If you’ve never been to a Drupal event before, you might not realize what all the fuss is about. But attending an event that gathers the community together to talk about Drupal for a few days is a priceless experience. And the thing is, it’s going to be better if you’re there!
My favorite part of Drupal events is the little interactions with people who have a common interest in Drupal but might use it in a completely different context and come from a completely different background. The Drupal community comprises designers, project managers, developers, translators, content and accessibility experts, and folks with other roles or who do Drupal as one of their many responsibilities. And all of you are welcome at DrupalCon!
You should especially come to Drupal if you’re new to the community. It might feel like a leap to go from trying a piece of software to attending a conference all about it. But if you count up all the hours you spend doing research, trying to find the right video to watch, and poking around at different modules, you’re guaranteed to get a much richer experience and a better understanding of Drupal’s open source ethos if you attend DrupalCon.
Who should attend?
We especially want you to attend if you’re new! I attended my first DrupalCon as a new user, and while it was a lot of information to absorb, it shaped my understanding of the Drupal way and made me realize first-hand the benefits of an open source project that I would come to depend on in my professional life. Don’t worry, there are conference sessions, training, and social events designed specifically for newcomers to help break the ice and get you started.
If you’re trying to decide if DrupalCon is for you, I think DrupalCon is especially relevant for:
Decision-makers responsible for choosing a digital platform
Developers and technologists learning Drupal (the training courses are particularly relevant!)
Drupal users who aren’t active in the community, and want to pick up new skills
Anyone who inherits a Drupal project
Agencies who are using Drupal for the first time
People looking to switch careers
Before you attend!
Here are some things to do before you go to DrupalCon to help you get the most out of the experience.
Install Drupal - If it’s your first DrupalCon and you’re relatively new to Drupal, I would recommend installing a sandbox Drupal before heading to DrupalCon. I spent my first DrupalCon jotting down modules to try out, and techniques to explore, and having a sandbox ready-to-go will make that experimentation much easier!
Join the Drupal Slack - If you’re already using Slack daily, this will give you a gateway to lots of conversations and expertise. And while you’re at DrupalCon, ask people which channels they belong to so you can continue those interesting conversations you start at the event!
Review the chedule - There’s so much great content at DrupalCon! Take a look at the sessions on offer in advance so you can scout out the most intriguing topics. Don’t ignore the “Birds of a Feather” more informal sessions. And keep in mind that great conversations are just as valuable as presentations.
Consider Contribution - If you’ve always been curious about the open source project, DrupalCon is a great way to see it in action. You can attend contribution events at the conference to get involved and see how you can help improve Drupal itself. Note that everyone is welcome to contribute, and I guarantee you that your skills are needed!
In conclusion, don’t feel intimidated if it’s your first DrupalCon. If you’re new to the Drupal community, we cannot wait to welcome you with open arms, and I hope to see you at DrupalCon Portland this year! Learn more and register now.
City of Boulder
Completed Drupal site or project URL: https://bouldercolorado.govThe City of Boulder has a unique brand. A mecca for startups, and a gateway to adventure in the Rocky Mountains, the city stands out as an iconic destination in Colorado. For its citizens, the City of Boulder is committed to creating and sustaining an exceptional quality of life through fantastic customer service and a strong focus on equity.
The City of Boulder provides governance and utility services, recreation information, relevant news, and the tools and resources necessary to get involved with local government. Website content and functionality are managed by a broad team spanning dozens of departments and audiences include a similarly wide collection of users like residents, city employees, prospective residents, visitors, and citizens engaged with local government.
Aten worked with the City of Boulder to re-organize their many services and detailed how-to information into a task-oriented, user-centered, visually stunning digital experience.
The City of Boulder provides governance and utility services, recreation information, relevant news, and the tools and resources necessary to get involved with local government. Website content and functionality are managed by a broad team spanning dozens of departments and audiences include a similarly wide collection of users like residents, city employees, prospective residents, visitors, and citizens engaged with local government.
Aten worked with the City of Boulder to re-organize their many services and detailed how-to information into a task-oriented, user-centered, visually stunning digital experience.
Drupal 9.3.0 is available
What’s new in Drupal 9.3.0?
The third feature release of Drupal 9 introduces experimental support for CKEditor 5, makes the Olivero theme stable and introduces various content editor and developer improvements.
The Olivero frontend theme is now stable!
The new Olivero frontend theme was added in Drupal 9.1.0 and thanks to various contributors since then is now stable. A modern and clear theme, Olivero is planned to become the new default Drupal theme later (replacing Bartik). Subtheming Olivero is currently not supported, but formal support may be included in the future.
The theme is named after Rachel Olivero (1982-2019). She was the head of the organizational technology group at the National Federation of the Blind, a well-known accessibility expert, a Drupal community contributor, and a friend to many.
