Drupalize.Me is planning to re-record the video tutorials that accompany the task tutorials in the Drupal User Guide. These videos were originally created for Drupal 8, and it’s time for an update.
As part of this effort, we’re trying to decide whether to record the videos using Drupal 11 or Drupal CMS, and I'm interested to hear the communities thoughts on this before we get started.
Background
The original video series uses the now-(very)outdated Drupal 8 interface. In updating them, we want to align with the most relevant and accessible experience for new users. And for the target audience of the guide, current defined as:
This guide was written mainly for people with minimal knowledge of the Drupal content management system. The topics will help them become skilled at installing, administering, site building, and/or maintaining the content of a Drupal-based website.
. More:
https://www.drupal.org/docs/user_guide/en/preface-audience.html →
Also of note, the Drupal User Guide currently sticks to documenting only features of Drupal core. Drupal CMS includes numerous non-core modules. Which, for now we could sort of ignore since all the core features are still there.
While Drupal 11 and Drupal CMS are functionally similar, there is one key difference that affects video tutorials: they use different admin themes by default. Drupal 11 (core) currently defaults to the Claro admin theme. Drupal CMS uses the Gin admin theme and includes several modules and configuration choices intended to improve the experience for new site builders.
This distinction is important in video recordings since the admin UI will look different between the two options.
Proposal
We are leaning toward recording the new videos using Drupal CMS for the following reasons:
- We believe Drupal CMS will increasingly be the entry point for people new to Drupal.
- The User Guide is intended for beginners—people who are most likely to download Drupal CMS to get started.
- Drupal CMS offers a better out-of-the-box experience for new users (e.g., Gin theme, pre-installed contrib modules).
- Aligning with Drupal CMS reduces the gap between what users see in the videos and what they experience when following along.
- While there's a distinct Drupal CMS Guide right now having the content of this guide look like Drupal CMS will make it less confusing to link between these two guides and reduce the need for duplication.
- And, regarding the last point, we believe that users who watch a video that shows the Drupal CMS UI will be able to translate that to what they're seeing in Drupal core only sites.
If we record videos in Drupal CMS we would also update all the screenshots in the current guide. Which, I don't think will impact any of the translations in terms of the need to update text, but we would need to update all the images in the translations too.
My biggest concern right now would be that the Drupal CMS UI is likely to change a lot more rapidly than Drupal core, which would mean the videos will become out-of-date and need updating again sooner. Though I do also think there will continue to be some ability to expect people to be able to translate between what they're seeing in an older video and the most up-to-date UI.
Feedback
If you've got any input before we commit to this approach I'm would love to hear it:
- Do you agree that Drupal CMS is the right choice for this audience and these videos?
- Would using Drupal CMS in the videos create confusion for anyone using Drupal core directly?
- Should the User Guide or video intros include clarification about the differences between Drupal CMS and Drupal core?
- Any other concerns, suggestions?
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!