The missing collaboration
Paragraphs is used as a framework and every few days or weeks new modules are popping up, building on top of it. Its impact is wide, from modules defining paragraph types (previously linked to: https://github.com/WondrousLLC/paragraphs_starter_pack) for richer use of media, various layout tools and style, functionality such as sliders, alternative user interfaces, and many more.
There is so much energy spent to build all these things, but most of the solutions have been created in isolation and user adoption stays very low. In order to get to the full potential of Paragraphs to the benefit of everyone, we need more. We need true collaboration on Paragraphs.
Many ideas implemented in these modules are not new. Some of these ideas even have been widely discussed in issues for years, waiting for someone to implement it as a standard feature. To succeed, we need to be better out of the box and perform with a stunning simple user experience. And if we do so, we can remove options (and with it complexity), because that solution will fit better to everyone.
Make collaboration possible
To enable participation, we started to collect ideas for 1.5 years in issue queues, created trello boards and organised workshops to discuss them with the community. Because we know that participation based on rough ideas without clear goals is hard, we spent weeks in transforming the ideas into milestone proposals with mockups. Everyone should be able to understand the impact of each idea based on a real example use case.
There are also great examples. Thunder did research and made a public META proposal for ideas to improve the usability of the distribution. After first feedback in the issues, a call was setup to start the collaboration. Maintainers of the popular module Field Collection were open enough to discuss deprecation of the module in favor of Paragraphs. We started to identify missing features and how we can make sure the usability of Paragraphs outperforms Field Collection.
Calling for collaboration
As a next step, we will reach out to all the maintainers and invite for collaboration. We will create one issue in each project and open the discussion to transform functionality into Paragraphs itself or how we would recommended to implement and maintain it. MD Systems offers free mentoring for developers that dedicate their time to collaborate with us.
We will do a next status presentation at Drupal Mountain Camp in February (16-19) and we will also cover all related modules. Paragraphs will be a primary sprint topic during the event and we will add 3 days of community sprint in January (24-26) to prepare. Signup now!
We are strongly dedicated to bring Paragraphs to the next level and are looking forward to collaborate with everyone from the community. Get in touch with us and we will figure out how you can help.
Collaborate on Drupal's Paragraphs module https://t.co/Eud3Zwvl7R /cc @MDSystems_CH pic.twitter.com/EOv1gMg4m0
— Dries Buytaert (@Dries) December 20, 2016
