Talking Drupal

• Talking Drupal #498 - DOJ Accessibility Ruling

  In this episode of Talking Drupal, we discuss the latest DOJ accessibility ruling and its implications for Drupal with special guest Josh Mitchell. Josh, a seasoned expert who has led teams in digital agencies, governments, and non-profits, sheds light on what the ruling means for state and local governments, the importance of accessibility, and steps to achieve compliance. We also explore the Sa11y module, a powerful tool for enhancing website accessibility, and compare it with the Editorially module. Additionally, we touch on the upcoming MID Camp 2025. Tune in for an insightful discussion on making web content more accessible for all. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/498 Topics Can you give us an overview of the DOJ Accessibility Ruling Does this apply to federal websites When does this go into effect How does this affect current sites Hwo is Drupal positioned against this Does this rule apply to all content such as PDFs Any tips to organizations JS widgets Resources Announcement of the rule Full text of the rule - PDF Fact sheet for meeting the requirements of the rule https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/ https://www.drupal.org/docs/getting-started/accessibility/how-to-do-an-accessibility-review AXE Core Core issue to automate accessibility tests with Nightwatch.js Keyboard traps COTS - Commercial off the shelf software VPATS - Voluntary product accessibility template Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) Monsido - Acquia optimize - PDF Josh’s blog post Guests Joshua "Josh" Mitchell - joshuami.com joshuami Hosts Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Kathy Beck - kbeck303 MOTW Correspondent Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Brief description: Have you ever wanted your Drupal site to have a built-in accessibility tool that could identify things like potential color contrast issues? There’s a module for that Module name/project name: Sa11y Brief history It’s worth mentioning that the name is a numeronym, so spelled s-a-1-1-y, which plays off of a common way the word “accessibility” is abbreviated How old: created in Jan 2018 by Bryan Sharpe (b_sharpe) but the namespace was taken over in Jun 2024 by Mark Conroy (markconroy) of LocalGov Drupal, so the current 3.0.1 release, which supports Drupal 10 and 11, is a completely different module than the original 8.x-1.x branch. Maintainership Actively maintained, in fact this module came out of the ongoing work being done on the LocalGov distribution and profile Security coverage Test coverage: no, but the module is effectively just a wrapper for the Sa11y library, which is CMS agnostic and used in the Wordpress and Joomla communities as well The Sa11y library has its own website, which includes documentation Number of open issues: 1 open issues, which isn’t a bug Usage stats: 62 sites Module features and usage We did cover the Editoria11y accessibility checker as MOTW all the way back in episode #350, almost 3 years ago, and Sa11y was mentioned at that time. Both modules have had major releases since then, so I thought this week’s episode would be a chance to do an updated comparison Sa11y does include some checks that Editoria11y does not, such as color contrast checking and a readability score The Editoria11y module, on the other hand, includes site-wide reporting that would be helpful for site admins, as well as a wealth of configuration options including one or more DOM elements to use as the container to check within, a list of elements to exclude, and so on. Recent versions of Editoria11y also include an option for live feedback as you edit, which should work with CKEditor 5, Paragraphs 5 or newer, and Gutenberg At the end of the day, however, both projects are intended to provide your content editors with immediate feedback on the accessibility compliance of what they create. So, it’s worth looking at the feedback each tool provides and deciding which one is more useful for your team in particular

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• Talking Drupal #497 - Drupal Forge

  Today we are talking about Drupal Forge, how it works, and why it’s changing Drupal with guest Darren Oh. We’ll also cover ECA VBO as our module of the week. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/497 Topics Elevator pitch for Drupal forge What is Drupal Forge built on What is the pricing model Does Drupal Forge only allow you to install Drupal CMS Drupal Forge and templates, was there an influence on Site Templates Why offer templates for Drupal Forge Camps Is Drupal Forge open source What is on the Roadmap How can people get involved Resources Drupal Forge on Drupal.org Drupal Forge DevPanel Guests Darren Oh - drupalforge.org Darren Oh Hosts Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Kathy Beck - kbeck303 MOTW Correspondent Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Brief description: Have you ever wanted a powerful and flexible way to create views bulk operations without writing code? There’s a module for that. Module name/project name: ECA VBO Brief history How old: created in May 2022 by mxh, a prolific maintainer in his own right, and an active member of the group that has made the ECA ecosystem so far-reaching Versions available: 1.1.1 and 2.1.1, the latter of which supports ^10.3 || ^11 Maintainership Actively maintained Security coverage Documentation: sort of. The README has step-by-step instructions, and the project page has links to both an example model and a tutorial video Number of open issues: 7 open issues, 1 of which are bugs against the current branch Usage stats: 320 sites Module features and usage With the module installed, your site will have a number of Events available within ECA, specifically for defining models that can perform bulk actions on the selected items in a view. In my own experience the most useful event is VBO: Execute Views bulk operation (one by one) From there, you can define the logic of what needs to happen to the selected items. I’ve used it for fairly simple operations like changing content to a specific moderation state, but you could define complex logic that is conditional on field values, site configuration, or even global factors like the time of day With one or more models defined, you can now add a field to your view for ECA bulk operations and then select which eligible models you want available in that specific view It’s worth adding that the ECA model can also include logic to define who should have access to perform a particular operation, which could be as simple as checking the role of the current user, but can be as complex as you need I came across ECA VBO during some recent work on the Drupal Event Platform, which is already available to try out on Drupal Forge, but there should be a more formal announcement on that front soon

