Monday, Jan. 13th – 2 days before the Drupal CMS product launch I sat down at my desk this morning with the intent of working on creating screenshots for the documentation related to finding and installing recipes using the Drupal CMS UI. These images will accompany text that was written about a month ago, and reviewed and updated last Thursday. It outlines the steps a user will need to follow in order to use the UI to navigate through a series of pages and forms. After capturing a couple of screenshots, I realized that what was in the images wasn’t matching with what was in the text. In the four days that had passed since the text was written: This left me equal parts excited because the new UI is a big improvement, and frustrated because now I have to update the text and re-capture screenshots. The project itself isn’t the only thing that’s evolving rapidly. Much of the supporting infrastructure is also a work-in-progress. Which means that some of that text is in Google Docs, some of it’s on Drupal.org, and some of it’s in both places and it’s not always clear which is the most up-to-date. Have you heard the metaphor of changing the tires of a car while it’s driving down the road at 60 mph before? This definitely feels like that. I mean, look at this commit log! That’s an average of 7 commits a day since Thursday. And two of those days are the weekend! And, that includes what’s in the drupal_cms repo, not any of the dozens of contributed modules that are included in Drupal CMS which are also making rapid improvements. 🤯

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Drupal development has historically moved at a slower pace, focused on being deliberate and complete. Moving fast, one of the promises of Drupal CMS, requires different processes. And this introduces new and different pain points. The reality is, creating high-quality accurate documentation for a moving target is super hard. And we’re constantly having to make decisions like, should I start this section now even though the feature isn’t committed? If I don’t start it now, there’s no way we’ll complete the content before launch. But, there’s also the possibility the feature gets cut, and now we’ve expended a bunch of time that could have been spent elsewhere. The alternative of course would be to wait until code freeze, but in this case that would’ve only given us a couple days to author the documentation, with very little to show at launch. So, as things stand today, we’ve got a partially complete (and up-to-date) guide, an outline that illustrates what we want to tackle next, and an even larger outline that represents what we think the ideal finished product looks like. Personally, I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. And at the same time a little bummed, because it’s less exciting to release something that you know is incomplete. If you’re feeling confused about what’s going on with regards to Drupal CMS documentation, what the process has been, how to get involved… you’re not alone. Right now we’re at a point where we are simultaneously trying to figure out what these new pain points are and how to address them, while also trying to do the work to deliver on a tight deadline. It’s different from how we’re used to participating in open source projects, and it’s not very comfortable. Yet. To illustrate, today's task list includes: All of which I’ve realistically only got a few hours a week to work on. And with the January 15th deadline looming, the writing has definitely taken the bulk of that time. Contribution and collaboration in an open source project is challenging enough. Figuring out how to allow others to contribute to docs which we have been contracted to create is a brand new challenge. It’s challenging because it runs up against our values of transparency and open collaboration, which is uncomfortable. Here’s a situation I’ve recently been navigating: how can we enable the privacy and compliance team to contribute to documentation on the highly technical feature set they’ve developed for Drupal CMS? It’s an interesting challenge, mostly because we really appreciate the privacy and compliance team’s interest in ensuring great docs for their work, but we find ourselves in a new collaboration dynamic that none of us are used to! Here’s some insight into what I’m facing and how I’m navigating it: Not the usual, create an issue, comment on the issue for months (or years), and see what can be accomplished. More like: Privacy track team: "We have time to work on docs, where can we help?" Me: "Not sure because, I also don’t know … Communicates with docs and product leads… Yes, we need and welcome input, here’s a rough idea of the process we’ll use, but we’re not working on that right now… We’ll circle back after we catch our breaths post-launch." Not comfortable! But it’s the reality we’re in, and ultimately means high-quality docs on privacy and compliance will get done. Just not as soon as anyone would’ve liked. I’m more used to the process we used to create the original Drupal User Guide which involved many months of creating and sharing a plan and getting feedback, creating and sharing an outline and getting feedback, drafting and sharing a process and getting feedback, and so on. We made sure to always give the broader community the opportunity to participate and give feedback (even though we ultimately didn’t get much). It felt like the right approach to open source documentation. The downside is that project took nearly 2 years to complete. At Drupalize.Me, our values include a commitment to working collaboratively. Which I interpret to include being transparent and creating space for others to engage