Drupal CMS 1.0 has launched! With it, comes a deliberate shift in Drupal’s focus – trying to claw back the mid-market segment that we’ve ceded to WordPress (among others) over the past ten years or so. It comes at a pivotal time for both Drupal and the web. Drupal has been slowly losing market share as older Drupal 7 sites face the decision to migrate elsewhere or upgrade. Meanwhile, competitors are evolving, and the web is undergoing transformative changes with the rise of AI.
A monumental effort!
Drupal CMS (formerly known as “Starshot”) is undoubtedly the largest focused effort to improve Drupal, and includes work from many competing agencies that came together for the greater good. The amount of work that has gone into this in the past 8 months is absolutely staggering. It comprises not just code, but a strategic shift that includes marketing, documentation, and thinking.
But as Drupal Association CEO Tim Doyle stated during the global launch party,
This is a launch, not a landing
…meaning that there’s tons of continuing work happening and tons to do.
What’s in Drupal CMS?
The first thing you’ll notice is a new installer. It’s dramatically simplified from the standard Core installer, yet has options for features (recipes) that will be available after installation.
After installation, users are directed to a dashboard. But, beyond the immediate visual differences, there’s lots of other enhancements!
Project browser & recipes
In my opinion, the most impressive new feature in Drupal CMS is Project Browser and Recipes. Project Browser allows you to browse, find, and install new Drupal modules and recipes.
Recipes are one of the most exciting features added to Drupal in years! They are newly integrated into the user interface. Each recipe represents a set of modules, configuration for the modules, and default content. It dramatically simplifies the setup of previously hard tasks, with an easy install button.
Overall cohesiveness
While not a “feature”, per se, the overall cohesiveness of the Drupal CMS user interface is monumental (huge credit to Cristina Chumillas). The addition of Gin as the default theme, and the new Navigation module make Drupal feel different. It feels and acts more modern.
The ability to add full blown features via the installer is something that I’ve hoped for for the longest time, and the new features are well thought out and implemented.
Still missing some key pieces
Drupal CMS represents an easy button for Drupal. However, not everything is easy yet. One of the missing pieces is page building functionality.
Experience Builder
Drupal traditionally has handled this in a multitude of ways. Many people use Layout Builder, some use Paragraphs and its huge ecosystem of modules. Many folks hard code components into their template files.
Eventually, Drupal CMS will ship with Experience Builder (XB). XB is the page builder application that’s meant to put every competitor to shame. In addition to placing components on the page, you’ll be able to map data into the components and control how they interact.
The 1.0 release of Drupal CMS was going to have a bare bones demo of XB, but it’s still a bit too rough around the edges. But, XB is coming and coming in fast. In my experience with XB, it’s easy to see the glimmers of greatness despite the current rough edges.
Recipe integration with Drupal.org
Currently the only recipes listed within Project Browser are the ones included in the codebase of Drupal CMS. Once Project Browser can pull down recipes from Drupal.org, it opens up an unlimited number of possibilities for the community to contribute. This will bring enormous innovation to Drupal, and allow the community to organically fill holes in functionality and cohesiveness.
Thank you's
While working on integration between various recipes and Olivero, I frequently worked with Adam and Pamela. I’m convinced that Adam is a cyborg and doesn’t sleep. The amount of work that he turned out, was amazing. Pam was also fantastic to work with! She brings a level of realistic expertise to the project that’s extremely valuable in so many ways! There are so many others to thank, but I also want to shout out to Dries and Acquia. It takes courage to do what we did what we’re doing, and Acquia funded the lion’s share of the development effort.
Come to Florida DrupalCamp!
Want to learn more about Drupal CMS and Experience Builder? Come to Florida DrupalCamp this February! Hosted in warm and sunny Orlando, we have various leads from Drupal CMS and Experience Builder giving sessions. The cost is only $75 for three days of sessions and trainings. Check out the schedule at https://www.fldrupal.camp/schedule/day-2
Puppy pics!
As promised, here are some pictures of “Coda”, our new lab/boxer mix! He’s 100% mischievous but so fun to play with (and still has puppy breath!
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Seriously... I really like it when people let me know their thoughts and that they've read this.