Talking Drupal Newsletter 9/15/25
#520 - Dripyard
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.
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
Resources
Dripyard
Supply Side Attack - Also this linkgrep -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
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.
TD Cafe #010 - Steve Wirt & John Jameson
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.
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
Editoria11y Accessibility Checker https://www.drupal.org/project/editoria11y
Link Purpose Icons https://www.drupal.org/project/linkpurpose
Alt Text Validation https://www.drupal.org/project/alt_text_validation
Node Link Report https://www.drupal.org/project/node_link_report
Talking Drupal #490 Contrib First https://talkingdrupal.com/490
Contrib First https://guidebook.civicactions.com/en/latest/common-practices-tools/contribution/contrib-first/
Show News
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Upcoming Episodes
#522 New Contrib Records System with Fran Garcia-Linares & Tim Lehnen. Recording September 23.
#523 Pantheon, Google & AI with Josh Koenig. Recording on September 30.
#524 SDC with Drupal Easy with Michael Anello. Recording on October 7.
#525 Becoming A Certified Site Builder with Kelly Smith and David Pickett. Recording October 14.
Submit your questions on the #TalkingDrupal channel on Drupal Slack.
Hey America! The Internet’s Only Part of the Problem
by John Piccozi
Over the weekend, I did something I don’t often have time to do: I watched Meet the Press. I find the show gives interesting insights from both sides, and the host does a great job asking the hard questions. Sundays episode focused heavily on the current state of the country and acts of political violence.
I think we can all agree—political violence is never acceptable. As a nation, we should be better than that. With that said, this post isn’t going to be political or take sides, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I’m sorry to disappoint.
Continue reading at Picozzi.com
Contact Us
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