in the work. Drupalize.Me has a contract with the Drupal Association in which some of the funds raised from the Adopt-A-Document program go towards paying us to create the end-user-facing Drupal CMS Guide. At a high level, the Adopt-A-Document program allows someone to sponsor a section of the Drupal CMS Guide. These sections are based on a proposed outline that was created back before anyone really knew the exact details of what would or would not be part of Drupal CMS. And, like Drupal CMS, that outline continues to evolve. When you sponsor a section, that section gets put into the pipeline; when it’s published, you’ll get credit. It’s a new approach to solving the long-standing problem of funding open source documentation. And the first time we at Drupalize.Me, the Drupal Association, or the Drupal community, have tried anything like this. And we’re all figuring it out as we go. I think the model has potential. But it is hard to really know until we have some time to stop and reflect. On launch day (January 15, 2024), an initial set of documentation focused on getting folks started with Drupal CMS will be published on the new Drupal.org site. This is happening in the midst of a bunch of infrastructure changes on the new Drupal.org site, so expect some dust and changes to the guide after it’s initially published. This is just the beginning of the guide! Moving forward, we’ll work with our documentation track lead at the D.A. (Lenny Moskalyk) and the Drupal CMS product lead (Pamela Barone) to make sure we’re agreed on the next set of documentation priorities. (The sections with Adopt-A-Document sponsorship pledges being the top priority.) We’ll continue to work with Drupal CMS track leads to get their input and review of documentation we create. And the D.A. will publish the docs we deliver. What we don’t know yet – and it’s a question you probably also have – is how feedback on the guide will be collected and passed along to us, and how we’ll respond. While we have that process well-oiled for Drupalize.Me, this situation is a lot different, and we’re not in control of all (or really any!) of the pieces of that feedback machine. “All” we’re doing is creating the docs for the Drupal CMS guide. The publication and feedback gathering for it is in the hands of the Drupal Association. Working on documentation for the fast-moving Drupal CMS open source product as a contractor is a challenging and sometimes frustrating process. We want you to know that we’re excited and honored to be tasked with this responsibility, and we’re committed to staying true to our values of doing great work and working together. While it can be confusing and frustrating to navigate a new situation – one with deadlines, the horror! – we’re hopeful that Drupal CMS will have great documentation that will enable people to successfully build sites with Drupal CMS. Posted on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 20:34 by phenaproxima (not verified) Joe, you and everyone else involved in docs have been nothing short of heroic. I can't overstate how impressed I was by what I saw. This first version of Drupal CMS truly was built in record time, and there was a lot of ad-hoc inventing of processes, shifting needs, figuring out governance and communication, etc. That's still true, but I'm hopeful that things are going to slow down a little from here; new feature development will continue in the 1.x (development) branch, which will continue to move quickly, but the 1.0.x (release) branch will move more slowly and focus mainly on bug fixes, so I hope you'll have a chance to catch your breath and round out the extremely solid start your track has already made. Posted on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 23:37 by BatmansByte This may work out for the best. Screen shots are boring anyway, and while they're easy to follow, they're hard to remember as a sequence of screenshots. Instead, you can focus on the functional aspects of Drupal and how they fit together. A specific feature is probably somewhere in such and such a menu, it basically looks like ..., look around and you'll find it. Instead of trying to explain Drupal to five-year olds, try to help somebody on the phone, where you can't see their screen, implement a feature. Then when that's done and Drupal stabilizes (however briefly), add a little more detail to your directions, in such and such a menu, etc. Drupalize.Me is the best resource for learning Drupal online. We have an extensive library covering multiple versions of Drupal and we are the most accurate and up-to-date Drupal resource. Learn more
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January 15th 2025 marks the launch of Drupal CMS, an innovative platform that empowers marketers and content teams to create exceptional digital experiences. This release is an important milestone in Drupal's mission to make enterprise-grade web development available to all, while maintaining its commitment to open source values. Drupal CMS is a marketer-friendly launchpad for creating websites. Built on Drupal's robust foundation, it lowers the learning curve and reduces adoption barriers for content editors and marketers in using Drupal. The platform features smart defaults for common marketing tasks, AI-powered tools for faster implementation, and integration with popular marketing technologies—while preserving Drupal's renowned flexibility and scalability.           The next release of Drupal CMS will include Experience Builder, a dynamic low-code page-building tool. For now, you can use familiar tools like Paragraphs and Layout Builder for flexible drag-and-drop page creation. Suzanne oversees Evolving’s Web’s design, user experience, and development work. She also provides in-depth Drupal training to clients and thought leadership to the Drupal community. Set Your Storyin Motion

