Who are you? (biography/background)

I am Alexander Varwijk (Kingdutch on Drupal.org), born north of Amsterdam and currently living in the Dutch city of Enschede, near the German border. My programming journey began at a young age after seeing how an au-pair used Perl to maintain a Drum & Bass fan website. My first creation was a simple terminal calculator in Perl, but I quickly discovered the magic of building websites, starting with Dreamweaver before adding interactivity using PHP 4.4.

My path with Drupal began in 2012: for the new website of a local sports association I was looking for a tool that allowed me to build overviews for club members, teams, and matches. After building the first features of the website using Drupal 7 I was eager to learn more about the framework and its community, which led me to DrupalCon Prague in 2013. There, by chance, I was connected to other people from Enschede: my future colleagues at Open Social.

At the same time as getting to know Drupal I started my study of Electrical Engineering. I ended up spending more time with various committees for my study association as well as a two year board membership as president of the Vestingbar – a student run bar open 364 days of the year.

In 2016 I dropped out of my Electrical Engineering study to make room for my entrepreneurial interests: I started a craft-beer subscription service called Ontdekbier (using Drupal Commerce for the website); I started a study of Business Administration, and I joined GoalGorilla during their transition from Drupal agency to the product company now known as Open Social.

My craft-beer subscription service is no longer around. After meeting the marketing manager from Heineken at a beer sommelier course and learning of their many millions of euros of funding for BeerWulf in a bid to capture the craft-beer e-commerce market, I decided that that was not a market player I could compete with.

I'm still with Open Social, where as Technical Architect at Open Social, I help power some of the world's most impactful organizations through Drupal-based collaborative platforms, including the European Commission, World Bank, United Nations, and Greenpeace International.

In my time off I still enjoy programming, such as introducing async capabilities to Drupal. Besides that I love airplanes, poker – a source of global friendships, reading, speaking at conferences, and travelling. Interests that complement each other well. When I'm back at home I enjoy cycling with friends and I volunteer my time to help organize a local music festival every year.

Why are you running for a board seat at the Drupal Association? (mission/motivation)

Drupal is an amazing framework for modern day connected applications. Its community is vibrant and chooses the direction of the project through choosing where it decides to contribute. The Drupal Association as I understand it plays a vital role in ensuring Drupal's longevity and ensuring a healthy community by supporting the community and its contributors.

Three main aspects that excite me and motivate me to join the Drupal Association board are: Developer Advocacy and promoting Drupal outside our community; increasing attractiveness of Drupal Association sponsorship for organizations using Drupal as a tool; and the forming of a federated system of Drupal Associations to coordinate global and local tasks in supporting and growing our community.

While talking with developers at conferences outside of the Drupal community, their image of Drupal often does not seem to reflect the current state our framework offers. At the same time, developers working with Drupal seem to underestimate their options of sharing our message with people outside of our community.

As a Drupal Association board member I would like to initiate or boost a developer advocacy program that connects the amazing speakers that we have within the Drupal community to great non-Drupal conferences. Expanding our outreach efforts promotes Drupal as a technical tool and helps modernise its image while simultaneously allowing our community to learn from other technologies and tools.

The Drupal Association pitch for sponsorship is currently focused in large part around visibility within the Drupal community as a Drupal service provider. As a Drupal Association board member I want to help expand the pitch with one that appeals to companies that use Drupal as a development framework but do not resell Drupal itself, thereby growing the funding for the Drupal Association and the Drupal project.

The International Drupal Federation Initiative provides exciting opportunities. Many local associations already exist that know how to engage their local communities and grow usage and contributions within those spaces. There are also tasks that transcend national borders and can benefit from global cooperation. Developer advocacy, as well as crafting a clear and compelling story of why the individual associations and an overarching international association are important to any organization using Drupal, are prime examples.

Why should members vote for you? (qualifications)

My 13 years of experience in the Drupal ecosystem have shown me both the community's incredible strengths and the areas where we can improve. My contribution would be a combination of open source development experience – inside and outside of Drupal, a business administration background and my drive and energy to promote Drupal. I am able to evaluate the work of the Drupal Association through a strategic lens and translate the community's needs into actionable plans. My journey from building a local sports club

website to architecting platforms for organizations like the UN and European Commission has given me perspective on the broad spectrum of Drupal users and their diverse needs.

