This video was part of a series of presentations produced in anticipation of Drupal 8's official release. For information about configuration management based on official releases of Drupal 8, view tutorials in our Configuration Management series.
[# card #]
nid: 2458
title: Config Management series
[# endcard #]
This presentation introduces the Drupal 8 configuration management system (CMI). Learn why configuration management is one of the most eagerly anticipated features of Drupal 8, and how it has the potential to completely change the workflow we use for building sites with Drupal. By addressing a number of long-standing issues in Drupal, CMI helps to separate content from configuration, provides a simple user interface for transporting configuration changes between multiple instances of the same site, and gives developers a consistent way to store and retrieve configuration in their code that is guaranteed to work with the rest of management tools provided.
Here's what we'll cover in this presentation:
- What is configuration management, and what problems does it solve
- The CMI user interface, and changes for site-builders
- The CMI API, and changes for modules developers
- What you can start learning now to ensure you're ready to use CMI
After watching this presentation you should have a better understanding of the importance of the new configuration management system and be excited about the improved workflows and ability to follow current best practices that it introduces to Drupal.
Additional resources
- Configuration Management tutorial series (Drupalize.Me)
- Introduction to YAML video tutorial
- Drupal.org documentation: Configuration API in Drupal 8
- Drupal.org documentation: Managing configuration in Drupal 8
- Principles of Configuration Management - Part One article by Chapter 3
- Principles of Configuration Management - Part Two article by Chapter 3
- The Drupal 8 configuration schema cheat sheet
Blocks have always been a part of Drupal and have always been a very limiting way of putting content on your site. Just to make it a usable system, contributed modules were almost always required. Drupal 8 has come a long way and has added much needed functionality to the core block system.
In this presentation we will cover what is new when it comes to the block system in Drupal 8 and the advantages that it offers.
What is different?
- Custom blocks, and blocks in general, can be used more than once
- A block title is now an on/off check box instead of having to use <none>
- A block can be placed in more than one region
- You can create "block types" much like content types
- The UI is easier to use with new blocks now in a sidebar instead of at the bottom
- This sidebar UI allows for dynamic filtering to make it even easier to find a block
- Configurations of block types and layout are now in code
- Blocks are plugins
To learn more about blocks, refer to our Blocks topic page.
[# card #]
nid: 2936
title: Blocks topic
[# endcard #]
Additional resources
Drupal 8 has done quite a few things to make things much easier for site builders to empower content creators. There are more tools in core that tremendously help content creators to quickly add and edit content. These tools are also mobile-friendly which makes content editing possible across more devices.
New features in core for content editors:
- Text formats and editor configuration
- CKEditor
- Drag and drop editor toolbar configuration
- Image captions
- Quick edit
- Better preview with view mode options
- Responsive and mobile-friendly interface
How do these changes help? To start; currently you need to add modules and outside editors just to get an editor in Drupal. The configuration of that editor is very cumbersome with lots of checkboxes and a very unfriendly UI. Besides a better user experience when it comes to configuring the authoring experience, adding and editing content on the go via mobile devices is a must have for today's modern CMS.
Additional resources
This video was part of a series of presentations produced in anticipation of Drupal 8's official release. For information about responsive design tools based on official releases of Drupal 8, view tutorials in our Responsive Web Design topic.
[# card #]
nid: 2968
title: Responsive Web Design topic
[# endcard #]
Drupal 8 is now a friend of mobile—mobile users, mobile developers, and even mobile site administrators. In this presentation, we'll look at the variety of mobile-friendly features added to Drupal 8 in the areas of site administration, site building, and module development.
"Mobile" means different things to different folks. For a content editor, being able to quickly update a piece of content from any device means one less barrier to getting a task done, when and where they want. For a developer, the prospect of diving into web services and building APIs that can be used for mobile apps or in conjunction with the latest Javascript framework is empowering and exciting, especially since the work of structuring entities and fields and administrating content can stay in Drupal. For the site builder, who simply wants to quickly get a site up and running out-of-the-box with a theme that "just works on mobile," the default responsive theme, Bartik, is a time-saver for sure.
By the end of this lesson, you'll have a better idea of the depth and breadth of what "mobile" means for Drupal 8 users of all kinds.
Additional resources
Managing Media in Drupal
CourseConfiguration Management
CourseComposer
TopicComposer is the preferred dependency management solution for PHP, is used by Drupal core, and is becoming increasingly popular for managing the modules and themes used for a Drupal project.
Drupal Core Modules
TopicA module is a set of PHP, JavaScript, and/or CSS files that extends site features and adds functionality. The Drupal core software comes with a set of modules that provide a range of features.
Appendix A. Appendix
CourseList of contributors involved in project management and guide-wide writing/editing tasks.
Overview of regions from a theming perspective.
How to edit basic site information (site name, slogan, and default time zone).
How to install a core or contributed module, using the administrative interface or Drush.
Overview of administrative menu and contextual links.
How to edit a theme’s settings to update the color scheme and add a logo.