New experimental support for CKEditor 5
A new beta experimental CKEditor 5 module is included with Drupal 9.3.0. Version 5 of CKEditor is an entirely new editor with visual and architectural improvements. While building the integration, the team worked hard with CKSource to implement functionality crucial for Drupal sites, such as General HTML Support and ways to dynamically load CKEditor plugins, so the visual web based setup of the editor is still available in Drupal. Also special care was given to providing a fluid upgrade path from CKEditor 4 configurations.
Drupal extensions that integrate with CKEditor 4 still need to be updated for CKEditor 5, however the plan is to remove CKEditor 4 support in Drupal 10, so we encourage everyone to try the new module on non-production environments.
New Content Editor role
A new dedicated Content Editor role was added to the standard profile with content editing, media management, translation, content workflow and revision handling permissions enabled by default.
Various developer improvements
Entity bundles can now declare their own class, encapsulating the required business logic. A bundle class must be a subclass of the base entity class, such as DrupalnodeEntityNode. Encapsulating all the required logic for each bundle into its own subclass opens up many possibilities for making more clear, simple, maintainable, and testable code.
Each user role now depends on the modules that provide the role's permissions, which means that permissions will be automatically cleaned up when a module is uninstalled.
PHP 8.1.0 was recently released and Drupal 9.3.0 comes with full support for the new version. The recommended PHP version to install Drupal 9.3.0 is PHP 8, but PHP 7.3+ support is kept.
Read the 9.3.0 release notes for more information on developer improvements and changes.
What does this mean for me?
Drupal 9 site owners
Update to 9.3.0 to continue receiving bug fixes and prepare for 10.0.0 (or 9.4.0). The next bug-fix release (9.3.1) is scheduled for January 5, 2022. (See the release schedule overview for more information.) As of this release, sites on Drupal 9.1 will no longer receive security coverage. (Drupal 9.2 will continue receiving security fixes until June 15, 2022.)
Updating your site from 9.2.10 to 9.3.0 with update.php is exactly the same as updating from 9.2.9 to 9.2.10. Drupal 9.3.0 also has updates to several dependencies. Modules, themes, and translations may need updates for these and other changes in this minor release, so test the update carefully before updating your production site. Read the 9.3.0 release notes for a full list of changes that may affect your site.
Drupal 8 site owners
Drupal 8 is end of life as of November 17, 2021. To continue receving security coverage upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9.2x at least as soon as possible to continue receiving security coverage. Upgrading is supported directly from 8.8.x and 8.9.x. 99% of the top 1000 most used drupal.org projects are updated for Drupal 9, so the modules and themes you rely on are most likely compatible.
Drupal 7 site owners
Drupal 7 is supported until November 28, 2022, and will continue to receive bug and security fixes throughout this time. From November 2022 until at least November 2025, the Drupal 7 Vendor Extended Support program will be offered by vendors.
On the other hand, the migration path for Drupal 7 sites to Drupal 9 is stable. Read more about the migration to Drupal 9.
Translation, module, and theme contributors
Minor releases like Drupal 9.3.0 include backwards-compatible API additions for developers as well as new features.
Since minor releases are backwards-compatible, modules, themes, and translations that supported Drupal 9.2.x and earlier will be compatible with 9.3.x as well. However, the new version does include some changes to strings, user interfaces, internal APIs and API deprecations. This means that some small updates may be required for your translations, modules, and themes. Read the 9.3.0 release notes for a full list of changes that may affect your modules and themes.
This release has further advanced the Drupal project and represents the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and contributors from various organizations. Thank you to everyone who contributed to Drupal 9.3.0!
The third feature release of Drupal 9 introduces experimental support for CKEditor 5, makes the Olivero theme stable and introduces various content editor and developer improvements.
The Olivero frontend theme is now stable!
The new Olivero frontend theme was added in Drupal 9.1.0 and thanks to various contributors since then is now stable. A modern and clear theme, Olivero is planned to become the new default Drupal theme later (replacing Bartik). Subtheming Olivero is currently not supported, but formal support may be included in the future.
The theme is named after Rachel Olivero (1982-2019). She was the head of the organizational technology group at the National Federation of the Blind, a well-known accessibility expert, a Drupal community contributor, and a friend to many.
New experimental support for CKEditor 5
A new beta experimental CKEditor 5 module is included with Drupal 9.3.0. Version 5 of CKEditor is an entirely new editor with visual and architectural improvements. While building the integration, the team worked hard with CKSource to implement functionality crucial for Drupal sites, such as General HTML Support and ways to dynamically load CKEditor plugins, so the visual web based setup of the editor is still available in Drupal. Also special care was given to providing a fluid upgrade path from CKEditor 4 configurations.
Drupal extensions that integrate with CKEditor 4 still need to be updated for CKEditor 5, however the plan is to remove CKEditor 4 support in Drupal 10, so we encourage everyone to try the new module on non-production environments.