As a conference speaker and (co-)maintainer of multiple Drupal projects, I try to give back to the community that has given me so much. As a member of the board of the Drupal Association I can use my experience of turning ideas into workable solutions to further contribute to the community's growth and longevity.

I believe I can contribute meaningfully to the challenges facing Drupal and the Drupal Association. As our framework competes in an increasingly complex landscape, we need thoughtful approaches to marketing, funding and community growth. My entrepreneurial and product experience, combined with deep community involvement, gives me tools to help navigate the balance between innovation and stability, between open-source values and practical sustainability, that the Drupal Association must maintain.

Automated testing isn’t just for developers—it’s a strategic tool that speeds up releases, cuts bugs, and keeps your product solid. In this behind-the-scenes look at Drupal autotesting, Aliaksandr Shabanau, senior backend developer at Attico, shares real-world insights on how test automation transforms teams and reduces stress. Whether you're building, managing, or scaling a Drupal site, this article shows why testing is a must-have, not a nice-to-have.

What makes Drupal fast for logged-in users? David Bekker has been chasing that question for over a decade. Known in the community as "daffie," he’s logged more than 700 core commits and helped shape Drupal's performance from the inside out. In this interview, he shares what drives his work, why database structure matters more than ever, and how Finalist supports his mission to make Drupal ready for whatever comes next.

Want to strengthen your Drupal website with AI? Read this blog to learn about the AI modules in Drupal’s library that help build powerful digital experiences.

Today we are talking about the Custom Field Module, what it does, and why you might want to use it with guest Andy Marquis. We’ll also cover Facet Bot Blocker as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/505

Topics

• Meet the Guest: Andy Marquee
• Module of the Week: Facet Bot Blocker
• Exploring the Custom Field Module
• Benefits and Use Cases of Custom Field Module
• Custom Field Module vs. Other Solutions
• Advanced Features and Integrations
• Reflecting on Past Projects and Key Value
• Use Cases and Flexibility of Custom Fields
• Advanced Features and Integrations
• Challenges and Limitations
• Future Roadmap and Improvements

Resources

Custom Field Module

Guests

Andy Marquis - drupal.org/project/custom_field apmsooner

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Norah Medlin - tekNorah

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you been looking for an inexpensive way to mitigate an upsurge of bot traffic on your Drupal site’s faceted search pages? There’s a module for that
• Module name/project name:
  • Facet Bot Blocker
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Mar 2025, so about two months ago, by John Brandenburg (bburg) of Forum One
  • Versions available: 1.0.2 which support Drupal 10 and 11
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Security coverage
  • Number of open issues: 4 open issues, one of which is a bug, but it did have a fix merged 4 days ago
• Usage stats:
  • 106 sites
• Module features and usage
  • A number of sites are seeing a huge upswing in bot traffic, and quite often a big part of that bot traffic is on one or more pages with faceted search
  • Crawlers try to request every permutation of every possible combination of facets. If your page has multiple facets, and in particular facets that accept multiple values, the number of permutations becomes huge
  • Facet Bot Blocker works by allowing you to set a maximum number of facet requests to allow, what error to return, and a custom HTML message to return to blocked user agents
  • If you have Memcache or Redis available, it’s recommended to use the appropriate module, and Facet Bot Blocker will automatically store its settings there for reduced database reads
  • The project page is also clear that if you are able to use a true Web Application Firewall (like Cloudflare or Akamai), that would be a better strategy. But if you don’t have one available, Facet Bot Blocker can help to mitigate the surges in bot traffic that are causing problems for many Drupal sites, particularly those hosted on platforms that charge based on usage

Dear Readers,

Drupal isn’t struggling because it’s weak. It’s struggling because it doesn’t know its true strength. Like an elephant nudged around by smaller animals, it forgets that it can knock down walls if it just turns and pushes. We have spent years celebrating flexibility, adaptability, and a proud open-source ethos. But in trying to be everything to everyone, Drupal often ends up being invisible to those who need it most.

As Alejandro Moreno López points out, Drupal’s real power lies in what it enables without custom code. It is a low-code platform that hides in plain sight, quietly powering some of the most complex digital experiences across various industries. However, without sharp, targeted messaging and tools that speak the language of business problems, that power remains locked behind a technical perception. Most people do not explore Drupal because they do not see what it solves. They see a CMS, not a solution.

