Media

Call for help with Media source plugin porting

slashrsm — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 08:42:41 +0000

Call for help with Media source plugin porting slashrsm Wed, 16.08.2017 - 10:42

As you may already know Media entity module entered Drupal 8.4 as Media module earlier this year. This was the result of years of hard work in contrib and core space. While the module stayed conceptually the same we used this opportunity to clean it up and refactor some things; mostly to make APIs even easier to understand and use.

Media entity comes with the concept of so-called source plugins (also called type plugins in the past). They are responsible for everything related to a specific media type: they have knowledge about their nature, about the way they should be stored and displayed, they are aware of any business logic related to them, etc.

There were many plugins already available before Drupal core decided to adopt the module and they mostly lived as separate modules in contrib space. Since the API changed a bit during the core transition all this plugins need to be updated. The process is pretty straightforward, but the number of modules that need to be worked on is quite high. This means that we'll need quite some help from the community to do this as fast and as effectively as possible.

Here is where you come in!

Are you interested in contributing but don't know how? Are you looking for a task that is relatively simple but not completely trivial? Then the porting of media source plugins might be a really good entry point for you!

There is a meta issue that is trying to keep the overview over the porting process. You will find the list of modules and their current status in it. In order to get familiar with the changes that were introduced during the core transition you should check the relevant change record. All information that is needed for ports should be available there. If you'd rather work with examples then take a look at Media entity image and Media entity document, which were adopted to core as Image and File source plugins respectively.

When you decided which module deserves your attention check its issue queue. If there is already an issue about the porting get involved there. If there is not create one to let others know that you are working on the port. In any case make sure to add its reference to the meta overview issue. This will help us to keep the general overview over the process.

Need help?

Have you checked all the resources I mentioned above and you feel that there are still things that are not entirely clear? Come to the #drupal-media channel on IRC. We are hanging out in that channel most of the times. Our weekly meetings happen in the same channel every Wednesday at 14h UTC.

Get ready for the Media workshop at Drupal dev days Seville

slashrsm — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 11:43:57 +0000

Get ready for the Media workshop at Drupal dev days Seville slashrsm Wed, 22.03.2017 - 12:43

Tomorrow I'll be giving a workshop about the Drupal 8 media. As part of it we'll build a "media" site from scratch. We will start with the standard Drupal installation, add modules and configuration and see how far we can get.

If you are planning to attend the workshop and want to be fully productive I'd ask you to take some time and prepare your development environment. We will need Drupal 8 checkout with the following modules:

Besides that we'll also need Dropzone and Slick libraries, which you can install based on the docs provided in the README files of the respective modules ([1], [2]).

You can download all dependencies manually or use the project template that I provided for you. Simply clone the repository and run composer install && composer drupal-scaffold in the project root.

Want to learn Entity browser?

slashrsm — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:17:56 +0000

Want to learn Entity browser? slashrsm Wed, 15.02.2017 - 16:17

One way to start is to check the session that gave at the Drupal dev days Milano in June 2016. I went through the architecture of the module and most common use cases.

I also proposed a Media workshop for Drupal dev days Seville where I want to cover the entire Drupal 8 Media ecosystem from the site builder's perspective. Besides that I also proposed a session about my recent experiments with Elixir. Not necessarily Drupal or PHP related, but I think that looking beyond our bubble can be very beneficial.

Possible solution for knowledge sharing in the Drupal 8 media domain

slashrsm — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:48:05 +0000

Possible solution for knowledge sharing in the Drupal 8 media domain slashrsm Mon, 06.02.2017 - 10:48

Drupal 8 has very good media handling support. Media team has (and still is) working hard to make Drupal the best CMS in the world when it comes to managing media. We have many modules in the contrib space that solve most of the common use cases in the domain. There is one problem though; there are many of them and some of them are quite complex and abstract. I've noticed that many times users struggle to completely understand what each module is responsible for, which features it comes with and specially how they all together fit into the bigger picture.

