News Roundup

DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 concluded with The DropTimes delivering extensive virtual coverage, thanks to the dedicated efforts of volunteers. Key contributors like Michaela Jurčeková, Surabhi Gokte, Anto Jose, and others played a crucial role in bringing the event's vibrancy to life through articles, photos, and videos. The DropTimes expressed heartfelt gratitude to all involved for making this coverage possible.

Droptica has launched a Drupal 7 Audit Tool to help companies estimate the costs and effort of migrating to Drupal 10 or 11. The tool extracts detailed metadata from Drupal 7 sites, offering insights into content types, modules, themes, and more for accurate migration planning. A demo video on Droptica’s blog shows how to generate audit data in just five minutes.

The Pinto module, developed by Daniel Phin and adopted by PreviousNext, introduces a new architecture for Drupal theming through reusable Theme Objects. By replacing traditional Drupal theming mechanisms, Pinto simplifies asset management, reduces manual work, and integrates seamlessly with tools like Storybook. Its modular design enhances development efficiency, making Pinto the go-to solution for theming in new Drupal projects at PreviousNext.

Drupal Mountain Camp 2025 has opened its call for speakers, inviting web development professionals to share expertise at the event in Switzerland from March 11-13, 2025. The camp features seven tracks, including Frontend, Backend, UX, and Innovation, with diverse session formats encouraged. Proposals are due by December 15, 2024, and selected speakers will receive a free ticket and exclusive event perks.

At DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, non-code contributions were highlighted, with experts urging more mentorship and recognition for roles like event organizers and designers. Discussions also focused on Drupal's rebranding, with a call for unbranded case studies to showcase its capabilities on drupal.org.

At DrupalCon Barcelona, Bjorn Brala led a BoF session on the la_eu project for local Drupal associations. The project, initially developed by the Dutch Drupal Association, provides a shared codebase enabling associations to launch unified, multilingual websites. Key discussions included roadmap planning, new feature development, and monthly check-ins, with a call for contributions this Friday to enhance the project.

Drupal founder Dries Buytaert announced the "Adopt a Document" sponsorship program at DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, inviting organizations to fund Drupal CMS documentation. The initiative aims to create a 30-section user guide with tutorials to support non-technical users of Drupal's new no-code product. Sponsors will receive contribution credits, logo placement, and help fund a dedicated Documentation Lead for the project.

Giannis Kyriazopoulos reports from the final day of DrupalCon Barcelona, filled with engaging sessions and key announcements. Benjamin Mullins presented a popular session on integrating Drupal with modern JavaScript via JSX without going headless, drawing much interest from the community. The BoF on the future of the Network of European Drupal Associations (NEDA) sparked fruitful discussions, while the wrap-up ceremony revealed Vienna as the next European DrupalCon destination in 2025.

DrupalCon Europe 2025 is set for Vienna from October 14-17, announced at DrupalCon Barcelona. The event will gather the global Drupal community for sessions, workshops, and discussions on Drupal advancements. More event details will be shared in the coming months.

1xINTERNET, a German web development agency, plans to enhance Drupal's advanced search features following feedback from nearly 100 experienced users. The improvements will include five modular search "recipes" for Search API, Facets, Autocomplete, and Views, offering flexibility for both coupled and decoupled setups. The initiative aims to improve customization, performance, and accessibility, with a focus on clearer documentation and user-friendly indexing controls.

Promet Source's Provus®EDU, a Drupal distribution for higher education, simplifies website management for colleges and universities. Used by institutions like Calvin University and Rowan College, it empowers non-technical users to manage content independently, reducing IT reliance. Key features include drag-and-drop content creation, customizable branding, and third-party tool integration for streamlined workflows.

Drupal 10.4 has removed the ability to install modules directly from URLs via its user interface, marking a shift towards modern project maintenance and Symfony framework integration. This update enhances security and efficiency, with Composer becoming essential for managing module dependencies. André Angelantoni reassures users that the new Project Browser offers a UI alternative for module installations.

The Drupal Association has announced the results of its 2024 Board Election, welcoming Alejandro Moreno, Sachiko Muto, and Stella Power as new members. Moreno secured the community-elected At-Large seat and aims to diversify the Association’s revenue streams and improve the first-time user experience. The board thanked outgoing members Nikki Flores and Nick Veenhof for their contributions, marking a pivotal moment for the Drupal community's future leadership.

Day two of DrupalCon Europe 2024 in Barcelona was filled with excitement, starting with contribution workshops to strengthen Drupal's core and modules. The AI Module and Starshot session offered a glimpse into how AI will transform Drupal site building. The day’s highlight was Theódór Ragnar Gíslason’s keynote on Defend Iceland, showcasing a community-driven cybersecurity initiative and emphasizing Drupal’s robust security after testing nearly 32k modules. Yorgos Andreadis also shared insights on building strong digital communities with Drupal, capping off a day of learning and collaboration.

At DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, Syndis CTO Theódór Ragnar Gíslason presented a keynote on "Defend Iceland," a community-driven cybersecurity initiative funded by a €2.53M European Commission grant. The project aims to establish a nationwide bug bounty platform, encouraging collaboration among citizens, ethical hackers, and organizations to strengthen Iceland's digital defenses. Inspired by the open-source model of Drupal, Theódór advocates for global adoption of community-focused cybersecurity to enhance resilience against evolving cyber threats.

