webjoke.de

For the fifth year in a row, Acquia has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (DXP).

Acquia received this recognition from Gartner based on both the completeness of product vision and ability to execute.

Central to our vision and execution is a deep commitment to openness. Leveraging Drupal, Mautic and open APIs, we've built the most open DXP, empowering customers and partners to tailor our platform to their needs.

Our emphasis on openness extends to ensuring our solutions are accessible and inclusive, making them available to everyone. We also prioritize building trust through data security and compliance, integral to our philosophy of openness.

We're proud to be included in this report and thank our customers and partners for their support and collaboration.

Mandatory disclaimer from Gartner

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms, Irina Guseva, Jim Murphy, Mike Lowndes, John Field - February 21, 2024.

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Acquia.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Martti Malmi, an early contributor to the Bitcoin project, recently shared a fascinating piece of internet history: an archive of private emails between himself and Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's mysterious founder.

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in the technology world. Despite extensive investigations, speculative reports, and numerous claims over the years, the true identity of Bitcoin's creator(s) is still unknown.

Martti Malmi released these private conversations in reaction to a court case focused on the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto and the legal entitlements to the Bitcoin brand and technology.

The emails provide some interesting details into Bitcoin's early days, and might also provide some new clues about Satoshi's identity.

Satoshi and Martti worked together on a variety of different things, including the relaunch of the Bitcoin website. Their goal was to broaden public understanding and awareness of Bitcoin.

And to my surprise, the emails reveal they chose Drupal as their preferred CMS! (Thanks to Jeremy Andrews for making me aware.)

The emails detail Satoshi's hands-on involvement, from installing Drupal themes, to configuring Drupal's .htaccess file, to exploring Drupal's multilingual capabilities.

At some point in the conversation, Satoshi expressed reservations about Drupal's forum module.

For what it is worth, this proves that I'm not Satoshi Nakamoto. Had I been, I'd have picked Drupal right away, and I would never have questioned Drupal's forum module.

Jokes aside, as Drupal's Founder and Project Lead, learning about Satoshi's use of Drupal is a nice addition to Drupal's rich history. Almost every day, I'm inspired by the unexpected impact Drupal has.

HTTP headers play a crucial part in making your website fast and secure. For that reason, I often inspect HTTP headers to troubleshoot caching problems or review security settings.

The complexity of the HTTP standard and the challenge to remember all the best practices led me to develop an HTTP Header Analyzer four years ago.

It is pretty simple: enter a URL, and the tool will analyze the headers sent by your webserver, CMS or web application. It then explains these headers, offers a score, and suggests possible improvements.

For a demonstration, click https://dri.es/headers?url=https://www.reddit.com. As the URL suggests, it will analyze the HTTP headers of Reddit.com.

I began this as a weekend project in the early days of COVID, seeing it as just another addition to my toolkit. At the time, I simply added it to my projects page but never announced or mentioned it on my blog.

So why write about it now? Because I happened to check my log files and, lo and behold, the little scanner that could clocked in more than 5 million scans, averaging over 3,500 scans a day.

So four years and five million scans later, I'm finally announcing it to the world!

If you haven't tried my HTTP header analyzer, check it out. It's free, easy to use, requires no sign-up, and is built to help improve your website's performance and security.

The crawler works with all websites, but naturally, I added some special checks for Drupal sites.

I don't have any major plans for the crawler. At some point, I'd like to move it to its own domain, as it feels a bit out of place as part of my personal website. But for now, that isn't a priority.

For the time being, I'm open to any feedback or suggestions and will commit to making any necessary corrections or improvements.

It's rewarding to know that this tool has made thousands of websites faster and safer! It's also a great reminder to share your work, even in the simplest way – you never know the impact it could have.

At the beginning of every year, I publish a retrospective that looks back at the previous year at Acquia. I also discuss the changing dynamics in our industry, focusing on Content Management Systems (CMS) and Digital Experience Platforms (DXP).

If you'd like, you can read all of my retrospectives for the past 15 years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.

Resilience and growth amid market turbulence

At the beginning of 2023, interest rates were 4.5%. Technology companies, investors, and PE firms were optimistic, anticipating modest growth. However, as inflation persisted and central banks raised rates more than expected, this optimism dwindled.

The first quarter also saw a regional bank crisis, notably the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, which many tech firms, including Acquia, relied on. Following these events, the market's pace slowed, and the early optimism shifted to a more cautious outlook.

Despite these challenges, Acquia thrived. We marked 16 years of revenue increase, achieved record renewal rates, and continued our five-year trend of rising profitability. 2023 was another standout year for Acquia.

One of our main objectives for 2023 was to expand our platform through M&A. However, tighter credit lending, valuation discrepancies, and economic uncertainty complicated these efforts. By the end of 2023, with the public markets rebounding, the M&A landscape showed slight improvement.

In November, we announced Acquia's plan to acquire Monsido, a platform for improving website accessibility, content quality, SEO, privacy, and performance. The acquisition closed last Friday. I'm excited about expanding the value we offer to our customers and look forward to welcoming Monsido's employees to Acquia.

Working towards a safer, responsible and inclusive digital future

Looking ahead to 2024, I anticipate these to be the dominant trends in the CMS and DXP markets:

• Converging technology ecosystems: MACH and Jamstack are evolving beyond their original approaches. As a result, we'll see their capabilities converge with one another, and with those of traditional CMSes. I wrote extensively about this in Jamstack and MACH's journey towards traditional CMS concepts.
• Navigating the cookie-less future: Marketers will need to navigate a cookie-less future. This means organizations will depend more and more on data they collect from their own digital channels (websites, newsletters, video platforms, etc).
• Digital decentralization: The deterioration of commercial social media platforms has been a positive development in my opinion. I anticipate users will continue to reduce their time on these commercial platforms. The steady shift towards open, decentralized alternatives like Mastodon, Nostr, and personal websites is a welcome trend.
• Growth in digital accessibility: The importance of accessibility is growing and will become even more important in 2024 as organizations prepare for enforcement of the European Accessibility Act in 2025. This trend isn't just about responding to legislation; it's about making sure digital experiences are inclusive to everyone, including individuals with disabilities.
• AI's impact on digital marketing and websites: As people start getting information directly from Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, organic website traffic will decline. Just like with the cookie-less future, organizations will need to focus more on growing their own digital channels with exclusive and personalized content.
• AI's impact on website building: We'll witness AI's evolution from assisting in content production to facilitating the building of applications. Instead of laboriously piecing together landing pages or campaigns with a hundred clicks, users will simply be able to guide the process with AI prompts. AI will evolve to become the new user interface for complex tasks.
• Cybersecurity prioritization: As digital landscapes expand, so do vulnerabilities. People and organizations will become more protective of their personal and privacy data, and will demand greater control over the sharing and storage of their information. This means a growing focus on regulation, more strict compliance rules, automatic software updates, AI-driven monitoring and threat detection, passwordless authentication, and more.
• Central content and data stores: Organizations are gravitating more and more towards all-in-one platforms that consolidate data and content. This centralization enables businesses to better understand and anticipate customer needs, and deliver better, personalized customer experiences.

While some of these trends suggest a decline in the importance of traditional websites, others trends point towards a positive future for websites. On one side, the rise of AI in information gathering will decrease the need for traditional websites. On the other side, the decline of commercial social media and the shift to a cookie-less future suggest that websites will continue to be important, perhaps even more so.

What I like most about many of these trends is that they are shaping a more intuitive, inclusive, and secure digital future. Their impact on end-users will be profound, making every interaction more personal, accessible, and secure.

However, I suspect the ways in which we do digital marketing will need to change quite a bit. Marketing teams will need to evolve how they generate leads. They'll have to use privacy-friendly methods to develop strong customer relationships and offer more value than what AI tools provide.

