Adapting the Drupal arsenal to best benefit the needs of the content editors, Lukas Fischer introduces novel custom updates to the Drupal Dashboard as a part of developing the Content Planner Version 2. Lukas, incidentally, is one of the developers behind this module. It is a contrib module and not part of the core. 

Lukas Fischer founded NETNODE AG, which built NodeHive, a Headless CMS on top of Drupal. Check out our earlier story on NodeHive here: NodeHive: Pioneering an Eco-Conscious Future in Digital Innovation Powered by Drupal.

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The new dashboard seen in the screenshot below is the default dashboard on the NodeHive SaaS offering. But even those not using NodeHive could reap the benefits of this dashboard by installing the Content Planner module in Drupal. It is a different dashboard, not the default one, developed as part of the Drupal Dashboard Initiative and available in the core. 

Lukas notes that he and his team began working on the Content Planner module in 2018, and recently, several factors converged for them to start working on the Content Planner Version 2. With NodeHive Headless CMS development happening simultaneously, Lukas shares on his recent blog that, 

"Our goal was to integrate Content Planner, particularly its dashboard, as a pivotal element of the NodeHive experience. This marked the beginning of our focused efforts."

Lukas believes "Drupal and Dashboard are historically not the best fits." However, he decided to create a simple but powerful approach to handling dashboard layouts. His announcement about the latest updates in the Dashboard on LinkedIn garnered many positive responses, adding to his strive to improve Drupal. 

Among the highlights of this release are the powerful built-in widgets offered by the Content Planner Dashboard. The list of the out-of-the-box widgets provided by NETNODE can be seen in Lukas Fischer's blog post. 

"We recently made updates of the dashboard and added new widgets like the “Welcome back”, “My recent edits” and web form activity widgets which make the dashboard an attractive solution for content editors and site builders of Drupal sites."

Lukas told The DropTimes in an email correspondence. He also reiterates that,

"The dashboard is part of the Content Planner module which we at NETNODE maintain and is an integral part of NodeHive Headless CMS."

Nevertheless, one can install the Content Planner module on their site without trouble as there is zero dependency except for the Scheduler module, because it uses the module for scheduling. 

The flexibility of the dashboard's layout has also been highlighted, with the ability to define the allocation of "columns" within the layout for each enabled widget. The layout is intentionally designed to present substantial information on one screen, including call-to-action buttons that lead to further details. Furthermore, the dashboard's compatibility with the Gin theme is stressed, suggesting that users of Gin will find their custom color schemes seamlessly integrated into the dashboard interface.

To avoid confusion, Lukas also emphasizes that the latest update in the NodeHive Dashboard has nothing to do with the Drupal Dashboard Initiative. 

For those interested in exploring the new features and participating in the development process, version 2.0 of the Content Planner Dashboard is currently being developed. 

"Our next step is to release a stable version. We encourage you to test and explore these new features,"

notes an excited Lukas Fischer. 

Emphasizing the collaborative nature of the project, Fischer urges Drupal enthusiasts to test the new version, share their feedback, and join hands to contribute to content management development.

Lukas Fischer has brought out a YouTube video to teach you more about the latest update and practical installation lessons of the NodeHive Dashboard.