News Roundup

Mike Miles, MIT Sloan's Director of Web Development, discusses how AI tools like GitHub Copilot are transforming web development. From cutting coding time to enhancing problem-solving, the episode highlights real-world applications, including AI-driven testing in Drupal 10. Tune in for actionable insights on preparing for AI's role in web innovation.

SparkFabrik urges website owners to migrate from Drupal 7 as its End of Life is set for January 5, 2025, ending updates and security patches. The blog highlights Drupal 11 as the ideal upgrade, featuring advanced AI, enhanced security, and compatibility with modern technologies. With 36% of Drupal sites still on version 7, the call to act is critical for digital security and performance.

Drupal4Gov celebrates becoming an IRS-recognized nonprofit, advancing its mission to support open-source innovation in government. The community fosters collaboration through events like Drupal GovCon and offers training resources for digital transformation. This milestone strengthens its dedication to empowering government professionals with Drupal.

CKEditor announces major updates to CKEditor 5 for Drupal, introducing self-service licensing in version 44.0.0 for direct purchase and management of premium features like collaborative editing. A new Version Override Submodule allows manual upgrades for Drupal 10.3 and 11.0.x, while Drupal 10.4 and 11.1 already include the update. Enhancements also cover real-time collaboration permissions, Export to Word V2, and support for Drupal 11 in CKEditor 4 LTS.

MidCamp 2025 is hosting a virtual Session Proposal Workshop on January 7, 2025, from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM CST via Zoom. Led by Aaron Feledy, the workshop offers practical guidance to help aspiring speakers craft compelling proposals before the February deadline. Open to all experience levels, it aims to foster inclusion and diverse voices in the Drupal community.

NEDCamp 2024 releases keynote video by TEN7 CEO Ivan Stegic, titled "Moving from Frustration to Clarity – Tenets of Leading a Team." The talk shares actionable leadership principles for overcoming bureaucracy and fostering clarity in higher education teams. Available now on NEDCamp's official YouTube channel.

Daniel Rotter's latest blog on Dev.to stresses the value of high-quality tests, not just their presence, in software development. He promotes minimal, complete tests with 100% code coverage and clear assertions to avoid false security and ease debugging. Developers are urged to prioritise precise, maintainable tests that match the quality of production code.

Developer Ivan Abramenko has unveiled a method to translate the Drupal interface into Serbian using ChatGPT. His livestream demo showcases tools like Tampermonkey scripts, user CSS, and the Copy Tables Chrome extension, with supporting scripts available on GitHub. The approach streamlines localization for non-English users, aiding schools, businesses, and government sites.

React Online becomes the second agency in the Netherlands to achieve Drupal Certified Partner status from the Drupal Association. The certification recognizes the agency's technical excellence, extensive project work, and active community contributions. This milestone positions React Online as a trusted expert for scalable, secure, and future-proof Drupal solutions.

Drupal 7 reaches end of life on January 5, 2025, closing a 14-year chapter. Just days later, on January 15, Drupal will unveil the new "Drupal CMS," a no-code, user-friendly platform for marketers, creators, and designers. Powered by AI and smart defaults, this release aims to make website building simpler and more accessible to non-developers.

Drupal CMS to officially launch on January 15, 2025, with a release candidate unveiled at DrupalCon Singapore 2024 by founder Dries Buytaert. M6L founder Joshua Mitchell shared his hands-on experience migrating from GitHub Pages to Drupal CMS, highlighting its robust authoring via CKEditor and default-packed modules like Autosave Form and Automatic Updates. While Mitchell praised its editorial features, he flagged concerns over page speed, accessibility, and disaster recovery but remains optimistic for future updates.

The Search Track team, led by Baddý Sonja Breidert and the 1xINTERNET team, has integrated a Search Recipe into Drupal CMS, enabling customizable search functionalities. Progress includes a Facet Recipe for advanced filtering, collaboration with module maintainers, and alignment on a unified data model. The team aims for a January 15 release and invites community contributions through testing, feedback, and documentation.

Viget’s latest analysis compares Drupal and Craft CMS, highlighting their unique strengths. Drupal stands out for enterprise scalability, multilingual support, and top-tier security, making it ideal for large, complex sites. Craft CMS is praised for its intuitive design and developer-friendly features, with the choice ultimately depending on project scope and technical needs.

Drupal 11 is officially here, offering automatic updates, a revamped Project Browser, and Recipes Starter Templates for quicker site setup. Drupfan's blog highlights key features like enhanced performance, improved admin interfaces, and an upgraded Layout Builder. With Drupal 7's end-of-life in January 2025 and Drupal 10 support ending mid-2026, website owners are urged to plan their migration now.

James Shields spotlights the Gin Admin Theme's journey in the Drupal Advent Calendar 2024. Now the default admin theme for Drupal, Gin offers features like a resizable sidebar, sticky action buttons, dark mode, and more. With stable 3.0 and 4.0 releases, the theme marks a UX milestone, led by Sascha Eggenberger and Jürgen Haas.

JoomTech Solutions compares Drupal and WordPress security, highlighting Drupal’s enterprise-grade protection with strict access controls and a dedicated security team. WordPress offers ease of use but faces risks from third-party plugins despite popular security tools. The blog advises choosing Drupal for high-security sites and WordPress for simpler projects.

John Locke's Advent 2024 article on Freelock highlights the ECA module's power in automating workflows in Drupal. From populating forms with user data to calculating custom order weights, ECA simplifies complex tasks like Commerce Shipping adjustments. This showcases its versatility in enhancing Drupal efficiency.

