Talking Drupal
Talking Drupal is a weekly chat about web design and development by a group a guys with one thing in common, we love Drupal. With hosts Stephen Cross, John Picozzi and Nic Laflin.

Today we are talking about the New Contribution Records System, how it’s changed, and what you may need to do differently with guests Fran Garcia-Linares & Tim Lehnen. We’ll also cover Config Notify as our module of the week.

This episode is sponsored by Amazee.ai

For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/522

Topics

  • Understanding the Contribution Record System
  • Recent Changes and Migration Challenges
  • Assigning and Displaying Contribution Credits
  • Future Enhancements and Broader Contributions
  • Collaborating on Commit Message Format
  • GitLab Migration and Contribution Records
  • Integration Challenges with GitLab
  • Testing and Feedback on New System
  • Future Plans and Community Involvement
  • API Endpoints and Data Querying
  • Gamification and Broader Adoption

Resources

Guests

Fran Garcia-Linares - fjgarlin
Tim Lehnen - drupal.org/association/staff hestenet

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Hayden Baillio - hgbaillio

MOTW

Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

  • Brief description:
    • Have you ever needed to maintain a site where a site owner had access to update site configuration, and wanted to be notified whenever they did so? There’s a module for that
  • Module name/project name:
  • Brief history
    • How old: created in Feb 2020 by Fran Garcia-Linares (fjgarlin), one of today’s guests
    • Versions available: 8.x-1.11, which supports Drupal 8.8 and newer
  • Maintainership
    • Actively maintained
    • Security coverage
  • Number of open issues: 2 open issues, neither of which are bugs
  • Usage stats:
    • 194 sites
  • Module features and usage
    • Just like it sounds, this module lets you trigger notifications when the configuration deviates from the config management code in production.
    • You can choose for the notifications to be sent immediately, or via cron, with an option for a daily digest. The notifications can be sent by email, or via Slack, using the slack module (if enabled).
    • This should be an easy-to-implement solution if you support a site where users may be updating the site configuration in production. A different approach was discussed back in episode #236 Top Down Configuration
Direct download: td-522-libsyn.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EST

Today we are talking about Tugboat, What it does, and how it can super charge your ci/cd process with guest James Sansbury. We’ll also cover ShURLy as our module of the week.

For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/521

Topics

  • Celebrating 20 Years with Drupal
  • Introduction to Tugboat
  • Comparing Tugboat with Other Solutions
  • Tugboat's Unique Advantages
  • Standardizing Workflows with Tugboat
  • Handling Hosting and Development Delays
  • Troubleshooting and Knowledge Transfer
  • Client Base and Use Cases
  • Agency Partnerships and Payment Structures
  • Unique and Interesting Use Cases
  • Challenges and Limitations of Tugboat
  • Setting Up and Onboarding with Tugboat
  • The Tugboat Origin Story
  • Compliance and Security Considerations

Resources

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

MOTW

Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

  • Brief description:
    • Have you ever wanted to use Drupal as a URL shortening service? There’s a module for that.
  • Module name/project name:
  • Brief history
    • How old: created in Aug 2010 by Jeff Robbins (jjeff) though recent releases are by João Ventura (jcnventura) of Portugal
    • Versions available: 8.x-1.0-beta4 which supports Drupal 9.3, 10, and 11
  • Maintainership
    • Minimally maintained, maintenance fixes only. Also, the project page says that the 8.x branch is not ready for production use. So a big caveat emptor if you decide to try it
    • Number of open issues: 18 open issues, 5 of which are bugs against the current branch
  • Usage stats:
    • 730 sites
  • Module features and usage
    • With the ShURLly module installed, you can specify a long URL you want shortened, optionally also providing a case-sensitive short URL you want to use. If none is provided a short URL will be automatically generated
    • The module provides usage data for the short URLs, and and a user you can see a list the ones you’ve created as well as their click data
    • I was a little surprised to see that created short URLs are stored in a custom db table instead of as entities, but the module is able to avoid a full bootstrap of Drupal before issuing the intended redirects
    • The module provides blocks for creating short URLs, a bookmarklet to save a short URL, and URL history. There is also Views integration for listing the short URLs, by user or in whatever way will be useful in your site
    • There is also a submodule to provide web services for generating short URLs, or potentially expand a short URL back into its long form. The services support output as text, JSON, JSONP, XML, or PHP serialized array
    • The module allows provides a variety of permissions to allow fine-grained access to the capabilities it provides, and also has features like per-role rate limiting, APIs to alter redirection logic, and support for the Google Safe Browsing API, and Google Analytics
    • It’s worth mentioned that ShURLy is intended to run in a site on its own instead of within a Drupal site that is also serving content directly, but it will attempt to avoid collisions with existing site paths
    • Today’s guest, James, is one of the maintainers of ShURLy, but Nic, you mentioned before the show that you have a customer using this module. What can you tell us about the customer’s use case and your experience working with ShURLy?
Direct download: TD_521_-_Tugboat.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EST

