Drupal Experience Builder

Take a deep dive into the Drupal Experience Builder and its capabilities for crafting sophisticated user interfaces and content layouts. Understand how this tool empowers content editors and designers to create engaging digital experiences with greater flexibility and control directly within the Drupal CMS environment.

26 May 2025

Blog Posting

Why Content Editors Love Drupal: A Week with Drupal CMS

Did you know that 68.7% of websites rely on content management systems, yet many editors wrestle with inconsistent designs and plugin overload? At BlueMelon, we’ve seen teams revolutionize their workflows with Drupal CMS.

At the heart of DrupalCon Atlanta 2025, a compelling story unfolded as Simon and Alisa from Evolving Web took center stage. Tasked with the migration of BC Housing’s nearly completed WordPress site to Drupal, their journey was sparked by a mission for organizational unity. Faced with the quirks and inconsistencies of the Gutenberg editor, they embarked on a rapid transformation. Within a week, they discovered how Drupal’s structured, AI-supported editing reframed the content creation landscape—efficiency soared, and consistency became second nature. This is why editors gravitate toward Drupal CMS, a platform built with the content storyteller in mind.

A New Chapter in Structured Content

In every great narrative, structure sets the stage. For digital content, that structure makes all the difference. Where WordPress’s openness can encourage design drift, Drupal’s approach to content weaves a seamless brand tapestry, ensuring every update fits the overarching strategy. Simon and Alisa revealed how BC Housing encountered friction with Gutenberg’s design limitations, prompting the shift. Drupal welcomed them with prebuilt components—each one flexible, but anchored in brand purpose. The migration didn’t just rebuild a website; it wrote a new future where scalability and adaptability empower even the most complex organizations to thrive.

Setting Forth: First Steps in Drupal CMS

Beginnings come with uncertainty—especially under tight deadlines. When BC Housing faced the prospect of rebuilding an entire site, anxiety was part of the story. Yet Drupal’s intuitive, block-like editing experience shifted doubt into relief. Familiar options greeted content editors: a simple path through Content > Add Content, the selection of a type (“Basic Page”), and easy, structured fields for essentials like titles and hero images.

Interface: Navigate content creation with clarity, choosing types and components designed for storytelling.
Learning Curve: For those with WordPress roots, Drupal’s system blends comfort and control—no need for a rewrite of your skills.

This structuring accelerates onboarding and lets every editor step confidently into their role as brand storyteller.

Crafting Pages: The Art of Component-Based Content

Imagine building not with scattered fragments, but with the storytelling clarity of Lego bricks. Through layout paragraphs and a custom “style options” module, Drupal let BC Housing’s editors compose content with both freedom and discipline. Design became an ally, not a hurdle, as Simon and Alisa’s team found new independence.

Layout Paragraphs vs. Layout Builder: Layout paragraphs, rooted in community innovation, give editors intuitive control, while layout builder appeals to those with technical ambitions. For BC Housing, this meant creative power without the need for constant developer intervention.
Efficiency: Drag, drop, publish—dramatic workflows distilled to mere minutes. Editors could rearrange, preview, and launch pages with confidence.

Storytelling Tools: Drupal’s Component Examples

Hero Banner: Enter headline and image, and reveal a striking hero that anchors every page’s purpose.
Two-Column Section: Mix imagery and narrative in a layout that adapts effortlessly for every device.
Accordion: Address questions with clarity, transforming content into accessible, expandable stories.
CTA Banner: Guide the journey with branded calls to action, crafted to resonate and inspire engagement.

This modular approach, powered by Drupal’s digital transformation strength, writes results that are both polished and primed for growth.

Advanced Features: Elevating the Editor’s Journey

Midway through the migration, the plot took a turn for the innovative—Drupal’s advanced features expanded the editorial toolkit:

AI Assistance: Let machines handle repetitive tasks such as alt-text and taxonomy, freeing human energy for deeper storytelling and boosting accessibility for all.
Live Preview: See the story as it comes to life, immediately, right within the front-end theme.
Revision History: Every chapter is preserved. Roll back or revisit any moment, minimizing risk and maximizing confidence.
Inline Editing: Correct typos or polish prose on the live stage, assured by robust role-based permissions.

