Tagged Best Practices

How to Streamline Update Hooks Using the Batch API

When maintaining a Drupal 8 site in production, it’s often necessary to make changes within the site’s database, specifically when it comes to modifying settings or data that is not handled by Drupal’s YAML file-based configuration management API. Some common examples of settings or data not handled by the configuration management API include the following:

Hook42 Team
Open laptop in coffee shop with Batch API Updates and Drupal 8 logo on screen

Come for Education, Stay for Community - BADCamp 2019

BADCamp has long been a staple Drupal camp for Hook 42. We’ve spent countless hours behind the scenes over the years making sure we can not only participate in the amazing group-effort that goes into planning an event of this magnitude, but also be present as a sponsor, speakers, and attendees. This year was no exception to the amount of crazy that goes on before we get to Berkeley, and we have a lot to take away from this years' event.
Welcome to BADCamp 2019 Sign

Websites Have Needs, Just Like Babies

A website is like a baby. Stick with me here. This may seem like a strange comparison but it really does apply. From planning, delivery, and going home, the analogy between building a website and having a child is not as far apart as you might think.
Hook42 Team
smiling baby in mother's lap typing on laptop

Getting Started With Developer Environments

Getting started in Drupal, WordPress, or Backdrop website development can have a steep learning curve involving a lot of different parts of the system. Not only do we need to learn how to edit the code for the website, but we need a place where we can safely practice and make mistakes. We need to be able to run websites on our own computers, and we need good tools (applications) that can help us learn. That collection of tools is commonly called a “local development environment”, and this blog post is meant to provide an overview of some tools we like to use here at Hook 42.

developer setting up work environment on three screens

We’re Following the Yellow Brick Road...to Emerald City

Look out for Hook 42 at DrupalCon 2019 in Seattle!

It’s that time again, another DrupalCon is fast approaching and our team couldn’t be more excited for this year’s Seattle event. We’ve got a lot in store for you this year, from presentations, BOFs, sponsorships, partnership collaborations, and using our listening ears. You’ll find our team distributed all about.

We’re bringing a stacked line-up of knowledge and experiences to drop on 'ya this year. Not only that, we’re looking forward to hearing all the ups and downs you’ve had this past year, and how we’re all growing together within the Drupal community. 

Let’s get to sharing!

DrupalCon 2019 logo

BADCamp 2018 Retrospective: A GatsbyJS Primer

Now that I’ve settled back down in Alaska after a fun trip to Berkeley for BADCamp, I’m finally digesting all of the info I gathered throughout the week. As always, it was cool to look over the schedule and see what topics were getting a lot of attention; and, without a doubt, it seemed like GatsbyJS was the hot-ticket item this year. So here’s a primer on what GatsbyJS is and why the Drupal community seems so head-over-heels for this up and coming site generator.

Drupal BADCamp and Gatsby logos

September Accessibility (A11Y) Talks - Love thy Keyboard

Keyboard accessibility is vital, as many assistive devices emulate the keyboard. Using semantic HTML one can achieve an accessible User Interface (UI) with less code than non-semantic markup.

By managing and guiding focus with semantic HTML, developing an accessible UI is rather easy. Semantic HTML plays an important role in not only accessibility but SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well. Although we are aware of it, it's often overlooked.

In September’s accessibility talk, Sarbbottam Bandyopadhyay shared the trade-offs of using semantic vs non-semantic markup with an everyday example. He also shared how to manage and guide focus. It was a brief presentation emphasizing the various aspects of keyboard accessibility. He concluded with a brief introduction to WAI-ARIA.

Sarbbottam is a frontend engineer, with more than 14 years experience. He currently works at LinkedIn. He is part of LinkedIn's core accessibility team, focusing primarily on web accessibility. He’s been involved with web accessibility since his Yahoo days.

Hook42 Team
Drupal Accessbility and Drupal 8 logos

December Accessibility (A11Y) Talks

As an early holiday present, for December's meet-up we had a very special accessibility guest, Heydon Pickering who chatted about "Prioritizing Accessibility.” For those of you who are veterans of the world of website accessibility, you probably already know a lot about what Heydon has contributed to our field. But for those of you new to this field, let me take a quick minute to give you some more background on our speaker.

Hook42 Team
Drupal Accessbility and Drupal 8 logos

September A11Y (Accessibility) Talk Review

We have all heard about website accessibility and know what it means in a broad sense, but what does website accessibility look like in a practical sense?

This month’s A11Y Talk featured Scott O'Hara from The Paciello Group. In this A11Y Talk, Scott O'Hara addressed questions like:
- How do I get started in a11y?
- How do I get my team to care about it?
- Where does one start in trying to incorporate a11y into the work they or their team produce?
- Who is in charge of a11y at your company anyway?

Hook42 Team
Drupal 8 Accessibility Logo