Browse our library of topics and learn how to make your website more effective! Happy New Year! This month we're doing a deep dive into privacy. Privacy for website owners, privacy for you, privacy for the world. To cap it all off, we have a special Privacy Tune-up offer to make sure your privacy policy is accurate and covering your assets... And if that's not enough, it's a big week for Drupal -- see below for why! Owning a website in 2025 is not as freeform a thing as it was a couple decades ago. Much like the owner of a store or an amusement park ride has to pay some attention to safety hazards, now site owners can't simply neglect caring for the privacy of their visitors. If they do choose to neglect privacy concerns, they can be quickly driven out of business by fines under various privacy legislation, which can amount to thousands of dollars per site visitor! This month we have an interview with an expert on privacy policies, Hans Skillrud, a co-founder of Termageddon: Read more on the website It's the end of 2024, and compared to 10 years ago, there's a lot of changes when it comes to privacy. Back in 2014, social media might have been near its worst point, with so many people enthralled with Facebook and Twitter without necessarily understanding how they were being manipulated -- since then, we've seen a bit of backlash and a bit more understanding that you can't always trust what you read -- we know there's active manipulation of facts there. Here's our take on a grab bag of trends, technologies, and changes in the past decade that impact your privacy. Read more on the website Ask a teenager these days about why privacy matters, and they will say it doesn't -- there is no privacy anymore. But would you willingly put your credit cards out on a bulletin board, inviting anyone to buy stuff on your dime? Those of us with a little history behind us get concerned about putting anything health-related out in public, no matter how insignificant -- in case an insurance company reads that mole as a pre-existing condition and a reason to deny paying for skin cancer treatments. Read more on the website Every business website needs a privacy policy -- it's mandated by law in a bunch of countries and states. Your privacy policy needs to disclose what personal data you collect, how you use it, and what you retain. And it's not just your website -- it's also what services you use that might be able to access that data. Now is a great time to make sure your privacy policy -- and your website -- is up to date! Now through the end of January, we're offering our new Privacy Tune-up package at a reduced rate! For $750, we will go through Termageddon's privacy policy wizard with you and generate a privacy policy with the proper disclosures. We will also set up a Cookie Consent script so your users have the ability to opt out of data collection, and tailor it to your site. This includes a 1 year Termaggedon license, which also provides access to other legal notices. Contact us to get started! Last Wednesday, after a solid run of 14 years, Drupal 7 reached end of life. The Drupal community is celebrating the end of an era, with the most popular version of Drupal so far. What does this mean, if you're still running it? Well, it's not going to just stop operating. We're still maintaining a Drupal 5 site -- we can continue to support you on Drupal 7, and our protection plan still covers applying security updates we have access to. We are participating in a group that provides extended Drupal 7 support, which is backporting security fixes for certain modules as needed. This is a stopgap measure, however -- the future is Drupal CMS, and it's a great time to contact us to get an upgrade going! Hot on the heels of Drupal 7 EOL, is the official launch of Drupal CMS, which happens tomorrow! (January 15, 2025). What is Drupal CMS? It's really just the same Drupal we've been using and evolving since the launch of Drupal 8 in 2015, with a bunch of recipes that encapsulate best practices developed by a bunch of Drupal agencies around the world. It's a great starting point for spinning up a new CMS website, with a bunch of options in the form of "recipes". There are recipes for SEO. Event management. Privacy. Artificial Intelligence. The entire goal is to show how easy it is to get really sophisticated functionality using Drupal -- a few clicks when you install, and you've got a powerful site that does far more out of the box than pretty much any other platform out there! Only if you're on Drupal 7 or older. Nearly all of our clients that have been on maintenance with Drupal 8 or later are up to Drupal 10 now, and the good news is, most of these recipes are things we can install on your existing Drupal site! This month's Special, in fact, was inspired by the Privacy recipe for Drupal CMS. We discovered the Klaro cookie consent manager because it was polished up as a recipe for Drupal CMS. There is so much great stuff in Drupal CMS, it's hard to know where to start -- but that's why we're here, to focus on one thing per month and break it down into just what you need to know about everything there is to know about running your website. So for this month, let's focus on privacy and making sure the thought of expensive fines due to trolls sending mischief your way doesn't keep you up at night. Next month, we're taking on Artificial Intelligence, and what you need to know as a site owner. Hint: Drupal already does AI -- and we have a bunch of examples of how to make AI work for you. If you don't want to miss it, be sure you're on our list!   