2013-06-04

Some Drupal 8 changes are backported to Drupal 7 ready for use in your current Web site without the massive conversion to Drupal 8. You can use the sparkly new improvements now!

Backbone

Backports

Bartik to Responsive Bartik

CKEditor

Edit

Elements

Ember

Libraries API

Mobile Friendly Navigation Toolbar

Module filter

Responsive Tables

Simplified Menu Administration

Spark ignites

Twig

Backbone

Drupal 7 uses jQuery and some jQuery add-ons. Drupal 8 will use more Javascript including many things that jQuery was not designed to do. The Backbone Javascript library adds data related code that is not quite a database, more like a temporary data store, with a description that tries to fit the code into the MVC style.

Backbone could be useful if you reuse data within a page. You could download data to a page, let the visitor edit the data, then send the edited data back to the server to update the database. How do you prevent multiple updates crashing into each other? All the downloaded data will need a date/time, or similar, currency identifier to ensure the data is only updated once.

Backbone is required by the Mobile Friendly Navigation Toolbar. Drupal 8 will need something like Backbone and the Spark project may push Backbone into Drupal 8. Read about Backbone at backbonejs.org. Install backbone only if required by something else.

Backports

Backports, drupal.org/project/backports, is a collection of small user interface changes from Drupal 8 and is still back in the alpha stage. They are trivial changes and may not damage your site if they fail.

Bartik to Responsive Bartik

Drupal 8 replaces the D7 Bartik theme with the Responsive Bartik theme. The Responsive Bartik D7 project replaces Bartik with a responsive version.

Responsive Bartik is stable and ready for use.

For sites using Bartik, I found the best approach is to add Responsive Bartik, make Responsive Bartik the default, then add a tiny module to switch back to Bartik for some old browsers. Some of my sites use subthemes of Bartik and they work equally well as subthemes of Responsive Bartik.

CKEditor

You can add any Javascript based editor into Drupal 7 using the WYSIWYG module. The CKEditor - WYSIWYG HTML editor module, drupal.org/project/ckeditor, is focused entirely on the CKEditor editor. The Spark project looks like pushing CKEditor into Drupal 8 as the standard editor.

You could start by standardising on CKEditor through the WYSIWYG module if you already use the WYSIWYG module but not CKEditor. You can convert direct to the CKEditor module or from the WYSIWYG module after everything is converted to CKEditor.

IMCE is the only real competitor and that is mainly due to the file upload facility. If you use the IMCE file upload, convert to the Drupal 7 File field then convert to CKEditor. IMCE is often used to upload image files and the Drupal 7 core Image module provides a field for images. You can easily replace IMCE if you have only a few uploaded files.

Edit

The Edit project, drupal.org/project/edit, adds fancy in place editing of fields. If you use CKEditor, Edit will add CKEditor to the field edit. The edit module is only in alpha status at this stage and may be too unstable for your Web site. Watch it develop.

The Edit module is in the Spark distribution and is sponsored by Radio France who also sponsor Scald.

Elements

Drupal 8 contains more predefined element types than Drupal 7. The Elements add-on module, drupal.org/project/elements, adds some of the Drupal 8 extra element types to Drupal 7 including the HTML5 elements url, email, search, tel, number, range, and HTML5 attributes placeholder plus pattern. Look at this module when you are about to define new fields or new content types.

Ember

The Ember theme, drupal.org/project/ember, is burning slowly in the Spark project. Ember is an enhanced version of the Seven administration theme. Ember is still stuck in alpha so do not use it for anything outside an experiment.

Ember will provide maximum value when mixed with some other modules including the Edit module. Some of the other dependencies are a long way from being usable. look at Ember again when it reaches beta testing.

Libraries API

Download the Libraries API module from drupal.org/project/libraries. Many useful add-on modules use the Libraries module including the Mobile Friendly Navigation Toolbar.

Drupal 8 will do something completely different. You will have a manual conversion at some stage. There might be a temporary use of something like the Libraries API. Given that many of the modules mentioned on this page will be included in Drupal 8, Drupal 8 will also include any required external libraries and not need the Libraries API.

Drupal 8 follows a complicated structure that fits the PSR convention which is essentially a compromise convention designed to may life easy for the Symfony framework. You have to read through PSR-0, -1, etc to find the bits covering external libraries. PSR code file handling is based on millions of directories with each storing a tiny amount of code. Try to avoid modules that use the Libraries API module but do not have a roadmap for Drupal 8. Open issues for modules without a Drupal 8 roadmap.

Mobile Friendly Navigation Toolbar

Download a mobile friendly navigation toolbar from drupal.org/project/navbar. Navbar requires that the Backbone library available through the Libraries module.

Module filter

The Module filter add-on module, drupal.org/project/module_filter, adds a filter and optional tabs to the administration module list. The Drupal 7 module list is already flooded with junk from packages, cTools for example, that add many modules despite only a few being required on any one site. Drupal 8 will flood us with many more modules plus split some big modules into lots of little ones.

This module is included in the Spark distribution.

Responsive Tables

The Responsive Tables add-on module, drupal.org/project/responsive_tables, changes tables to be responsive as used in Drupal 8. The module is in early development and still has a way to go. The change can be used by other modules and already works with the Better Views Tables module that is still stuck in a sandbox.

Simplified Menu Administration

The Simplified Menu Administration add-on module, drupal.org/project/simplified_menu_admin, changes the menu admin pages to match a change in Drupal 8.

The module is really simple and is already in beta but is so trivial that you might not bother installing it. The module is included in the Spark distribution.

Spark ignites

The Spark project, drupal.org/project/spark, is aimed at improving the editing of content, blocks, everything. The project is a distribution, which prevents use on existing Web sites, but all the components are listed and available as separate add-on modules.

Many of the add-on modules are already included in Drupal 8. Visit the Spark page to see the overall list and visit the individual modules to find their status. The current list is:

A responsive toolbar that works well on mobile devices

Well configured CKEditor WYSIWYG tool with full text format integration

An in-place content editor that allows you to edit nodes in-place on the page

A mobile device preview tool

A responsive page layout editor that integrates with Panels and Panels In-Place Editor (IPE)

Backported improvements like integrated menu administration, module filtering, responsive Bartik theme

An administration theme called Ember

Twig

Twig is a templating engine from Symfony copied into Drupal 8 as a replacement for the Drupal templating engine. Twig is not a complete replacement and has other uses that will, apparently, be ignored in Drupal 8. There are a bunch of sandbox modules to use Twig in Drupal 7. There are no backports.

Full use of Twig in Drupal 8 will require something like the Drupal 7 Entity API add-on module then a backport to Drupal 7. A wasted opportunity.

Feedback

Please test the backported upgrades when they first hit beta because it is too late to suggest major changes after that. If you spot a major hole in the code, the repair may have to be developed in Drupal 8 first then backported. The Drupal 8 code freeze is not far away and your suggestions may be discussed a long time before they are promoted for development.

Think of Drupal 7. Entity missed out on all the Entity API stuff because there were not enough people alpha and beta testing with anything outside of the Drupal core. Image was included but date missed the boat for the same reason. You will get results from your feedback only if the feedback is submitted before the code develops arteriosclerosis obliterans.

Conclusion

When something in Drupal 8 is backported to Drupal 7 and is stable, consider upgrading Drupal 7 now. You get the benefits of the update plus better compatibility when you upgrade to Drupal 8. Generally anything past the first beta release is safe.







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