March 2020 Summaries

MagMutual, a prominent healthcare liability insurer, partnered with Mediacurrent to revamp their website using a combination of Drupal 8 and Gatsby, aiming to enhance speed, security, and flexibility. Recognizing that their existing Drupal 7 platform was insufficient for future needs, MagMutual sought a robust content management system to handle complex user authentication and provide a single source of truth for data. The new site architecture, featuring a decoupled Drupal 8 backend and a Gatsby presentation layer, significantly improved homepage load times and page weight while ensuring secure data management through Apollo GraphQL. This setup allows MagMutual's marketing team greater control over content, supports scalable integrations, and leverages the open-source community's continuous advancements. The project places emphasis on accessibility and developer efficiency, with Netlify serving as the preferred hosting solution for its integration capabilities. The enhanced website framework enables MagMutual to confidently navigate the challenges of the evolving insurance and healthcare sectors.

Hashim Warren introduces Challenge 13 of the #100DaysOfGatsby, which focuses on adding user comments to a Gatsby blog. This challenge is part of a broader initiative encouraging both beginners and experienced users to enhance their skills in using Gatsby, a popular static site generator. The challenge provides three methods for incorporating comments: using JavaScript-based services like Disqus and Facebook Comments, utilizing server-side rendered comment services for Markdown-based pages, and developing a custom commenting system for greater control. Each method has its own pros and cons regarding performance, privacy, and complexity. Warren also suggests engaging with the Gatsby community on platforms like Discord and Reddit for assistance.

The Service Relief Project, initiated by Bob Orchard in response to the economic challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, aims to support local communities by providing an accessible platform for launching directories of fundraisers to aid businesses affected by mandated shutdowns. Utilizing Gatsby to create static websites and Airtable for data management, the project offers a streamlined, zero-cost solution for anyone to establish their own fundraiser site with minimal technical expertise, emphasizing ease of use and rapid deployment through Netlify. Inspired by the Chicago Service Relief and supported by Spencer Tweedy, the initiative has quickly expanded, with contributions from the Gatsby team and the open-source community leading to the creation of sites across various U.S. cities. The project encourages widespread participation, offering detailed setup instructions and fostering community involvement through GitHub contributions and social media promotion.

Josh Comeau explores the integration of Netlify Functions with Gatsby Cloud, highlighting the benefits of using serverless functions for small-scale backend tasks without the need for a full server setup. In his personal blog project, hosted on Netlify and built with Gatsby Cloud, Comeau demonstrates how serverless functions can efficiently handle tasks like tracking article likes and hits. He explains that while Gatsby Cloud is primarily a CI service for building and distributing Gatsby apps, it requires some additional steps to ensure Netlify can package and ship the functions. By utilizing Gatsby's build hooks and Netlify's "zip-it-and-ship-it" module, developers can effectively prepare and deploy serverless functions within a Gatsby Cloud environment. This integration allows for seamless function execution and deployment, with the added benefit of Netlify's user-friendly interface and favorable pricing model.

LaunchDarkly has developed a new plugin for Gatsby that integrates feature flag capabilities, allowing developers to manage and control the release of website features dynamically. This plugin, powered by the LaunchDarkly React SDK, enables real-time feature flag updates without requiring users to refresh the page, thus facilitating gradual feature rollouts, targeted user experiments, and A/B testing. The motivation behind its creation stemmed from LaunchDarkly's successful internal use of feature flags to hide and reveal navigation items on their newly built Gatsby-based documentation site. The flexible plugin, which is open-source, aims to make it easier for developers to implement feature flags across various use cases, such as rolling out new site sections or coordinating brand redesigns, and invites community contributions and feedback.

Gatsby Web Creators is a free livestream series launched by the Gatsby Learning Team, intended for individuals aged 13 and up who are interested in learning web development. Taking place every Friday through April 24th, 2020, this series covers foundational web skills such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with sessions featuring live demonstrations on Glitch, a platform for creating and sharing web apps. The sessions, streamed on Twitch, require no prior experience beyond curiosity and an internet-connected computer, and are available for later viewing on YouTube. Participants can interact via Twitch chat and remix Glitch projects, while minors can join with parental permission, using only first names for privacy. The series encourages engagement from both beginners and more reserved learners, offering a chance to explore web development in a supportive, online community.

