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November 25, 2021

Multiple version compatibility in Drupal--managing the tradeoffs

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Summary

If you're a seasoned Drupal module developer, or even a relatively new one, it's hard not to like the fact that, starting with Drupal 8.7.7, it's possible for a single version of a module to be compatible with multiple versions of Drupal core. Suddenly, maintaining your module became way easier. It's noteworthy enough that the process of making a module work with the Drupal 9 release was incomparably easier than any previous major version upgrade. But beyond that, you could actually maintain a single version for both Drupal 8 and 9, or both Drupal 9 and 10. How great is that?

But - and there always is a but, isn't there? - it's not quite so straightforward. There are some significant tradeoffs to sticking with a single release branch for two major versions of core. I'll look at a couple here - deferred refactoring and missed improvements - and ways to mitigate them.

November 23, 2021

What do the usage data on Drupal.org actually mean?

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Many Drupal insiders recognize that data on Drupal usage that's collected and displayed on Drupal.org have their limitations. Since 2018 there's been a proposed Drupal core telemetry initiative to expand and improve the data collected. Meantime, though, the usage stats are widely referred to and cited. So it's worth spending a bit of time with them. What do they actually capture?

April 6, 2020

Developing the Rake and Radish Farm website

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Since starting a farm is a monumental task, we needed to make sure that the website was easy to get set up and easy to maintain going forward.

March 5, 2020

Website development made simple with Drutopia

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As always, the best way to test out how things are working is to get busy and start using them. And so far the results of building with Drutopia are feeling pretty positive.

October 31, 2018

The Curse of the Haunted Drupal Site, Revisited!

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It's a specter ghastly enough to make the most seasoned Drupal developer quiver with fear. Yes, it's the dreaded Haunted Drupal Site!

October 9, 2018

Managing Shared Configuration Part 8: Summary and Future Directions

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This is the eighth and last installment in a series presenting work on shared configuration that comes out of the Drutopia initiative and related efforts.

September 27, 2018

Managing Shared Configuration Part 7: Core Configuration

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This is the seventh and (promise!) penultimate installment in a series presenting work on shared configuration that comes out of the Drutopia initiative and related efforts.

September 25, 2018

Drupal distributions, blocks, and subthemes

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Block Theme Sync allows a site admin to configure a "theme mapping": a relationship between two themes. As well as specifying a source and destination theme, a theme mapping includes a mapping of source to destination regions.

September 24, 2018

Managing Shared Configuration Part 6: Packaging Configuration with the Features Module

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This is the sixth installment in a series presenting work on shared configuration that comes out of the Drutopia initiative and related efforts.

September 20, 2018

Managing Shared Configuration Part 5: Updating from Extensions

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This is the fifth installment in a series presenting work on shared configuration that comes out of the Drutopia initiative and related efforts.

September 18, 2018

Managing Shared Configuration Part 4: Configuration Alters

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This is the fourth installment in a series presenting work on shared configuration that comes out of the Drutopia initiative.

September 12, 2018

Planning a website upgrade

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In our work with nonprofits, we're often asked for guidance on whether and how to upgrade to a new website. When is it time to upgrade? What factors should we consider? If you're wondering if you should upgrade, here are some notes based on our experience.