This means getting closer to customers with content that is personal and relevant. The use of intent data, first-party data and predictive marketing for determining the "next best actions" will continue to grow in importance.

It also means that more content may transition into secure areas such as newsletters, members-only websites, or websites that tailor content dynamically for each user, where it can't be mined by AI tools.

All this bodes well for CMSes, Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), personalization software, Account-Based Marketing (ABM), etc. By utilizing these platforms, marketing teams can better engage with individuals and offer more meaningful experiences. Acquia is well-positioned based on these trends.

Reaffirming our DXP strategy, with a focus on openness

On a personal front, my title expanded from CTO to CTO & Chief Strategy Officer. Since Acquia's inception, I've always played a key role in shaping both our technology and business strategies. This title change reflects my ongoing responsibilities.

Until 2018, Acquia mainly focused on CMS. In 2018, we made a strategic shift from being a leader in CMS to becoming a leader in DXP. We have greatly expanded our product portfolio since then. Today, Acquia's DXP includes CMS, Digital Asset Management (DAM), Customer Data Platform (CDP), Marketing Automation, Digital Experience Optimization, and more. We've been recognized as leaders in DXP by analyst firms including Gartner, GigaOm, Aragon Research and Omdia.

As we entered 2023, we felt we had successfully executed our big 2018 strategy shift. With my updated title, I spearheaded an effort to revise our corporate strategy to figure out what is next. The results were that we reaffirmed our commitment to our core DXP market with the goal of creating the best "Open DXP" in the market.

We see "Open" as a key differentiator. As part of our updated strategy, we explicitly defined what "Open" means to us. While this topic deserves a blog post on its own, I will touch on it here.

Being "Open" means we actively promote integrations with third-party vendors. When you purchase an Acquia product, you're not just buying a tool; you're also buying into a technology ecosystem.

However, our definition of "Open" extends far beyond mere integrations. It's also about creating an inclusive environment where everyone is empowered to participate and contribute to meaningful digital experiences in a safe and secure manner. Our updated strategy, while still focused on the DXP ecosystem, champions empowerment, inclusivity, accessibility, and safety.

A slide from our strategy presentation, summarizing our definition of an Open DXP. The definition is the cornerstone of Acquia's "Why"-statement.

People who have followed me for a while know that I've long advocated for an Open Web, promoting inclusivity, accessibility, and safety. It's inspiring to see Acquia fully embrace these principles, a move I hope will inspire not just me, but our employees, customers, and partners too. It's not just a strategy; it's a reflection of our core values.

It probably doesn't come as a surprise that our updated strategy aligns with the trends I outlined above, many of which also point towards a safer, more responsible, and inclusive digital future. Our enthusiasm for the Monsido acquisition is also driven by these core principles.

Needless to say, our strategy update is about much more than a commitment to openness. Our commitment to openness drives a lot of our strategic decisions. Here are a few key examples to illustrate our direction.

• Expanding into the mid-market: Acquia has primarily catered to the enterprise and upper mid-market sectors. We're driven by the belief that an open platform, dedicated to inclusivity, accessibility, and safety, enhances the web for everyone. Our commitment to contributing to a better web is motivating us to broaden our reach, making expanding into the mid-market a logical strategic move.
• Expanding partnerships, empowering co-creation: Our partnership program is well-established with Drupal, and we're actively expanding partnerships for Digital Asset Management (DAM), CDP, and marketing automation. We aim to go beyond a standard partner program by engaging more deeply in co-creation with our partners, similar to what we do in the Open Source community. The goal is to foster an open ecosystem where everyone can contribute to developing customer solutions, embodying our commitment to empowerment and collaboration. We've already launched a marketplace in 2023, Acquia Exchange, featuring more than 100 co-created solutions, with the goal of expanding to 500 by the end of 2024.
• Be an AI-fueled organization: In 2023, we launched numerous AI features and we anticipate introducing even more in 2024. Acquia already adheres to responsible AI principles. This aligns with our definition of "Open", emphasizing accountability and safety for the AI systems we develop. We want to continue to be a leader in this space.

Stronger together

We've always been very focused on our greatest asset: our people. This year, we welcomed exceptional talent across the organization, including two key additions to our Executive Leadership Team (ELT): Tarang Patel, leading Corporate Development, and Jennifer Griffin Smith, our Chief Market Officer. Their expertise has already made a significant impact.

Eight awards for "Best Places to Work 2023" in various categories such as IT, mid-size workplaces, female-friendly environments, wellbeing, and appeal for millennials, across India, the UK, and the USA.

In 2023, we dedicated ourselves to redefining and enhancing the Acquia employee experience, committing daily to its principles through all our programs. This focus, along with our strong emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), has cultivated a culture of exceptional productivity and collaboration. As a result, we've seen not just record-high employee retention rates but also remarkable employee satisfaction and engagement. Our efforts have earned us various prestigious "Best Place to Work" awards.

Customer-centric excellence, growth, and renewals

Our commitment to delivering great customer experiences is evident in the awards and recognition we received, many of which are influenced by customer feedback. These accolades include recognition on platforms like TrustRadius and G2, as well as the prestigious 2023 CODiE Award. Acquia received 32 awards for leadership in various categories across its products.

As mentioned earlier, we delivered consistently excellent, and historically high, renewal rates throughout 2023. It means our customers are voting with their feet (and wallets) to stay with Acquia.

Furthermore, we achieved remarkable growth within our customer base with record rates of expansion growth. Not only did customers choose to stay with Acquia, they chose to buy more from Acquia as well.

To top it all off, we experienced a substantial increase in the number of customers who were willing to serve as references for Acquia, endorsing our products and services to prospects.

Many of the notable customer stories for 2023 came from some of the world's most recognizable organizations, including:

• Nestlé: With thousands of brand sites hosted on disparate technologies, Nestlé brand managers had difficulty maintaining, updating, and securing brand assets globally. Not only was it a challenge to standardize and govern the multiple brands, it was costly to maintain resources for each technology and inefficient with work being duplicated across sites. Today, Nestlé uses Drupal, Acquia Cloud Platform and Acquia Site Factory to face these challenges. Nearly all (90%) of Nestlé sites are built using Drupal. Across the brand's entire portfolio of sites, approximately 60% are built on a shared codebase – made possible by Acquia and Acquia Site Factory.
• Novartis: The Novartis product sites in the U.S. were fragmented across multiple platforms, with different approaches and capabilities and varying levels of technical debt. This led to uncertainty in the level of effort and time to market for new properties. Today, the Novartis platform built with Acquia and EPAM has become a model within the larger Novartis organization for how a design system can seamlessly integrate with Drupal to build a decoupled front end. The new platform allows Novartis to create new or move existing websites in a standardized design framework, leading to more efficient development cycles and more functionality delivered in each sprint.
• US Drug Enforcement Administration: The U.S. DEA wanted to create a campaign site to increase public awareness regarding the increasing danger of fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl. Developed with Tactis and Acquia, the campaign website One Pill Can Kill highlights the lethal nature of fentanyl. The campaign compares real and fake pills through videos featuring parents and teens who share their experiences with fentanyl. It also provides resources and support for teens, parents, and teachers and discusses the use of Naloxone in reversing the effects of drug overdose.
• Cox Automotive: Cox Automotive uses first-party data through Acquia Campaign Studio for better targeted marketing. With their Automotive Marketing Platform (AMP) powered by Acquia, they access real-time data and insights, delivering personalized messages at the right time. The results? Dealers using AMP see consumers nine times more likely to purchase within 45 days and a 14-fold increase in sales gross profit ROI.

I'm proud of outcomes like this: it show how valuable our DXP is to our customers.

