UI Suite Monthly #24 - Design System Revolution Takes Shape in Drupal
Overall Summary
We're thrilled to share the exciting developments from our latest UI Suite monthly meeting, where we celebrated major milestones and outlined our ambitious roadmap ahead. After eight years of dedicated work and five years since UI Suite 1, we're finally witnessing UI Suite 2 taking concrete shape with the imminent release of UI Patterns 2.0.0 stable.
Our ecosystem is rapidly maturing, with significant achievements including our new official logos (thanks to Michaël!), the successful beta release of UI Icons, and comprehensive improvements across all our modules. We're not just building tools anymore – we're creating a complete design system infrastructure for Drupal that will revolutionize how developers and site builders approach component-based development.
The community response has been overwhelmingly positive, with UI Icons already attracting 150 users despite being in beta, and our Slack channel continuing to grow with 10-15 new members each month. We're seeing real-world adoption and success stories that validate our approach to bringing modern design systems into the Drupal ecosystem.
Key Topics Discussed
UI Patterns 2.0 Stable Release
The star of our show is undoubtedly the upcoming UI Pattern 2.0.0 stable release, scheduled for next Tuesday. This represents a year and a half of intensive work by our 10-person team, with five core contributors being extremely active throughout the process.
- The only thing that could delay this release would be the discovery of a very nasty bug in the next five days
- Christian Wiedemann will take over as release manager for versions 2.1 and 2.2, leading the project forward
- Version 2.1 will introduce UI Patterns UI – a module similar to form modes that allows creating simplified forms for specific component needs
Core Integration Progress
We're making substantial progress in moving critical functionality into Drupal core. Each core issue we resolve moves another piece of our infrastructure into the core codebase, and if we maintain our current pace, we'll have migrated all important components by year's end. This integration will provide a stronger foundation for the entire ecosystem and ensure better interoperability between modules.
Ecosystem Expansion and Maturation
Our design system implementations continue to multiply and mature. We now support 12 different design systems built on UI Suite, with new additions like Pico joining our growing family.
- Bootstrap remains the reference system for most users, with the five most popular themes addressing Bootstrap
- We're actively helping other teams improve their component compatibility
- Several modules have been moved out of UI Patterns 2 to become independent, including Field Group (maintained by Edouard) and Display Suite integration
Community Engagement and Education
The educational aspect of our work is gaining momentum. We believe UI Patterns 2 serves as an excellent transitional tool that teaches component authors to create good, SDC-compatible components while helping administrators understand component-based site building. This educational value makes it particularly valuable for the broader Drupal community's transition to modern development practices.
Key Action Points
Development Focus Areas
Our immediate technical priorities center around stabilizing and expanding our core offerings. The UI Patterns 2 stable release is our primary focus, followed by systematic improvements across all modules in our ecosystem.
- Complete the UI Patterns 2.0.0 stable release with comprehensive testing
- Begin development on UI Patterns 2.1 with the new UI Patterns UI module
- Continue migrating core functionality into Drupal core through systematic issue resolution
- Enhance UI Styles with better plugin form targeting and CSS variable mechanisms
Theme and Design System Development
We're investing heavily in improving our theme implementations and expanding design system support. The UI Suite Bootstrap theme is receiving significant updates, including Bootstrap 5.1 support and Layout Builder improvements.
- Release UI Suite DaisyUI 5.x branch based on Tailwind 4 for improved performance and cleaner code
- Complete Material Design implementation with beta 1 focusing on SDC components
- Expand support for scoped themes and CSS variable integration
- Develop animation and transition definitions as the final major artifact for UI Skins
Community Building and Documentation
Our community engagement strategy focuses on sharing knowledge and encouraging adoption through real-world examples and comprehensive documentation.
- Organize community presentations where users share their UI Patterns 2 experiences
- Continue monthly growth initiatives for our Slack channel
- Develop comprehensive documentation for all stable releases
- Support conference presentations and workshops to spread awareness
Upcoming Deadlines / Releases
| Module/Project | Release Version | Timeline | Status | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UI Patterns 2 | 2.0.0 Stable | Next Tuesday (Feb 4) | Ready unless critical bugs found | Full stable release after 1.5 years development |
| UI Suite Bootstrap | Beta 1 | Next few weeks | In progress | Layout Builder improvements, Fences module support |
| UI Icons | 1.0.1 | Very soon | Fix ready, pending pipeline | Minor bug fixes, maintaining two branches |
| UI Suite Material | Beta 1 | Next week | Nearly ready | Full Material Design for SDC (except forms) |
| UI Suite DaisyUI | 5.x Branch | This spring | Planning phase | Tailwind 4 support, new branch creation |
| UI Patterns 2 | 2.1 | Summer 2025 | Planning | UI Pattern UI module, config migration |
| UI Patterns 2 | 2.2 | Summer 2025 | Planning | Library improvements, new data sources |
| UI Examples | 1.0.1 | Immediate | Ready | Small fixes, first proper versioned release |
Meeting Schedule
Our next monthly meeting is scheduled for March 6th at 3 PM France time (one hour earlier than usual to accommodate our global community). We're planning to feature community presentations where users share their UI Patterns 2 experiences and project implementations.
Join our growing community on Slack and stay tuned for more exciting developments as we continue revolutionizing design systems in Drupal. The future of component-based development is here, and we're building it together.