Talking Drupal Newsletter #430
Episode #430 Drupal in 2024
Today we are talking about Drupal in 2024, What we are looking forward to with Drupal 11, and the Drupal Advent Calendar with James Shields. We’ll also cover Drupal 10.2 as our module of the week.
Topics
Advent calendar
Selection process
Popularity
Next year
Drupal features in 2024
Drupal 11
Project browser
Recipes / Starter templates
Automated updates
Gitlab
Smaller core
Predictions
Resources
Guests
James Shields - lostcarpark.com lostcarpark
Hosts
Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu
Ron Northcutt - community.appsmith.com rlnorthcutt
Module of the Week
with Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu
Drupal 10.2
This episode is sponsored by
Upcoming Episodes
#432 Ron’s show. Recording Jan 2.
#433 Drupal 10 Masterclass with Adam Bergstein. Recording January 9.
#434 Talking Drupal Update with John, Nic and Stephen. Recording January 16.
#435 Urban Institute with Josh Miller. Recording January 23.
Submit your questions on the #TalkingDrupal channel on Drupal Slack or @TaklingDrupal on Twitter, @TalkingDrupal@Drupal.Community on Mastodon.
5 Questions with Ron Northcutt
Ron is our guest host for episodes 428 thru 430 and 432.
Ron is a professional problem solver with a varied career ranging from developer, solutions architect, technical marketing director, and now head of developer relations. He has been a Drupal user and contributor since 4.6, and continues to find it to be one of the best open source development frameworks available. You can find his current writings and contributions on the Appsmith community portal (community.appsmith.com), which is built on Drupal!
What is your first memory of technology that impacted you?
When I was a kid, my step-dad got an IBM 5150 with a massive 256kb of RAM and two, count them, TWO 5.25” floppy drives. No hard drive, but we used floppy disks as data storage.
This was my first introduction to a real computer. You had to boot up DOS on one disk, and each application was on one or more floppy drives. This taught me alot about computers - using the CLI, memory management, directory structure, files types, etc. I’m pretty lucky to have not only had early access to a computer, but to a PC (vs Mac). It seemed that I was much more comfortable with computers in general versus my Mac owning friends, and I think that having such a hands-on, physical experience coupled with using the command line gave me a strong foundation.
What website build are you most proud of being involved with?
Not exactly a website but a platform. For a time, I led the demo team at Acquia, and we built “Demo Factory,” a combination of a Drupal 8 version of the Demo Framework distro and the Site Factory product at Acquia. We had to build the distro so that each install profile could deliver a working demo application across a number of different use cases and yet was flexible and extensible enough to be eMelissa Bentasily customized for specific customer use cases.
I was told that it wouldn’t be possible and that others had tried and failed… but that made me more determined. I was lucky enough to have some great co-workers (shout out to Kevin Funk and Diana Wynn) who created great tools to make it possible. While I was there, we consistently served hundreds of different sites, and an engineer could spin up a new demo site for development in less than 10 minutes.
What was your career before Drupal?
I had several careers before Drupal. I was a tech support specialist for Dell, the land manager for a small cattle ranch in central Texas, a massage therapist, and then a real estate agent.
I eventually became a real estate broker and started my own brokerage, and I used Drupal to build websites and applications to help me run my business. 100% commission-based income is a really difficult and stressful way to live, so I eventually started picking up some freelance consulting work with Drupal as my primary tool of choice. Eventually, my freelance work took over all my time, and I started doing Drupal full time.
Do you play a musical instrument?
In school, I played percussion, so I still love to play drums to this day. We have a drum set at home, and I try to find a few times a month for a good drumming session. Typically, I will play along with an album I’m enamored with. This year, it has mostly been “On Fences” by Stella and the Very Messed.
I also play a bit of guitar—mostly chords and campfire-style covers. I’m good enough to have fun with it, and I play with my kids on a few songs they like. Maybe someday we will form a band.
List your top three movies
These are my top movies, not because they are the best or most impressive, but simply because they had such a big impact* on my thinking and approach to life. As such, they are all from my childhood:
“Joe vs the Volcano” - This is a vastly underappreciated film. As a modern fairy tale, it is deceptively simple while still containing lots of great symbolism and lessons. The movie is funny, endearing, and thought provoking; Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan do a great job. The story’s moral is simple: follow your path wherever it leads, and good things will happen.
“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (Warriors of the Wind) - my grandmother recorded this off of HBO because it was a cartoon movie, and she thought I’d like it. She was right. We grew up watching this long before we had access to anime in any other form. On top of that, it is an amazing story about an incredible female protagonist with warnings about pollution and environmental degradation. Nausicaa is one of my heroes.
“Real Genius” - A very odd choice, perhaps… and solidly betrays my 80’s childhood. While it is one of the funniest Val Kilmer roles of all time, the thing I loved best was that the heroes were the smart people in this movie. As a geeky kid, I loved that these people used their curiosity and intelligence to “beat the bad guys” (military-industrial complex). As a bonus, it has held up much better than most of the other films of its time (though that is a low bar)
Contact Ron as rlnorthcutt on most places.
Minifigure of the Week
by Nic Laflin
71039-6
This week I would like to share 71039-6 Hawkeye! This is the 6th minifigure in the second Marvel series of collectible minifigures. Released in 2023, did you know he was trained by a villainous circus? I always love the animal figures too.
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