The federalwaywa.gov website is the main site for the City of Federal Way in Washington State. This site is a resource for residents, visitors, businesses, and people interacting… As a national leader in health care transparency and accountability, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons believes that the public has a right to know the quality of surgical… Since 2019, Freelock and Culture Foundry have had a reciprocal relationship, with Culture Foundry making our clients happy with beautiful and slick websites designs, then working with Freelock to… Better Care Network (BCN) is an international network of organizations committed to supporting children without adequate family care around the world. BCN works by fostering collaboration,… ReThink Orphanages is a courageous organization with a benevolent charge, grand ambition, a network of high-powered partners, and a commitment to make the world a better place. The organization is… Witness.org is a Brooklyn-based non-profit that “…makes it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend… The Northwest Environmental Training Center (NWETC) is an organization that is committed to helping environmental protections improve their career opportunities. The organization focuses on two… Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s (FHCRC) Shared Resources core facilities support biomedical research by providing services and… We originally partnered with CRPE's in-house web manager in 2012. He was familiar with the content management aspect of Drupal, but needed a bit of support with the more intricate ways that Drupal… We began working with Seattle Humane Society in February of 2016. They had reached out to us because they needed some emergency help with their website. For some reason, their site was reverting… The Middle East Policy Council (MEPC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1981 whose mission is to contribute to American understanding of the political, economic and cultural issues… ACHS originally partnered with Freelock in August of 2011 to perform some easy wins on their site. We started with a Freelock Site Assessment and code review of their Drupal 6 website. After that… Peninsula College reached out to us in 2012 for some emergency work related performance issues on their site and problems with their site crashing. Once we were able to jump in and diagnose, we… Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) organizes and leads a broad-based coalition effort that works to advance, win and defend new appliance, equipment and lighting standards which deliver… Another Drupal 8 site upgrade! In June of 2016 we were approached by Seattle’s Children’s Alliance for a Drupal 5 to Drupal 8 migration. Their main concern was that their Drupal 5 site… We started working with another team at Fred Hutch in early 2016. They contacted us after they were needing some local TLC with their HIV/AIDS Network Coordination global CRM database (… We were approached in late 2015 by a marketing/design agency to take over this project. Their Drupal developer was on her way out and they needed some Drupal expertise. The website was just… We originally worked with the main Jim Ovia stakeholder on a separate project, when she worked with a different giving organization. She then reached out to us in September of 2015 to let us know… When the team at World Vision approached us in late 2015 to work on a few of their Drupal sites, they also had their Knit for Kids website that was in WordPress. They wanted to take that site and… Second Nature Sports is owned and operated by the same folks over at Locker Soccer Academy, so when their previous developer was closing shop, it was just natural to have them roll this site into… In December of 2013, our friends at Locker Soccer Academy reached out to us regarding their soccer academy sites, that were already developed by a shop in Colombus, Ohio. The development shop was… The product owners of the mEducation Alliance website contacted us in September, 2015 to provide ongoing monthly Drupal security and module updates. The site is a partnership between… World Vision decided to partner with Freelock in September of 2015 for their Chinese and Korean websites. Headquartered in Federal Way, Washington – this was a perfect fit! We took… Our friends at Queen City Yacht Club approached us in April of 2015 regarding their Drupal 5 website. It was at the end of life and they wanted to upgrade. Their motivations were that they… In June of 2015, our colleague recommended our Drupal maintenance services to the National Center for Science Education. Our colleague was looking forward to large project and just didn't… Snoqualmie Tribe contacted us in December of 2014 in desperate need to secure their website. It turns out, they were susceptible to the Drupalgeddon attack and needed the Drupal 7.34 core… In December of 2013, we were contacted by Lease Crutcher Lewis to take over their hosting. Their site is a great contender for Drupal 8! They were also interested in our Drupal… In early 2014, our friends at Bonavita came to Freelock requesting that we help manage their main website Espresso Supply. Soon thereafter, they wanted to launch a website for one of their… The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance Action Fund first talked to us about building a new site last October, but they were not ready to proceed. This summer they were finally ready, and used… Max Dale's Steak House is a popular restaurant a few dozen miles up the road in Mt. Vernon, Washington. If you're not from this