In this episode, we are joined by special guests Mike Herchel and Andy Giles, founders of Dripyard. Dripyard is a premium Drupal theme designed to reduce the cost of ownership and enhance the developer experience for modern Drupal projects. Mike and Andy share insights into their motivation behind launching Dripyard, the detailed work that goes into creating accessible, high-quality themes, and how their themes will integrate with upcoming Drupal features like Canvas. We also discuss the module of the week, Content First, and a crucial public service announcement about a supply chain attack impacting NPM tools.

For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/520

Topics

  • Meet the Guests: Mike Herchel and Andy Giles
  • Module of the Week: Content First
  • Public Service Announcement: NPM Supply Chain Attack
  • Event Spotlight: Bad Camp 2025
  • Introducing Dripyard: A New Drupal Theme Company
  • The Concept and Vision Behind Dripyard
  • The Importance of Accessibility in Themes
  • Building Themes for the General Public
  • Supporting Drupal CMS and Canvas
  • Supporting Custom and Contrib Modules
  • Styling Challenges with Webform Module
  • Consulting Services for Theme Integration
  • Sub-Theming and Customization Options
  • Support and Assistance for Non-Developers
  • Recipes for Efficient Theme Setup
  • Modern CSS and JavaScript Practices
  • Target Audience and Market Focus
  • Licensing and Open Source Considerations
  • Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Module of the Week

with Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

Content First - The Content First module provides a simple tool for viewing the plain text content of any node without design, media, or layout distractions. It helps content teams, editors, and designers focus on what matters most: the content itself.

Whether you're drafting, reviewing, or rethinking your site’s messaging, this module supports a true “content-first” approach by giving you a clean, layout-free version of your page.

Resources

Dripyard
Supply Side Attack - Also this link
grep -r --binary-files=text _0x112fa81 to diagnose if you’ve been impacted
Should I Use a Carousel?

Guests

Mike Herchel mherchel
Andy Giles andyg5000 dripyard.com

Hosts

John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

Direct download: td-520.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EST

Join John and Steve as they delve into the intricacies and challenges of maintaining Drupal modules, comparing experiences with WordPress, and sharing their journey in making web development more accessible. They discuss their personal stories, the learning curve in module development, balancing user experience, and the importance of contributing back to the community. Learn about their current projects, thoughts on AI's role in accessibility, and get inspired by their dedication to improving the web for all users.

For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe010

Topics

  • Drupal Beginnings: Personal Stories
  • Journey into Module Development
  • Accessibility in Web Development
  • Navigating the Learning Curve in Development
  • The Importance of Community and Collaboration
  • Challenges in Module Maintenance
  • Comparing Drupal and WordPress
  • Innovative Approaches to Development
  • Pet Peeves and Frustrations
  • Future Directions and AI Integration
  • The Story Behind the Shovel Avatar

Steve Wirt

Being a Developer and Tech Lead at CivicActions has exposed him to the experience of working on some of the largest government websites in the United States. A passion for opensourcing as much as possible has lead him to develop a growing number of modules, with two addressing accessibility Alt Text Validation & Node Link Report)

John Jameson

As the Digital Accessibility Developer at Princeton University, John has come to believe that the biggest barrier to accessible content is the idea that training can compensate for unintuitive authoring interfaces. So far his work to fix the authoring interfaces, to make workflows intuitive and accessible by default, has resulted in the Editoria11y Accessibility Checker and Link Purpose Icons JS libraries and Drupal modules.

