webjoke.de

The DropTimes contacted Drupal contributor Mike Herchel ahead of DrupalCon Chicago to discuss the sessions he will present during the conference week. His responses outline a full-day training on modern Drupal theming, a session on contributing to Drupal projects with Matt Glaman, and participation in a keynote highlighting ongoing work around Drupal CMS and the ecosystem emerging around it.

Implementing accessibility best practices on your Drupal website and taking care of search engine optimization may seem like separate priorities. In reality, they are more closely intertwined than you might expect.

DDEV v1.25.1 introduced validation that checks for Docker Buildx, and you may encounter an error when running ddev start if your system isn't configured correctly. This post explains why this dependency exists, who's affected, and how to resolve it. Note that DDEV v1.25.2 will bundle a private Docker Buildx to eliminate this configuration requirement.

Table of Contents Who's Affected

Most users won't need to do anything. Docker Desktop, OrbStack, and Rancher Desktop bundle Docker Buildx automatically.

You may need to take action if you're using:

• macOS with Lima or Colima - requires manual installation via Homebrew
• Ubuntu or Debian with Docker from Ubuntu/Debian repositories instead of Docker's repositories - older versions don't meet requirements
• NixOS - requires package update

If you're running Docker Desktop, OrbStack, or Rancher Desktop, you can skip this article.

The Error

When running ddev start on DDEV v1.25.1 without a compatible Buildx version, you'll see:

$ ddev start Docker buildx check failed: compose build requires buildx 0.17.0 or later: docker CLI plugin "buildx" not found. Please install buildx: https://github.com/docker/buildx#installing

Or if Buildx is installed but doesn't match the required version:

$ ddev start Docker buildx check failed: compose build requires buildx 0.17.0 or later. Installed docker buildx: 0.13.1 (plugin path: /usr/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx) Please update buildx: https://github.com/docker/buildx#installing Why This Requirement Exists

This is an upstream dependency from Docker Compose, not a DDEV-specific choice.

Here's how we got here:

1. Docker Compose v2.37.0 (released June 2025) made the bake builder the default build backend
2. Docker Compose v2.40.2 (released October 2025) introduced a minimum version requirement for Docker Buildx (≥0.17.0)
3. DDEV v1.24.8 (released September 2025) updated to Docker Compose v2.39.3, which uses the bake builder by default
4. DDEV v1.25.1 (released February 2026) added validation to catch this configuration issue early and provide clear guidance

The requirement comes from Docker Compose itself. DDEV now validates your system configuration to prevent confusing build failures.

Solutions by Platform macOS with Lima or Colima (or if you have this problem for any reason)

Install Docker Buildx via Homebrew:

brew install docker-buildx

After installation, configure Docker to find the plugin. Add cliPluginsExtraDirs to $HOME/.docker/config.json:

{ "cliPluginsExtraDirs": ["/opt/homebrew/lib/docker/cli-plugins"] }

You can see this information anytime with:

brew info docker-buildx

The post-install messages from Homebrew will show you the exact path for your system.

Debian

Debian 13 (Trixie) includes Docker Buildx v0.13.1 from the Debian repositories, which doesn't meet the ≥0.17.0 requirement.

Solution: Switch to Docker from the official Docker repositories.

1. Backup your DDEV projects with ddev snapshot -a.
2. Uninstall Docker packages from Debian repositories
3. Follow the Docker installation instructions in our documentation

The official Docker repositories provide current versions of all Docker components including Docker Buildx ≥0.17.0.

NixOS

NixOS users should track DDEV issue #8183. A NixOS patch is available - once merged, you'll get the fix through normal system updates without manual intervention.

Generic Solution

If the platform-specific solutions above don't work, you can manually place the docker-buildx binary in one of Docker's expected plugin directories:

Linux/macOS:

• $HOME/.docker/cli-plugins/
• /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/
• /usr/local/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/
• /usr/lib/docker/cli-plugins/
• /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/

Traditional Windows (not needed for WSL2):

• %USERPROFILE%\.docker\cli-plugins\
• %ProgramFiles%\Docker\cli-plugins\

See Docker's plugin manager source for Linux/macOS and Windows for the complete list.