state, you might have heard of Mt. Vernon when a major Interstate… About Islandwood IslandWood is a nonprofit educational…   Freelock built an informational website for the Northwest Wall & Ceiling Bureau (NWCB), an international trade organization for the wall and ceiling industry. We delivered a… Freelock teamed up with Eben Design to build a new site for Totem Ocean Trailer Express, a shipping company that has two voyages between Tacoma and Anchorage each week. In addition to being a… The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), a non-profit collaboration between the University of Washington and the University of California, San Francisco, came to… For the Bellingham School District, Freelock put together a large, multi-faceted Drupal site for district-wide information and standardized sites for schools within the district containing… The Olympic Peninsula Tourism Board came to us in early 2009 to assist them in developing a visually stunning and highly functional website in a Content Management System. The site needed to be… Latitudes in Learning creates personalized learning experiences that engage people and organizations in meaningful interactions with the world. Learning is one of the most difficult activities in… The owner of World Class Hunting approached Freelock to launch their website. They had worked with Drupal on a previous project, so they were familiar and enjoyed Drupal. The project… Joey Klein's team approached Freelock to "rescue" their website. Through the course of their planning stages, the original developers found that they had reached a point where they did… LedgerSMB is an open source accounting and financial package. Freelock has used LedgerSMB for its bookkeeping practically since the project began, forking an earlier open source project called… Freelock worked closely with Consumer Media Network to create a content management system (Hydra) through which they can track assignments and submissions. We implemented a custom workflow system… DanceSafe is a non-profit, harm reduction organization promoting health and safety within the rave and nightclub community. Local chapters consist of young people from within the dance culture… Freelock developed an informational website for Answers for Elders. Answers for Elders is an online resource for adults caring for elderly parents. Branded as the "Boomers' Online Community to… Geocko builds powerful tools that save time and increase engagement for nonprofit organizations.  They simplify tasks, so organizations can stay forcused on running programs and…
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The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) is a center in the University of Washington's Department of Global Health.  I-TECH headquarters in Seattle… The Nightingale-Bamford School is an independent all-female university-preparatory school founded in 1920.  With grades K-12, NBS is one of the top-ranked… Lindbergh Gallery is Erik Lindbergh's venue for selling aerospace sculptures, furniture and other custom art pieces he creates.  Erik Lindberg is the grandson of… The RevEquip team is composed of foodservice consultants experienced in Revit and the creation of foodservice documents.  Revit Families are developed to meet the standards… Nia is a sensory-based movement practice that draws from martial arts, dance arts and healing arts. Nia Technique Inc is… In December 2011, Ply Interactive came to Freelock for assistance theming the Crossfit Games site, because of our Drupal expertise and the tight schedule for the project. This site was built from… Scott Coughlin, a 24-season veteran of Alaska's salmon, herring and halibut fisheries, came to Freelock for help getting his site done. We picked up the pieces of the development project, yet… The folks at WSFZ needed a directory-based website that was easy to maintain and easy to use. Catering to the families of this popular Seattle-area neighborhood, West Seattle, WSFZ wanted a clean… Freelock was approached to build a website focused on the “Top 50” Day Trips from Seattle, based on rankings and reviews from users. Cooldaytrips.com includes a description of each destination,… Our friends at Flower World came back to us for their latest project, Maltby Produce Markets CSA. Maltby Produce Markets grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in their fields, orchards,… Littlestar Prints is one of our favorite sites. It combines some powerful drag-and-drop photo editing in the browser with e-commerce. We got to use both of our favorite software packages--Drupal… Another large scale project by Freelock Computing, the Organic Materials Research Institute tested our abilities to work with a variety of sources and the Drupal system. The project brought their… TerraBella Flowers & Mercantile specializes in European garden-style designs, using an assortment of local, organic, and sustainably grown flowers and is based in the Greenwood neighborhood… RadioFrame Networks came to Freelock in late 2008 for a web development project aimed at bringing their existing corporate static site content into the Joomla CMS. We worked with their existing… WestSide Baby, in partnership with the Puget Sound community, provides essential items to local children in need by collecting and distributing diapers, clothing, toys and equipment. They partner… Booktrope's goal of getting online books to as many people as possible (for free!) was a project right up our alley, fitting nicely with our open source foundation. From the beginning, we… Robinson Papers hired us to build a centrally-managed web site with different personalities for each of their papers but shared control.
