News Roundup

Janna Malikova, a software engineer from Australia, announces her candidacy for the 2024 Drupal Association Board Election. With a background in team leadership, software development, and accessibility testing, she aims to enhance Drupal's documentation and educational impact. Janna's extensive contributions include organizing industry events, improving user guides and tutorials, and fostering Drupal adoption in academic settings.

Albert Hughes announces his candidacy for the 2024 Drupal Association Board Election. With extensive experience since 2007 in roles like project manager, developer, and architect, Hughes aims to leverage his knowledge to support the Drupal community. Currently a Product Owner at Stanford University, he has a broad background in various content management systems and has worked on over 500 websites.

Acquia, Agileana, Carahsoft, Insomniac Design, Lullabot, Palantir, and Riva Solutions will host a community party for Drupal GovCon attendees on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT at The Hall CP in College Park, MD. The event offers relaxation and entertainment with appetizers, drinks, and outdoor games like pickleball and foosball. Organizers invite all participants to unwind and socialize after the conference.

The Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit returns for its 10th event on October 11 to 13, 2024, in Seattle, Washington. This summit gathers over 200 Drupal professionals for sessions, training, and networking tailored for developers, designers, website builders, and project managers. The call for speakers and registration details will be announced soon.

Kevin Quillen, with over 16 years in the Drupal community, announces his candidacy for a Drupal Association board seat in the 2024 elections. As a Practice Lead at Velir, Kevin has significantly contributed to Drupal through module and theme development, co-authoring the Drupal 10 Development Cookbook, and exploring AI initiatives for Drupal 11. Kevin aims to maintain Drupal as an open, robust platform, enhancing its appeal and accessibility worldwide.

Dominique De Cooman, founder and co-CEO of Dropsolid, is running for the 2024 Drupal Association Board Election. With a strong background in Drupal and other open-source projects, he aims to drive growth by integrating Drupal with other platforms to create a comprehensive digital experience platform (DXP) and make it more appealing to SMEs. Dominique emphasizes the importance of effective marketing to showcase Drupal's ROI for smaller businesses and plans to leverage his technical and business expertise to provide strategic advice on marketing and sales.

Backdrop CMS 1.28.0 introduces key enhancements, including flexible configuration storage options. Users can now choose to store configuration data in the file system or database, optimizing performance based on their hosting environment. The update also simplifies development workflows, and a new Config Mover module is in development to further ease switching between storage options.

Drupal 11 has been officially launched, featuring enhanced flexibility, improved workflows, and advanced content governance. The update introduces innovative features like Recipes for instant website configurations and Single-Directory Components for streamlined front-end development. Additionally, Drupal 11 boasts up to 50% faster performance on PHP 8.3, enhanced accessibility, and future updates such as Automatic Updates and Project Browser.

The Drupal Association has announced the candidates for the 2024 Board Election, with seven contenders vying for one at-large seat. The community can engage with candidates through blog posts and forums, with voting commencing on 15 August. Results will be announced at DrupalCon Barcelona in September.

Anoop Singh, Tech Lead at Valuebound, announced the upcoming release of the FlexiStyle Bootstrap SCSS theme on Drupal.org. This new theme promises enhanced customization, faster load times, and modern, responsive design elements. Clear documentation and a user-friendly setup will help users easily integrate and customize the theme for their Drupal projects.

The Acquia 2024 Digital Freedom Tour will visit New York City on October 24, 2024, focusing on creating safer, more inclusive digital experiences. The event will feature presentations from industry leaders on digital innovation and accessibility. Details on the agenda, speakers, and registration will be announced soon, with opportunities for speaker proposals and sponsorships also available.

Matthew Saunders, a veteran in the Drupal community, has announced his candidacy for the Drupal Association Board elections. With 17 years of experience, including organizing DrupalCamp Colorado and serving in various leadership roles, Saunders aims to enhance community inclusivity and governance. Voting begins on 15 August, with results to be announced at DrupalCon Barcelona.

DrupalCamp Ottawa, happening on August 2, 2024, offers a rich mix of sessions for all skill levels in Drupal, from beginners to advanced developers. Keynote speaker Martin Anderson-Clutz will discuss the Starshot initiative, aimed at simplifying the Drupal experience. The event emphasizes community engagement, with networking opportunities and an after-party, highlighting its role as a vital gathering for web development enthusiasts.

Nominations for the Women in Drupal Award 2024 close in less than 36 hours. This award, supported by JAKALA, honors standout contributions in the "Define," "Build," and "Scale" categories, celebrating strategic innovators, key developers, and growth drivers in the Drupal community. Winners, announced on September 8, will serve on the 2025 jury, with the ceremony held at DrupalCon in Barcelona. Nominate by August 2 on the official event page.