There are so-called feature modules (such as File entity browser, Media, Content browser, Media entity browser, ...) and distributions (such as NP8, Thunder, Lightning, ...) which ship with default configuration for the 80% use case. They are plug and play solutions, but it is also possible to use them as a base for learning and research of the ecosystem.

But unfortunately that's not enough. While some people learn the quickest by exploring existing solutions (myself included) that isn't the case for everyone. A lot of people need more guidance and those are the users that we're currently not supporting as much as we should. In order to drive further adoption of the media ecosystem and Drupal 8 itself we need to solve this knowledge sharing problem that I believe we have.

I was thinking about this problem a lot lately and I think I came up with an idea that could help us solve it.

It is a book.

A problem solving oriented book which would guide users through the ecosystem, explain individual parts and, most importantly, offer a bunch of recipes for the common problems. It wouldn't be one of those 800+ pages technical books (who has time to read that?!). Rather it would be a compact source of information which you can have on your desk and use it when you run into a problem. We all want to build websites and the purpose of this book would be to help you do that as fast and as efficiently as possible.

Book would produced by the people that designed and built the Drupal 8 media ecosystem, which would ensure highest levels of quality. It would be released under a Creative commons license with its sources publicly available on GitHub. Printed and compiled eBook versions would be sold through the standard channels.

Why copyleft?

I honestly believe into the free sharing of knowledge in our society. My opinion is that the only way to evolve our civilization is to freely share the knowledge that we have. There are also practical reasons besides the philosophical one. Making the book publicly available ensures that it will be likely updated as the ecosystem and Drupal itself evolve and change. This wouldn't necessarily be the case if the standard copyright license would be used.

Great idea! Why didn't you realize it already?

I am glad that you agree! :) Well... it is not that easy. Producing a real book is not that simple and it also comes with quite some expenses. There is the cost of the content production, proofreading, design, print, shipping, ... I've done a back of a napkin calculation and estimated that we'd need around 20.000€/$21.500/17.000GBP to do it.

My idea was to start a crowdfunding campaign to raise this amount. Backers would, depending on the perk level, get an eBook, print edition or both. Besides that they'd also get early access to the repository with the ability to provide feedback during the process of writing.

Now I need your feedback

I need to hear from you. Is this something that would benefit the community? Is there any better way to educate users about the ecosystem? Would you prefer an online video course instead of a book? In-person training? Something else? Would you be prepared to back the crowdfunding campaign? If yes, what amount would you be prepared to invest?

Please use the form below to share your thoughts. Thank you! I appreciate it.

Entity browser feature freeze will happen in two weeks

slashrsm — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 08:56:05 +0000

Entity browser feature freeze will happen in two weeks slashrsm Thu, 19.01.2017 - 09:56

Today I released Entity browser 8.x-1.0-beta4. Release includes some nice features; specially Improved MultiStep selection display, which vastly improves editorial experience.

This is also the last release before the feature freeze, which will happen on February 3rd 2017. No new features will be accepted after that day until 8.x-1.0 is released. Feature requests that are not breaking backward compatibility will be accepted after that.

Huge thanks to all contributors. It has been an interesting and very rewarding ride!

Join us at the next Drupal Media sprint at the Mountain camp in Davos!

slashrsm — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 22:19:55 +0000

Join us at the next Drupal Media sprint at the Mountain camp in Davos! slashrsm Fri, 06.01.2017 - 23:19

Are you excited about the recent improvements in Drupal core Media? Would you like to join us at one of the next sprints and help us reach our goals? Now you can!

Drupal Mountain Camp 2017 will happen between 16th and 19th February in the lovely Davos. Drupal, code community, snow, fondue, outdoor activities and much more. Definitely something that should not be missed!

And the best part? There will be Media sprint going on throughout the event. Eager to join? Simply add yourself to the sprint attendance list and show up. We promise you the best sprint ever!

Results of the Drupal 8 media sprint

slashrsm — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 16:20:42 +0000

Results of the Drupal 8 media sprint slashrsm Mon, 02.01.2017 - 17:20

In December media team met in Berlin and sprinted on Drupal core media improvements for a week.