We built out a sophisticated system in Drupal, with… Riverview originally came to Freelock to design and develop a website that would serve the needs of their rapidly growing church community. Originally a simple Joomla deployment, we have since… In early 2008, Phytec America brought Freelock on to maintain its Linux server systems and add an additional server. We configured a new server as an internal mail and file server, and converted… BlueView Technologies initially hired us for Linux server administration in 2007. We have worked extensively with BlueView, expanding their IT infrastructure from one server which did… Running Wild Spirit is one of our earliest Zen Cart projects and has greatly contributed to the success and growth of their business. Based out of the small town of Maltby an hour and a… SeattleJobs.org hired Freelock to implement a system to scrape job listings from their customers' web sites. SeattleJobs.org lists jobs from about 45 member companies. In order for Seattle Jobs… Outdoor Research, an outdoor gear manufacturer, hired us to build their main public web site, along with a full administrative back end. We implemented a system that imports product data from… When P5 Group was looking to create a dynamic website, they looked to Freelock Computing to help. Using Drupal as a CMS platform, we created a site with multiple access levels for their wide… One of Freelock, LLC's ongoing customers needed a web front-end for a proprietary reporting tool. This reporting tool could be configured to generate reports that ended up in Microsoft Excel.… One of Freelock, LLC's ongoing customers needed a password-protected site that actually provided different content to different users, depending on the company or user group the user is part of… Over the course of creating help systems for multiple clients, Freelock, LLC developed a set of scripts that manage browse sequences, tables of contents, and cross-references for help systems.… Owning a website in 2025 is not as freeform a thing as it was a couple decades ago.
Jan 13, 2025
/ Comments
Owning a website in 2025 is not as freeform a thing as it was a couple decades ago. Jan 13, 2025
/ Comments As we start developing mini-products to offer to our clients, we've found we actually need to group multiple products under one purchase.
Jan 12, 2025
/ Comments
As we start developing mini-products to offer to our clients, we've found we actually need to group multiple products under one purchase. Jan 12, 2025
/ Comments Yesterday a client asked us to install Rules module (again, repeating an earlier request, when he had missed my answer that we had installed ECA instead).
Jan 10, 2025
/ Comments
Yesterday a client asked us to install Rules module (again, repeating an earlier request, when he had missed my answer that we had installed ECA instead). Jan 10, 2025
/ Comments It's the end of 2024, and compared to 10 years ago, there's a lot of changes when it comes to privacy.
Jan 08, 2025
/ Comments
It's the end of 2024, and compared to 10 years ago, there's a lot of changes when it comes to privacy. Jan 08, 2025
/ Comments Ask a teenager these days about why privacy matters, and they will say it doesn't -- there is no privacy anymore. Ask a teenager these days about why privacy matters, and they will say it doesn't -- there is no privacy anymore. Dec 05, 2024
/ Comments How do you know if your website is working effectively? What does that even mean? How do you know if your website is working effectively? What does that even mean? Aug 28, 2024
/ Comments Stuart always has insightful things to say about Website analytics.
Aug 27, 2024
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Stuart always has insightful things to say about Website analytics. Aug 27, 2024
/ Comments How much do you spend on your website? I'm not asking how much it cost you to create/build -- I mean day to day, what does it cost to own and maintain your site? How much do you spend on your website? I'm not asking how much it cost you to create/build -- I mean day to day, what does it cost to own and maintain your site? Aug 24, 2024
/ Comments High load isn't necessarily an emergency, but it may be a heads-up before a site noticeably slows down.
Aug 22, 2023
/ Comments
High load isn't necessarily an emergency, but it may be a heads-up before a site noticeably slows down. Aug 22, 2023
/ Comments If you have a current Drupal site (built in Drupal 8 or later) you no longer need to entirely rebuild your site -- ever again. That doesn't mean it couldn't use a freshening up now and then. If you have a current Drupal site (built in Drupal 8 or later) you no longer need to entirely rebuild your site -- ever again. That doesn't mean it couldn't use a freshening up now and then. Apr 16, 2023
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Nathaniel Catchpole has been using Drupal since version 4.5, and has been a regular contributor to Drupal core since 2006; along with extensive code profiling, he has contributed over 400 patches to the Drupal 7 release. He also maintains the core entity, cache and taxonomy subsystems, as well as the memcache and entity cache contributed projects. In September 2011, Nathaniel became branch maintainer for Drupal 8. Nathaniel is a co-author of the O'Reilly book High Performance Drupal. He has been with Tag1 Consulting since September 2010. When we added Gander performance tests to Drupal CMS, we uncovered several opportunities for improvements that benefit Drupal CMS users and the broader Drupal community. Our systematic approach to testing revealed optimization opportunities in both core and contributed modules. This resulted in substantial performance