Alternatively, place the binary anywhere and configure Docker to find it by adding cliPluginsExtraDirs to $HOME/.docker/config.json (or %USERPROFILE%\.docker\config.json on Windows):

{ "cliPluginsExtraDirs": ["/path/to/your/custom/plugin/directory"] } What's Next for DDEV

We're working to make this smoother in upcoming releases:

DDEV v1.25.2 (upcoming) will likely bundle a private Docker Buildx that DDEV uses exclusively. This eliminates the system configuration requirement for most users. I'm working on this in PR #8198.

Future releases will transition from our private Docker Compose binary to the Docker Compose SDK. This gives DDEV more control over upstream dependencies and reduces configuration complexity.

Need Help?

If you're still seeing issues after following these steps, reach out in any of the support channels.

This article was edited and refined with assistance from Claude Code.

Build beautiful Drupal page layouts without writing a line of TWIG and CSSIf you've ever wished Drupal's block-based layout system came with a more visual, component-driven experience, the new Display Builder module is exactly what you've been waiting for.In this first video of the Display Builder series, Pierre walks through the Page Layouts feature, showing how fast you can build a fully styled, published page layout — no custom code required.

Take Away

At Tag1, we believe in proving AI within our own work before recommending it to clients. This post is part of our AI Applied content series, where team members share real stories of how they're using AI and the insights and lessons they learn along the way. Here, Sammy Gituko, Software Developer, explores how AI supported improvements to the Metatag module by speeding up the discovery, verification, and replacement of broken documentation links across 30+ plugin files from hours to minutes.

A Small Fix That Wasn’t So Simple

My first contribution to the Drupal Metatag module started with what looked like a simple issue: fixing broken external documentation links. The task was logged as Issue #3559765 Fix broken links in the Meta tags section , and at first, it seemed like a quick cleanup job. But the deeper I looked, the more it revealed about the fragility of open source documentation, and how AI can speed up the repetitive parts of technical contribution work while still requiring careful human judgment.

Broken links may not sound exciting, but they highlight a widespread challenge in open source maintenance. Documentation links age fast. Websites vanish. URL structures change without warning. And because the Metatag module contains dozens of plugin files pointing to different sources, even a small fix meant a lot of detail work.

How AI Accelerated the Research Phase

To begin, I scanned the src/Plugin/metatag/Tag/ directory, which contains over 30 plugin files. This was where AI added real value, not by writing code, but by making the background research faster and more structured. I found six that had broken or unreliable links:

• SetCookie.php: Link to metatags.org was returning 404
• Rating.php: Link to metatags.org was broken, though the RTA link worked
• Google.php: Google webmasters link returned 404
• Expires.php: Link to csgnetwork.com calculator had connection errors
• Standout.php: Google News documentation was broken (404)
• NewsKeywords.php: Google News documentation was broken (404)

For each broken link, I needed to verify the issue, find a reliable replacement from an authoritative source, confirm it worked and was stable, then update it in the code without disrupting formatting or introducing linting errors.

Finding Every Link

Checking each file manually would have been tedious. Using AI, I generated efficient grep patterns for discovering URLs across the whole directory, like this suggestion that matched multiple URL styles: https?://|www\. That one line let me identify every external link across 30+ plugin files in minutes.

Verifying What Was Broken

The next challenge was figuring out which links actually worked. Instead of opening them one by one, AI recommended using a simple curl command to automatically test HTTP status codes:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://example.com"

This approach let me quickly categorize links as 200 (working), 404 (broken), or 301 (redirects), giving me a precise list of which needed attention.

Finding Better Sources

When replacing links, AI helped search for credible alternatives, suggesting sources like MDN, W3C, IETF, or Google Search Central. It also helped compare multiple options and recommend the best one.

When AI Needed a Human Touch

Despite its efficiency, AI couldn’t make every decision. Some choices depended on contextual understanding, deciding whether a replacement even made sense.

Google News Documentation

Two plugin files, Standout.php and NewsKeywords.php, both referenced Google News documentation that no longer existed. AI surfaced generic help pages, but none were relevant. Since the tags were already marked @deprecated, I chose to remove the links entirely. This was a judgment call informed by understanding the code’s context and the importance of avoiding misleading or obsolete references.

Content Rating (RTA) Documentation

In Rating.php, the existing RTA link technically worked but wasn’t reader-friendly. The AI proposed a few options, but ultimately, I picked Wikipedia’s page on content rating systems. It included the RTA standard, offered better context, and felt more accessible, a human decision about user experience, not just URL accuracy.