What if that changed? What if Drupal led with pre-built, industry-specific solutions? What if it made the first five minutes inspiring instead of intimidating? The pieces are already there. The potential is proven. What Drupal needs now is to step into its strength with clarity, coordination, and a message that leaves no room for doubt. When the elephant finally moves with purpose, it will no longer be ignored.

INTERVIEW

• Marcus Johansson's Return to Drupal with AI at Core
• From Drupal Core to Static Site Innovation: Samuel Mortenson on Tome, SFC, and Open Source Legacy

DISCOVER DRUPAL

• Why Drupal’s Greatest Strength Might Be Its Biggest Marketing Challenge
• Dropmin: What Is It and Why Does It Exist?
• Drupal “Back-to-Basics” Initiative Seeks New Leader to Boost Beginner Support
• Drupal Core Names Cristina Chumillas and Emma Horrell as First UX Managers
• Drupal Site Template Marketplace Moves Forward with Governance and Business Model Drafts
• New Update on api.drupal.org Highlights Supported Drupal Versions
• Roland Obermair Announces Development of NextCloud WebDAV Client for Drupal

EVENTS

• Looking Beyond the Horizon at DrupalJam 2025
• Barcamp Perpignan 2025 to Host In-Person Drupal Event on June 19–21
• Stanford WebCamp 2025: What We Hosted, Heard, and Learned
• Annertech and Platform.sh Sponsor Networking Reception at LocalGov Drupal Camp 2025 in Westminster
• Get Ready for a Week Full of Drupal: June 2–8, 2025

ORGANIZATION NEWS

• Pantheon Launches GitHub Integration, Upgraded Drupal Module, and Trust Center in Spring 2025 Update
   

We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we must pause further exploration for now.

To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you, 
Sincerely 
Alka Elizabeth 
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.

Discover how Drupal events like MidCamp 2025 are setting new standards for accessibility and inclusion in tech conferences. From live captioning to accessible venues and inclusive planning, this is how the Drupal community puts equity into action.

Samuel Mortenson, longtime Drupal core contributor and creator of tools like Tome and SFC, reflects on nearly a decade of shaping the open-source CMS. In this in-depth interview, he shares insights on static site generation, developer experience, and why stepping back doesn’t always mean stepping away. If you're curious about the future of Drupal, static-first architecture, or open source sustainability, this is a must-read.

Great month, lots done, including a new module for Drupal.org - modules_list.

This guest post is by DDEV community member and TYPO3 contributor Garvin Hicking.

In my daily work, I develop TYPO3-based projects and also contribute to the TYPO3 CMS OpenSource project itself.

Usually this means working with actively supported and up-to-date PHP versions as well as database systems like MySQL/PostgreSQL/MariaDB.

Just recently I had to migrate a very outdated project: TYPO3 4.5, which utilized MySQL 5.5 and PHP 5.3. When that project was initially developed, it was done with XAMPP and later Vagrant-based VMs. This has been long superseded with using Docker and specifically DDEV for ease-of-use.

So naturally I wanted to be able to use DDEV for the legacy project to get it working just as it is running on the (outdated) hosting provider's shared web servers.

I quickly faced three major issues:

• No PHP 5.3 out-of-the-box support from DDEV; it starts with 5.6 as of the time of this writing
• No MySQL 5.5 ARM64 support either; it starts with 5.7
• Additionally, I use an Apple MacBook Pro M1 with ARM-chipset, which has no "official" MySQL 5.5 support

Thanks to the outstanding DDEV support on Discord, I was quickly able to find a way with minimal effort, just by creating very small custom, additional docker-compose YAML files.

One advantage (of many) of using DDEV instead the underlying Docker Compose is that so many things are pre-configured and "just work". So I really did not want to migrate everything to Docker Compose on my own, do my custom routing, PHP-FPM integration and whatnot.

Just being able to "bait and switch" the PHP and DB container with a different base Docker image was all that was needed for me:

Step 1: Base config

I created the base ~/legacyphp/.ddev/config.yaml file manually inside my ~/legacyphp project directory, setting legacyphp as the project name.