Product innovation

In 2023, we remained focused on solving problems for our current and future customers. We use both quantitative and qualitative data to assess areas of opportunities and run hypothesis-driven experiments with design prototypes, hackathons, and proofs-of-concept. This approach has led to hundreds of improvements across our products, both by our development teams and through partnerships. Below are some key innovations that have transformed the way our customers operate:

• We released many AI features in 2023, including AI assistants and automations for Acquia DAM, Acquia CDP, Acquia Campaign Studio, and Drupal. This includes: AI assist during asset creation in Drupal and Campaign Studio, AI-generated descriptions for assets and products in DAM, auto-tagging in DAM with computer vision, next best action/channel predictions in CDP, ML-powered customer segmentation in CDP, and much more.
• Our Drupal Acceleration Team (DAT) worked with the Drupal community on major upgrade of the Drupal field UI, which makes it significantly faster and more user-friendly to perform content modeling. We also open sourced Acquia Migrate Accelerate as part of the run-up to the Drupal 7 community end-of-life in January 2025. Finally, DAT contributed to a number of major ongoing initiatives including Project Browser, Automatic Updates, Page Building, Recipes, and more that will be seen in later versions of Drupal.
• We launched a new trial experience for Acquia Cloud Platform, our Drupal platform. Organizations can now explore Acquia's hosting and developer tools to see how their Drupal applications perform on our platform.
• Our Kuberbetes-native Drupal hosting platform backed by AWS, Acquia Cloud Next, continued to roll out to more customers. Over two-thirds of our customers are now enjoying Acquia Cloud Next, which provides them the highest levels of performance, self-healing, and dynamic scaling. We've seen a 50% decrease in critical support tickets since transitioning customers to Acquia Cloud Next, all while maintaining an impressive uptime record of 99.99% or higher.
• Our open source marketing automation tool, Acquia Campaign Studio, is now running on Acquia Cloud Next as its core processing platform. This consolidation benefits everyone: it streamlines and accelerates innovation for us while enabling our customers to deliver targeted and personalized messages at a massive scale.
• We decided to make Mautic a completely independent Open Source project, letting it grow and change freely. We've remained the top contributor ever since.
• Marketers can now easily shape the Acquia CDP data model using low-code tools, custom attributes and custom calculations features. This empowers all Acquia CDP users, regardless of technical skill, to explore new use cases.
• Acquia CDP's updated architecture enables nearly limitless elasticity, which allows the platform to scale automatically based on demand. We put this to the test during Black Friday, when our CDP efficiently handled billions of events. Our new architecture has led to faster, more consistent processing times, with speeds improving by over 70%.
• With Snowflake as Acquia's data backbone, Acquia customers can now collaborate on their data within their organization and across business units. Customers can securely share and access governed data while preserving privacy, offering them advanced data strategies and solutions.
• Our DAM innovation featured 47 updates and 13 new integrations. These updates included improved Product Information Management (PIM) functionality, increased accessibility, and a revamped search experience. Leveraging AI, we automated the generation of alt-text and product descriptions, which streamlines content management. Additionally, we established three partnerships to enhance content creation, selection, and distribution in DAM: Moovly for AI-driven video creation and translation, Vizit for optimizing content based on audience insights, and Syndic8 for distributing visual and product content across online commerce platforms.
• With the acquisition of Monsido and new partnerships with VWO (tools for optimizing website engagement and conversions) and Conductor (SEO platform), Acquia DXP now offers an unparalleled suite of tools for experience optimization. Acquia already provided the best tools to build, manage and operate websites. With these additions, Acquia DXP also offers the best solution for experience optimization.
• Acquia also launched Acquia TV, a one-stop destination for all things digital experience. It features video podcasts, event highlights, product breakdowns, and other content from a diverse collection of industry voices. This is a great example of how we use our own technology to connect more powerfully with our audiences. It's something our customers strive to do everyday.

Conclusion

In spite of the economic uncertainties of 2023, Acquia had a remarkable year. We achieved our objectives, overcame challenges, and delivered outstanding results. I'm grateful to be in the position that we are in.

Our achievements in 2023 underscore the importance of putting our customers first and nurturing exceptional teams. Alongside effective management and financial responsibility, these elements fuel ongoing growth, irrespective of economic conditions.

Of course, none of our results would be possible without the support of our customers, our partners, and the Drupal and Mautic communities. Last but not least, I'm grateful for the dedication and hard work of all Acquians who made 2023 another exceptional year.

Since 1999, I've been consistently working on this website, making it one of my longest-standing projects. Even after all these years, the satisfaction of working on my website remains strong. Remarkable, indeed.

During rare moments of calm — be it a slow holiday afternoon, a long flight home, or the early morning stillness — I'm often drawn to tinkering with my website.

When working on my website, I often make small tweaks and improvements. Much like a watchmaker meticulously fine-tuning the gears of an antique clock, I pay close attention to details.

This holiday, I improved the lazy loading of images in my blog posts, leading to a perfect Lighthouse score. A perfect score isn't necessary, but it shows the effort and care I put into my website.

Screenshot of Lighthouse scores via https://pagespeed.web.dev/.

I also validated my RSS feeds, uncovering a few opportunities for improvement. Like a good Belgian school boy, I promptly implemented these improvements, added new PHPUnit tests and integrated these into my CI/CD pipeline. Some might consider this overkill for a personal site, but for me, it's about mastering the craft, adhering to high standards, and building something that is durable.

Last year, I added 135 new photos to my website, a way for me to document my adventures and family moments. As the year drew to a close, I made sure all new photos have descriptive alt-texts, ensuring they're accessible to all. Writing alt-texts can be tedious, yet it's these small but important details that give me satisfaction.

Just like the watchmaker working on an antique watch, it's not just about keeping time better; it's about cherishing the process and craft. There is something uniquely calming about slowly iterating on the details of a website. I call it the The Watchmaker's Approach to Web Development, where the process holds as much value as the result.

I'm thankful for my website as it provides me a space where I can create, share, and unwind. Why share all this? Perhaps to encourage more people to dive into the world of website creation and maintenance.

Drupal's database abstraction layer is great for at least two reasons. First, it ensures compatibility with various database systems like MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite. Second, it improves security by preventing SQL injection attacks.

My main concern with using any database abstraction layer is the seemingly reduced control over the final SQL query. I like to see and understand the final query.

To inspect and debug database queries, I like to use MariaDB's General Query Log. When enabled, this feature captures every query directly in a text file.

I like this approach for a few reasons:

• It directly captures the query in MariaDB instead of Drupal. This provides the most accurate view of the final SQL queries.
• It enables real-time monitoring of all queries in a separate terminal window, removing the need to insert debug statements into code.
• It records both successful and unsuccessful queries, making it a handy tool for debugging purposes.

If you're interested in trying it out, here is how I set up and use MariaDB's General Query Log.

First, log in as the MySQL super user. Since I'm using DDEV for my development, the command to do that looks like this:

[code bash]$ ddev mysql -u root -proot[/code]

After logging in as the MySQL super user, you need to set a few global variables:

[code shell]SET global general_log = 1; SET global log_output = 'file'; SET global general_log_file = '/home/dries/queries.txt';[/code]

This will start logging all queries to a file named 'queries.txt' in my home directory.

DDEV employs containers, isolated environments designed for operating specific software such as databases. To view the queries, you must log into the database container.

[code bash]$ ddev ssh -s db[/code]

Now, you can easily monitor the queries in real-time from a separate terminal window:

[code bash]$ tail -f /home/dries/queries.txt[/code]

This is a simple yet effective way to monitor all database queries that Drupal generates.

In recent years, new architectures like MACH and Jamstack have emerged in the world of Content Management Systems (CMS) and Digital Experience Platforms (DXP).

In some way, they have challenged traditional models. As a result, people sometimes ask for my take on MACH and Jamstack. I've mostly refrained from sharing my perspective to avoid controversy.

However, recognizing the value of diverse viewpoints, I've decided to share some of my thoughts. I hope it contributes positively to the ongoing evolution of these technologies.