gains and key insights for future improvement, which we’ll break down below. One of our most notable findings involved the Klaro cookie consent module, which ships with Drupal CMS’s privacy recipe. Initial testing revealed that anonymous users were downloading over 200KB of JavaScript immediately after installation, with Klaro responsible for more than 90% of this load. Through collaborative efforts with Klaro and Drupal CMS privacy track maintainers, two major improvements were implemented. First, the library size was reduced to around 64KB by optimizing the build process and removing support for outdated browsers. More significantly, Klaro now loads only when actually needed — for instance, when a site includes embedded YouTube videos requiring consent. This optimization, implemented by Jürgen Haas (@jurgenhaas), resulted in zero JavaScript overhead for fresh installations. The solution leverages ECA (Event-Condition-Action), already included with Drupal CMS, to progressively change configuration without requiring custom modules. Learn more: Using Gander for performance testing and DDEV’s xhprof support, we discovered an unexpected issue with the Coffee module, which provides administrative search functionality. What would normally be a single page request was triggering an additional request and causing dozens of database queries to execute, even with warm caches. Further investigation showed that the module was making AJAX requests on every page load, regardless of whether the search feature was being used. The solution was straightforward but impactful: we modified the module to only make its AJAX request when a user opens the Coffee search modal. This change has been incorporated into the latest release, improving performance for all sites using this module. Learn more: Our testing process uncovered that Drupal core’s experimental Navigation module was generating numerous unnecessary menu tree queries. While there was an existing issue to optimize menu tree rendering, we identified a simpler solution: implementing a dedicated render cache entry for the module. This reduced the number of database queries by 20 per page request by caching the navigation globally for the site instead of once per page through the dynamic_page_cache module. As part of core, this optimization benefits not only Drupal CMS sites but all Drupal installations using the experimental module. The fix has been committed and will be available in the next Drupal core patch release. Learn more: Another core module highlighted by our performance testing is the Language module. According to our tests, uncached database queries were executing on every page load. The queries no longer appeared after the module was removed from the Drupal CMS SEO recipe. This led to the creation of a new core issue by Sascha Grossenbacher (@berdir) to implement proper query caching. Learn more: While investigating out-of-memory errors in the Project Browser, we discovered that Drupal’s new Recipes API wasn’t taking advantage of Drupal’s bulk module installation optimizations. Instead, it installs modules one by one, bypassing existing performance optimizations for concurrent installation. Addressing this issue promises to significantly improve the speed and memory efficiency of applying recipes. Learn more: During memory profiling of Drupal CMS, we identified potential optimizations for Drupal's chained fast cache backends. This demonstrates how performance testing of Drupal CMS can lead to improvements in Drupal core itself and enhance efficiency across all Drupal installations. Learn more: Performance testing of Drupal CMS yielded benefits beyond optimization. Using Drupal’s PHPUnit test framework helped identify a major bug with Drupal CMS’s default front page redirect functionality — discovered within a few minutes of implementing the initial test coverage. Additionally, because Drupal CMS depends on contributed modules, a new release can change behavior or introduce regressions. To catch potential issues before they affect end users, we recommended adding nightly testing against development versions of dependencies. Adam G-H (@phenaproxima) implemented the testing within hours of the issue being opened. It immediately began identifying regressions introduced in contrib modules before they could impact stable releases of Drupal CMS. Learn more: Our performance testing initiative demonstrates the power of systematic testing in uncovering optimization opportunities across the Drupal ecosystem. These improvements extend beyond Drupal CMS, creating a ripple effect that enhances performance for hundreds of thousands of Drupal sites worldwide. By increasing the review of Drupal CMS and the contributed modules it includes, we’re driving improvements to performance that benefit the entire Drupal community. Want to learn more about performance testing in Drupal? Join us in making Drupal faster and more efficient for millions of users worldwide. Here are resources to get you started: Image by Karl Egger from Pixabay © Copyright 2025 Tag1 Consulting, Inc. · 7901 4th Street N #5853, St. Petersburg, FL 33702 877-875-8824 (toll free) · 561-952-6824 Drupal is a registered trademark of Dries Buytaert. Trust Center | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy

Download your copy of SEO Trends 2025 and discover what to be hopeful about in a changing search world. Prepare for the future of SEO, including how to use AI, build effective marketing funnels, and create targeted content to drive results in 2025. With Tom Capper, we will dive into fresh data comparing the prevalence of AI Overviews by industry, geographic location, search intent stage and more, along with what factors correlate with appearing in them. Join us as we demystify the latest trends, from AI to GEO, and provide actionable insights to help you achieve tangible results in 2025. If you’re looking for better ROI from your marketing, join us live as we discuss how branding is the great equalizer and ways to make it your most effective click driver. With Tom Capper, we will dive into fresh data comparing the prevalence of AI Overviews by industry, geographic location, search intent stage and more, along with what factors correlate with appearing in them. WordPress co-founder says lawsuits may last for years and end with the closure of WordPress Matt Mullenweg commented that the conflict he initiated could eventually lead to the closure of WordPress.org. He claimed that the only way to end the conflict was for WP Engine to drop their lawsuit, which would have the effect of enabling Mullenweg to resume his campaign to drive WP Engine out of business. A WordPress user who over the past twelve years had published nearly 600 free WooCommerce tutorials and 500 newsletters tweeted a plea to Matt Mullenweg to reconsider the instability he has caused, saying that it was causing instability. He tweeted: “Dear
@photomatt, We love WordPress. It’s not just software; it’s a livelihood for thousands of developers, freelancers, and small agencies. We don’t have millions like you do—every change, every piece of WPdrama costs us time, clients, and money. We need stability. We need to focus on building, supporting, and growing businesses, not worrying about the next big upheaval or leadership conflict. Let’s move toward clarity, collaboration, and transparency. Please consider pausing the current direction to listen. The community wants a strong future for WordPress—one where everyone, from volunteer contributors to top-level sponsors, can work together without fear of losing what we’ve built. We don’t ask this lightly. Our livelihoods depend on it. Thank you.” Matt Mullenweg insisted that the conflict can only end if WP Engine drops their lawsuit which was filed in response to  the conflict he initiated. Mullenweg insisted that WP Engine must drop their lawsuit: “Everything I’m doing is to defend the long term health of WordPress. The lawsuits can only be dropped by WPE, as they initiated them.” Mullenweg followed up with the following tweet: “The lawsuits will go years and could potentially bankrupt me or force the closure of WordPress.org. It also takes a huge amount of time — there is no ‘lawyers work on that.'” Mullenweg subsequently tweeted that the lawsuits could go on for up to two more years: “The cases will stretch into 26 and 27, so it’s hard to say what the environment will be or the court will order.” Mullenweg’s post, asserting that WP Engine’s defensive lawsuit could potentially shutter WordPress.org and drag on for multiple years, was not well-received. One travel blogger even asked rhetorically whether they should migrate to another CMS. Those looking for a sign that the conflict that Mullenweg initiated could come to an end sooner than later were disappointed.  Mullenweg appears to be suggesting that only WP Engine can end the conflict by dropping their defensive lawsuit and allowing Mullenweg to resume his attacks designed to drive them out of business. A federal judge ruled against Matt Mullenweg by granting WP Engine’s request for a preliminary injunction to block his attacks against WP Engine. The judge explicitly did not agree with Mullenweg’s lawyers: “Defendants’ arguments in opposition do not compel a different conclusion. Defendants’ argument that the interference WPEngine alleges consists of acts they had a right to take fares no better. …The conduct described at length above – including the termination of WPEngine’s access to WordPress, the interference with the ACF plugin, and the additional burdens imposed on WPEngine’s customers, such as the sign-in pledge – demonstrates that WPEngine has a significant interest in obtaining preliminary injunctive relief. Defendants’ arguments in opposition do not establish that they will suffer any damage that overrides WPEngine’s interest in obtaining relief. …Requiring Defendants to restore access on those terms while this action proceeds imposes a minimal burden.” A discussion on Reddit about Matt’s remarks about WordPress.org closing was largely negative. Typical posts: “Probably the most shocking thing for me at this point is that no one seems to able to talk some sense into Matt.” “I’m personally moving my sites to either Drupal or ClassicPress just haven’t decided yet.” “I cannot imagine a worse fate than to be consumed by multiple multiyear, multimillion dollar lawsuits. To say nothing of suffocating his baby, and alienating his fans, admirers, and loyal customers. Matt was in a position to just relax and enjoy his wealth and fame, but chose another path. He also had the option of slowly putting the squeeze on perceived “freeloaders” like WPEngine and watch them squirm without recourse.” “As a Drupal focused agency – this is just delicious. As someone who cares about the sustainability of open source efforts and caring about all of my peers who make a living off of WP. It’s heart breaking to watch Matt threaten BILLIONS of dollars of livelihoods like this.” The fact that an entire subreddit was created to contain all the discussions about the conflict that Mullenweg initiated shows how concerned the WordPress community is about what Mullenweg has done. It’s a major topic of conversation and it’s largely not favorable to Mullenweg. Featured Image by Shutterstock/Studio Romantic
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