April 2022 Summaries

Eric Dodds describes the challenges and subsequent overhaul of a slow and fragmented web infrastructure at RudderStack, transitioning from using a bloated WordPress setup and problematic third-party platforms to a high-performance stack using Gatsby, Sanity, and RudderStack's own product. The previous setup faced issues with speed, data inconsistencies, and cumbersome analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. By adopting a JAMstack approach with Gatsby and integrating Sanity for content management, the team achieved significant improvements in speed and efficiency, enabling faster content publication and better data handling. The switch to RudderStack Cloud Mode for server-side data processing eliminated the need for multiple third-party scripts, thus enhancing site performance and analytics reliability. This transformation allowed RudderStack to focus more on strategic SEO efforts, leveraging community resources like the Gatsby Next SEO plugin, while also freeing the development team from the burdens of maintaining a complex and inefficient infrastructure.

Gatsby provides numerous resources for integrating with Drupal, making it easier for developers to get started with this combination. Key resources include the Gatsby Guide to using Drupal, which offers an overview and detailed instructions on sourcing data from Drupal, and a webinar titled "The Path from Drupal to Drupal + Gatsby." For quick setups, the Gatsby Drupal Homepage Starter is available, and higher-level content can be found on the Drupal Solutions and Drupal Use Case pages. Developers can explore plugins like Gatsby Source Drupal and the Gatsby Drupal Module for enhanced functionality. Case studies such as MagMutual.com and Digital Display demonstrate the practical applications of Gatsby with Drupal, while resources for agencies offer guidance on recognizing when Gatsby is suitable for clients. Additionally, external tutorials and information from the broader web development community enrich the available knowledge base for those interested in leveraging Gatsby with Drupal.

Shane Thomas shares insights on deploying Gatsby sites powered by Drupal, emphasizing the use of the JSON: API module over GraphQL for its superior development benefits and improvements. He highlights the importance of using the JSON: API Extras module to streamline build times by disabling unnecessary entity types, which enhances performance in Gatsby projects. Thomas also advises leveraging the Gatsby Drupal module for content editors, enabling faster publishing through incremental and cloud builds. To optimize data sourcing, he recommends keeping the JSON: API public to utilize Drupal's caching, thereby accelerating development. He suggests employing the Fastbuilds option for efficient local and preview builds, and integrating specific gatsby-source-drupal plugin options to selectively download required media files. Additionally, he mentions the forthcoming release of Image CDN for Drupal on Gatsby Cloud, which promises to significantly reduce build times by eliminating the need to download images during development.

Gatsby has introduced a new set of homepage starters designed to simplify the process of creating websites using Gatsby in combination with various CMS platforms. These starters, unveiled at GatsbyConf 2022, aim to bridge the gap between developers and content editors by providing flexible, real-world use cases beyond traditional blog and portfolio templates. The starters support five CMSs—Contentful, WordPress, Drupal, DatoCMS, and Sanity—and offer both JavaScript and TypeScript options, all stemming from a single development repository. This setup allows for consistent data handling and feature parity through the use of plugins and themes, leveraging Gatsby's Schema Customization API to create a unified data interface. The modular architecture of React components, styled with vanilla-extract, facilitates easy customization and scalability, empowering developers and designers to make site-wide changes efficiently. The initiative also promotes community involvement to expand CMS compatibility, with resources available for users to contribute by developing new homepage starters.

Paul Scanlon provides a detailed guide on migrating from Netlify Functions to Gatsby Functions, emphasizing the advantages of using Gatsby Cloud's built-in serverless functions available since version 3.7. The process involves upgrading to at least Gatsby v3.7, removing Netlify-specific plugins and configurations from gatsby-config.js and netlify.toml, relocating function files to the src/api directory, and refactoring them to use Gatsby's "express-like" syntax. Additionally, client-side requests should be updated to reflect the new path structure starting with /api/, and any Netlify-specific scripts should be removed from package.json. Scanlon also offers resources such as a demo repository and an invitation to connect for further information on Twitter.