The Jamstack is embracing its inner CMS

Jamstack, born in 2015, began as an approach for building static sites. The term Jamstack stands for JavaScript, APIs and Markup. Jamstack is an architectural approach that decouples the web experience layer from content and business logic. The web experience layer is often pre-rendered as static pages (markup), served via a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

By 2023, the Jamstack community underwent a considerable transformation. It evolved significantly from its roots, increasingly integrating traditional CMS features, such as "content previews". This shift is driven by the need to handle more complex websites and to make the Jamstack more user-friendly for marketers, moving beyond its developer-centric origins.

Netlify, a leader in the Jamstack community, has acknowledged this shift. As part of that, they are publicly moving away from the term "Jamstack" towards being a "composable web platform".

Many traditional CMSes, including Drupal, have long embraced the concept of "composability". For example, Drupal has been recognized as a composable CMS for two decades and offers advanced composable capabilities.

This expansion reflects a natural progression in technology, where software tends to grow more complex and multifaceted over time, often referred to as the law of increasing complexity. What starts simple becomes more complex over time.

I believe the Jamstack will continue adding traditional CMS features such as menu management, translation workflows, and marketing technology integrations until they more closely resemble traditional CMSes.

Wake-up call: CMSes are hybrid now

The Jamstack is starting to look more like traditional CMSes, not only in features, but also in architecture. Traditional CMSes can work in two main ways: "coupled" or "integrated", where they separate the presentation layer from the business logic using an approach called Model-View-Controller (MVC), or "decoupled", where the front-end and back-end are split using web service APIs, like the Jamstack does.

Modern CMSes integrate well with various JavaScript frameworks, have GraphQL backends, can render static pages, and much more.

This combination of both methods is known as "hybrid". Most traditional CMSes have adopted this hybrid approach. For example, Drupal has championed a headless approach for over a decade, predating both the terms "Jamstack" and "Headless".

Asserting that traditional CMSes are "monolithic" and "outdated" is a narrow-minded view held by people who have overlooked their evolution. In reality, today's choice is between a purely Headless or a Hybrid CMS. Redefining "Jamstack" beyond overstated claims

As the Jamstack becomes more versatile, the original "Jamstack" name and definition feel restrictive. The essence of Jamstack, once centered on creating faster, secure websites with a straightforward deployment process, is changing.

It's time to move beyond some of the original value proposition, not just because of its evolution, but also because many of the Jamstack's advantages have been overstated for years:

• The notion that Jamstack deployments are easy is debatable. In reality, it can be a frustrating task, both for developers and marketers, but especially for marketers.
• I'm also critical of Jamstack's purported performance benefits.

In short, Jamstack, initially known for its static site generation and simplicity, is growing into something more dynamic and complex. This is a positive evolution driven by the market's need. This evolution narrows the gap between Jamstack and traditional CMSes, though they still differ somewhat – Jamstack offers a pure headless approach, while traditional CMSes offer both headless and integrated options.

Last but not least, this shift is making Jamstack more similar to MACH, leading to my opinion on the latter.

The key difference between MACH and traditional CMSes

Many readers, especially people in the Drupal community, might be unaware of MACH. MACH is an acronym for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, Headless. It specifies an architectural approach where each business function is a distinct cloud service, often created and maintained by separate vendors and integrated by the end user.

Imagine creating an online store with MACH certified solutions: you'd use different cloud services for each aspect – one for handling payments, another for your product catalog, and so on. A key architectural concept of MACH is that each of these services can be developed, deployed, and managed independently.

At first glance, that doesn't look too different from Drupal or WordPress. Platforms like WordPress and Drupal are already integration-rich, with Drupal surpassing 50,000 different modules in 2023. In fact, some of these modules integrate Drupal with MACH services. For example, when building an online store in Drupal or WordPress, you'd install modules that connect with a payment service, SaaS-based product catalog, and so on.

At a glance, this modular approach seems similar to MACH. Yet, there is a distinct contrast: Drupal and WordPress extend their capabilities by adding modules to a "core platform", while MACH is a collection of independent services, operating without relying on an underlying core platform.

MACH could benefit from "monolithic" features

Many in the MACH community applaud the lack of a core platform, often criticizing it as "monolithic". Calling a CMS like Drupal "monolithic" is, in my opinion, a misleading and simplistic marketing strategy. From a technical perspective, Drupal's core platform is exceptionally modular, allowing all components to be swapped.

Rather than (mis)labeling traditional CMSes as "monolithic", a more accurate way to explain the difference between MACH and traditional CMSes is to focus on the presence or absence of a "core platform".

More importantly, what is often overlooked is the vital role a core platform plays in maintaining a consistent user experience, centralized account management, handling integration compatibility and upgrades, streamlining translation and content workflows across integrations, and more. The core platform essentially offers "shared services" aimed to help improve the end user and developer experience. Without a core platform, there can be increased development and maintenance costs, a fragmented user experience, and significant challenges in composability.

This aligns with a phenomenon that I call "MACH fatigue". Increasingly, organizations come to terms with the expenses of developing and maintaining a MACH-based system. Moreover, end-users often face a fragmented user experience. Instead of a seamlessly integrated interface, they often have to navigate multiple disconnected systems to complete their tasks.

To me, it seems that an ideal solution might be described as "loosely-coupled architectures with a highly integrated user experience". Such architectures allow the flexibility to mix and match the best systems (like your preferred CMS, CRM, and commerce platform). Meanwhile, a highly integrated user experience ensures that these combinations are seamless, not just for the end users but also for content creators and experience builders.

At present, traditional platforms like Drupal are closer to this ideal compared to MACH solutions. I anticipate that in the coming years, the MACH community will focus on improving the cost-effectiveness of MACH platforms. This will involve creating tools for managing dependencies and ensuring version compatibility, similar to the practices embraced by Drupal with Composer.

Efforts are already underway to streamline the MACH user experience with "Digital Experience Composition (DXC) tools". DXC acts as a layer over a MACH architecture, offering a user interface that breaks down various MACH elements into modular "Lego blocks". This allows both developers and marketers to assemble these blocks into a digital experience. Users familiar with traditional CMSes might find this a familiar concept, as many CMS platforms include DXC elements as integral features within their core platform.

Traditional CMSes like Drupal can also take cues from Jamstack and MACH, particularly in their approaches to web services. For instance, while Drupal effectively separates business logic from the presentation layer using the MVC pattern, it primarily relies on internal APIs. A shift towards more public web service APIs could enhance Drupal's flexibility and innovation potential.

Conclusions

In recent years, we've witnessed a variety of technical approaches in the CMS/DXP landscape, with MACH, Jamstack, decoupled, and headless architectures each carving out their paths.

Initially, these paths appeared to diverge. However, we're now seeing a trend of convergence, where different systems are learning from each other and integrating their unique strengths.

The Jamstack is evolving beyond its original focus on static site generation into a more dynamic and complex approach, narrowing the gap with traditional CMSes.

Similarly, to bridge the divide with traditional CMSes, MACH may need to broaden its scope to encompass shared services commonly found in the core platform of traditional CMSes. That would help with developer cost, composability and user-friendliness.

In the end, the success of any platform is judged by how effectively it delivers a good user experience and cost efficiency, regardless of its architecture. The focus needs to move away from architectural considerations to how these technologies can create more intuitive, powerful platforms for end users.

Beware the ides of March!

With just one week until we meet in person for MidCamp 2024, book your ticket before the standard discount pricing ends on March 14, 11.59pm CT to save $100!

Session Schedule

We’ve got a great line-up this year! All sessions on Wednesday and Thursday (March 20/21) are included in the price of your MidCamp registration. We encourage you to start planning your days -- and get ready for some great learning opportunities!

• Wednesday Session Schedule

• Thursday Session Schedule

• Friday Contribution Day Schedule | Training

Expanded Learning Tickets

Know any students or individuals seeking to expand their Drupal knowledge?