Today's @drupalmedia sprinters. Awesome group that is making #Drupal the best media management CMS! pic.twitter.com/G2LqD603pH
— Janez Urevc (@slashrsm) December 15, 2016

I demonstrated the results of the sprint in a short video.

Demo is based on the sandbox project that includes the following patches:

Call for Drupal 8 media ecosystem co-maintainers

slashrsm — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 13:46:14 +0000

Call for Drupal 8 media ecosystem co-maintainers slashrsm Tue, 06.09.2016 - 15:46

As many of you most likely already know we've been working on various media-related modules for a while now. Ecosystem as a whole is getting more and more stable and we're seeing great adoption numbers, which proves that we're on the right track.

For Drupal 8 we decided to go with a bit different approach. Instead of having one or two huge media modules we created many smaller modules with very limited scope. This makes the ecosystem much more reliable, reusable and flexible. On the other hands it also means a bit more maintenance work. Taking care of 2 or 3 modules is much easier than doing the same for 15 or 20. Specially if they depend on each other.

While there are some modules that are maintained by other people (HUGE thanks for doing that!) most of the ecosystem currently relies on me when it comes to maintenance. There are many contributors of patches (thanks, thanks, thanks!), but when it comes to committing patches, planning, triaging and pruning issue queues, creating new releases, ... we're pretty limited in terms of human resources.

I think that it is time to change that.

Which modules need co-maintainers?

There are many: Media entity, Media entity image, Media entity audio, Media entity Twitter, Media entity Instagram, Media entity slideshow, Entity browser, Entity embed, Media, Crop API, File entity, Field formatter, Fallback formatter, Embed, URL Embed and DropzoneJS.

Not into coding so much? Interested in documentation instead? We have something for you too!

Some of them are quite complex and represent most critical pieces of the ecosystem and others are quite simple, limited in functionality and less critical. There should be something for everyone. Looking for something that will take an hour or two a month from you? We will find something for you. Want to be involved in the most important (and most interesting) parts of Drupal 8 media? Are you able to spend few hours a week on that? We definitely have few things to keep you entertained.

What are my responsibilities as a co-maintainer?

You will spend a lot of time in the issue queues. You will triage new issues that come in and try to reproduce and fix reported bugs. You will respond to support requests and help users be successful with our modules.

You will also create and review patches. You will be involved in technical discussions and have influence to the future of the module and Drupal media ecosystem as a while. You will commit patches and coordinate releases with your co-maintainers.

You will be one of the public faces of the module and ecosystem.

What are the requirements?

We want you to show interest. First step is to understand the purpose of the module and to have a vision for its future. You also need to show activity in the issue queue. If you are already active you have a bit of advantage. If you are not, don't worry. It is never to late to start.

Most important thing is that we get to know each other and build some level of trust. Trust will result in rights and with them come responsibilities.

What do we offer in return?

Fame, glory and good karma :). Besides that you'll have influence on the future of the Drupal 8 media, become more visible in the community and make some new friends.

What is happening? Are you leaving?!

No, not at all. I am not going anywhere. I am simply following our long term goal to make media ecosystem sustainable. I want to encourage collaboration and help enthusiastic members of our community to learn. Just like a lot of people helped me when I was joining.

Got your attention? Drop me an https://janezurevc.name/contact, ping me on https://twitter.com/slashrsm or join us at our weekly meeting on #drupal-media every Wednesday at 14:00 UTC.

Releases of various Drupal 8 media modules

slashrsm — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 20:36:39 +0000

Releases of various Drupal 8 media modules slashrsm Tue, 02.08.2016 - 22:36

Today we released new versions of many Drupal 8 media modules. This release is specially important for Entity browser and Entity embed modules since we released the last planned alpha version of those modules. If there will be no critical bugs reported in next two weeks we'll release first beta versions of those modules.

