As of this writing, there are 47,008 modules available on Drupal.org. Even if you filter for Drupal 8 or Drupal 9, there is still an impressive number of modules available (approximately 10,000 and 5,000 respectively). Chances are that you would find just the module you are looking for to build what you want. In fact, chances are that you will find more than one module to do what you want. How do you decide which module to pick?
I picked up this topic from my ideas list for this #DrupalFest series of posts. I didn’t think I would want to write about this because I don’t think about features that way. One of the strengths of Drupal is its modular architecture and I can put in any feature I want from the contrib space.
Drupal is a CMS. One might even say that Drupal is a good CMS and they would be right about that, in my not-so-humble opinion. At its core, Drupal is able to define content really well. Sure, it needs to do better at making the content editor’s experience pleasant, apart from other things. But defining content structures that are malleable to multiple surfaces has always been Drupal’s strengths. This makes Drupal an excellent choice for building a Digital Experience Platform (DXP).
As I was leaving home for the park, I wondered aloud what topic should I write about today. My daughters chimed in write about your three Drupal kids. It was an off-the-hand comment that portrayed how often they think about Drupal (more than me). But I thought, why not write about this–write about the people and how Drupal impacts them.
It’s spring and I decided to come out to a park to work and write today’s post. I sat on a bench and logged in to my WordPress site to start writing the post when I noticed that one of the plugins had updates available. I didn’t have to think about this and straightaway hit the update button. Less than 30 seconds later, the plugin was updated, the red bubble had disappeared, and I had my idea of today’s post. That is why I want to talk about automatic updates on Drupal today.
I have been setting up computers and configuring web servers for a long time now. I started off my computing journey by building computers and setting up operating systems for others. Soon, I started configuring servers first using shared hosting and then dedicated servers. As virtualization became mainstream, I started configuring cloud instances to run websites. At a certain point, I was maintaining several projects (some seasonal), it became harder to remember how exactly I had configured a particular server when I needed to upgrade or set it up again. That is why I have been interested in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for a long time.
Here’s a quick post to show how we can run Drupal in a CI environment easily so that we can test the site. Regardless of how you choose to run the tests (e.g. PHPUnit, Behat, etc), you still need to run the site somewhere. It is not a great idea to test on an actual environment (unless it is isolated and designated for testing). You need to set up a temporary environment just for the CI pipeline where you run the tests and then tear it down.
Today, I want to share my thoughts from a book passage related to Drupal. The book, Everyday Chaos by David Weinberger, is largely about how chaos is the new reality in today’s machine-learning-driven world. In this book, Drupal is discussed in the chapter on strategy and possibility where it is contrasted with more traditional methods of product development and organizational vision. The book is amazing and insightful, and the section on Drupal was a welcome surprise.
Today’s DrupalFest post is on the lighter side. I am just going to talk about some of the podcasts I listen to related to Drupal, PHP, and software development in general. I’ll try to cover all the Drupal podcasts I know about. Let me know in the comments if I have missed something. As for others, I am just listing those I listen to.
Today’s post is going to be a quick one; not because it is an easy topic but because a lot has been said about it already. Today, I want to share my thoughts on decoupling Drupal; thoughts that are mainly a mix of borrowed thoughts from several places. I will try to link where I can but I can’t separate my thoughts from borrowed ones now. Anyway, by the end of the post, you might have read a lot of things you already knew and hopefully, one or two new things about Decoupling Drupal.