What This Taught Me

Several clear themes came out of this contribution:

• Third-party documentation is fragile. Even long-established sources like metatags.org and csgnetwork.com can disappear or restructure, breaking countless references.
• Redirects can cause silent problems. A 301 redirect still “works,” but introduces slower load times and unnecessary chains. Direct links are cleaner.
• AI excels at repetitive verification. Checking and verifying dozens of URLs took minutes instead of hours.
• Context remains human. AI found replacements but couldn’t know when removing links made more sense or why accessibility might matter more than originality.
• Authoritative sources reduce maintenance. Linking to MDN, IETF, or W3C means fewer headaches for future maintainers and reviewers.

The Outcome

The final patch replaced or removed all broken documentation links:

Fixed with authoritative replacements:

• SetCookie: MDN documentation
• Google: Google Search Central
• Expires: IETF RFC 1123
• Rating: Wikipedia

Removed (no suitable or relevant replacements):

• Standout : Google News documentation removed
• NewsKeywords: Google News documentation removed

The workflow became smoother, faster, and easier to reproduce. Using AI to handle repetitive validation tasks allowed me to focus my attention on decisions that actually required human reasoning.

A Better Way Forward

This contribution showed how AI can accelerate contribution workflows without replacing the thoughtful judgment that open source development depends on. By blending AI-assisted discovery with context-aware decision-making, contributors can move faster and still produce work that’s accurate, accessible, and maintainable.

Maintaining external documentation links might never be glamorous, but it’s a perfect example of how AI can make quality improvements faster and more sustainable, one verified link at a time.

This post is part of Tag1’s AI Applied content series, where we share how we're using AI inside our own work before bringing it to clients. Our goal is to be transparent about what works, what doesn’t, and what we are still figuring out, so that together, we can build a more practical, responsible path for AI adoption.

Bring practical, proven AI adoption strategies to your organization, let's start a conversation! We'd love to hear from you.

There is a big party happening at DrupalCon Chicago, and I can't wait.

On March 24th, we're celebrating Drupal's 25th Anniversary with a gala from 7–10 pm CT. It's a separate ticketed event, not included in your DrupalCon registration.

Some of Drupal's earliest contributors are coming back for this, including a few who haven't attended DrupalCon in years. That alone makes it special.

If you've been part of Drupal's story, whether for decades or just a few months, I'd love for you to be there. It's shaping up to be a memorable night.

The dress code is "Drupal Fancy". That means anything from gowns and black tie, to your favorite Drupal t-shirt. If you've ever wanted an excuse to dress up for a Drupal event, this is it!

Tickets are $125, with a limited number of $25 tickets underwritten by sponsors so cost isn't a barrier. All tickets must be purchased in advance. They won't be available at the door. Registration closes March 18th, so grab your tickets soon.

Organizations can reserve a table for their team. Even better, invite a few contributors to join you. It's a great way to give back to the people who helped build what your business runs on.

For questions or sponsorship opportunities, please reach out to Tiffany Farriss, who is serving as Gala Chair and part of the team coordinating the celebration.

Know someone who should be there? Share this with them.

What matters most is that you're there. I can't wait to celebrate together in Chicago.

A new alpha experimental "Admin" theme just landed in Drupal 12 dev (and 11 dev) which is a merge of the Claro and Gin themes. Gin historically extended Claro which caused complications on both sides. The merged theme allows to iron out things much faster and more effectively without duplication of efforts in two themes. Going forward the plan is for "Admin" to replace Claro. Until "Admin" becomes stable, Claro will remain the default admin experience. https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/3556948

The 0.7.0 release was housekeeping — fixing the release notes command and clearing out deprecation warnings. 0.8.0 has two goals: add native GitLab issue fork and merge request commands, and make the CLI useful for developers using AI agents to assist with Drupal.org issues.

More good news in Drupal 12 development. Long time in the making, the Navigation module just replaced Toolbar as the default navigation experience in the upcoming Drupal version. Not only more customisable, the new UI is also faster to use even with deep administration trees. https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/3575171

Historic moment in Drupal core! Migrate Drupal and Migrate Drupal UI will not be in Drupal 12 anymore. These are core modules dedicated to migrating Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 sites to core. Drupal 7 was end of life on January 5, 2025 while Drupal 6 EOL was February 24th 2016. The modules will still be in Drupal 11 core until its end of line expected at the end of 2028. See https://www.drupal.org/node/3466088 for issues around all deprecated modules and themes.

