Talking Drupal #518 - Drupal Canvas

Sep 1, 2025

Lauri Timmanee, Acquia's Product Manager and dedicated Drupal core committer, dives into the ethos of Drupal Canvas, detailing its evolution and practical applications. Discover how Starshot Demo Design System enhances user experience and supports accessibility. Learn about the integration of Acquia Source, challenges in code migration, and exciting AI developments shaping the future of Drupal Canvas. Timmanee also highlights the importance of flexibility in content models, making it an exciting time for Drupal enthusiasts!

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ANECDOTE

Starshot Demo Design System Example

Martin highlighted the Starshot Demo Design System (SDDS) as a ready demo theme built on Civic Theme.
SDDS is used in Canvas demos and helps test Canvas with a full design system.

INSIGHT

Canvas Is An Experience Platform

Drupal Canvas evolved from a page builder to an experience-building platform that covers components, design, and workflows.
Rewriting the admin in React unlocks broader extensibility and AI integration possibilities.

ADVICE

Begin With Code Components

Start with code components inside Canvas to get immediate value and iterate from there.
Add visual tools later to lower the bar for non-developers.

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Today we are talking about Drupal Canvas, What it is, and when we can use it with guest Lauri Timmanee. We’ll also cover Starshot Demo Design System as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/518

Topics

What is Drupal Canvas
The Evolution and Future of Drupal Canvas
Building with Drupal Canvas: Components and Templates
User Experience and Flexibility in Drupal Canvas
Collaboration and Extensibility in Drupal Canvas
Default Components in Drupal Canvas
Introduction to Modular Components
Drupal CMS and Site Templates
Acquia Source and Drupal Canvas Integration
Pricing and Use Cases for Acquia Source
Canvas Beta and Stability
Migration and Upgrade Paths
AI Integration in Drupal Canvas
Future of Drupal Canvas

Resources

Guests

Lauri Timmanee - lauriii

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

Brief description:
- Have you ever wanted to try out Canvas (previously known as Experience Builder) with a fully built-out design system? There’s a Drupal theme for that.
Module name/project name:
- Starshot Demo Design System
Brief history
- How old: created in July 2024 by longtime Drupalist Kristen Pol of Salsa Digital
- Versions available: 1.0.6, which supports Drupal 10 and 11
Maintainership
- Actively maintained
- Security coverage
- Test coverage
- Documentation - Multipage writeup of SDDS, including contribution and development guides
Number of open issues: 34 open issues, 3 of which are active bugs
Usage stats:
- 79 sites
Module features and usage
- Some of our users may have already tried out the pre-release demo of Canvas that phenaproxima posted on Github. That actually has the Starshot Demo Design System, or SDDS, baked in. So, even if you watched a demo video of Canvas, you’ve probably seen SDDS in action
- SDDS is itself built on CivicTheme, a Drupal theme built to act as a component-based atomic design system. As such, CivicTheme includes a rich component library, built from published Figma and Storybook UI Kits. And because some of the early builds for SDDS were for GovCMS, the Australian whole-of-government CMS project, it is accessible, with WCAG 2.2 compliance out-of-the-box
- While the official purpose of SDDS is providing a platform to use for demos in Driesnotes and other presentations to illustrate the progress being made on Canvas, I think it’s also safe to say that testing the latest features of Canvas with a fully-realized design system has also helped to identify issues in Canvas itself. That means the products of all the work that has gone into SDDS will include a more production-ready stable release when that gets tagged (hopefully in time for Vienna)