These elements, essential to Drupal’s no-code platform, mirror the aspirations outlined by Lullabot—an editorial experience built for storytellers by storytellers.

One Week In: Measurable Triumphs

With just a week on Drupal, the transformation was nothing short of remarkable:

Brand Consistency: No more straying from the path—every page stays true, thanks to predefined components.
No Plugin Overload: Essential functionality is built in, simplifying analytics, SEO, and compliance. Maintenance takes a back seat to momentum.
Speed: From vision to reality in minutes—place hero images, arrange content, and publish with grace.
Confidence: Empowerment flows from structure—editors are free to focus on narrative, not technical woes.

BC Housing’s verdict: Drupal brought clarity to the chaos, making site updates simple and sustainable—a win for storytellers and strategists alike.

Migration Wisdom: Lessons from the Field

Content Strategy is Critical: The most resonant stories are those crafted with intent—structured strategy lights the way, just as it did for BC Housing.
Flexibility with Control: Layout paragraphs and tailored modules give the freedom to innovate within trusted boundaries, countering the unpredictability of Gutenberg.
Empowerment: When editors hold the keys, the brand voice rings through. With Drupal, they steer the narrative, and dependency on developers fades.

It’s no wonder that the champions of government and education are turning to Drupal for its blend of governance and freedom.

Quick Start: The First Page, Simplified

Navigate to Content > Add Content > Basic Page.
Add a hero image and captivating headline.
Select Add Section—then mix in Two-Column, CTA, or other modules to shape your tale.
Preview, save, or schedule as the story demands.
Release a page that’s as brand-centered as it is beautiful.

Pro Tips: Secrets from the Scriptorium

Use Ctrl + Space in rich-text fields to link with finesse.
Duplicate sections to build recurring motifs in your design symphony.
Always preview with a mobile lens—stories must travel far and wide.
When specialization calls, request custom components tailored to your audience.
Choose layout paragraphs for an editorial journey as intuitive as it is powerful.

Elevate Content: Unlocking the Drupal Narrative

Where WordPress sometimes favors boundless variety at the cost of cohesion, Drupal CMS is the editor’s ally—delivering structure, velocity, and AI-powered enhancements that elevate brand storytelling. The BC Housing migration, brought to life at DrupalCon Atlanta 2025, reveals the impact: workflows are streamlined, creativity is unshackled, and every page advances both message and mission. With tools like layout paragraphs and customized modules, Drupal empowers content architects to build, adapt, and inspire—resulting in websites that stand the test of time and change.

07 May 2025

Blog Posting

The Future is Visual: A Deep Dive into Drupal's Experience Builder

The Drupal community is buzzing, and a significant part of that energy is focused on the evolution of content creation and site building. For years, Drupal has been a powerhouse of structured content, but the demand for more intuitive, visual editing experiences has never been louder. Enter the Drupal Experience Builder initiative, a game-changing approach poised to redefine how we create and manage digital experiences.

This post synthesizes a deep dive into the Experience Builder's capabilities with insights gleaned from the vibrant discussions and presentations at recent DrupalCon Atlanta 2025. We're not just looking at features; we're exploring the community's reception, questions, and the collective vision for Drupal's future.

What Exactly IS the Drupal Experience Builder? More Than Just Drag-and-Drop

At its core, the Experience Builder aims to provide a modern, JavaScript-driven, visual editing experience directly within Drupal. Think of it as the next logical step, building upon the foundations laid by tools like Layout Builder but with a renewed focus on:

True WYSIWYG: Offering a more accurate real-time preview of what content editors are building.
Component-Based Architecture: Leveraging reusable components (blocks, views, custom elements) that can be easily managed and styled.
Enhanced Usability: Streamlining the content creation workflow, making it faster and more intuitive for a wider range of users, from seasoned developers to marketers.
Decoupled but Integrated: Designed to work seamlessly with Drupal's backend while offering a modern frontend editing experience.

The vision is clear: empower users to build sophisticated layouts and manage content with greater ease and precision, without needing to dive deep into code for every adjustment.

