Drupal Developer Days 2024: Embracing Innovation and AI in Burgas, Bulgaria

A Focus on the Future of Drupal 

The conference's main themes revolved around Artificial Intelligence, the Drupal Starshot initiative, and the highly anticipated release of Drupal 11. Over the course of three days, we were treated to an array of insightful sessions and workshops that showcased cutting-edge technologies and practical solutions.

Key Sessions and Highlights 

One of the standout sessions was on Drupal Starshot, an ambitious initiative announced by Dries Buytaert in May. Starshot aims to simplify the creation of Drupal sites for non-technical users by leveraging Drupal core and pre-packaged recipes. This session highlighted how site builders can effortlessly construct and extend Drupal sites using only their browsers, making the platform more accessible and user-friendly. 

The main issue that Starshot aims to tackle is the fact that new developers often have a hard time finding the correct modules to use in their Drupal website. Starshot should streamline the experience of starting a Drupal site from scratch and extending the website using a simple interface, which should streamline the searching and finding of relevant modules for your fresh Drupal installation. 

The coming of Starshot could make it less intimidating for new people to start working with Drupal, as the steep learning curve is often what scares potential developers away. 

The conference also placed a strong emphasis on Artificial Intelligence, with several sessions dedicated to exploring the integration of AI into the platform. A particularly engaging talk titled "AI and Drupal: Build Smarter Systems" demonstrated some of the most innovative AI modules currently enhancing Drupal. We were given a comprehensive overview of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and its application in Drupal, illustrating how AI can automate routine tasks, offer intelligent insights, and ultimately free up valuable resources for more critical endeavors.  

Some examples of things that were achieved using AI in Drupal during this presentation and other AI related presentations that left us perplexed: 

• Automatically generating a Drupal content page based on a PDF.
• Creating a recipe page in Drupal containing ingredients, steps and images based on a YouTube video.
• Creating a podcast of 2 people talking about a topic based on a simple text prompt.
• Enhancing Drupal search by making it understand the context of your question and intelligently serving search results that don’t necessary contain your keywords 

While all of these examples were mostly proofs of concept and not necessarily reliable enough to be used on a production website yet, it is very exciting to see how AI can really expand the possibilities of what can be done as developers. Processes that could only be done manually in the past will have an automated future. 

Another notable session was “Multisites Made Easy with Group Sites”. This presentation tackled the complexities of building a single website that serves multiple sites, showcasing the Group module's capabilities. The module allows to dynamically change the way your multisites are defined, without having to completely change your codebase. This means you could one day have your sites be different based on the language in Drupal, and the next day easily switch to having different sites based on domain. This is immensely useful for when a client might change how they want the site to function after work on it has already started. Normally it would be a fundamental change to the whole project, but this allows it to be done quite seamlessly. 

Another plus was that we learned a lot about how permissions and scopes actually function under the hood inside Drupal core. We were also given a live demonstration of the module's impressive performance. 

Key Takeaways and Applications 

The conference provided valuable insights into the future of Drupal, highlighting its bright prospects for both new and seasoned developers. The introduction of Starshot promises to lower the entry barrier for newcomers, while advancements in AI are pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with Drupal. 

The practical solutions presented at the conference were directly applicable to our own work. Seeing how others tackled issues similar to those we face was inspiring and provided us with new strategies to consider. The numerous examples of AI integration into Drupal were particularly motivating, opening up new possibilities for enhancing our projects. 

Personal Experience and Insights 

Drupal Developer Days offers a more intimate and focused experience compared to the larger Drupalcon, concentrating specifically on developers and technical topics. This focus made the event particularly enriching for us, as the sessions were highly relevant and devoid of the usual sales-oriented content. 

One of the most rewarding aspects of the conference was the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals. We had fruitful interactions with other Belgian Drupal developers, which strengthened our professional network and fostered a sense of community. 

Overall Impression and Future Prospects 

We found the conference to be highly beneficial and gained numerous insights that will undoubtedly influence our future projects. A special thanks to the Bulgarian Drupal community, the speakers, and everyone involved in organizing this enriching three-day event. We look forward to attending future editions of Drupal Developer Days and continuing to grow within this dynamic and innovative community. 

We can’t wait to apply our newly gained knowledge to your website project, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us, whether you already have a Drupal website or not. We pride ourselves to be able to find a solution for every challenge and budget.