We have heavily discounted tickets ($25!) available for students and those wanting to learn more about Drupal to join us at MidCamp and learn more about the community!

There are sessions for everyone—topics range from Site Building and DevOps to Project Management and Design.

Get your tickets now!

Volunteer for some exclusive swag!

If you know you'll be joining us in Chicago, why not volunteer some of your spare time and get some exclusive swag in return! Check out our non-code opportunities to get involved.

Stay In The Loop

Please feel free to ask on the MidCamp Slack and come hang out with the community online. We will be making announcements there from time to time. We’re also on Twitter and Mastodon.

We can’t wait to see you next week! 

The MidCamp Team

Discover the journey of Zoocha, a leading Drupal Development Agency renowned for its commitment to innovation, sustainability, and client success. Since its inception in 2009, Zoocha has demonstrated a profound dedication to open-source technology and agile methodologies, earning notable certifications and accolades. With a portfolio boasting collaborations with high-profile clients across various sectors, Zoocha excels in delivering customized Drupal solutions that meet unique client needs.

This article delves into Zoocha's strategies for engaging talent, promoting Drupal among younger audiences, and its ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Explore how Zoocha's commitment to quality, security, and environmental sustainability positions it as a trusted partner in the dynamic world of web development.

Marc Berger

Senior Backend Engineer

Always looking for a challenge, Marc tries to add something new to his toolbox for every project and build — be it a new CSS technology, creating custom APIs, or testing out new processes for development.

January 1, 1970

Recently, one of our clients had to retrieve some information from their Drupal site during a CI build. They needed to know the internal Drupal path from a known path alias. Common Drush commands don’t provide this information directly, so we decided to write our own custom Drush command. It was a lot easier than we thought it would be! Let’s get started.

Note: This post is based on commands and structure for Drush 12.

While we can write our own Drush command from scratch, let’s discuss a tool that Drush already provides us: the drush generate command. Drush 9 added support to generate scaffolding and boilerplate code for many common Drupal coding tasks such as custom modules, themes, services, plugins, and many more. The nice thing about using the drush generate command is that the code it generates conforms to best practices and Drupal coding standards — and some generators even come with examples as well. You can see all available generators by simply running drush generate without any arguments.

Step 1: Create a custom module

To get started, a requirement to create a new custom Drush command in this way is to have an existing custom module already in the codebase. If one exists, great. You can skip to Step 2 below. If you need a custom module, let’s use Drush to generate one:

drush generate module

Drush will ask a series of questions such as the module name, the package, any dependencies, and if you want to generate a .module file, README.md, etc. Once the module has been created, enable the module. This will help with the autocomplete when generating the custom Drush command.

drush en <machine_name_of_custom_module>

Step 2: Create custom Drush command boilerplate

First, make sure you have a custom module where your new custom Drush command will live and make sure that module is enabled. Next, run the following command to generate some boilerplate code:

drush generate drush:command-file

This command will also ask some questions, the first of which is the machine name of the custom module. If that module is enabled, it will autocomplete the name in the terminal. You can also tell the generator to use dependency injection if you know what services you need to use. In our case, we need to inject the path_alias.manager service. Once generated, the new command class will live here under your custom module:

<machine_name_of_custom_module>/src/Drush/Commands

Let’s take a look at this newly generated code. We will see the standard class structure and our dependency injection at the top of the file:

<?php namespace Drupal\custom_drush\Drush\Commands; use Consolidation\OutputFormatters\StructuredData\RowsOfFields; use Drupal\Core\StringTranslation\StringTranslationTrait; use Drupal\Core\Utility\Token; use Drupal\path_alias\AliasManagerInterface; use Drush\Attributes as CLI; use Drush\Commands\DrushCommands; use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerInterface; /** * A Drush commandfile. * * In addition to this file, you need a drush.services.yml * in root of your module, and a composer.json file that provides the name * of the services file to use. */ final class CustomDrushCommands extends DrushCommands { use StringTranslationTrait; /** * Constructs a CustomDrushCommands object. */ public function __construct( private readonly Token $token, private readonly AliasManagerInterface $pathAliasManager, ) { parent::__construct(); } /** * {@inheritdoc} */ public static function create(ContainerInterface $container) { return new static( $container->get('token'), $container->get('path_alias.manager'), ); }

Note: The generator adds a comment about needing a drush.services.yml file. This requirement is deprecated and will be removed in Drush 13, so you can ignore it if you are using Drush 12. In our testing, this file does not need to be present.

Further down in the new class, we will see some boilerplate example code. This is where the magic happens:

/** * Command description here. */ #[CLI\Command(name: 'custom_drush:command-name', aliases: ['foo'])] #[CLI\Argument(name: 'arg1', description: 'Argument description.')] #[CLI\Option(name: 'option-name', description: 'Option description')] #[CLI\Usage(name: 'custom_drush:command-name foo', description: 'Usage description')] public function commandName($arg1, $options = ['option-name' => 'default']) { $this->logger()->success(dt('Achievement unlocked.')); }

This new Drush command doesn’t do very much at the moment, but provides a great jumping-off point. The first thing to note at the top of the function are the new PHP 8 attributes that begin with the #. These replace the previous PHP annotations that are commonly seen when writing custom plugins in Drupal. You can read more about the new PHP attributes.

The different attributes tell Drush what our custom command name is, description, what arguments it will take (if any), and any aliases it may have.

Step 3: Create our custom command

For our custom command, let’s modify the code so we can get the internal path from a path alias:

/** * Command description here. */ #[CLI\Command(name: 'custom_drush:interal-path', aliases: ['intpath'])] #[CLI\Argument(name: 'pathAlias', description: 'The path alias, must begin with /')] #[CLI\Usage(name: 'custom_drush:interal-path /path-alias', description: 'Supply the path alias and the internal path will be retrieved.')] public function getInternalPath($pathAlias) { if (!str_starts_with($pathAlias, "/")) { $this->logger()->error(dt('The alias must start with a /')); } else { $path = $this->pathAliasManager->getPathByAlias($pathAlias); if ($path == $pathAlias) { $this->logger()->error(dt('There was no internal path found that uses that alias.')); } else { $this->output()->writeln($path); } } //$this->logger()->success(dt('Achievement unlocked.')); }

What we’re doing here is changing the name of the command so it can be called like so:

drush custom_drush:internal-path <path> or via the alias: drush intpath <path>

The <path> is a required argument (such as /my-amazing-page) because of how it is called in the getInternalPath method. By passing a path, this method first checks to see if the path starts with /. If it does, it will perform an additional check to see if there is a path that exists. If so, it will return the internal path, i.e., /node/1234. Lastly, the output is provided by the logger method that comes from the inherited DrushCommands class. It’s a simple command, but one that helped us automatically set config during a CI job.

Table output

Note the boilerplate code also generated another example below the first — one that will provide output in a table format:

/** * An example of the table output format. */ #[CLI\Command(name: 'custom_drush:token', aliases: ['token'])] #[CLI\FieldLabels(labels: [ 'group' => 'Group', 'token' => 'Token', 'name' => 'Name' ])] #[CLI\DefaultTableFields(fields: ['group', 'token', 'name'])] #[CLI\FilterDefaultField(field: 'name')] public function token($options = ['format' => 'table']): RowsOfFields { $all = $this->token->getInfo(); foreach ($all['tokens'] as $group => $tokens) { foreach ($tokens as $key => $token) { $rows[] = [ 'group' => $group, 'token' => $key, 'name' => $token['name'], ]; } } return new RowsOfFields($rows); }

In this example, no argument is required, and it will simply print out the list of tokens in a nice table:

------------ ------------------ ----------------------- Group Token Name ------------ ------------------ ----------------------- file fid File ID node nid Content ID site name Name ... ... ... Final thoughts

Drush is a powerful tool, and like many parts of Drupal, it’s expandable to meet different needs. While I shared a relatively simple example to solve a small challenge, the possibilities are open to retrieve all kinds of information from your Drupal site to use in scripting, CI/CD jobs, reporting, and more. And by using the drush generate command, creating these custom solutions is easy, follows best practices, and helps keep code consistent.