What if your Drupal site could feel faster without big changes? Lazy loading might be the easiest fix you’re not using.

Today we are talking about The Good and the Bad of AI , How our panel feels about AI , and you guessed it more AI with guest Scott Falconer. We'll also cover Field Widget Actions as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/542

Topics

• AI and Social Isolation
• How We Use AI
• Friction and Independence
• Stack Overflow Debate
• Collaboration and Team Culture
• Is AI Inevitable
• AI Hype Meets Costs
• Adoption Cooling Signals
• Pricing Inequality Risks
• Open Source and PRs
• Requirements and LLMs
• Easy Tools Not Always Right
• Juniors Learning and Patterns
• Human Value and Ambiguity
• Losing Cognitive Endurance
• AI vs Social Media
• Uniquely Human Skills

Resources

• Stack overflow

Guests

Scott Falconer - managing-ai.com scott-falconer

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Catherine Tsiboukas - mindcraftgroup.com bletch

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to enhance the Drupal content editing experience by allowing site builders to attach actionable buttons directly to field widgets on entity forms? There's a module for that.
• Module name/project name:
  • Field Widget Actions
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Oct 2025 by Artem Dmitriiev (a.dmitriiev) of 1x Internet, a founding member of the AI Initiative
  • Versions available: 1.0.0-alpha1 and 1.3.0, both of which works with Drupal 10.3 and 11.1 or newer
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Security coverage
  • Test coverage
  • Documentation - includes Markdown files that explain how to set up and extend its capabilities
  • Number of open issues: 12 open issues, 4 of which are bugs
• Usage stats:
  • 24 sites
• Module features and usage
  • With this module installed, a site builder can attach action buttons to form fields in Drupal entity forms, for example for creating nodes or taxonomy terms
  • What happens when you click a button depends on what processor you associate with it, and the settings you configure for the processor. Processors can be provided by other modules, like AI or ECA.
  • For example, you could attach a button to a tags field that when clicked will send the content of the body field to an AI agent that will return a set of suggested tags. Or, you could have it trigger an ECA model for a more deterministic flow
  • This is all done using a plugin framework implemented by Field Widget Actions, so you also create your own custom processors to be used with action buttons
  • One of the things that got me excited about working with the team behind Augmentor AI was the approach that module used to make AI something a user would manually trigger, and then can curate before the suggestions are saved. Field Widget Actions allows that same approach to be implemented with the AI ecosystem that is growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the team involved with Drupal's AI Initiative
  • It's worth noting that Field Widget Actions used to be a submodule of the AI project, so if you're using a version of that older than 2.0, you may already have Field Widget Actions available in your codebase

Commerce Core 3.3.0 completely reimagines how merchants interact with orders in the administrative back end. Common order management tasks are accessible from the order view page, and the edit tab will generally no longer be necessary.

This release resolved 102 issues, including bugs and feature requests, and the time was right to tackle longstanding order management requests we’ve heard from the merchants we support. Roadmap influence is a key benefit of working directly with Centarro on your Drupal Commerce projects.

Across the PHP ecosystem, a hard conversation is beginning to take shape. In a recent opinion piece, Ashraf Abed challenges four major open-source communities—Drupal, Joomla, Magento, and Mautic—to confront a shared reality: slower growth, tighter budgets, and a thinning contributor base. All four are PHP-driven, Composer-based, and built on open-source collaboration. Each has solved complex problems at scale. Yet they now compete not only with proprietary SaaS platforms but also with a broader shift toward consolidation, platform ecosystems, and AI-assisted development that lowers switching costs for engineers.

The argument is not about merging code into a single technical stack. It is about strategic alignment. Fragmentation means four marketing engines, four leadership structures, four roadmaps, and parallel efforts solving overlapping problems. Agencies struggle to hire, contributors stretch across projects, and enterprise buyers hesitate when long-term sustainability feels uncertain. As experienced PHP developers move more easily between frameworks, the historical barriers between communities are no longer purely technical—they are cultural and organisational.

