Drupal Release: 10.0.0-beta1

TL;DR

Drupal 10.0.0-beta1 marks a significant milestone in Drupal's evolution, introducing major changes to the theming system and editor experience. This release removes several deprecated modules and themes (Bartik, Seven, RDF, Quick Edit, Color, and Classy), fully replaces CKEditor 4 with CKEditor 5, and modernizes the codebase by removing legacy browser support and polyfills. The new Starterkit theme system replaces the old theme inheritance model, while performance and developer experience improvements include better Twig debugging and container serialization fixes. This beta represents the final feature set for Drupal 10.0.0, with a focus on modernization and future-proofing.

Highlight of the Release

• Complete replacement of CKEditor 4 with CKEditor 5
• Removal of deprecated themes: Bartik, Seven, Classy, and Stable
• Removal of deprecated modules: Color, RDF, and Quick Edit
• New Views Responsive Grid format for better content layouts
• Modernized CSS with removal of IE11 support and polyfills
• Improved Twig debugging with VarDumper integration
• Layout Builder no longer requires Field UI
• Better container serialization for improved performance
• New Starterkit theme system replacing theme inheritance
• Support for external images in CKEditor 5

Migration Guide

Migrating from CKEditor 4 to CKEditor 5

If you were using CKEditor 4, you'll need to migrate to CKEditor 5:

1. CKEditor 4 has been completely removed from core
2. Review your text formats that used CKEditor 4
3. Use the CKEditor 5 migration tool to convert your configurations
4. Test thoroughly as some plugins may work differently

Handling Removed Themes

With the removal of Bartik, Seven, Classy, and Stable themes:

1. If your site or custom theme extends any of these themes, you'll need to update your theme
2. For Classy/Stable dependencies, consider using the Starterkit theme as a base
3. If using Bartik or Seven, switch to Olivero or Claro respectively

Dealing with Removed Modules

For sites using Color, RDF, or Quick Edit modules:

1. Color module: Consider using CSS variables for theming instead
2. RDF module: If you need RDF functionality, you'll need to use a contributed module
3. Quick Edit: In-place editing functionality is no longer available in core

Theme CSS Updates

With the removal of IE11 support and polyfills:

1. Review your theme's CSS for IE11-specific code that can be removed
2. Update to use modern CSS features like CSS Grid, Flexbox, and CSS Variables
3. Remove any dependencies on removed polyfills like HTML5 details collapse

JavaScript Modernization

With the removal of various polyfills and legacy support:

1. Update any custom JavaScript to use modern standards
2. Remove dependencies on removed libraries like Farbtastic
3. Test thoroughly in modern browsers

Upgrade Recommendations

This is a beta release and is not recommended for production sites. It's intended for testing and preparation for the eventual stable release of Drupal 10.0.0.

For site owners currently on Drupal 9:

• Begin testing your site with this beta release in a development environment
• Identify and address any issues related to the removed themes and modules
• Update custom themes that extend removed themes like Classy or Stable
• Test content editing workflows with CKEditor 5
• Review any custom modules that might depend on removed functionality

For module developers:

• Update your modules to be compatible with the changes in Drupal 10
• Remove dependencies on removed modules (Color, RDF, Quick Edit)
• Update any JavaScript to work without the removed polyfills
• Test thoroughly with the new CKEditor 5 integration if your module interacts with the editor

Wait for the stable release of Drupal 10.0.0 before upgrading production sites.

Bug Fixes

Views Preview with Zero Context Filters

Fixed an issue where Views preview didn't pass a value of 0 to context filters, causing incorrect filtering.

Entity Revision Reversion with Custom Blocks

Fixed an issue where reverting entity revisions that contain custom blocks erroneously triggered EntityChangedConstraint.

Media Library and CKEditor Integration

Fixed various issues with the Media Library and CKEditor integration, including proper handling of alt text for images.

Aggregation with Media Queries

Fixed a bug where CSS aggregation created two extra aggregates when encountering {media: screen} in a library declaration.

HTML Restrictions Handling

Fixed a bug in HTMLRestrictions::fromString() where multiple occurrences of the same tag resulted in only the last one being respected.

Safari Search Button Issue in Olivero

Fixed an issue in the Olivero theme where clicking the "X" button when search was open did not collapse the search in Safari.

Long Custom Block Names UI Issue

Fixed an issue where long custom block names forced the 'Place block' button out of place in the UI.

Dropbutton Dropdown in Olivero

Fixed an issue where the Olivero footer could obscure the bottom of dropbutton dropdowns.

CKEditor 5 Modal Dialogs

Fixed a regression with CKEditor 5.35.0.1 and modal dialogs that was causing usability issues.

New Features

New Views Responsive Grid Format

A new Views format called "Views Responsive Grid" has been added to core, providing a responsive grid layout option for Views without requiring additional modules.

CKEditor 5 Marked as Stable

CKEditor 5 has been marked as stable and is now the default editor in Drupal 10, completely replacing CKEditor 4. This brings modern editing capabilities and improved user experience.

External Image Support in CKEditor 5

CKEditor 5 now allows using images from external sources, expanding the content creation capabilities.

Improved Twig Debugging

Twig has been integrated with Symfony VarDumper for an improved debugging experience, making theme development easier and more efficient.

Starterkit Theme System

The new Starterkit theme system replaces the old theme inheritance model, providing a more maintainable approach to theme development.

Claro as Fallback Maintenance Theme

Claro is now used as the fallback maintenance theme instead of the deprecated Bartik theme, providing a more modern look for maintenance pages.

Security Updates

No significant security fixes were explicitly mentioned in the release notes. However, updating dependencies to their latest versions typically includes security patches from those dependencies.

Performance Improvements

Container Serialization Improvements

Fixed leaky and brittle container serialization solution, which improves performance and reduces memory usage.

Functional Test Performance

Fixed a regression in functional test performance when testing with a large number of modules.

Unnecessary chmod During Config Write

Removed unnecessary chmod operations during configuration writes, improving performance of configuration operations.

JavaScript Build Process Optimization

Removed the JavaScript ES6 build step and associated dev dependencies, streamlining the build process and reducing complexity.

Modern CSS Usage

Refactored various CSS implementations to use modern CSS features, improving rendering performance and reducing CSS complexity:

• Olivero dropbutton CSS refactored to use modern CSS
• Settings tray / off-canvas refactored to use modern CSS
• Removed IE11-specific CSS classes and polyfills

Impact Summary

Drupal 10.0.0-beta1 represents a significant shift in Drupal's architecture and capabilities, with major impacts on theming, content editing, and development practices.

The most visible changes are the complete replacement of CKEditor 4 with CKEditor 5 and the removal of several long-standing themes (Bartik, Seven, Classy, and Stable) and modules (Color, RDF, and Quick Edit). These removals clean up technical debt but require adaptation from site builders and developers.

The new Starterkit theme system fundamentally changes how themes are created and maintained, moving away from the inheritance model to a more sustainable copy-based approach. This will have long-term benefits for theme maintenance but requires theme developers to learn new patterns.

Performance improvements come from modernized CSS, removal of legacy browser support, and fixes to core systems like container serialization. The removal of IE11 support and various polyfills allows Drupal to embrace modern web standards fully.

For content editors, the stable CKEditor 5 integration provides a more modern editing experience with features like external image support. Site builders benefit from the new Views Responsive Grid format and Layout Builder improvements.

Developers will appreciate the improved Twig debugging experience and cleaner codebase but must update custom code that depends on removed functionality.

Overall, this beta release sets the stage for a more modern, maintainable, and performant Drupal 10.0.0 stable release.