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• Talking Drupal #496 - Getting Back to Drupal Basics

  Today we are talking about Drupal Basics, Why we got away from them, and what we do to bring them back with guest Mike Anello. We’ll also cover Entity Reference Override as our module of the week. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/496 Topics Where did this idea come from Why do you feel more basic content is necessary How did Drupal get away from the basics How can we get more basic talks into Drupal events How do we balance basic content with new topics like recipes or Drupal CMS How do we entice speakers to take these talks Could this adversely affect attendance Question from Stephen: How do we address virtual events and that they are preferred by a younger crowd Will Florida Drupal Camp have a track Guests Mike Anello - drupaleasy.com ultimike Hosts Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Kathy Beck - kbeck303 MOTW Correspondent Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Brief description: Have you ever wanted to replace a text field on entities you reference in your Drupal site? There’s a module for that. Module name/project name: Entity Reference Override Brief history How old: created in Sep 2016 by Jeff Eaton, though recent releases are by Benjamin Melançon (mlncn) of Agaric Versions available: 2.0.0-beta3 which works with Drupal 10.1 or 11 Maintainership Actively maintained Security coverage, yes but needs a stable release Test coverage Documentation - user guide Number of open issues: 13 open issues, 2 of which are bugs against the 2.0.x branch Usage stats: 2,004 sites Module features and usage The module defines a new field type, with associated widgets and formatters. Your site editors will see a normal entity reference field (autocomplete or select) with an additional text field. Text provided in that additional field can be used to override a specific field in the referenced entity’s display, or add a class to its rendered markup. This could be handy in use cases like showing people with project-specific roles, or showing related articles with the summary tweaked to be more relevant to the main content being viewed. It’s not a super-common need, but if you need this capability, it can save having to set up a more complicated content architecture with some kind of intermediary entity I thought this module would be interesting because today’s guest, Mike Anello, is listed as one of the maintainers. Mike, what can you tell us about your history with the module and how you’ve used it?

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• Talking Drupal #495 - Live From DrupalCon!

  Today we are talking about Our Favorite things and The Future of Drupal with guest Jared Ponchot & Dave Hansen-Lange. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/495 Topics What has piqued your interest AI creating components Any other new features or demos What haven't you seen that you hope to How do you feel about the future of Drupal Resources Driesnote Guests Dave Hansen-Lange - linkedin.com dalin Jared Ponchot - lullabot.com jponch Hosts Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Andrew Berry - lullabot.com deviantintegral

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• Talking Drupal #494 - AI in EDU

  Today we are talking about AI in EDU, how it can provide efficiencies, and how you might start using it today with guests Brian Piper & Mike Miles . We’ll also cover External Entities as our module of the week. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/494 Topics How are you using AI with your team at Rochester How are you using AI with your team at MIT What are the AI policies at your institutions On the ingestion side how do you manage consumption Tips and tricks to incorporate AI into your work Can you talk more about using AI to distribute content outside the web Do you have tips for managers How have you seen EDUs using AI other than as assistive technology What are your favorite tools Have you done adversarial testing How does AI in Drupal impact EDU Where do you see AI in EDU in the future Resources Crawler rate limit Externalizing costs AI for U MidCamp 2024 session about YaleSites Tools Element 451 Builder io Deque Axe Devtools Descript Opus clips Kapwing HeyGen Synthesia Text to video Sora Veo Guests Brian Piper - brianwpiper.com Mike Miles - Mike-miles.com mikemiles86 Hosts Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Andrew Berry - lullabot.com deviantintegral MOTW Correspondent Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Brief description: Have you ever wanted to connect your Drupal website to an external data source, to include their datasets into the presentation of your Drupal-managed content? There’s a module for that Module name/project name: External Entities Brief history How old: created in May 2015 by attiks, though the most recent release is by Colan Schwartz (colan), a fellow Canadian Versions available: 8.x-2.0-beta1 and 3.0.0-beta4, the latter of which supports Drupal 10 and 11 Maintainership Actively maintained, latest release was less than a month ago Security coverage (though technically needs a stable release Test coverage Documentation: user guide Number of open issues: 77 open issues, 3 of which are bugs against the 3.x branch, though one is marked fixed now Usage stats: 679 sites Module features and usage The External Entities module lets you map fields from external data sources to fields on a “virtual” entity in Drupal. This allows for external data to be used with Drupal’s powerful features like Views, Entity Queries, or Search API as well as use your local Drupal site’s theme to theme data from an external source The module does provide a time-based caching layer for external entities, but you can also implement a more custom cache expiration logic through custom code External entities can also have annotations, essentially Drupal-managed information that will be associated with the external entity, and accessed as a normal field through all Drupal field operations. This could allow you to have Drupal-based comments on information from a different website, for example There is a sizeable ecosystem of companion modules, to help you connect to different kinds of external storage, as to help you aggregate data from multiple sources In my Drupal career I’ve worked on a number of higher ed websites, and the ability to display externally-managed data is a pretty common requirement, either from an HRIS system to show staff and faculty data, or a courseware solution like Banner. I thought this would be an interesting tangent to today’s topic

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