Drupal CMS News Digest
developments tricks, articles and reviews from Drupal specialists
Satoshi Nakamoto's Drupal adventure
Martti Malmi, an early contributor to the Bitcoin project, recently shared a fascinating piece of internet history: an archive of private emails between himself and Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's mysterious founder.
The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in the technology world. Despite extensive investigations, speculative reports, and numerous claims over the years, the true identity of Bitcoin's creator(s) is still unknown.
Martti Malmi released these private conversations in reaction to a court case focused on the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto and the legal entitlements to the Bitcoin brand and technology.
The emails provide some interesting details into Bitcoin's early days, and might also provide some new clues about Satoshi's identity.
Satoshi and Martti worked together on a variety of different things, including the relaunch of the Bitcoin website. Their goal was to broaden public understanding and awareness of Bitcoin.
And to my surprise, the emails reveal they chose Drupal as their preferred CMS! (Thanks to Jeremy Andrews for making me aware.)
The emails detail Satoshi's hands-on involvement, from installing Drupal themes, to configuring Drupal's .htaccess file, to exploring Drupal's multilingual capabilities.
At some point in the conversation, Satoshi expressed reservations about Drupal's forum module...
https://dri.es/satoshi-nakamot
Goodbye third-party cookies
For nearly three decades, third-party cookies have been a major privacy concern on the web. They allow organizations, such as advertisers, to track users' browsing activities across multiple websites, often without explicit consent.
Unlike third-party cookies, first-party cookies are restricted to the website you are on. They are often used to improve the user experience, such as keeping you logged in, remembering what is in your shopping cart, and more.
Of course, first-party cookies can also be used to track your activity, like with Google Analytics, but they can't be used to follow you beyond that site. While both types of cookies can be used to track users, third-party cookies are much more invasive and problematic.
In 2018, I made the decision to remove all tracking tools, including Google Analytics, from my personal site. My website aspires to the privacy of printed works. The anonymity of a book holds a unique charm, and I find joy in not knowing who visits my website.
That said, I have no issue with the use of first-party cookies, provided it's consensual and used to improve the user experience. I understand their importance for many organizations, especially in marketing.
Fortunately, the era of third-party cookies is coming to a close. Browsers like Safari and Firefox have already taken steps to limit third-party tracking. They still allow certain third-...
https://dri.es/goodbye-third-p
The little HTTP Header Analyzer that could
HTTP headers play a crucial part in making your website fast and secure. For that reason, I often inspect HTTP headers to troubleshoot caching problems or review security settings.
The complexity of the HTTP standard and the challenge to remember all the best practices led me to develop an HTTP Header Analyzer four years ago.
It is pretty simple: enter a URL, and the tool will analyze the headers sent by your webserver, CMS or web application. It then explains these headers, offers a score, and suggests possible improvements.
For a demonstration, click https://dri.es/headers?url=https://www.reddit.com. As the URL suggests, it will analyze the HTTP headers of Reddit.com.
I began this as a weekend project in the early days of COVID, seeing it as just another addition to my toolkit. At the time, I simply added it to my projects page but never announced or mentioned it on my blog.
So why write about it now? Because I happened to check my log files and, lo and behold, the little scanner that could clocked in more than 5 million scans, averaging over 3,500 scans a day.
So four years and five million scans later, I'm finally announcing it to the world!
If you haven't tried my HTTP header analyzer, check it out. It's free, easy to use, requires no sign-up, and is built to help improve your website's performance and security.
The crawler works with all websites, but naturally...
https://dri.es/the-little-http
Spicing up my blog: venturing into new topics
I recently added a new page to my website, which displays the top 10 topics of each year. This page serves a dual purpose: it visualizes the evolution of my interests, and provides visitors with an overview of the core content of my site.
As I stared at this new page, it became very obvious that my blog has maintained a consistent focus throughout the years. The top categories have not changed meaningfully in 18 years. The recurring themes include Drupal, Acquia, Open Source, and photography. The latter, a long-term interest, has experienced ebbs and flows during this time.
Just as having the same cereal each day can become boring – a fact my wife kindly reminds me of – covering the same topics for 18 years can lead to a certain "predictability". This realization sparked a desire to spice things up! A cabinet with all my interests.
My blog history wouldn't suggest it, but I consider myself a person with many interests. Sometimes I have too many interests. As a result, I'm often drawn into various side projects – another fact my wife kindly reminds me of.
My point is that there are certainly different aspects of my life and interests that I could write more about. With that in mind, a goal for 2024 is to diversify my blog's content. I set a goal to introduce at least two new topics into my top 10 list for 2024, alongside Drupal and Acquia.
For example...
https://dri.es/spicing-up-my-b
