Preston So

Throughout Drupal's history, contributors have rallied around Drupal.org as the single source of truth for both the code running Drupal and the infrastructure powering Drupal's issue queues, source control, and automated testing. As the Drupal Association continues on its journey to integrate GitLab features with Drupal.org, we're beginning to see the first glimpses of how Drupal contribution and issue management will evolve thanks to cutting-edge functionality like merge requests and issue forks in GitLab.

Preston So

Slow or intermittent connections are an all-too-common case that many users face when attempting to work with applications. Offline-enabled applications are a particularly challenging use case because they require synchronization and a local understanding of data.

Preston So

How many times have you embarked on a journey only to be presented with the obstacles of intermittent connectivity? Offline-enabled functionality has long been a hot topic in the web development industry, but only recently have compelling solutions truly emerged that resolve many of the issues associated with building offline applications that provide for a variety of use cases.

Preston So

In recent years, one of the most exciting emerging areas of web development has come in the form of offline-enabled and offline-first functionality. Thanks to frameworks like Yjs, an open-source framework for real-time collaboration, offline-first applications are now a reality.

Preston So

In recent years, it seems as if open source has taken the software world by storm. Nonetheless, many enterprise organizations remain hesitant to adopt open-source technologies, whether due to vendor lock-in or a preference for proprietary solutions. But open source can in fact yield substantial fruit when it comes to advancing your business in today’s highly competitive landscape. By leveraging and contributing back to open source, you can distinguish your business with open source as...

Preston So

Open source as a concept has been on the radar of the software community for many years now, but in many ways it is only just starting to gain steam among the enterprise organizations and business leaders that are seeking new ways to ensure the longevity of the solutions and architectures they build. At its core, open source is about more than just software; it’s about the community that surrounds it. Leveraging and contributing back...

Preston So

What does the future of peer-to-peer real-time collaboration look like? Thanks to the spread of emerging web technologies like WebRTC, a protocol for communication between browsers on discrete systems, Yjs, an open-source real-time collaboration framework, and y-webrtc, the Yjs connector for WebRTC, a new range of use cases is entering the picture. While there are limitations, such as certain ceilings on the number of simultaneous collaborators, developments like y-webrtc are sure to reshape the landscape...

Preston So

Real-time collaboration is now more reality than ambition, but several obstacles remain, particularly in the form of peer-to-peer collaboration when many collaborators are involved. While Yjs, an open-source framework for real-time collaboration, and WebRTC, a new protocol for peer-to-peer communication now seeing wide browser support, permit editorial collaboration between peers in a graceful way, things get more complicated when many users enter the picture. Nonetheless, thanks to y-webrtc, the Yjs integration with WebRTC, we can...

Preston So

Content collaboration across multiple editors has long been table stakes in content management systems like Drupal and WordPress, but what about real-time, peer-to-peer, bonafide collaboration within the CMS context? There is a reason many of us CMS practitioners choose to use Google Docs for collaboration among editors. However, thanks to the open-source real-time collaboration framework Yjs, collaborative editing in the CMS context is now not only a possibility but also fast becoming a reality in...

Preston So

While collaboration between users has been a fixture of content management systems and web applications in general for many years, the prospect of true real-time, peer-to-peer collaboration remains relatively elusive despite the proliferation of new technologies over the past several years. Luckily, this may soon change thanks to the evolution of real-time collaboration frameworks like Yjs and the availability and level of browser support enjoyed by the new WebRTC protocol. With both Yjs and WebRTC...