Note that I configured PHP and MySQL versions that are supported by DDEV for this first:

name: legacyphp type: php docroot: htdocs php_version: "8.3" webserver_type: apache-fpm database: type: mysql version: "8.0" Step 2: Rewire DB

Next I created the very small file ~/legacyphp/.ddev/docker-compose.db.yaml in the same directory next to config.yaml:

services: db: platform: linux/amd64 build: args: BASE_IMAGE: ddev/ddev-dbserver-mysql-5.5:v1.24.6 entrypoint: - sh - -c - | cp /docker-entrypoint.sh ~/docker-entrypoint.sh sed -i '157s|.*|if false; then|' ~/docker-entrypoint.sh sed -i '175s|.*|echo mysql_8.0 >/var/lib/mysql/db_mariadb_version.txt|' ~/docker-entrypoint.sh exec ~/docker-entrypoint.sh

Three things are noteworthy:

• Setting linux/amd64 as the platform will require Rosetta to be available on the macOS ARM64 platform
• The BASE_IMAGE is set to a DDEV db container of legacy Docker images that are still provided.
• Changing the entrypoint is a workaround to prevent DDEV complaining about a mismatching MySQL version after restarting the project. The small script "tricks" the DDEV inspection into believing, the version matches the one configured in .ddev/config.yaml.

Step 3: Rewire PHP

Using a different PHP version is just a few lines more work, because we are not replacing the whole web container of DDEV. Instead, we add an additional PHP container which is executed from the web container via port 9000.

This is done via the file ~/legacyphp/.ddev/docker-compose.php.yaml:

services: php: container_name: ddev-${DDEV_SITENAME}-php image: devilbox/php-fpm:5.3-work restart: "no" expose: - 9000 labels: com.ddev.site-name: ${DDEV_SITENAME} com.ddev.approot: ${DDEV_APPROOT} working_dir: /var/www/html volumes: - "../:/var/www/html" - ".:/mnt/ddev_config:ro" - ddev-global-cache:/mnt/ddev-global-cache - "./php:/etc/php-custom.d" environment: - NEW_UID=${DDEV_UID} - NEW_GID=${DDEV_GID} - DDEV_PHP_VERSION - IS_DDEV_PROJECT=true web: depends_on: - php

Note here that we use devilbox/php-fpm with our needed version, and a bind-mount takes care the PHP container can access our main project root directory.

A special mount of ~/legacyphp/.ddev/php/ is included so that we can control the php.ini configuration, if needed. For example you could disable the OPCache+APC in case you're doing some legacy benchmarking that should not be falsified via caching, I created a very small file ~/legacyphp/.ddev/php/php.ini file with the contents:

# This is an example. # apc.enabled=Off # opcache.enable=Off Step 4: Utilize the PHP container with an Apache proxy

To execute PHP with our external PHP Docker image, I created the following file in ~/legacyphp/.ddev/apache/apache-site.conf:

<VirtualHost *:80> RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} =https RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^(.+[^/])$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}$1/ [redirect,last] SetEnvIf X-Forwarded-Proto "https" HTTPS=on Alias "/phpstatus" "/var/www/phpstatus.php" DocumentRoot /var/www/html/htdocs <Directory "/var/www/html/htdocs"> AllowOverride All Allow from All </Directory> CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined ProxyFCGIBackendType GENERIC ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ fcgi://php:9000/var/www/html/htdocs/$1 DirectoryIndex /index.php index.php </VirtualHost>

Note that if your document root is not htdocs you would need to adapt this name to your liking (like public or wwwroot or anything) in all occurrences of this file.

Step 5: Lift-Off

Now you can execute ddev start and then ddev launch to see your project up and running.

You could create a simple ~/legacyphp/htdocs/index.php file with <?php phpinfo(); ?> to verify the version.

Using ddev mysql will connect you to the MySQL 5.5 instance:

~/legacyphp> ddev mysql Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 5 Server version: 5.5.62-log MySQL Community Server (GPL) Caveats

You can enter the PHP Docker container with a command like docker exec -it -u devilbox ddev-legacyphp-php bash if you need/want to execute PHP commands on shell-level, because the regular web container will run with the more recent PHP 8.3 version. So if you need to perform composer CLI calls, be sure to do this within the matching PHP container.

Another thing to pay attention to is that if you for example want to utilize Mailpit with TYPO3's mail configuration, you can not use localhost:1025 as an SMTP server. localhost in PHP's case will be that devilbox PHP container, and not the DDEV web container. Instead you need to setup web:1025 as the hostname.