Pantheon and Sapio Research's survey, "The State of Enterprise Websites in Europe," highlights key challenges in security, cloud hosting, and performance. 65% of enterprises report cybercrime impacts, while 33% still rely on on-premises hosting. Rising tech demands have driven 81% of companies to increase website management budgets.

The Call for Speakers for FOSSASIA Summit 2025 closes on December 22, 2024, at 5:00 PM (+07). Innovators and open-source advocates can submit proposals for talks, panels, workshops, and lightning sessions on key themes like AI, DevOps, Web3, and more. The hybrid event takes place March 13-15, 2025, at True Digital Park West, Bangkok, Thailand.

E-Sepia Web Innovation releases three new Greek payment modules for Drupal Commerce: BoxNow, DIAS Payments, and IRIS Payments AlphaBank Redirect. The modules, developed during the Greek Drupal Contribution event, expand payment options for Greek e-commerce platforms. Contributors Athanasios Ntelis, Michail Managoudis, and Nesibe Balaban Duman led the initiative.

Immaculate Xavier, a professional at Material+, reflects on her enriching experience at DrupalCon Singapore 2024. She highlights sessions on decoupled architectures, automated testing, and multilingual strategies, along with presenting her own talk on integrating Drupal SEO with Yoast. Mentoring at Contribution Day and interacting with the global community reinforce her commitment to Drupal’s ongoing growth.

FOSDEM 2025 releases its packed schedule for February 1–2 in Brussels, featuring 795 speakers, 766 events, and 74 tracks across 40 rooms. The premier European open-source conference offers keynotes, developer rooms, lightning talks, and more, with live streaming for remote attendees. Explore the full agenda on FOSDEM’s official website.

"Learn to test Drupal 11 projects with Cypress and DDEV in this Spanish-language tutorial. The video covers setting up DDEV, installing Cypress, and fixing common configuration issues using Tyler36's public repo. Viewers are guided through creating and running tests, including a login test example, to streamline website testing."

Grzegorz Bartman of Droptica highlights 13 key reasons why Drupal excels as a CMS for editors, marketers, and HR in a new Polish-language video on Nowoczesny Drupal’s YouTube channel. The episode showcases Drupal’s strengths in automation, AI integration, mobile adaptability, and content-building tools. This video reinforces Drupal's growing status as a top CMS choice for agile, collaborative, and future-ready content management in Poland.

Mochiya's latest Drupal Advent Calendar 2024 post spotlights Drupal 11's new "Recipes" feature, enabling pre-configured site setups via YAML files. The blog offers a hands-on guide to customizing the "editorial_workflow" recipe and building a "custom_editorial" workflow with Japanese language support. While promising, the feature currently faces compatibility issues with earlier Drupal versions and limited pre-built recipes.

Drupal Iberia 2025 is set for April 4-5 in the historic city of Cáceres, Spain. The two-day event will bring together developers, designers, and enthusiasts for sessions on Drupal development, design, and case studies. Organized by the Spanish and Portuguese Drupal associations, it promises learning, networking, and a taste of Cáceres’s medieval charm.

Applications for DrupalCon Atlanta 2025 scholarships and community grants close tomorrow, December 20, 2024. The program offers full funding, including travel, lodging, and event registration, for eligible individuals from marginalized communities. Prospective applicants are urged to apply before the deadline to secure financial support and mentorship for the event.

Drupal enthusiasts gear up for a Dive Day adventure on February 20, 2025, ahead of Florida DrupalCamp in Orlando. The unofficial pre-camp event invites ocean lovers to explore West Palm Beach’s underwater world and build community bonds. The main camp runs from February 21-23, featuring workshops, sessions, and global industry networking.

The Acquia Engage Awards 2025 is now open for submissions, recognizing excellence in digital experience design, strategy, and innovation. Participants can compete in six key categories, with a deadline set for January 10, 2025. Entrants are encouraged to showcase measurable results and success stories, with resources like a submission guide available for support.

Tag1 Consulting launches CKEditor 5 support for Drupal 7 under its D7 Extended Support (D7ES) service, addressing security risks from CKEditor 4’s end-of-life. The new module, exclusive to D7ES users, offers upgraded features, enhanced functionality, and ongoing security updates. Pantheon.io users get free access to the self-service D7ES plan, with premium upgrades available.

The Linux Foundation has launched LF India to boost open source contributions from India’s vast developer community. With only 200K of 13.2M Indian GitHub users contributing to Linux Foundation projects, the new entity aims to bridge this gap. LF India will collaborate with enterprises, startups, and government bodies to promote open source education, training, and development.

Kelly Jacobs of Kalamuna highlights the importance of neurodiversity as a driver of innovation within the Drupal community. Drawing on personal stories from industry professionals, Jacobs emphasizes how neurodivergent talent brings unique creativity, problem-solving skills, and productivity boosts. By fostering neuro-inclusive workspaces with clear policies, flexible accommodations, and supportive hiring practices, Drupal organizations can unlock untapped potential, driving the CMS's next big leap forward.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has revamped its digital platform with a decoupled Drupal 10 and Gatsby architecture in just three months. The project improved website performance by 38%, SEO by 49%, and accessibility by 28%, enhancing storytelling, navigation, and search functionality. This transformation, powered by Axelerant, showcases how non-profits can leverage cutting-edge technology for advocacy and humanitarian impact.

MidCamp 2025 is calling for session proposals, with a deadline of January 12, 2025. Speakers of all experience levels are welcome to submit talks, panels, and creative formats. Join the Last Chance Workshop on January 7, 2025, to perfect your proposal and claim your spot!