Drupal project lead Dries Buytaert just unveiled the Drupal Starshot Initiative and I couldn't be more excited! Starshot is all about putting users first. Enhancing Drupal core with additional components tailored to everyday users of the interface. Technically, it builds on Drupal core's robust foundation, utilizing Automatic Updates/Package Manager for seamless installation and maintenance, Recipes for the base system and on-demand additions, and Project Browser to help with recipe and extension discovery.
As I was talking to people about Starshot at DrupalCon Portland I realized it is easy to overlook how fundamental the changes proposed are in terms of how Drupal will innovate and the benefits end users will enjoy. At the same time those that did not have time to watch the whole keynote had understandable misconceptions about its nature. Some were concerned the fundamental changes are happening in the architecture, or a fork / parallel project is being set up. That is not where/how Starshot revolutionizes Drupal though. To address those misconceptions, I already worked on answers to frequently asked questions and published on the Starshot page.
This blog post will focus on the benefits that I see. I had the chance to participate in two hours of Starshot BoFs and then an hour long Q&A session at DrupalCon Portland. I also covered more technical details of Starshot's architecture in my Drupal 11 talk (including the most popular question on what the Launch button might lead to). Finally I had countless conversations with people at the event. Maybe confirmation bias, but there were only a couple people I talked to that were entirely skeptical. On the other hand I got very different viewpoints on what will the benefits be depending on who I talked to.
I think all of those are great, so I compiled them. Let's see 15 different reasons why I am super excited about Starshot and how it is very different from previous initiatives.
1. A CMS starting point
Drupal core provides a solid foundation for building a CMS, but it lacks many features found in other systems. While seasoned developers know how to leverage the right extensions for those tasks effectively, newcomers often struggle to configure a CMS that meets end users' needs. Without guidance, they might end up with subpar extensions and poorly configured modules. Starshot aims to help people get started with a new level of understanding of what a good Drupal CMS setup is. This could include preconfigured extensions for SEO and social sharing metadata, various media handling features, better date handling, etc.
2. Allows faster innovation cycles
The goal is not only to release results from the Starshot initiative soon but to follow on with new releases often. This is enabled by the reliance on contributed extensions that can change often. And the fact that Starshot will not be tied to core's release cycle and could release every month for example.
3. Great demos for everyone
The current prototype contains demo content to make it easier to understand what it does. While we are not settled on how demo content will be included in the final version, the success of the core Umami demo serves as a good sign that demo content helps to understand how certain things come together in the system. Agencies will not need to build their own demos, or can build on top of the Starshot demo, like many currently build on top of Umami. Technically speaking demo content may be added as dedicated demo recipes and/or through the newly stable Workspaces module.
4. Easier to be involved with
Many contributors and organizations find Drupal core intimidating to contribute to. The need for stability results in high rigor and very high quality on the expense of speed. This is not the same in the contributed project space. The most used extension projects are still very good, but at the same time much easier to contribute to. Starshot's reliance on these contributed projects means that a lot more people and organizations can contribute to the default download on Drupal.org.
5. A clearer separation of target personas
The big question of who Drupal's target audience is has been around us forever. A clear separation of framework (Drupal core) and CMS (built on top of core at the Starshot initiative) will allow us to consider two personas separately. In the initial version the persona selector will be on drupal.org, but later versions may have it in Drupal core directly (once all infrastructure is in Drupal core to browse and install recipes).
6. A lifelike product will help improve everyday experience for all
Actual users of Drupal see the system from the perspective of setups with core plus 30-50 or even 100 extensions. Until Starshot, there was no explicit consideration to whether the user experience still scales well for these cases. Content editing with lots of extensions, menus with too many items, etc. will be problems to solve for Starshot to be successful. This benefits everyone, regardless of whether they use Starshot or not.
7. Focus on Starshot modules, including funding
Starshot will lead to a shared understanding of which are the most key modules for Drupal. The revamped Drupal Association Partner Program requires partners to become contributors either in person or through financial contribution. Those efforts and funding will ideally be spent on Starshot's components. Also the credit weighting system will likely weigh contributions to Starshot modules higher, since those contribute to the experience of the default Drupal download. Again, this benefits everyone, regardless of whether they use Starshot or not.
8. Consolidation of CMS best practices from organizations
Any successful Drupal user organization has their own "Drupal CMS" build. By consolidating these under Starshot, organizations will have the opportunity to work on real differentiators and value-adds, rather than rebuilding the same content management layer that other companies also do. Organizations like Dropsolid and 1xINTERNET already started pledging their know-how in their in-house systems to Starshot to help consolidate.
9. Consolidation of the contributed ecosystem
By offering recipes based on common extensions to implement various features, it is expected that one-off modules that often go unmaintained and unsupported will fade out. Often these one-off modules are a result of lack of understanding of flexibility that would allow the same feature with a bit of configuration of a more generic module. All-in-all Starshot may result in lower number of, but higher quality, more general contributed projects due to this effect, which also helps everyone picking for extensions they need.
10. Starshot puts the user in focus
While Drupal core has been amazing with its rock solid stability, it did so at the expense of user needs.For example the Claro theme took years to get into core, while real life sites could add early versions to their system without issue. Starshot accepts this reality and will apply different tradeoffs than Drupal core.
11. This is where prior initiatives form a whole
For Starshot to be successful, we need Recipes as a solid system. On top of that we need Project Browser to be able to browse starter recipes and addon recipes. Finally, we need at least Package Manager from Automatic Updates to be able to download and install components from Project Browser's UI. In other words, Starshot is a natural next step in the continuation of possibilities unlocked by our previous initiatives. The existence of Starshot will also help finish them sooner than later. Recipes are already in 10.3 and 11.0.
12. Starshot will spread a wide use of recipes
Recipes are automated site building steps. Unlike distributions or install profiles, they can depend on other recipes and can even be combined. They also don't stay around in the site runtime. In other words they are not only interesting for new sitebuilds but can also enhance existing sites. This unlocks a lot of potential. Starshot's existence will help the recipes ecosystem build up much faster.
13. Use and refinement of existing extensions means existing sites benefit
Other than Experience Builder, which needs to have solutions for users moving from Layout Builder and Paragraphs at least, the other planned components of Starshot are likely existing modules that need refinement or (rarely) entirely new extensions that need to be written. This means that those that want to take advantage of improvements from Starshot on their existing sites will receive them in those extensions.
14. Starshot reignited the discussion about WebAssembly and making hosting Drupal easier
The Driesnote depicted a "Launch" button for Starshot which raised a lot of questions and made people think deep as to how to make that happen. Discussions around making simple hosting available for simpler sites was reignited and a WebAssembly-based browser-executed demo solution's feasibility is also explored again.
15. We already have a working prototype
In preparation for the Driesnote, we were interested in how far we can get in a couple weeks, so created a quick prototype of how Starshot could look like based on Recipes. As of this writing this does not yet include the Project Browser UI and Automatic Updates. However, it heavily uses component recipes to form a bigger whole. We'll use what we learned based on this prototype when working on Starshot itself.
+1. We'll involve a lot of new people, even in leadership roles!
By now you can tell that I am all in on Starshot. I think this is the most exciting thing that is happening to Drupal in years! But there is lots to do here! We even need to expand our leadership with more product and UX experts, if we want to succeed, assuming funding commitments. Don't be intimidated though, we need all hands to make this happen, and you definitely have something to contribute. Pledge your support on the Starshot landing page on drupal.org!