The risks are real. Governance models differ. Brand identity runs deep. Millions of production sites require long-term security and stability. No transition would be simple, and no decision would satisfy everyone. But dismissing the conversation outright may be shortsighted. Open source thrives on bold thinking, especially when the status quo shows signs of strain. If the PHP ecosystem wants to strengthen its talent pipeline and competitive position for the next decade, serious dialogue about collaboration, specialisation, or even partial consolidation deserves attention.

With that context, here are the major stories from last week.

INTERVIEW

• Dan Frost on Drupal’s AI-Ready Architecture, Controlled AI, and AI-Mode SEO

EVENT

• Why Drupal Must Move Beyond the Bubble in the Age of AI
• Sponsorship Opportunities Open for DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026
• DrupalCamp Costa Rica 2026 Scheduled for 26–28 February at UCR Liberia
• Drupal 25th Anniversary Gala to Be Held During DrupalCon Chicago

DISCOVER DRUPAL

• SearXNG Module Enables Privacy-First Web Search for Drupal AI Assistants
• New Drupal Contrib Code Search Tool Indexes Drupal 10+ Compatible Projects
• Views Code Data Module Executes Drupal Views as Structured Data
• Dries Buytaert Launches Drupal Digests for AI-Powered Development Tracking

PHP

• Ashraf Abed Calls for Unified PHP Open-Source Framework to Address Sustainability Challenges

DRUPAL COMMUNITY

• Drupal Invites Community Feedback Through Drupal CMS Survey

SECURITY

• Security Pitfalls Drupal Module Maintainers Should Avoid

BLOG

• Robert Menetray details 20-60-20 AI workflow for Drupal development

We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we pause here for this issue. For timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you.

Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor
The DropTimes

We heard you... and we want to hear from more of you!

The MidCamp 2026 Call for Sessions has been extended. The new deadline is March 13, 2026.

If you had a session idea brewing but didn't quite get it across the finish line, now's your window. We extended the deadline because we want a lineup that reflects the full range of people who use, build, and care about Drupal — and we're not there yet without you.

What We're Looking For

MidCamp sessions are open to all skill levels and all corners of the Drupal ecosystem. Whether you're a developer with a deep technical dive, a project manager with hard-won lessons, a designer with a perspective the community needs, or an end user who figured something out the hard way — there is a place for your session at MidCamp.

We're especially interested in talks around:

• Drupal AI — practical applications, integrations, and what's actually working in the field
• Drupal CMS / Canvas — building with and extending Drupal's newest tools
• Decoupled and headless implementations — real-world lessons from the front lines
• Accessibility, equity, and inclusion — building a better, more accessible web
• Community and contribution — how we grow the ecosystem together

Not sure if your idea fits? Submit it anyway. We'd rather review more proposals than miss a great talk.

How to Submit

Session submissions are open now through March 13, 2026.

A single drush cex after enabling one module: 2,525 files changed. None of the diffs meaningful. This is what random config UUIDs do to an iterative Drupal 7-to-10 migration workflow.

Buy your tickets now to the DrupalCon Gala! mherchel Fri, 02/27/2026 - 13:55

Dan Frost brings a maintenance-first view to Drupal’s evolution and the realities of AI in production environments. In this interview, the Adaptive Managing Director reflects on the Drupal 7 to 8 shift, why structured architecture matters for AI readiness, and how “controlled AI” depends on guardrails and observability. He also discusses headless Drupal as an emerging direction, how charities are adopting conversational interfaces, and why SEO strategy in 2026 increasingly means being present inside AI-driven search surfaces, not only ranking in traditional results.

A new demo theme for LocalGov Drupal

This month I gave myself one job to do: redesign the Scarfolk theme.

markconroy 27th Feb 2026

Do you have a favorite restaurant with a “secret” menu item? Well, DrupalCon has its own secret. And, I’m spilling the beans. If you ask any DrupalCon veteran, what the best thing about the events are, they’ll say, “The Hallway Track”. Huh?

What is the “Hallway Track”?

The “Hallway Track” is the space around and between official schedule items. This might be in the actual hallway, in the sponsor floor, at the parties, or even in a taxi ride to the airport.

Space like this lets serendipity happen. You might get bored and join a conversation and make new friends. You might hear of a problem, and think of a new business idea. Or…

Stories from the Hallway Track

I reached out to several friends to get hear some stories about their experiences in the hallway track

Nikki Flores tells about how she ran into a colleague at DrupalCon and became fast friends!

