Project present and future

Key features in version 1.23

Release date: September 15th, 2022

Backdrop 1.23 (release notes); the most noteworthy new feature in the 1.23.0 release is the addition of the Entity Reference module to core. This long anticipated feature is finally a reality. This release also includes multiple user experience and developer experience improvements. New features include:

  1. Added Entity Reference module to core.
  2. Added new setting to allow the comment title to be hidden.
  3. Added new Date field widget to utilize HTML5.
  4. Added a "Taxonomy term: Depth" Visibility condition for blocks and layouts.
See the GitHub issue tracker for all 1.23 issues.

Features planned for version 1.24

Scheduled release date: January 15th, 2023

  1. Add field group functionality to core.
  2. TBD!
See the GitHub issue tracker for 1.24 issues.

Goals for 1.x

All Backdrop 1.x releases will include new features that do not require API breaks. A subset of proposed topics are listed below. Please note: our priorities may change based on the most urgent needs of the Backdrop community.

General Goals

  1. A more intuitive administrative interface with every release.
  2. Improved the out-of-the-box Experience.
  3. Ensure that a transition from Drupal 7 is as smooth as possible.
  4. More TBD!

Specific Goals

  1. Automatic core updates (push-button core updates have been available since 1.11).
  2. A flexible reference field for content, user accounts, etc. (available since 1.23).
  3. Improved multilingual support (especially for RTL languages).
  4. More TBD!

Goals for 2.0

Backdrop 2.0 will NOT be released before January 15th, 2025.

Backdrop Version 1 will continue to be the active branch of development until at least January 15th, 2025. Backdrop version 1 will continue to be supported until Backdrop version 3 is released.

Backdrop 2.0 will include the removal of deprecated functions, and will most likely include changes in HTML markup.

The upgrade from Backdrop 1 to Backdrop 2 will be easier than the upgrade from Drupal 7 to Backdrop CMS, which is already easier than the upgrade from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 or Drupal 9.

See the GitHub issue tracker for more 2.x issues for a set of proposed changes that cannot happen during the 1.x cycle.