Guests

Steve Wirt - swirt
John Jameson - itmaybejj

Resources

Modules

Talking Drupal #490 Contrib First https://talkingdrupal.com/490
Contrib First https://guidebook.civicactions.com/en/latest/common-practices-tools/contribution/contrib-first/

Direct download: td-cafe-10.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EST

Today we are talking about DrupalCon Vienna, what we can expect, and any surprise updates with guests Cristina Chumillas, Antonella Severo, and Catherine Tsiboukas. We’ll also cover Recipe Tracker as our module of the week.

For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/519

Topics

  • When is DrupalCon Vienna
  • What types of sessions will be there
  • Are there any unique formats or events we don't see at other DrupalCons
  • Splash Awards
  • Surprises from the Driesnote
  • Drupal Canvas
  • Additional Keynotes
  • Training
  • Social events
  • Tickets

Resources

Guests

Catherine Tsiboukas - mindcraftgroup.com bletch
Antonella Severo - nestle.com antonellasevero
Cristina Chumillas - ckrina

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

MOTW

Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

  • Brief description:
    • Have you ever wanted to track what recipes, and their versions, have been applied to your Drupal site? There’s a module for that.
  • Module name/project name:
  • Brief history
    • How old: created in Mar 2025 by centarro, as part of the Commerce Recipe: Core, notionally the very first Drupal site recipe
    • Versions available: 1.0.0
  • Maintainership
    • Actively maintained: only one commit to the project repo
    • Number of open issues: none (ever)
  • Usage stats:
    • 207 sites
  • Module features and usage
    • After installing the Recipe Tracker module, every time a recipe is applied, the name and version of the recipe will be added to a new recipe log, along with the full package name of the recipe, and the user who applied it as well as the date and time it was applied
    • The module uses an event subscriber to generate a recipe log entity, so there should also be lots of API options if you want to extend how the logging works, for example using Drupal’s Entity API
    • This module was nominated by our own John Picozzi, so John, why don’t you kick off the discussion by telling us what inspired you to nominate Recipe Tracker?
Direct download: td-519-libsyn.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EST

Today we are talking about Drupal Canvas, What it is, and when we can use it with guest Lauri Timmanee. We’ll also cover Starshot Demo Design System as our module of the week.

For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/518

Topics

  • What is Drupal Canvas
  • The Evolution and Future of Drupal Canvas
  • Building with Drupal Canvas: Components and Templates
  • User Experience and Flexibility in Drupal Canvas
  • Collaboration and Extensibility in Drupal Canvas
  • Default Components in Drupal Canvas
  • Introduction to Modular Components
  • Drupal CMS and Site Templates
  • Acquia Source and Drupal Canvas Integration
  • Pricing and Use Cases for Acquia Source
  • Canvas Beta and Stability
  • Migration and Upgrade Paths
  • AI Integration in Drupal Canvas
  • Future of Drupal Canvas

Resources

Guests

Lauri Timmanee - lauriii

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi

MOTW

Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

  • Brief description:
    • Have you ever wanted to try out Canvas (previously known as Experience Builder) with a fully built-out design system? There’s a Drupal theme for that.
  • Module name/project name:
  • Brief history
    • How old: created in July 2024 by longtime Drupalist Kristen Pol of Salsa Digital
    • Versions available: 1.0.6, which supports Drupal 10 and 11
  • Maintainership
    • Actively maintained
    • Security coverage
    • Test coverage
    • Documentation - Multipage writeup of SDDS, including contribution and development guides
  • Number of open issues: 34 open issues, 3 of which are active bugs
  • Usage stats:
    • 79 sites
  • Module features and usage
    • Some of our users may have already tried out the pre-release demo of Canvas that phenaproxima posted on Github. That actually has the Starshot Demo Design System, or SDDS, baked in. So, even if you watched a demo video of Canvas, you’ve probably seen SDDS in action
    • SDDS is itself built on CivicTheme, a Drupal theme built to act as a component-based atomic design system. As such, CivicTheme includes a rich component library, built from published Figma and Storybook UI Kits. And because some of the early builds for SDDS were for GovCMS, the Australian whole-of-government CMS project, it is accessible, with WCAG 2.2 compliance out-of-the-box
    • While the official purpose of SDDS is providing a platform to use for demos in Driesnotes and other presentations to illustrate the progress being made on Canvas, I think it’s also safe to say that testing the latest features of Canvas with a fully-realized design system has also helped to identify issues in Canvas itself. That means the products of all the work that has gone into SDDS will include a more production-ready stable release when that gets tagged (hopefully in time for Vienna)
Direct download: td-518-libsyn.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EST