The second part of the interview unfolds as Grzegorz Pietrzak, the tech lead of Droopler, shares valuable insights with Thomas Alias K, former sub-editor at TheDropTimes (TDT). Pietrzak provides valuable insights into how Droopler sets itself apart in corporate website building, shedding light on the increasing demand from enterprises. He emphasises the distinctive features and integrations that position Droopler as the preferred choice in the industry.

The interview further delves into Pietrzak's perspective on evangelising Drupal to the corporate world, tackling the nuanced balance between expeditious development and preserving Drupal's fundamental freedoms. Additionally, Pietrzak offers a sneak peek into the ongoing evolution of Droopler and teases the significant changes on the horizon for the platform.

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Let's dive into the insightful conversation with Grzegorz Pietrzak without further delay.

TDT [1]: As the tech lead of Droopler, How does Droopler stand out from other corporate website-building companies? Is the demand for Droopler on the increase from enterprises and commercial users? What are they attracted to while choosing Droopler? 

Grzegorz Pietrzak: Droopler is, first and foremost, a tool to get you started when creating corporate projects. We developed it by extracting common parts from popular corporate websites and putting them into 16 responsible Drupal Paragraphs. This way, we covered most of the users' needs. Droopler sites work out of the box, with some content ready to use. They also provide great PageSpeed results and the necessary SEO tools. After a few hours of work, you get a working MVP of your website, with a fully customised colour scheme and modern look. Even faster than Wix or Google Pages.

There are also some handy integrations—mainly with Mautic and Drupal Commerce. For example, you can use dynamic content based on user segments or create a fully-featured online store in minutes.

TDT [2]: How has Droopler succeeded in evangelising Drupal to the corporate world? Why would you recommend Drupal as a CMS to build websites?

Grzegorz Pietrzak: Corporate clients also want flexibility and adaptability of the site to their business. Drupal is a solution that is wide open to modification. Droopler, a Drupal distribution, provides a ready-made visual layer built on industry experience. By creating sites on Droopler, we can show clients a working front end at the start of the project. The underlying Drupal layer allows us unlimited modifications, including contrib solutions. It's the perfect blend for corporate needs.

TDT [3]: Droopler was created to build corporate websites faster and cheaper. Does it mean there is any compromise on the fundamental freedoms that Drupal provides? How is the balance struck?

Grzegorz Pietrzak: Droopler does exactly the same thing as all other Drupal distributions. Firstly, it provides faster project development by providing ready-made solutions. Secondly, it offers continuous updates, so end users don't have to do the fixes independently. Each distribution limits the range of possibilities in some way but is also tailored for a specific audience. For our part, we try to comply with the community standards as much as possible.

TDT [4]: Could you give us a little insight into the evolving status of Droopler? With the constant increase in customer expectations, how does your role at Droopler help identify that?

Grzegorz Pietrzak: Droopler is continuously evolving, and we receive feedback on it from internal and external developers. When planning our next steps, we are keen on creating projects with a long support period. So, we update the technology stack regularly. As a tech lead, I create the backlog and monitor code quality. This is difficult because you have to be careful not to mess up existing sites.

In addition to updating the stack, we also try to introduce new functionality from time to time. We started the project in 2017, and over time, we added a blog, product list, MegaMenu support and integration with Media and Drupal Commerce. The growing needs of customers dictate such changes.

TDT [5]: What are the major changes in store for Droopler? Any hints to our readers?

Grzegorz Pietrzak: We are currently preparing a completely new version of Droopler with an updated technology stack. Please follow Droptica's social media to get an idea of the new release. It will be even more developer-friendly and more suitable for site factories.

ALSO READ: A Tech Veteran's Take on Drupal and Building PHP Teams: A Chat with Grzegorz Pietrzak Part 1