Further reading

• Inserting questions into your command
• Use Drupal batch operations for more processor-intensive actions

The post Custom Drush commands with Drush Generate appeared first on Four Kitchens.

Randy Fay, the maintainer of DDEV discusses the key features and functionalities of DDEV, a Docker-based development environment that streamlines setting up and managing local development for applications (no Docker knowledge is required). Whether you're creating applications in Python, PHP, or other languages, DDEV will save you tremendous time and effort. It also works great for managing multiple projects, or working with a large distributed team, ensuring everyone’s configurations remain in sync. Randy also demos DDEV, showcasing how fast and easy it is to set up a local Drupal development environment quickly. Additionally, he touches upon the history and future of DDEV, and the critical role of the DDEV user community in both supporting the project and shaping it’s development. This interview is perfect for any developer interested in efficient development tools, current DDEV users, or anyone curious about local development technologies and best practices. --- For a transcript of this video, see The DDEV Local Development Environment- Talking with Randy Fay --- ## Links - DDEV: ddev.com - Docs https://ddev.readthedocs.io - CMS Quickstarts https://ddev.readthedocs.io/en/stable/users/quickstart/ - DDEV 2023 Review https://ddev.com/blog/2023-review - [DDEV 2024 Plans](https://ddev.com/blog/2024-plans...

Read more michaelemeyers Wed, 03/13/2024 - 04:40

Welcome back to “Skills Upgrade” a Talking Drupal mini-series following the journey of a D7 developer learning D10. This is episode 2.

Topics

• Review Chad's goals for the previous week
  • DDEV Installation
  • Docker for Mac vs other options
  • IDE Setup
• Review Chad's questions
• Tasks for the upcoming week
  • DDEV improve performance
  • Install Drupal 10
  • Install drupal/core dependencies
  • Configure and test phpcs
  • Test phpstan
  • Set up settings.local.php
  • Install devel module

Resources

DDEV Performance DDEV Quickstart Drupal Core Dependencies How to Implement Drupal Code Standards Running PHPStan On Drupal Custom Modules Why you should care about using settings.local.php Rancher Desktop

Chad's Drupal 10 Learning Curriclum & Journal Chad's Drupal 10 Learning Notes

Hosts

AmyJune Hineline - @volkswagenchick

Guests

Chad Hester - chadkhester.com @chadkhest Mike Anello - DrupalEasy.com @ultimike

Performance is a cornerstone of user experience and operational efficiency in web development. Delve into the genesis, capabilities, and transformative potential of Gander, the automated performance testing framework for Drupal, as elucidated by seasoned contributor Nathaniel Catchpole.

In the world of Drupal, staying ahead of the curve is essential for building websites that are not just functional but also future-proof. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it's crucial to explore emerging trends and technologies in Drupal development that are shaping the future. In this blog post, we'll dive into some of these exciting possibilities and discuss how they can lift Drupal websites to new heights.

Network, Learn, and Collaborate - The three key motivations for individuals and organizations to participate in conferences. Every regular conference has a theme or niche that serves as a focal point for discussions and advancement. These events serve as stages for personal branding and business promotion, with attendees aiming to gain insights and contacts that directly benefit their individual goals and organizational interests. 

Although open-source events rely on these key motivations too, they have a unique flavor of community spirit and collaboration that’s not found in traditional conferences. Open source events like DrupalCons thrive on shared knowledge, transparent innovation, and a sense of collective growth.

What is DrupalCon? 

DrupalCon is an annual open-source conference that brings together open-source enthusiasts, developers, designers, and end users for networking, learning, and collaboration, all under one roof. This is where you can meet the people who made the software, get inspired, and actively contribute to the project. The next upcoming DrupalCon North America event is being held in Portland, Oregon, from 06 May 2024 to 09 May 2024. We’ll give you some reasons why you should attend open-source events like DrupalCon 2024.

Benefits of Attending Open Source Conferences 

An open-source enthusiast knows that events like DrupalCons are celebrations of community-driven innovation. The energy is contagious, the ideas are limitless, and the camaraderie extends beyond the conference halls. 

Spirit of Open-Source

Open source is almost synonymous with collaboration. Collaboration by contributors who are the heartbeat of any open-source project. These events provide a platform for individuals and organizations to come together, contribute to the community, and drive the future of open source. It aligns with the open-source commitment to empowering innovation through the collective efforts of a vibrant and engaged community. In an event like DrupalCon, you get a chance to meet people who are passionate about Drupal and driving it forward. 

Career Boost

If you're launching your career or contemplating a switch to something more fulfilling, few experiences rival the rewards of joining an open-source community. And there’s no better place to kick off this journey than an open-source conference. You’re not just exploring job opportunities but also gaining the knowledge you need from training sessions and meaningful interactions with seasoned experts. You can also upgrade your skills through hands-on workshops and interactive sessions at the event. At DrupalCon, you can always find support if you’re new to the world of Drupal or Open source. A mentor will help guide you through your entire experience by suggesting what sessions you should attend for your professional development. You can even learn to make your first contribution to the project through your mentor.

Spot the Trend

Want to know what’s new in your area of interest? Open-source conferences are the best places to identify emerging trends, innovations, and shifts in the industry - much before they become mainstream! You come out well-equipped with insights into upcoming technologies and initiatives. This will not only help you in your professional development but also enable you to contribute meaningfully to innovative projects. All of this ultimately leads to improved user experiences and future-ready applications. At DrupalCon, immerse yourself in firsthand insights as Dries Buytaert, the founder himself, shares the current state of Drupal in his keynote (DriesNote). Discover upcoming initiatives and innovation on the horizon, and get a sneak peek into the exciting developments set to launch. 

The Power of Open Source Networking

We all know how powerful networking can be for your career or business development. But for an open-source community, networking is an indispensable aspect. It's impossible to have a successfully operating community without networking. Open-source events let you connect with like-minded individuals, developers, agencies, and contributors, fostering potential collaboration. Get mentorship, guidance, and exposure to new opportunities to aid your professional growth. Attend DrupalCon to connect with thousands of open-source enthusiasts and build meaningful connections with professionals just like you. Programs like BoFs (Birds of a Feather) at DrupalCon let you exchange information and share best practices around a common topic of interest. Make DrupalCon your opportunity to grow.

Real-World Learning

Learning from real-world scenarios truly refines your understanding of technology and innovation. Attending industry summits at open-source conferences is a great way to gain practical insights from industry leaders. It’s a chance to understand the real-world challenges faced by them and the practical solutions implemented. Through live demos, case studies, and applications, you can see the ropes in action. Industry summits often highlight the methodologies that are proving successful in the current landscape, providing actionable takeaways. DrupalCon has a full day dedicated to industry summits like the higher educational summit, non-profit summit, government summit and community summit. 

Final Thoughts

Whether it's networking opportunities, hands-on learning, or trend forecasting, open-source conferences offer a holistic approach to staying on top of ever-changing technologies. They contribute to the collective growth of the entire open-source community. It's an investment in continuous learning, professional enrichment, and the boundless possibilities of open collaboration. Did we mention that DrupalCons aren't just about coding and tech talk? There's a ton of fun to be had too! Take a look at the social events from last year. 

Drupal has done something unique with contributing to open source. Our community has made contributing to the open source project a marketing opportunity for organizations using Drupal. Generally, contributing to open source projects reflects at the individual level. There isn't a great way to reflect if the individual did it out of some intrinsic value to improve open source or by sponsored work with their employer or a customer. As far as I know, Drupal is the only open source project providing this kind of attribution.