I had worked with her for almost 2 years, had seen pictures of her family and her dog and her vacations. We had always been connecting weekly and sometimes twice a week on our teleconferences. I never saw her in person until she called my name from across the hall at DrupalCon. When we saw each other, we were so excited because we recognized each other's faces! 

Carlos Ospina tells the story about how he took his son to DrupalCon, and that led to the genesis of the IXP program.

I wanted my son to understand why I love this community so much, so we flew him out to Seattle. I told him I knew a lot of people there, but since it was contribution day, there would not be much time to socialize.

After COVID, he agreed to join us again for Portland in 2022. The Sunday before the event, we met some friends for breakfast. I spotted someone I thought I recognized and mentioned it. My son teased me, saying it was probably just because I think I know everyone at DrupalCon.

We sat down, and in the middle of breakfast Eduardo Telaya walked by our table. I called out to him, and he came over. We hugged, and suddenly we were no longer just five people having breakfast. A couple of other friends stopped by to say hello, and our table grew. My son looked at me and said, “So maybe you really do know everyone at DrupalCon.”

I think that moment stuck with him. When we started talking about career options, he agreed to give Drupal a try and came with us to Pittsburgh in 2023 to look for a job. After all, Dad knows everyone, right?

Unfortunately, that was when the hiring slowdown was becoming clear. It was the first time the Drupal Association organized a job fair, and we attended. At one point I had to step away to take a call, and my son did great on his own. He introduced himself, talked to people confidently, and put himself out there. But there were no real opportunities for someone in his position. He had just completed DrupalEasy, had no professional experience, and no background in computer science.

That experience led to conversations with Anilu, and from those conversations the IXP Program was born. It started as a way to help my son get a foothold. He has since moved on from Drupal to explore something different, but the program lives on. We are now approaching 1,750 contribution credits awarded, and six participants have gone through the program.

What began as something personal turned into something that helps others enter the community.

Mike Gifford tells several stories about how he met friends and started his journey to be an Accessibility Maintainer for Drupal Core.

I’ve had so many great conversations with people who have inspired me, challenged me, and made me laugh in the hallway of DrupalCons. Over coffee, lunch or just while trying to charge a device, leaning against the wall.

The first story that came to mind was trying to find Eriol Fox in DrupalCon Vienna. I am not sure what we were using to message each other, but there was a large delay between sending and receiving messages. Then there is the challenge of actually finding each other in these crazy conference centers. Anyways, we had a good time chatting, but she also pointed me to some folks that she had connected with in Japan. I was going to be going there and wanted to find some open source connections while there.

I think it was in DrupalCon Atlanta that I had great conversations with Stephen Mustgrave & Stephen Musgrave. We were all in slightly different breakout groups. I had confused the two of them only a month or two ago and remembered connecting with them and verifying that they are indeed not the same person.

I can’t remember when I ran into Mark Gifford, but it was in some hallway, where we talked about me mostly grabbing the @mgifford in so many new social platforms before he could.  I guess he has some right to them.

I actually started contributing to Drupal’s accessibility after a hallway chat. It was some time before Drupal 7 was released, and I remember going up to Webchick and complaining about accessibility errors in Drupal. She turned around and suggested I could do something about it. I don’t know how many thousands of hours I’ve spent on fixing accessibility issues in Drupal since she made that suggestion. Thanks Angie.

Mike Anello intentionally avoided the assignment, but tells a great story about the contribution room!

Forget about the hallway - let’s talk about the contribution room track.

There’s no better way to learn something new and make meaningful personal connections than spending a few hours in a contribution room. There are a few Drupal events each year that I know I won’t be wasting any time listening to over-caffeinated Florida-based front-end developers rant at me about the future of front-end development. Instead, I arrive with an agenda to learn something new about some new Drupal thing by spending time in the contribution room helping to test, write documentation, or work on existing issues.

I can credit this method for supercharging my learning of single directory components, ECA, a good portion of the Drupal AI ecosystem, and more Views internals than I ever wanted (thanks, Lendude!)

