The DropTimes is a news website with the vision of contributing to the growth of a vibrant community of users and contributors around Drupal through the process of covering and promoting everything happening around Drupal. Over the years Drupal has emerged as a formidable platform, renowned for its flexibility, security, and scalability. We introduce, advocate, and actively promote Drupal as a powerful platform for Digital Transformation for all types of websites. Here are some examples of articles we've published in The Drop Times. We focus on the Drupal community, showcasing a wide range of stories and insights:

Module Spotlights 

Drupal's modular architecture is a testament to the ingenuity and foresight of its community. At The Drop Times, we highlight the most popular and enduring Drupal modules, seeking to connect with their original creators Drupal Modules: Proven Over Time, Still Thriving in Drupal 10. We've had conversations with the original author of these modules, such as Jeff Eaton, The Genesis and Evolution of Token: A Conversation with Jeff Eaton. Another example is the Calendar View Module Offering Simplified Drupal Calendars.

Empowering Stories

The fabric of the Drupal community is woven with stories of resilience, innovation, and transformation. The Drop Times is honored to share these empowering narratives, celebrating individuals by conversing with fascinating people in the Drupal world, like Krishnan Narayanan. He runs a Drupal agency in the Himalayas focused on empowering local communities Leadership and Learning: Krishnan Narayanan on Building a Culture of Innovation.

We feature how individuals found their way to Drupal. Learn about Matthew Ramir's journey as a Drupal developer with cerebral palsy Defying Limits: Matthew Ramir's Journey as a Drupal Developer with Cerebral Palsy and Mathieu De Meue, a Tourettes-afflicted Drupal developer’s inclusive journey: A Tourettes-afflicted Drupal Developer's Inclusive Journey: Mathieu De Meue. Andy Blum, a science teacher turned Drupal contributor Dropping Support for IE Is the Best Feature in Drupal 10: Andy Blum | NEDCamp. Rick Hood's transition from boats and sailing to web development An Accidental Web Developer: Interview with Rick Hood | NERD Summit. 

Beginner Resources

The DropTimes have curated guides to help newcomers start with Drupal. Many people's first introduction to Drupal occurs when they engage with the software. As with any extensive software, Drupal comes with its share of complexities. Fortunately, the Drupal community is exceptionally hospitable, providing abundant mentorship opportunities to guide newcomers through these intricacies and help them embark on their Drupal journey, which is comprehensively listed in Kickstarting Your Drupal Journey: 12 Essential Resources for Beginners.

We also provide our readers with a list of  Drupal books for those interested in self-learning, such as Books on Drupal: Essential Reading List for Decoding Drupal. 

Drupal Initiatives

Drupal Initiatives were born out of a need to give contributors a framework to organize their work on specific goals for Drupal core. Many of these initiatives, classified among strategic and community goals, have become highly successful and continue progressing. The DropTimes cover the latest news and updates on Drupal initiatives (Drupal Initiatives | TheDropTimes) and interview initiative leads such as Brian Perry, who is featured in Deep Dive into Drupal's API Client Initiative with Brian Perry or Christopher Wells:  Exploring Drupal's Project Browser Initiative with Christopher Wells or about Distributions and Recipes Recipes for a Better and Easier Drupal. 

The Drupal Association has prioritized innovation and marketing to develop Drupal's reach. Contribution Health Dashboard Contribution Health Dashboards: A Conversation with Alex Moreno is the latest initiative to identify barriers to contribution and help investigate and remedy any issues.

Drupal's Global Reach 

Drupal has a significant global reach due to its robust multilingual capabilities, making it a powerful platform for expanding digital presence across linguistic barriers. With features like built-in language support, translation management tools, and user-friendly language detection, Drupal enables organizations to create engaging websites, reaching diverse communities and tapping into new markets. To promote Drupal, we analyze how Drupal is used across organizations worldwide, including in higher education Drupal Usage in Top Universities Worldwide: A Progress Report and Seeking Support, and gather community support to expand our research Which CMS? Global City Website Trends Examined.