The devilbox PHP config has pretty much all available PHP extensions set up to use, but if you need specific imagemagick or other tools, you will have to either ensure these are executed on the web container, or make them available with customization of a different base Docker container that you can build yourself.

If you want to use Xdebug with this setup, you'll need to do more internal port forwarding in the docker-compose setup, which is beyond the scope of this article.

Closing words

Having shown you what is possible, I hope you will never need to use it, and you will always use well-supported and current software. :-)

Thanks so much to the DDEV project for getting me across the finish line with just very little effort!

Ochsner Health kdavis Thu, 05/29/2025 - 13:06 Client Ochsner Health Topic Mobile & Apps Summary Dining out while maintaining a healthy lifestyle can feel like navigating a maze of uncertainty. Where can you find nutritious meals? What do those menu items really contain? For many, it’s a daily challenge that undermines wellness goals.

Ochsner Health recognized this widespread struggle and sought to transform how their community accesses and understands nutritional information. The result? Eat Fit, a mobile app that puts expert dietary guidance, healthy restaurant recommendations, and powerful nutritional tools directly into the hands of users. Promo Image iStock-1183997020_Ochsner website case study.png Subheading Empowering Healthy Eating with Insight and Discovery

I built a thing for api.drupal.org and you can too!

Did you search for Drupal API documentation in the past and ended up on outdated information on api.drupal.org? I heard this story from many people before and it also happens to AI bots. This is a problem the Drupal Association wanted to fix for a while but did not get around to it with all the priorities. 

Acquia held an internal hackathon called 48Create on 15-16 May, 2025. I joined the team formed by Ben Mullins around Drupal documentation and I decided to take on this problem. 

Gábor Hojtsy Thu, 05/29/2025 - 19:42

Maximilian Haupt introduces Dropmin, a minimalist Drupal distribution built for streamlined content management. Designed as an API-first backend, Dropmin removes Drupal’s typical complexity to focus on ease of use and fast setup. It features a fixed role system, no module UI, and seamless JSON API support. Haupt reflects on how Dropmin evolved from real project constraints into a practical tool for developers.

In this episode, Mike Anello and Mike Herchel dive into a casual conversation covering a wide array of topics. They start by discussing the concept of a podcast with almost no effort required and the mystery of Stephen's involvement. The conversation then quickly shifts to Florida Drupal Camp, mentioning its impressive 16 uninterrupted years, the increase in attendees, and how fun it is. They touch upon single directory components in Drupal, their importance, and intricacies like CSS styling, schemas, and Experience Builder. The discussion also includes insights into popular Drupal events like Florida Drupal Camp, Drupal Dev Days, and the upcoming DrupalCon. They infuse humor and personal anecdotes while engaging in thoughtful technical exchanges and playful banter.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe003

Topics Michael Anello

Mike, widely recognized by his Drupal.org username "ultimike," is a prominent figure in the Drupal community with over 15 years of experience as a developer, educator, and community leader. As the co-founder and vice president of DrupalEasy, a Florida-based training and consulting firm, he has been instrumental in shaping the careers of countless Drupal professionals through comprehensive programs like Drupal Career Online and Professional Module Development .(drupalcampnj.org, nedcamp.org) Anello's contributions extend beyond education. He has been deeply involved in the Drupal ecosystem, serving as a core contributor to the Migrate module, co-maintaining several contributed modules, and actively participating in issue queues and documentation efforts . His leadership roles include membership in the Drupal Community Working Group and the Conflict Resolution Team, as well as organizing the Florida Drupal Users' Group and Florida DrupalCamp for over a decade .(The Drop Times, nedcamp.org) As the host of the long-running DrupalEasy Podcast, Anello provides insights into Drupal development, community news, and interviews with key contributors, fostering a sense of connection and ongoing learning within the community (DrupalEasy). His dedication to mentoring and community building has made him a respected and influential voice in the Drupal world.