At my first Drupal Dev Days (Ghent 2023, IIRC) one of my goals was to use my evolving PhpUnit test-writing skills to use in the contribution area. After talking with a few folks, I was introduced to Len Swaneveld, a core maintainer for the Views module. Len pointed me at a few potential issues to work on, and after reviewing a few of them, I settled on one that seemed like it was completable in a reasonable amount of time. What transpired over the next few weeks will be no surprise to anyone who’s ever worked on core Views code - nothing is simple.

But, the thing that I remember most about that issue is the time that Len spent with me (both in-person and online) mentoring me on some of the darker areas of the Views code base. It gave me an all-new perspective of the module as well as the challenges of maintaining it.

This process, and similar ones related to other areas of Drupal, I knew that I was improving my skills by learning from leaders in the community - all while I was helping them!

Perhaps the most rewarding part of it is the fact that after the event, a personal connection now exists - and it doesn’t feel forced. It is a perfectly natural thing to reach out to these new connections via email or Slack with a little, “it was great getting to know you a few weeks ago at Dev Days; I have a quick question for you…”

Networking is the reason for Drupal events - not presentations (sorry, presenters!)

Michael Richardson tells us how the hallway track led to the creation of DrupalCon Singapore!

For me it would be when I went to DrupalCon Lille with the wild idea of running something like a "DrupalCamp Asia", which would be focused on trying to get folks from all over the continent (and the Pacific) to connect together and share their Drupal stories, cultures, and experience for the first time in nearly 10 years.

Through the power of the hallway track in Lille, I was able to connect directly with sponsors, Drupal Association leadership, and regional community leaders, and over those few days the idea evolved into a fully fledged DrupalCon Asia with sponsors, organisers, and the support of the DA all aligned. What would have taken months to organise online was all put in place in just 3 days and a year later, DrupalCon Singapore was a massive success. I'm not sure that would have been possible without those first conversations half way across the world in Lille.

Baddý Breidert tells us how participating in the DrupalCon prenote led to multiple friendships!

My first DrupalCon was Amsterdam in 2014 and I remember going to that event not knowing anyone. During the Hallway Track I got to know MortenDK that introduced me to a lot of people and from that conference it always became a bit easier to attend DrupalCon. At DrupalCon Dublin 2016, Jam and others from the community invited me to join the pre-note which I gladly accepted. The pre-note always happened before the Driesnote and the purpose of the event was to entertain the keynote attendees and kick-off the conference. The show featured an Irish adventure theme, where the characters attempted to find a “pot of gold” while exploring the concept of “scope” in a  humorous, technical, and musical “infotainment” style.

Cristina Chumillas tells how she went outside of the conference to find a magical donut, and brought it back to share!

Soooo on the first DrupalCon in Portland after covid, the day after committing Claro and Olivero, with Lauri, we went for a quick adventure to find a famous doughnut with bacon and maple syrup. At Voodoo Doughnuts. 

Anyway, we were at the sprints and were working on Olivero issues, so by the time we left it was about to close. On the way it started raining A LOT and when we arrived they were closing and there were no more doughnuts. But since we were there we took the chance to get inside the shop and asked for it, and they still had one! So we bought it and ended up eating it with 8 people at the sprints.

JD Flynn perfectly wraps up the hallway track in his rendition.

To me, the hallway track is where the magical moments are found. It's where connections are made. It's where friendships begin. Sessions at events are amazing, and should definitely be attended. However, the real inspiration and sparks happen during spontaneous conversations that happen just because you bump into someone and start talking about this idea you've had or this bug you found. Before you know it, you're both sitting with your laptops out and building something together. That doesn't happen while sitting quietly in a session.

The "hallway" track isn't limited to just the hallway of the event's venue either. It carries over to the parties and the after parties where lifetime friendships and memories are formed. It's not an exaggeration to say that most of the people in my life who I consider good friends are good friends because of that spark that happened in the hallway, wherever that hallway might exist. It could be bonding over a drink, shared love of a type of food, randomly bumping into someone who looks familiar outside of the event, or picking the song at karaoke that gets everyone up and dancing. I owe some of the strongest relationships in my life, personally and professionally, to the hallway track.

Make space for the Hallway Track

As JD said, the hallway track is where the magic happens. But how do you find it?

You need to put yourself out there. Sit down at lunch tables where you don’t know anyone, and strike up conversations. Go to the event parties and talk to people in the lines at the bar. Join a trivia team with people that you don’t know! 

You might just end up with some serendipity of your own!