BLT (Build and Launch Tool) provides an automation layer for testing, building, and launching Drupal 8 applications. It is the default recommended tool used by Acquia Professional Services. We use BLT in Professional Services to sync databases, manage configurations, create artifacts for deployments, and tons of other things that -- most of the time -- save us time. If you have not tested it yet I’d recommend you to have a look: https://github.com/acquia/blt DDEV, on…

In this final installment of our series on conversational usability, we dig into a case study that brings together all of the ideas and best practices we have discussed so far: the Ask GeorgiaGov skill built by the Acquia Labs team for Digital Services Georgia. Released a year and a half ago, the Ask GeorgiaGov Alexa skill answers common questions that Georgia state residents have about issues like driver’s licenses, relocating to Georgia, filing complaints against…

In this fifth installment of our series on conversational usability, our focus shifts to conversational usability and the process of evaluating and improving conversational interfaces that often differ significantly from the visual and physical interfaces we normally use to test with end users. Due to the unique complexities and the striking diversity of conversational interfaces, from voice assistants to interactive chatbots to run-of-the-mill messaging bots,…

In this fourth installment of our series on conversational usability, we're turning our attention to conversational content strategy, an underserved area of conversational interface design that is rapidly growing due to the number of enterprises eager to convert the text trapped in their websites into content that can be consumed through voice assistants and chatbots. For those working with content management systems like Drupal, a content strategy that cuts across…