List of all released modules:

Entity browser 8.x-1.0-alpha7. There are some BC breaking changes in this version of the module. You will need to update modules that depend on or provide integration with it. For more information check the release notes.
Entity embed 8.x-1.0-alpha3.
DropzoneJS 8.x-1.0-alpha2.
Media entity 8.x-1.3.
Media entity image 8.x-1.2.
Media entity audio 8.x-1.0-beta3.
Media entity Instagram 8.x-1.2.
Media entity Twitter 8.x-1.2.
Media entity slideshow 8.x-1.1.
Media entity document 8.x-1.1.
Media entity slideshare 8.x-1.3.

We had great and productive time at NYC sprint!

slashrsm — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 07:30:00 +0000

We had great and productive time at NYC sprint! slashrsm Tue, 19.07.2016 - 09:30

As you may already heard a big free software conference, Open camps happened at the United nations headquarters in New York last week. As part of the NYC Drupal camp, which was just one of the many camps that happened during it, a week-long Drupal 8 media sprint was held.

Media team had great time there and I would like to share our impressions with you.

Samuel Mortenson, Adam Hoenich and Janez Urevc in deep discussions about media. Photo by Photographic Intrinsic.

Open camps and NYC Drupal camp

Open camps conference happened for the first time this year. It is a mission-driven free software event that grew out of the NYC Drupal camp. Open camps is a week-long, community organized, non-profit conference as part of which more than 20 camps were taking place. Python, Node.js, Elixir, React, Go, Drupal, Wordpress and many others. All in one place. Pure love!

More photos available in the official Flickr group.

NYC Drupal camp has been one of the strongest supporters of the Drupal 8 Media Initiative for years. They helped us to kick the initiative off and have been supporting us in many ways since then. This year was no exception to that. Along with many media-related sessions as part of the general conference days and a dedicated media summit they also helped us organise a week-long media sprint.

Did we spend the week drinking most of the time?

Of course! Socialisation is one of the most important parts of any community. OK, that's it. Stay tuned!

I am just joking... hope you were not taking me too seriously. We spent most of the week working hard to get closer to beta releases of our most important contributed modules. A lot of extremely cool features were introduced to our browsing component, which is now much more aware of the world around it, it is able to validate your actions much more confidently and it is much easier to use it as part of your custom code.

One of our favourite modules, File entity browser, seen a lot of improvements too. It was chasing changes in the Entity browser and trying to make the most out of new features that are provided. A lot has been done in the area of UX too.

We also focused on getting to the beta release of our embedding component. Last beta blocker was finally RTBC'ed few days ago.

What is in it for me?

Besides all new features that people were asking for we made a big step forward when it comes to stabilisation of the ecosystem. We feel quite confident that we reached the state at which we are really confident to release the ecosystem to the wider public.

Our plan is to release last new release of all affected modules this week. We will make sure that changes that we did are chased in all of them, which means you will be able to get latest versions and be confident that they work together. This will include last alpha versions of Entity embed and Entity browser modules. If no critical bugs are found in the two weeks time after that we will release first beta versions. This will be a huge step forward for the Drupal 8 media ecosystem, as it will result in the stabilisation of the most important and biggest modules we provide.

This will result in life of our users being much simpler. You will be able to rely on the ecosystem to just work. There will be no more changes or updates that could potentially break the sites using them.

What are the next steps?

As the ecosystem is entering more stable state we're switching our focus a bit. While developing new features and refactoring were our main focus until now we'll spend most of our energy with fixing bugs, providing support and writing documentation in the next weeks and months. We will also spend more time working on solution modules that will be much more convenient for ordinary users to start with (check File entity browser, Content browser, Media and Lightning distribution).

I'd like to thank to everyone that contributed to the Drupal 8 media ecosystem. What we achieve would not be possible without those numerous contributions. I'd also like to thank to the NYC camp. A lot of things that happened in the last two years wouldn't be possible without their support.

Want to get involved?

Hop on to IRC and poke us on #drupal-media. We also re-started our weekly meetings, which are happening every Wednesday at 14:00 UTC on our IRC channel. Join us!