Drupal CMS: The Starshot Has Landed - A Sneak Peak

Remember when Dries Buytaert, Drupal's founder, aimed for the stars at DrupalCon Portland 2024 with the Starshot Initiative? He wasn't kidding! Fast forward, and boom – Drupal CMS 1.0 launched on January 15, 2024, sleek, powerful, and surprisingly friendly for non-techies. The speed? Interstellar! Drupal CMS has been the talk of the town, especially at this year's DrupalCon Atlanta. So, what’s all the buzz about, and what’s on the horizon? Buckle up, we’re diving in!

Drupal CMS 1.0: "The Engines Ignited, The Rocket Took Off"

Dries himself, at DrupalCon Atlanta, put it perfectly: "11 months ago... we announced that we would build Drupal CMS. And today, I’m very proud to say that we delivered it eight months later." He painted a vivid picture: "The countdown finished, the engines ignited, the rocket took off, and everybody was kind of watching, holding their breath: will we succeed?"

It was a "giant leap," Dries admitted. No plan, no strategy, no team, no funding initially – just hundreds of passionate folks ready to make it happen. This is a testament to the Drupal community: developers, strategists, designers, marketers, all united to build something bigger than themselves.

What’s Cooking? The Latest and Greatest in Drupal CMS

Drupal CMS 1.0 is a massive win, but it's just the beginning. The team's been busy cooking up more awesome. Let's check out the latest goodies and future treats highlighted at DrupalCon Atlanta.

The Brand-New Drupal CMS Installer App: Simpler Than Ever

Getting started with Drupal CMS is about to get even simpler. Gábor Hojtsy, Initiative Coordinator for Drupal CMS, showed off a slick new Drupal CMS launcher desktop app at Driesnote. Think: install like any app (Windows, Mac, Linux!), everything bundled. Non-techies, rejoice – no Composer wrangling needed! It even remembers where you left off. Currently on GitHub, it's slated for the 'Download' button on drupal.org. Sweet!

More Love for "The Makers"

Drupal's marketing game is leveling up: a new brand, revamped drupal.org pages, and two product marketers on board. But Dries wants more props for "the makers" – the companies contributing to Drupal. Get ready for revamped case studies on drupal.org, complete with contact forms to directly connect with the brains behind the projects. Smart!

Experience Builder: Taking Page Creation to the Next Level

The most hyped feature? Experience Builder. This powerhouse tool is set to revolutionize how you create and style Drupal pages. Dries announced it's in alpha but on track for a full launch by DrupalCon Vienna in September, alongside Drupal CMS 2.0! Bálint Kléri (balintbrews), an Experience Builder maintainer, gave us a sneak peek:

• Multi-Page Editing: Edit visually as you browse. Changes auto-save as drafts. Switch pages, edit more, then publish everything with one click. Undo/redo and preview buttons? Check!
• Reusable Sections: Design a cool component? Save it as a section and reuse it anywhere. It’s a copy, so tweak away without affecting the original.
• Global Regions, Global Control: Customize headers, footers, and other site-wide elements visually. Drag, drop, publish – done.

Devs, Rejoice: A New Built-in Code Editor for JS Components

Frontend devs, listen up! Beyond Drupal's native blocks and modern Single-Directory Components, there's a new kid on the block: a built-in code editor in Experience Builder for crafting JS components right in your browser. No dev environment, no deployment fuss. Add markup and style (React JS and Tailwind CSS are in the mix), see a live preview. Bálint mentioned automatic build tooling is on the way for easy sharing and compiling. Nice!

AI Agents: Your Personal Component-Building Genies

Hold onto your hats – AI is coming to Experience Builder! James Abrahams (yautja_cetanu), AI track lead for Drupal Starshot, demoed AI agents that create design components on demand. Just tell it what you need (or show it an image!), and watch it generate the component. Need tweaks? Just ask. This is seriously cool, and they're even eyeing AI-assisted site migrations. The future is now!

Lego-Style Site Building: Welcome, Site Templates!

Dries loves Legos, and that "building block" philosophy is core to Drupal. We have modules, and Drupal CMS brought us Recipes (pre-configured feature sets). Now, get ready for the next level: Site Templates!

Imagine: a bundle of recipes, a theme with Experience Builder components, and demo content, all ready to go. "Many people will launch beautiful, powerful Drupal sites basically instantly," Dries said. Think of Sarah, the marketer from Driesnote at DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, needing a wine tours site – a specific template would be a game-changer for her. The goal? Hundreds of templates for all sorts of needs, with a few potentially ready by DrupalCon Vienna.

Find Your Perfect Fit: A Marketplace for Site Templates

To make these templates accessible, a marketplace is being discussed. Browse, select, and get a clear view of Drupal's capabilities. A hot topic: will it feature commercial templates alongside free ones? Dries assured everyone: Drupal and its modules will always remain open-source.

Final Thoughts

Seriously, there’s never been a more exciting time to jump into Drupal. Drupal CMS is evolving at warp speed, packed with powerful new tools and mind-blowing possibilities. The next year promises to be a game-changer for Drupal.