Key Features & Technical Highlights

Our exploration into the Experience Builder reveals several key technical strengths and user-facing benefits:

Modern JavaScript Framework: Often leveraging React or a similar library for a dynamic and responsive user interface.
Direct Manipulation: Users can directly interact with elements on the page, dragging, dropping, resizing, and configuring them in a visual context.
Reusable Components: The system is built around the idea of a library of predefined components. This ensures brand consistency and efficient site construction. Developers can create new components, and content editors can easily discover and use them.
Integration with Drupal Core Systems: It's not a standalone product but aims for deep integration with Drupal's entities, fields, blocks, and permissions.
API-First Potential: While providing a rich UI, the underlying architecture is often API-driven, opening possibilities for headless implementations or custom administrative interfaces.
Extensibility: True to Drupal's nature, the Experience Builder is being designed with extensibility in mind, allowing developers to add custom functionalities, component libraries, and integrations.
Comparison to Existing Tools:
- Layout Builder: Experience Builder often feels like an evolution of Layout Builder, offering a more fluid and visually rich editing environment. While Layout Builder provides structure, Experience Builder aims to enhance the experience of creating that structure.
- Acquia Site Studio (formerly Cohesion): Site Studio has long offered a powerful low-code visual building experience. The core Drupal Experience Builder initiative aims to bring similar levels of sophistication and ease-of-use into the open-source core or as a widely adopted contributed module, democratizing these advanced capabilities.

The DrupalCon Pulse: Community Excitement & Critical Questions

Analyzing sessions, Q&As, and hallway track discussions from recent DrupalCon Atlanta 2025 paints a vivid picture of community sentiment:

Overwhelmingly Positive Reception: There's palpable excitement about the direction. Many see this as a crucial step for Drupal to remain competitive and user-friendly in a landscape dominated by visually-driven CMS and site builders.
Key Themes from Presentations:
- Live demos showcasing the fluid editing experience.
- Technical deep dives into the architecture and how it interacts with Drupal's core.
- Discussions on the component-based approach and how to build/theme these components.
- Roadmap presentations outlining future features and development phases.
Common Questions & Concerns:
- Migration Paths: "How will this affect existing sites using Layout Builder or other solutions?" "What will migration look like?"
- Performance: "With a JS-heavy frontend, what are the performance implications for the editor and the end-user?"
- Learning Curve: "How steep is the learning curve for developers to create components and for editors to use the new interface?"
- Contrib vs. Core: "Will this be part of Drupal core, or a contributed module? What are the implications of either choice?" (Often, such initiatives start as contrib and aim for core).
- Backward Compatibility & Drupal Philosophy: "How does this align with Drupal's traditional strengths in structured data, and how will it maintain compatibility?"
Developer Engagement: A strong sense of eagerness among developers to get their hands on it, contribute, and understand how to extend it. Many are keen to see how it will integrate with existing module ecosystems.
Focus on Content Editors & Marketers: A recurring theme was the empowerment of non-technical users, enabling them to achieve more without constant developer intervention.

Bridging the Gap: What This Means for You

The Experience Builder initiative isn't just another module; it's a strategic direction.

For Site Builders & Content Editors: Expect a significantly more intuitive and powerful way to build pages and manage content. The visual feedback loop will reduce guesswork and speed up your workflow.
For Developers: This opens up new avenues for creating rich, interactive components. While it simplifies the frontend for editors, robust backend skills will still be crucial for crafting the underlying architecture and custom elements. Familiarity with modern JavaScript frameworks will become increasingly valuable.
For Agencies & Businesses: This could lower the barrier to entry for creating sophisticated Drupal sites, potentially reducing development time for certain aspects and allowing teams to focus more on custom functionality and complex integrations.

The Road Ahead: Collaboration and Iteration

The development of the Experience Builder is a testament to the Drupal community's collaborative spirit. It's an iterative process, with ongoing feedback shaping its evolution. What we're seeing at DrupalCons and in community channels is this process in action – the core ideas being tested, debated, and refined.

A Brighter, More Visual Future for Drupal

The Drupal Experience Builder represents a significant leap forward. By combining Drupal's robust backend capabilities with a modern, visual editing frontend, it promises to empower a wider range of users and solidify Drupal's position as a leading digital experience platform. The insights from our deep dive, coupled with the vibrant discussions at DrupalCon, show a community that is not only ready for this change but is actively shaping it. The future of Drupal content creation is looking exceptionally bright—