Martin Anderson-Clutz updates the Starshot initiative, focusing on revitalizing the FullCalendar module and integrating it with Smart Date to support recurring and all-day events. Key milestones include FullCalendar compatibility with Drupal 11 and upcoming drag-and-drop editing. The Smart Date widget also sees enhancements for intuitive date-time entry, available in its latest beta, with further developments for event-related features in progress.

Attendees of DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 can enter a raffle for free tickets to DrupalCamp Berlin 2024 by snapping a photo with organizers and posting it on social media. Two winners will be selected daily from September 24-26, offering multiple chances to join the November 8-9 event. DrupalCamp Berlin 2024 will include workshops, talks, and networking, alongside the Splash Awards and Drupal Business Day.

DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 kicked off with global developers gathering for Europe's largest Drupal convention. Esmeralda Braad-Tijhoff, Pamela Barone, and Alla Petrovska were honored with Women in Drupal awards for their contributions to the ecosystem. Dries Buytaert’s keynote introduced key updates, including Drupal CMS 1.0 set for January 2025, the no-code Starshot project, and a Responsible AI Policy, sparking excitement for Drupal’s future.

DrupalACT is hosting a hybrid meetup on October 23, 2024, at Hide and Seek in Canberra. The event will feature talks from community members, including junior developer Brendan Tuckerman. The event will begin with a community update at 6:20 PM AEDT, followed by presentations, and will be available both in person and online via Google Meet. Supported by sponsors like Ironstar, the meetup will prioritize safety and inclusivity, adhering to the Drupal Code of Conduct.

Drupal CMS 1.0 is set for release on January 15, 2025, with a release candidate expected by December 2024. The Experience Builder (XB), aimed at transforming Drupal with React, will follow in 2025. Dries Buytaert's DrupalCon Europe 2024 keynote also highlighted Drupal's embrace of AI, the Starshot project for no-code solutions, enhanced documentation efforts, and the introduction of Drupal Recipes for streamlined site-building.

Sinduri Guntupalli, writing for The DropTimes, introduces Lupus Decoupled Drupal, an open-source project that combines Drupal’s backend with modern frontend technologies for a headless CMS setup. The platform retains core Drupal features while offering flexible frontend deployment through tools like Nuxt, enabling customization and performance optimization. With its component-oriented API and robust caching, Lupus Decoupled provides a versatile solution for developers and site builders.

The Drupal Community of Practice announces the Drupal@Europa Web Platform Hackathon for October 16, focused on AI-driven web development solutions. Organized with EuropaIT and AWS, the event will feature workshops on building an AI content editor assistant and an AI chatbot for enhanced site navigation. More details are available on the Drupal CoP website.

Liip's Josef Kruckenberg announces the release of the blökkli Starterkit, a new tool to streamline decoupled Drupal development. Featuring Nuxt 3, GraphQL, and an interactive in-page editor, the kit accelerates content creation and offers seamless integration with popular development environments. The blökkli team will present key sessions at DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, showcasing its features and inviting community feedback.

André Angelantoni’s LinkedIn post, "Keeping Drupal Relevant — The Next Five-year Plan," highlights the platform's progress since 2019, including automated updates, Workspaces, and the expanding Layout Builder ecosystem. He praises new features like Recipes but raises critical questions about Drupal's future, including a potential shift from PHP and its page request model. Angelantoni urges the community to reflect on these innovations and consider what should be part of Drupal's next strategic vision.

The 2024 Women in Drupal Awards were announced at DrupalCon Barcelona, honoring Esmeralda Braad-Tijhoff, Pamela Barone, and Alla Petrovska for their outstanding contributions to the community. Esmeralda won in the Define category for leading innovative projects, Pamela in Build for developing cutting-edge solutions, and Alla in Scale for driving business growth through Drupal. Sponsored by JAKALA, the awards celebrate leadership, diversity, and inclusion in the Drupal ecosystem.

DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 kicks off today. It will focus on networking and collaboration for event organizers within the Drupal community. Key sessions throughout the week will address the future of in-person events, non-code contributions, and best practices for organizing Drupal events. The Event Organizer Working Group has also opened board nominations, with a virtual meeting set for October 8 to engage the wider community.

During DrupalCon Portland 2024, Joshua Northcott, CTO of Hounder, highlighted how Drupal powers public sector websites and emphasized personalization and user intent in his key talks. He shared insights on creating efficient, user-friendly government websites, focusing on improving usability and operational efficiency. Hounder's redesign of the LA Department of Water and Power site and work with San Bernardino County Schools demonstrate the impact of their strategies on government digital platforms. Dan Wilson of CK Editor writes with a bonus video interview.

Jay Callicott announces the release of detailed DrupalX Decoupled documentation on Gitbook. The resource offers developers a complete guide to installation, setup, and Next.js integration. It also includes insights into paragraph integration and a link to the Storybook site for out-of-the-box components. DrupalX merges Drupal’s CMS strength with a modern front end, enabling fast, dynamic website development.