Mike Herchel

Mike is a seasoned front-end developer and a prominent contributor to the Drupal community, with over 15 years of experience in web development. He is best known as the lead developer of Olivero, Drupal's default front-end theme, which emphasizes accessibility, modern design, and user experience. (ImageX) In addition to his work on Olivero, Mike serves as a core CSS maintainer for Drupal and is the creator of the Quicklink module, which enhances site performance by preloading links in the user's viewport. He also has amazing calves. They're the size of small children. Rumor has it that his vertical jump is over 4.5 inches! He has also contributed to the introduction of Single Directory Components (SDC) into Drupal core, aiming to streamline component-based theming. (The Drop Times, herchel.com) Beyond his technical contributions, Mike is an active community leader. He has served on the Drupal Association Board of Directors and is a primary organizer of Florida DrupalCamp. (Drupal) As a speaker, he has presented at various events, including EvolveDrupal, discussing topics like the future of Drupal theming and the Starshot initiative, which seeks to make Drupal more accessible to site builders. (evolvedrupal.com) Professionally, Mike works as a Senior Front-End Developer at Agileana, where he continues to advocate for accessibility, performance, and the open web. (evolvedrupal.com) He shares his insights and experiences through his personal blog at herchel.com, contributing to the ongoing evolution of Drupal and its community.

Discussion Topics:

• The Best Podcast Idea Ever
• Florida Drupal Camp: A Legacy of Success
• Single Directory Components: Getting Started
• TD Cafe: The Podcast Name Debate
• Deep Dive into Single Directory Components
• Experience Builder and Component Integration
• Custom Themes and Single Directory Components
• Design Tool Integration
• CSS Variables and Component Architecture
• Template File vs Render Array
• CSS Preferences: Plain CSS vs Post CSS
• Top Drupal Events
• Concluding Remarks and Personal Plans

Guests

Mike Anello - DupalEasy ultimike

Mike Herchel - herchel.com mherchel

Jira is an incredibly popular project management and issue tracking tool and is very flexible and adaptable to project workflows and can be further enhanced with the extensive application ecosystem that surrounds the product.  In a recent project, we used Maestro AI to supercharge a Jira workflow to offload external participant feedback loops to Maestro and let Maestro AI determine which feedback loop to use.

 

amazee.io joined Drupaljam 2025 for a day of AI insights, community connection, and collaboration, and an introduction to our new Drupal AI Provider.

In an interview with The DropTimes sub-editor Alka Elizabeth, Marcus Johansson discusses how his background in PHP and early work with Drupal led to his current role in shaping Drupal’s AI capabilities. He explains the origins of the AI Automators module, his collaboration with open source contributors, and the technical and security challenges of building AI integrations within Drupal.

UX as a first class citizen in Drupal core! Announcing new UX Manager role for Drupal core and Cristina Chumillas and Emma Horrell as first UX Managers: https://www.drupal.org/about/core/blog/ux-as-a-first-class-citizen-in-drupal-core

We’re excited to announce a big step forward for user experience in Drupal Core: the creation of the new UX Manager role within the core leads team. This is a foundational move toward UX-driven development, where user experience is embedded from the start, not added at the end.

Historically, UX responsibilities in Drupal Core were shared across different roles, often falling under product management. But in practice, UX input has often arrived late, focusing on small usability tweaks rather than shaping the overall experience.

By creating a dedicated UX Manager role, we’re making sure UX has a clear voice — from early feature discussions to final design decisions. This will help us build more intuitive, cohesive, and accessible experiences for everyone using Drupal. We’re also laying the groundwork for the future: supporting more UX practitioners to contribute to Drupal and from there, grow into decision-making roles, strengthening our design contributor community, establishing a stable UX testing process, and making onboarding easier for designers and researchers.

For now, this role will be co-led by Emma Horrell and myself, Cristina Chumillas.

Emma is the UX Research Lead for Drupal CMS and has shaped many aspects of the project through her work researching target audiences, testing features, and helping reduce “Drupalisms.” Her research expertise will continue to help us align Drupal with real user needs. Many thanks to the University of Edinburgh for supporting her continued contributions.

I’ve been the usability topic maintainer for years and currently serve as Product Design Lead for Drupal CMS and Drupal core Front-end Framework Manager. I’m looking forward to helping embed UX more deeply into how Drupal Core is defined, designed, and built.

This is just the beginning. If you’re interested in improving Drupal’s experience, join us in the #ux-working-group on Drupal Slack — and help us put UX at the heart of Drupal’s future.

From AI-driven development to digital sovereignty and a global vision for Drupal’s future, DrupalJam 2025 delivered a powerful mix of inspiration, technical insight, and community spirit — all under one roof at DeFabrique.