last 10 years, its ratings have not ceased to soar. It has been used to build sites for UNICEF, Teach for America (website of the US Department of Education), Le Figaro (a well-known French newspaper), and others.

Creating websites that are accessible to everyone is the basic requirement for every business now. With increasing awareness around inclusivity, organizations are prioritizing accessibility standards to ensure that their digital content is usable by all users trying to explore their websites/applications.For Drupal site owners, the challenge grows even more complex when managing multilingual…