The Future of Drupal 

The web landscape is in constant flux, and Drupal's continued success hinges on its ability to adapt and innovate. The DropTimes has initiated a new series where we gather insights from individuals across the Drupal community to discuss potential innovations and directions for the project. Find what your fellow Drupalers think about Drupal's future with this article: Drupal's Innovation and Future: 2024 and Beyond—Part 1.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are core values in the Drupal community, fostering an environment that embraces individuals from various backgrounds and identities. As part of our Women's Day celebrations, The DropTimes initiated our "Women in Drupal" series showcasing the voice of the women in the Drupal Community throughout March. Find the first part of the article here: Inspiring Inclusion: Celebrating the Women in Drupal | #1.

Businesses on top of Drupal 

We talk with Company CXOs about the trajectory of their organizations that have built good business over Drupal, such as DXPR Drupal Best Suited for DXPs, Not for Brochure Websites: Jurriaan Roelofs or NodeHive Content Planner Comes with a Data-Rich Dashboard for Drupal.

Drupal Commerce

Drupal Commerce is a robust business solution combining powerful content management and flexible e-commerce capabilities. By leveraging Drupal's strengths, it provides an integrated platform that supports a wide range of e-commerce needs. Ubercart to Drupal Commerce and the Birth of Centarro: Interview with Ryan Szrama discusses the genesis of Drupal Commerce.

Italo Mairo is a crucial contributor to a set of Geographic Information System (GIS) modules that enable Drupal to store and visualize geocoded content. Drupal Best Integrates WebGIS with CMS: Italo Mairo is another interview we are proud of. More advanced and integrated uses of GIS modules in Drupal do not yet have detailed documentation. We later followed up on that and produced listicles such as Drupal GIS Modules: Mapping a Canvas of Web Possibilities and The Essential Drupal Commerce Modules for building Online Stores.

Community Discussions

We consolidate conversations from various forums for easy access and wider participation:

Multi-Site Content Management Interesting Reddit Discussion on Multi-Site Content Management, Changes in and Beyond Drupal A Reddit Discussion on Changes In and Beyond Drupal, Hacker News: A Hacker News Debate Reveals Polarized Perspectives on Drupal and Drupal Dilemmas: End-of-Life Tangles, Alternatives and Quest for Better are few among the detailed discussions that were analyzed and comprehensively presented in The DropTimes.

Quite recently, a very intriguing conversation was unveiled on LinkedIn, which discussed the absence of a comprehensive list of Drupal's features. Read the full article here: Drupal is Missing a Comprehensive List of its Features.

Tools

We cover external Martech tools such as Mautic that come in handy in a composable stack with Drupal at its core for a DXP product. Leading the Way: Ruth Cheesley's Journey with Mautic or testing modules such as Automated Testing Kit: André Angelantoni Discusses Automated Testing Kit Module or Gander  The Revolutionary Impact of Gander Automated Performance Testing. 

Also, stories about AI being employed to enhance Drupal development, such as Drupal Droid Drupal Droid - The Custom Drupal GPT by Michael Miles or Gaido Introducing Gaido: Your Go-To Drupal Development Guide. We even covered MySQL performance tooling with the help of a third-party developer: Maximizing Drupal Commerce Performance through MySQL Configuration Tuning. We closely watch developments in Drupal that enable us to find people who can talk about the improvements from a developer’s perspective: Component-Based Design Using Single Directory Components (SDC) in Drupal.

The DropTimes had the opportunity to collaborate with André Angelantoni and HeroDevs for a 4-parter series on Drupal Page Builders, two of which have already been published. Drupal Page Builders—Part 1: Paragraph-Based Solutions and Drupal Page Builders—Part 2: Layout Builder-Based Solutions. 

A11y

Regarding accessibility, we have published an interview featuring Mike Gifford, who deeply probes the subject. Read the full interview here: Good Accessibility Requires a Team Effort | Interview with Mike Gifford. Additionally, Mike Gifford, Ben Mullins, and Daniel Mundra, in collaboration with The DropTimes, published a detailed article on how Drupal Takes a Step Forward in Accessibility with Automated Testing Integration.

During its brief existence, DropTimes has published more than 86 interviews. Most of those are written interviews, but very rarely have we had the opportunity to capture video interviews, too. Interview with Robbie Holmes | DCNJ and Interview with Todd Ross Nienkerk, Co-founder of Four Kitchens.

The list of stories might be overwhelming, but that defines our passion for bringing forth stories that matter to the Drupal community. 

Looking forward to more collaboration and great story-telling in the future.