Backdrop and the Open Source CMS Ecosystem

Backdrop Release Schedule and Contributing

• We started by talking about the Backdrop release schedule, with frequent minor releases every 4 months. Read more about this - https://backdropcms.org/releases
• Backdrop has a new process to approve new features, which brought new people into core dev that aren't developers, more community development, via advocates, developers are then focused on development

working on automatic updates - see the issue tracker for more info - https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues

How to get involved

• not everything is code related, for example, filter issue list by 'usability'
• goal is to focus is on improving upgrade path before D7 end of life (Nov 2021)
• new ppl creating issues, there's an issue template to help (on github - https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues), allows them to better respond to issues

Outreach

• how to get the word out that Backdrop is an option (a challenge is that it doesn't have the 'Drupal' name)
• folks could create more youtube videos
• provide resources for hosting companies to promote Backdrop
• Backdrop newsletter - sign up https://backdropcms.org/newsletter
• attending Drupal events, are working toward going to move civicrm

Why Backdrop versus Drupal 8

• drupal 8 isn't the best solution for all sites
• where you should go in the future may be based on what you did in Drupal 7
• are you feeling limited with D7, i.e. you need a json api for every node, then maybe D8 is the way to go
• if your D7 site is too slow - then Backdrop can fix that
• D7 UI is too confusing, we fix that too
• is your website a piece of a much larger system (maybe headless), then D8, enterprise
• i have a lot of business needs, need one system - ecommerce, email, crm - Backdrop
• one main site with 100 smaller related sites, multi-site, domain module, etc. most affordable to go to the same solution (if it's working for you) - then D8 might be a good choice for you
• what team will be managing the project - with an in-house team of 4 engineers, then maybe D8, but if you don't have that, then cost will be too high, skills are few and far between, and you'll need to work with agencies that are too expensive, Backdrop is better solution
• D8 has seen stability issues with updates (update crashes the site) - it's all alpha and never done, and those issues will keep coming up

More outreach discussion - how to reach D7 users? go outside of Drupal ecosystem, NTEN, PHP, CiviCRM - they're already had two Backdrop mini camps - SF and Minneapolis - we talked about having a March NYC mini camp - Jan 15th is Backdrop birthday party, may host an event at the Brooklyn Public Library - Libraries association conferences - there's a participant that can get in touch with them - working on training the community to be advocates