More D8 modules
As we are experimenting more and more with Drupal 8, here’s a grasp of D8 modules we’ve recently tried or/and discovered. We are not trying to discover the wheel…these are just some modules that helped us in the latest projects. Some of them are like the ABC of Drupal whilst others are new and must be further tested and/or improved. You may like them or not. Either way, let us know by commenting in the provided form.
SERVICES MODULE
You must try this to believe this. We’ve tried it several times in D7 and now in D8. This module comes with a rather simpler standard solution for building API that allows clients to communicate with Drupal. In short, it supports anything Drupal Core supports and provides Drupal plugins that allow others to create proper authentications or authentication mechanisms. For Drupal 8, you should download Services 4.x
ADMIN TOOLBAR
All Drupal enthusiasts know, use and love this module because it makes our life way easier. We’ve used it in all some of our Drupal 7 projects and now we’ve already experimented several times with it for our Drupal 8 websites. So far, it works great, and it’s way simpler to install and to use.
How about those that still try to learn Drupal? Oh, where are our manners? We haven’t presented the module…the admin toolbar module adds drop-down functionalities tot the original menu, giving both devs and non-devs the ability to an easier access to the administration links. In short, as we’ve said before, it makes your life way easier!
For more info, check this comprehensive article written by its creators.
LAYOUT PLUGIN
This module makes it easier to register layouts by inserting a YAML file and some templates.
NB – on its own, this module won’t be doing anything at all. You must install another plugin that uses it such as Panels, Display Suite, Radix our Bootstrap Layouts.
Check it out – Layout plugin module.
TAXONOMY CONTAINER
A simple, yet relevant module, the taxonomy container provides a list with optgroups for taxonomy terms selection. Yeah, some sort of Captain Obvious, right? Oh well, it works and should really give it a try.
CONFIGURATION UPDATE MANAGER
This is a normal configuration module but works quite good for D8. It contains a base module and a reporting module. The best part is that this module allows you to have a complete report of the differences between the current version and the configured one.
You may also use the Configuration Tools, Features, the Configuration Development and the Configuration Synchronizer modules: Provides methods for safely importing site configuration from updated modules and themes.
PAGE MANAGER
This module is the D8 version of page manager, it was previously included in the CTools and you’ve probably used it (without knowing) in the Panels modules.
Before closing this page, let us tell you that the main difference between D7 and the D8 version of the module is that in Drupal8, besides the rest of the features, the Page Manager module can be used to take over an existing page. Cool, right?
SIMPLE XML SITEMAP
This is a module that made me as happy as a clam…without the fishiness part. The ones that read the latest posts know that I have a thing for SEO, so this module really made my day. Simple XML sitemap can also generate hreflang sitemaps, which meets Google’s standard for multilingual content.
NB. For some project, this module may not work properly as it doesn’t provide as many functionalities as the xmlsitemap. In this case, you may want to use the other variant of the module, but until then give simple XML a try and we don’t think you’re going to regret it.
BONUS – THE PUBLISH AWAY FIELD
As the name describes, this the Publish Away Module allows you to publish content in real time on social media and it's a quite easy to use SMM tool. So far, this module allows you to post on Facebook and Twitter…so no more using third parties apps to publish your content.
Hope you liked our list. We will be coming soon with even more modules!
More modules, more Drupal 8!