The React team proposes a new way to improve page load speed and reduce TTI—the time it takes a page to become fully interactive.

***

One of the ways to improve website performance is to reduce traffic from the server to the user’s (client’s) device. The client-server architecture is essentially the queue of requests and responses between the client and the server, which in turn accesses the database.

Gradually, web development began to take on other tasks, such as where and how to cache the page or mark it up for SEO so that it could later go live and work for the user, or what part of the page rendering could be done by the client or by the server.

Eventually, there were developers who took the React library, built the Next framework around it, proposed the principle of Server-Side Rendering (or SSR) along with the framework.

Fed up with the hassle of finicky CSS positioning and floats for organizing your page layout? They don't always play nice with all browsers. It's time for a smoother solution! Let’s talk about the brand new module - CSS Grid or Grid Layout that brings a two-dimensional grid system to CSS. This grid-based layout system is a versatile way of organizing your content, with rows and columns, making it easier to design complex layouts. Check out the rest of the blog for insights on CSS Grid Layout and integrating the CSS Grid Layout Drupal module into your project. CSS Grid Terminology Similar to CSS Flexbox, where we have flex containers and flex items, in CSS Grid, we follow a similar concept with grid containers and grid items. To turn a container into a CSS Grid container, we simply set its display property to “Grid”. Grid Container: The grid container wraps all the grid items within its area. Grid Cell: Each individual item inside the grid container is referred to as a grid cell or grid item.A Grid layout forms a two-dimensional structure, with columns along the Y-axis and rows along the X-axis. Grid Line: The vertical and horizontal lines that divide the grid into columns and rows are called grid lines. They are automatically numbered for columns as well as for the rows starting from 1 all the way to the number of rows or columns plus 1. Grid Gap: The space between Grid cells is called a gutter or Grid Gap. Grid Track: Grid items aligned in a row or column are referred to as a grid track. For horizontal alignment, we use the term "row track," and for vertical alignment, it's called a "column track." Grid Area: The area between two vertical and horizontal lines is called grid area. Demonstration of row and column values and properties HTML <div class="wrapper"> <div class="header">Header</div> <div class="box-1">Box 1</div> <div class="box-2">Box 2</div> <div class="box-3">Box 3</div> <div class="main-content">Main Content</div> <div class="sidebar">Sidebar</div> <div class="footer">Footer</div> </div>CSS .wrapper{ display: grid; grid-template-rows: 100px 200px 400px 100px; grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr) minmax(200px, 1fr); grid-gap: 30px; // Line names grid-template-rows: 100px [box-start] 200px [box-end content-start] 400px [content-end] 100px; // Grid area names grid-template-areas: "head head head ." "box1 box2 box3 side" "main main main side" "foot foot foot foot"; } // Using Line numbers .header{ grid-column: 1 / -1; } .main-content{ grid-row: 3 / 4; grid-column: 1 / 4; } // Using Line Names .sidebar{ grid-row: box-start / content-end; } // Using Grid Area Names .footer{ grid-column: foot; }Grid Properties For making an element a grid container, we use display:grid grid-template-row - Defines the number of rows in a grid layout. grid-template-column - Defines the number of columns in a grid layout. row-gap & column-gap - Defines the gap between grid row and grid column individually. grid-gap - Defines the gap between both rows and columns respectively in a grid layout. The Repeat function -  It is employed to express a recurring segment of the tracklist, enabling the concise notation of a repetitive pattern for a substantial number of columns or rows. The Fr unit - A fractional unit that dynamically calculates layout divisions. With 1fr, you get one share of the available space within the grid. Naming Grid Lines - Give names to specific or all lines in your grid while defining it using the grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns properties. Naming Grid Areas - The grid-template-areas CSS property specifies named grid areas, establishing the cells in the grid and assigning them names. grid-row - The grid item's start and end position within the grid row. grid-columns - The grid item's start and end position within the grid column. min-content - The property specifies the intrinsic minimum width of the content. max-content - The property specifies the intrinsic maximum width or height of the content. minmax - Defines a size range greater than or equal to min and less than or equal to max content. Browser inspector view for grid - align and justify items and content HTML <div class="container"> <div class="item item--1">Modern</div> <div class="item item--2">CSS</div> <div class="item item--3">with</div> <div class="item item--4">Flexbox</div> <div class="item item--5">and</div> <div class="item item--6">Grid</div> <div class="item item--7">is</div> <div class="item item--8">Great</div> </div>CSS .container{ display: grid; grid-template-rows: repeat(2, 150px); grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 300px); grid-auto-flow: row; grid-auto-rows: 150px; grid-gap: 30px; // Aligning content in row direction align-content: center; // Aligning content in column direction Justify-content: center; // Aligning items in row direction align-items: center; // Aligning items in column direction justify-items: center; .item{ &--2{ grid-row: 2 / span 2; // Aligning item in row direction align-self: center; // Aligning item in column direction justify-self: center; } }align-items - Align Grid items inside the grid cell or area in the column/vertical axis. justify-items - Align Grid items inside the grid cell or area in the row/horizontal axis. align-self - Overrides the grid item's align-items value and aligns itself inside the cell/area in the column/vertical axis. justify-self - Overrides the grid item's justify-items value and aligns itself inside the cell/area row/horizontal axis. align-content - Specifies how the grid content is distributed along the column axis / vertically in a grid container. justify-content - Specifies how the grid content is distributed along the row axis / horizontally in a grid container. grid-auto-flow - The property regulates the direction in which auto-placed items are inserted into the grid, either in the row or column direction. The default value is row. grid-auto-rows - This property sets a size for the rows in a grid container. grid-auto-columns - The grid-auto-columns property sets a size for the columns in a grid container. auto-fill - This property fills rows with as many columns as possible, even if the added column is empty, occupying space in the row. Browser inspector view for grid auto-fill property auto-fit - It fills rows with as many columns as possible. It collapses empty cells, setting their width to 0 to prevent excess space. Browser inspector view for grid auto-fit property Implementing the Drupal CSS Grid layout module The Drupal CSS Grid Layout module seamlessly integrates the power of CSS Grid into your Drupal environment, providing a flexible and efficient way to structure and organize content. Installing the module Prerequisites: Layout builder Layout Discovery Install CSS Grid Layout module using - composer require 'drupal/css_grid:^1.0@beta'Next, enable the module here: Administration > extend Add a new layout builder page: Content → add content → Layout builder page → layout → Add section Now you have yourself a newly created layout CSS Grid. Choose CSS Grid, and you'll find options for columns, rows, and gaps, allowing you to create a dynamic grid layout. You can then incorporate column, row, and gap values according to the desired structure.   You can also choose from different CSS and grid layout units. Final Thoughts These are the fundamental aspects of the CSS Grid layout algorithm. Armed with this knowledge, you can construct intricate and interactive layouts, eliminating the reliance on CSS frameworks. For Drupal frontend developers, the integration of the CSS Grid Layout module adds an extra layer of flexibility and enables seamless implementation and customization of grid-based designs within Drupal. If you're ready to implement these cutting-edge design techniques into your Drupal website, explore our Drupal services for seamless integration and customization.

I was recently reminded of a Drupal core feature that I hadn't used in a long time - and was pleasantly surprised at how useful it is.

The Combine fields filter Views filter allows a site-builder to quickly and easily set up an exposed filter that searches multiple fields for a given search term. Think of it as a way to combine multiple exposed search filters into a single search box.

Setting it up is quite easy - just include all the fields that you want to search in the Fields section, marking them with Exclude from display as necessary (Unfortunately, Combine fields filter doesn't work with view modes.)

Then, add and expose a Combine fields filter to the view, and configure it to use all the fields you want searchable in the Choose fields to combine for filtering section of the filter's configuration:

 

I created a simple example of a Movie content type with example fields including Title, Image, Plot summary, Spoilers, Year of release, Short description, Taglines, and Trivia. I added all of these fields to the Fields configuration of the view - with all of them hidden except for Title and Image.

