Remember how 2015 was filled with anticipation in the run up to the release of Drupal 8? Well, 2020 is all set to be a repeat of that - the same rush, excitement, innovative work will be happening around Drupal 9. But that’s not the only thing to look forward to for Drupalers in 2020.
From charting new growth paths, to ensuring an enhanced experience and easier adoption of Drupal for beginners, to creating closer integration with other technology frameworks - 2020 has a lot in store for Drupal. And here are the ones we are most excited about.
Drupal 9
Well that’s an obvious one and will definitely be at the top of the list everyone in the Drupal community.
Drupal 9 is all set to release on 3 June 2020. The big deal with Drupal 9 is that it shouldn’t be a big deal. And that thinking is exactly what is new.
That’s because Drupal 9 is not being built on a new core, but rather within Drupal 8. Here’s how:
- New features and functionalities will be added to D8 as backward-compatible code. These will start being available to D8 users as experimental features, that can be used and modified. All this while, older D8 features will work without a hitch.
- Once these new features are stable, their older counterparts will be deprecated.
- And finally, 3rd party dependencies, like those with Symfony and Twig, will be updated to offer support for their latest versions.
This collection of new stable features and updated 3rd party dependencies will be what forms Drupal 9.
We’ve already covered what to expect with Drupal 9 and how to prepare for it and ensure a smooth upgrade experience.
So let’s move on to the other interesting developments slated for 2020.
Drupal 9 Product Tracks
The launch of Drupal 9 is also significant because this is the first time the community has a strategic roadmap for how we want Drupal 9 to grow. Dries’ State of Drupal address in Drupal Amsterdam outlined the four product tracks envisioned for D9:
- Reduce the cost and effort involved in managing a Drupal 9 website. So the focus will be on introducing new features and functionalities that simplify website support, maintenance and updates - configuration management, automated updates and more.
- Enhance the beginners’ experience with Drupal by making it simpler to install and get it running out of the box. The first two initiatives in this track are two new themes - Olivero for the frontend and Claro for admins.
- Work towards ensuring an Open Web that’s accessible, secure, inclusive and interoperable. In the next decade, the Drupal community will collectively ensure that their work - project, websites, solutions - consistently meet these standards
- Prepare Drupal to be one of the best structured data and content repositories, ready to work seamlessly with a range of devices and delivery channels
2020 will see these product tracks being actively discussed within the community and work starting on several new initiatives.
Drupal 8.8
Drupal 8.8 was released on 4 December 2019 and sites on Drupal 8 can look forward to harnessing great new features and functionalities in 2020. Some of the key upgrades are:
- Media Library being marked as stable, so content writers and editors can add media content right from the WYSIWYG editor
- Official support for Composer out-of-the-box, meaning Drupal is simple and easy to install and update with Composer taking care of updating all third-party dependencies
- The Automatic Update module is available in early alpha stage and has a set of very convenient features. It allows you to configure your site to display PSA messages for required updates or mail them directly to the site admins. You can check if your site is ready for update, with all requisite file permissions, and update your site with just a click, if all prerequisites are in place.
- The JSON:API Explorer which is an interactive query builder to explore your JSON:API server, strengthening Drupal’s positioning as an effective decoupled solution.
Decoupled Drupal
Yes, Decoupled Drupal has been talked about for quite a few years now, but 2020 and the following decade will be when it becomes extremely commonplace. This will be primarily due to the growth of a complete ecosystem of features and solutions that make it easier to pull off decoupled Drupal solutions.
While the API-first initiative and the project around building a reusable component library are key to great decoupled Drupal implementations, there are also third-party frameworks and solutions launched in 2019 that will drive decoupled Drupal in 2020:
- Acquia Content Cloud: A platform that allows content creators to write, edit, and review content independent of the channel where it will be published. The content created here can be pushed to multiple different channels simultaneously or at different times, and will be automatically formatted to best fit the channel.
- GatsbyJS: A React-based site generator that offers the perfect JAMstack for a headless Drupal architecture. GatsbyJS drives greater site performance and smooth user experience. It offers a full plugin library to allow almost any kind of content to be pulled in for site creation, via GraphQL. The not-so-steep learning curve and growing community of developers means GatsbyJS will see higher adoption as enterprises try to get more done with Drupal.
Growing the Drupal Community
This decade is going to be special for us as well as Srijan puts in concerted efforts to grow the Drupal community in India and Asia at large. As a part of this, we plan to:
- Commit greater number of resources to contributing to Drupal, working across a diverse range on ongoing initiatives and Drupal 9.
- Drive the Drupal India Association to bring structure and increased participation of different firms and developers in the Indian Drupal community.
Much like the last decade, 2020 and beyond will be marked by exciting new developments in Drupal. But unlike before, these developments will not just be around core Drupal, but rather focussed on how Drupal will interact and operate with other technology solutions and frameworks to solve key enterprise challenges.
What are you most excited about Drupal's future in 2020?
And if you are wondering how Drupal can help you solve a particular challenge at your organization, just drop us a line and our Drupal experts will be in touch.