New Content Editor role
A new dedicated Content Editor role was added to the standard profile with content editing, media management, translation, content workflow and revision handling permissions enabled by default.
Various developer improvements
Entity bundles can now declare their own class, encapsulating the required business logic. A bundle class must be a subclass of the base entity class, such as DrupalnodeEntityNode. Encapsulating all the required logic for each bundle into its own subclass opens up many possibilities for making more clear, simple, maintainable, and testable code.
Each user role now depends on the modules that provide the role's permissions, which means that permissions will be automatically cleaned up when a module is uninstalled.
PHP 8.1.0 was recently released and Drupal 9.3.0 comes with full support for the new version. The recommended PHP version to install Drupal 9.3.0 is PHP 8, but PHP 7.3+ support is kept.
Read the 9.3.0 release notes for more information on developer improvements and changes.
What does this mean for me?
Drupal 9 site owners
Update to 9.3.0 to continue receiving bug fixes and prepare for 10.0.0 (or 9.4.0). The next bug-fix release (9.3.1) is scheduled for January 5, 2022. (See the release schedule overview for more information.) As of this release, sites on Drupal 9.1 will no longer receive security coverage. (Drupal 9.2 will continue receiving security fixes until June 15, 2022.)
Updating your site from 9.2.10 to 9.3.0 with update.php is exactly the same as updating from 9.2.9 to 9.2.10. Drupal 9.3.0 also has updates to several dependencies. Modules, themes, and translations may need updates for these and other changes in this minor release, so test the update carefully before updating your production site. Read the 9.3.0 release notes for a full list of changes that may affect your site.
Drupal 8 site owners
Drupal 8 is end of life as of November 17, 2021. To continue receving security coverage upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9.2x at least as soon as possible to continue receiving security coverage. Upgrading is supported directly from 8.8.x and 8.9.x. 99% of the top 1000 most used drupal.org projects are updated for Drupal 9, so the modules and themes you rely on are most likely compatible.
Drupal 7 site owners
Drupal 7 is supported until November 28, 2022, and will continue to receive bug and security fixes throughout this time. From November 2022 until at least November 2025, the Drupal 7 Vendor Extended Support program will be offered by vendors.
On the other hand, the migration path for Drupal 7 sites to Drupal 9 is stable. Read more about the migration to Drupal 9.
Translation, module, and theme contributors
Minor releases like Drupal 9.3.0 include backwards-compatible API additions for developers as well as new features.
Since minor releases are backwards-compatible, modules, themes, and translations that supported Drupal 9.2.x and earlier will be compatible with 9.3.x as well. However, the new version does include some changes to strings, user interfaces, internal APIs and API deprecations. This means that some small updates may be required for your translations, modules, and themes. Read the 9.3.0 release notes for a full list of changes that may affect your modules and themes.
This release has further advanced the Drupal project and represents the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and contributors from various organizations. Thank you to everyone who contributed to Drupal 9.3.0!
Drupal 8 is now end-of-life – PSA-2021-11-30
Date: 2021-November-30Description: As of November 17, 2021, the Drupal core version 8 series has reached end-of-life. This means that all releases of Drupal 8 core (with 8.y.x version numbers) and Drupal contributed project releases that are compatible with only Drupal 8 will be marked unsupported as they no longer have security team support.
Drupal 8.0.0 was first released on November 9, 2015. The last version was released on November 17, 2021.
All Drupal 8 site owners must upgrade to Drupal 9 to receive security updates and bug fixes. The Drupal Association will also disable testing with unsupported versions of Drupal.
Security issues that only affect Drupal 8 (and not Drupal 9 or Drupal 7) will be made public and sites are at risk of having these issues exploited if they do not upgrade.
What about Drupal 7 and Drupal 9?
Contributed projects like themes and modules will still receive security advisories if they are compatible with either Drupal 7 or 9 and have opted in to security coverage.
Drupal 7's end-of-life is currently scheduled for November of 2022, and it will receive security updates until then. Drupal 9's end-of-life is scheduled for November of 2023. For more information on release schedules, see the core release cycle overview.
Drupal 8.0.0 was first released on November 9, 2015. The last version was released on November 17, 2021.
All Drupal 8 site owners must upgrade to Drupal 9 to receive security updates and bug fixes. The Drupal Association will also disable testing with unsupported versions of Drupal.
Security issues that only affect Drupal 8 (and not Drupal 9 or Drupal 7) will be made public and sites are at risk of having these issues exploited if they do not upgrade.
What about Drupal 7 and Drupal 9?
Contributed projects like themes and modules will still receive security advisories if they are compatible with either Drupal 7 or 9 and have opted in to security coverage.
Drupal 7's end-of-life is currently scheduled for November of 2022, and it will receive security updates until then. Drupal 9's end-of-life is scheduled for November of 2023. For more information on release schedules, see the core release cycle overview.