Next, I added a Combine fields filter as described above, selecting all of the fields to be combined for filtering. Finally, I added a few sample Movie nodes.

To test things out, I searched for terms that were added as part of the various Movie content type fields (but purposely not words in the Title fields). The results were exactly what I was expecting!

In the first example, the word biff appears in the Plot summary field for Back to the Future. 

In the first example, the word biff appears in the Plot summary field for Back to the Future. Next, the word saga appears in the Short description field of The Last Jedi.The number 1985 appears in the Year of release field of Back to the Future.Finally, the words Michael Caine appear in the Trivia field of The Dark Knight. 

There are a few caveats when using Combine fields filter with one of the more impactful being that when utilizing a multivalued field (as the Trivia and Taglines fields are in the previous example), the Multiple field settings configuration cannot utilize the Display all values in the same row option. Fortunately, these fields are usually excluded (hidden) from search views like this. 

With Drupal now heavily used in the enterprise market by very large organisations, much of its direct competition is from well-funded proprietary products. From the perspective of my role on the Drupal Association board, I gave a talk at FOSDEM in February 2024 on the strategies and initiatives the Drupal community is starting to put in place to remain competitive in the enterprise market and how these approaches can be shared by other open source projects. 

by Owen Lansbury / 12 March 2024

The original of this video recording was first published on the FOSDEM website. 

Drupal has historically had no centralised product management or marketing, let alone ANY coordinated budget! For comparison, Adobe spends around USD$2.7bn annually on product development, sales and marketing for its Experience Cloud product suite. 

In the talk, I discuss Drupal's recent recognition as a Digital Public Good and the way that the Drupal community is highly motivated by providing world-class software for free to anyone who wants to use it, promoting values of freedom, inclusion, participation and empowerment. The Drupal Association recently released a manifesto that defines the Drupal project's commitment to the Open Web, but in order to fulfil this mission, Drupal needs to be successful as a product in the open market.

Since Drupal 8 was released in 2015, it has been specifically targeted at building "ambitious digital experiences." While this has resulted in an overall drop in Drupal installs as smaller sites move to SAAS platforms, the Drupal economy is robust, with an estimated USD$3 billion spent on Drupal-related projects each year.

Unlike other open source projects, Drupal doesn’t have a single company doing the majority of the code contribution. The Drupal Association has run on a budget of around $3.5m or 1/1000th of the revenue being spent on Drupal projects each year. 

This was brought into focus for the Drupal Association during COVID when the primary source of income - running DrupalCon events - required an abrupt rethink. We had to refocus on how Drupal would be both successful and sustainable in the future. This has led to us recently embarking on a new strategy, where the Drupal Association play a more direct role in both Drupal product innovation and marketing.

Enterprise customers are key to maintaining a healthy ecosystem for a CMS. Their investment flows through to the agencies building, maintaining, supporting, and hosting large-scale projects, providing consistent, repeat income that ultimately benefits our open source community in the form of stable jobs, community funding, and sponsored code contribution. 

Looking more closely at the challenges of succeeding in the enterprise market, how do you get access and awareness with key decision makers in large organisations like the CIO, CTO and, increasingly, the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)? They are the people likely to read analyst reports from Gartner and Forrester. While Acquia features as a leader in these reports and relies heavily on Drupal for its platform, Drupal's name recognition is largely absent from these reports. 

Acquia has also had great success with their Engage events that target key decision makers, but it's been a challenge to attract a similar audience to the more community and developer-focused DrupalCon events. 

While the Drupal Association itself has historically had limited relationships with Drupal's large end users, partner agencies who rely on Drupal's open source software for their clients absolutely do have these relationships.

The Drupal Association is in a strong position to provide our agency partners with as much assistance as possible to either retain or win new enterprise clients through any playbook-style information we can provide. For example, do we have a pitch deck on hand to help an agency argue why Drupal is superior to Adobe or Sitecore? Are there pre-packaged product demos that can be consistently updated to highlight new features?

This is an area where we currently fall short in the Drupal community, with most agencies replicating efforts for every new client engagement. It's something we're starting to address with the Drupal Certified Partner program, however, if we can harness the strength of hundreds of agency salespeople pitching Drupal to their clients every day. New agencies joining a partner program need to see a clear pathway to building their teams' expertise and being able to sell Drupal to their clients to grow their businesses. The largest global digital agencies have tended to struggle with engaging with open source software communities, so bridging that gap is critical.

The other group of people we need to convince in any large organisation are the people who’ll be using our product - the developers, content editors and systems engineers. C-level decision-makers lean heavily on this group to evaluate and make recommendations about what platform they should be considering. To influence this group, our product needs to look and function like a modern piece of software, fulfil contemporary requirements or be quickly downloadable for a working demo of the software.

In terms of where we already clearly win, rapid innovation is the thing that we do very well in the open source world. Maintaining the speed of innovation, though, is an area that has been harder for Drupal as both the software and community have matured. A big philosophical hurdle we’ve faced is the notion of the Drupal Association directing budget to innovation projects when people often have an expectation that contribution is “free”. But contribution has never been free! An individual or company has always borne the cost in personal time or wages. Other big open source projects have absolutely no stigma about funding projects with actual money, such as the Linux Foundation's $160m annual funding towards projects.

The Drupal community dipped our toe into this model last year with the Pitchburgh contest, which saw $98,000 worth of projects get completed in a relatively short amount of time because they had the budget. We’re also in the process of hiring people at the Drupal Association who can facilitate innovation and remove roadblocks to contribution.

Now, all we need is the funding to scale this model up. Imagine if just 1% of the $3bn spent on Drupal-related projects each year went towards funding strategic innovation - that would be a $30m budget to work with!

Similarly, the idea that Drupal would be “marketed” as a product by the Drupal Association has never been a core competency. This is the legacy of being structured as a 501c3 not-for-profit in the USA where funds are for the “advancement of a charitable cause”. Our charitable cause is ensuring Drupal remains a Digital Public Good that supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. But if there isn't positive product awareness about Drupal in the broader market, then market share will slip and our ability to support the goals around being a Digital Public Good will suffer as a result. 

Whether we call it marketing or advocacy, we need to ensure Drupal as a product is commercially successful. We’ve had a Promote Drupal working group within the Drupal community for a number of years that has driven a range of broader marketing initiatives. The Drupal Association has now taken on an active role in this by commissioning a go-to-market strategy targeting the enterprise sector. This will be rolling out in 2024 as funding for specific marketing initiatives becomes available. 

At the cheaper end of the scale, this might include coordinating speakers at non-Drupal tech events or managing positive media coverage. At a higher budget scale, it might include Drupal-branded booths at major tech conferences, like the one we recently built for Web Summit in Lisbon, or running global campaigns to build Drupal product awareness. 

Our other huge advantage as an open source community is the strength and depth of our developer pool. We do encounter a perception issue when it comes to attracting younger developers to our platforms because there are so many shiny new things to play with. Building robust outreach, training, mentoring, certification and professional pathways is the key to maintaining a sustainable developer pool as those of us with 20+ years of experience head towards the other side of middle age.

So, where can you start to help with all of this? 

1. If you're a professional services company that relies on Drupal for your business, get involved with the Drupal Certified Partner program. This is the fastest way to both contribute to Drupal's innovation as a product and play a direct role in driving adoption.

2. If you rely on Drupal as your organization's CMS software, become a Supporting Partner and help fund Drupal's sustainability. 

3. If you're passionate about maintaining the Open Web, the Drupal Association can accept your philanthropic donation. 

4. Send your team members to DrupalCon or a regional DrupalCamp to connect with the community.

This level of engagement will help Drupal maintain its status as the platform of choice for large-scale projects.