Effective with Gatsby v2.20.0, the platform will no longer support Node 8, requiring users to upgrade to at least Node 10.13.0. This decision aligns with the Gatsby Node Support Policy and comes after Node 8 reached its end of life in December 2019. The change, announced by Mikhail Novikov, aims to allow Gatsby to utilize newer versions of libraries and apply the latest bug fixes, which were not possible with Node 8. Despite being a potentially breaking change, it was deemed necessary due to less than 3% of Gatsby users still utilizing Node 8, and to incorporate performance and memory improvements available in newer Node versions. Users who have already upgraded to Node 10.13.0 or higher will not be impacted, while others are advised to consult the Upgrading your Node guide for assistance.

Gatsby, a popular web development framework, was highlighted in 2020 as a key technology to learn, and the #100DaysOfGatsby challenge was introduced to help developers explore its capabilities. Challenge 12 focuses on transforming a Gatsby website into a dynamic web app by incorporating gated content, allowing only authenticated users to access private sections. This can be achieved through plugins like gatsby-plugin-create-client-paths or by building custom components, with resources provided to guide users through these processes. Developers are encouraged to experiment with authentication services, such as Auth0, and utilize community support channels if assistance is needed. Additionally, Gatsby offers examples and tutorials on how to implement these features, emphasizing its versatility for both websites and dynamic applications.

Gatsby, recognized as a top technology to learn in 2020, is highlighted for its ability to create websites by sourcing content from various platforms, thanks to its flexible data layer and GraphQL API. As part of the #100DaysOfGatsby challenge, participants are encouraged to make their sites more content editor-friendly by integrating a headless CMS, which enhances the potential of Gatsby projects beyond static Markdown files. The challenge emphasizes leveraging Gatsby's capabilities to easily integrate multiple content sources, such as Airtable, Shopify, Contentful, and PostgreSQL, allowing developers to choose the best tools for their needs without being confined to a monolithic CMS. Resources and community support are offered to assist participants in exploring and experimenting with different CMS integrations, ensuring an enriching learning experience for both beginners and experienced users.

In a recent JSParty podcast, Dustin Schau, co-founder and VP of Engineering at Gatsby, delves into a comprehensive discussion about Gatsby, an open-source website framework, and the benefits of using Gatsby Cloud. The conversation covers foundational questions like "What is Gatsby?" and explores topics such as the importance of rehydration, the framework's future developments, and its strategic advantages. Schau highlights Gatsby's aim to be the fastest website framework and Cloud platform, providing insights into its unique features and future aspirations. The podcast serves as a detailed resource for understanding Gatsby's current functionality and its potential trajectory in the web development landscape.

Open source software is essential in today’s tech landscape, but it often fails to be as inclusive as it claims, with many projects being unwelcoming or even hostile to new contributors, particularly those from underrepresented groups such as BIPOC and women. Aisha Blake emphasizes the need for open source communities to be more inclusive by examining and updating their processes and documentation to remove barriers to entry. By fostering a safe and welcoming environment, projects can attract diverse contributors, thereby enhancing their sustainability and innovation. The article highlights Gatsby as a positive example, with its commitment to inclusivity through a clear code of conduct and supportive community practices. The text also encourages supporting and learning from individuals and groups advocating for diversity and inclusion, such as Kim Crayton, EJ Mason, Coraline Ada Ehmke, Amy Wibowo, Léonie Watson, and Hui Jing Chen, while urging maintainers to use their privilege to amplify marginalized voices and build resilient communities.

In "Challenge 10 – Keep Your Gatsby Site Blazing Fast," Hashim Warren discusses strategies to enhance the performance of Gatsby sites, emphasizing the importance of speed for SEO and accessibility. The #100DaysOfGatsby challenge encourages both newcomers and experienced users to deepen their understanding of Gatsby by building projects and following prompts. The article highlights key resources for improving site performance, such as using Lighthouse for performance audits, employing Guess.js for intelligent preloading based on user navigation patterns, and utilizing CDNs like Cloudinary for media assets to reduce build times. Additionally, it suggests experimenting with smaller JavaScript runtimes like Preact for further optimization. Warren also provides avenues for support through the Gatsby community and encourages sharing experiences via social media platforms.

William Imoh introduces two Gatsby plugins, gatsby-source-cloudinary and gatsby-transformer-cloudinary, which leverage the capabilities of Cloudinary, a cloud-based media management platform, to enhance website performance by optimizing media assets. These plugins integrate Cloudinary's advanced media storage, dynamic transformation, and digital asset management features with Gatsby's high-performance site building and GraphQL data querying capabilities, offering a superior developer experience for ReactJS applications. By using these plugins, media assets can be directly sourced from Cloudinary or uploaded from local storage, with the resulting optimized images compatible with the gatsby-image component. The plugins aim to streamline the management of media assets in JAMstack applications, focusing on storage, optimization, and delivery, with ongoing enhancements to meet the growing demand for fast and efficient apps.