Symfony Station Communiqué — 22 December 2023. A look at Symfony, Drupal, PHP, Cybersec, and Fediverse News!
Tags: symfony, drupal, php, fediverse
Published: 2024-01-01 01:35:04

This communiqué [originally appeared on Symfony Station](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023).  

Welcome to this week's Symfony Station communiqué. It's your review of the essential news in the Symfony and PHP development communities focusing on protecting democracy. Because open-source equals open societies, peeps. We also cover the cybersecurity world and the Fediverse (more open-source). 

There is good content in the all of our categories, so please take your time and enjoy the items most relevant and valuable to you. This is why we publish on Fridays. So you can savor it over your weekend. 😉

Or jump straight to your favorite section via our website. 

- [Symfony](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023#symfony)
- [PHP](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023#php)
- [More Programming](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023#more)
- [Fighting for Democracy](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023#other)
- [Cybersecurity](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023#cybersecurity)
- [Fediverse](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-December-2023#fediverse)

Once again, thanks go out to Javier Eguiluz and Symfony for sharing [our communiqué](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Symfony-Station-Communique-15-December-2023) in their [Week of Symfony](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-885-11-17-december-2023). 

**My opinions will be in bold. And often involve cursing.**

---

![Symfony logo](https://www.symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Symfony-2.png)

## Symfony

As always, we will start with the official news from Symfony.

Highlight -> "This week, the Symfony development activity was calmer than usual and focused on minor bug fixes and tweaks across all the supported Symfony versions (5.4, 6.3, 6.4, 7.0 and 7.1). Meanwhile, the upcoming [Symfony 7.1 version](https://symfony.com/releases/7.1) (which will be released at the end of May 2024) added a new notifier for the BlueSky microblogging social platform."

[A Week of Symfony #885 (11-17 December 2023)](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-885-11-17-december-2023)



They also have:

[Symfony Newsletter](https://symfony.cmail19.com/t/y-e-xjidjhd-dyurtluuut-yu/)


SymfonyCasts continues its LAST stack course:

[This week on SymfonyCasts](https://5hy9x.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/mr/sh/1t6AVsd2XFnIGBrRERGJumwddAsNT1/zFc9pJXg9Ozw) 




---
## Featured Item

Joan Westenberg writes:

Ray Tomlinson and Chrissy are bookends on the Internet narrative: one at its hopeful beginning, the other navigating its current tumultuous reality. But the question is, how did we get from Tomlinson to Chrissy? How did a tool designed to democratize information and unlock connectivity devolve into a polarized echo chamber, a wild west of misinformation and privacy compromises? And, more importantly, where do we go from here?

### [The internet is broken. Here’s how we fix it.](https://joanwestenberg.medium.com/the-internet-is-broken-heres-how-we-fix-it-9b2594f05b54)

**They are certainly more optimistic than I am. But, we have a moral obligation to try.**

---

### This Week

David Garcia shows us:

[How to successfully boost your PHP & Symfony apps since the Development phase](https://david-garcia.medium.com/how-to-successfully-boost-your-php-symfony-apps-since-the-development-phase-7775b2e08685)

Alberto Robles

[Creating a Realistic Soccer Match Simulator in Symfony - Part 1](https://medium.com/@bertorobles/creating-a-realistic-soccer-match-simulator-in-symfony-php-part-1-7d64435e952b)

### eCommerce

Shopware wants you to:

[Influence the Shopware Roadmap](https://www.shopware.com/en/news/influence-shopware-roadmap/)

Winkel Wagon has:

[Shopware 6: Find a broken entity index](https://winkelwagen.de/2023/12/16/shopware-6-find-a-broken-entity-indexer/)

### Platforms

Roberto Butti explores:

[Laravel Octane and FrankenPHP](https://dev.to/robertobutti/laravel-octane-and-frankenphp-240o)

### CMSs

TYPO3 has:

[Reflecting on a Remarkable Year: TYPO3's Journey through 2023](https://typo3.com/blog/reflecting-on-a-remarkable-year-typo3s-journey-through-2023)

[Save the Date(s) for the 2024 DevDays and TYPO3 Conference](https://typo3.org/article/save-the-dates-t3dd24-t3con24)

[**Explore more conferences on our calendar page.**](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Calendar)

**And please let us know if we missed any.**

Web Vision examines:

[Further development of DeepL Translate for TYPO3 - an outlook](https://www.web-vision.de/en/deepl-translate-for-typo3-development-outlook.html)
<br/>


Joomla published:

[The December Issue](https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/december-2023/the-december-issue-2023)

Three of the more interesting articles are:

[10 Common Misconceptions about Joomla!](https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/december-2023/10-common-misconceptions-about-joomla)

[Cassiopeia, Joomla’s powerful built-in template: the basics](https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/december-2023/cassiopeia-joomla-powerful-built-in-template-the-basics)

**IMHO, this is a good strategy.**

[The Pitfalls of Web Fonts: Embracing the Benefits of System Fonts for Web Design](https://magazine.joomla.org/all-issues/december-2023/the-pitfalls-of-web-fonts-embracing-the-benefits-of-system-fonts-for-web-design)

**I use system fonts on my websites. The trade-offs for custom ones are not worth it. Plus, fuck Google.**
<br/>


Drupal announces:

[Drupal 10.2 is now available](https://www.drupal.org/blog/drupal-10-2-0)

[The DrupalCon Nonprofit Summit is back in 2024: Unlocking the Power of Drupal for Social Good](https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/the-drupalcon-nonprofit-summit-is-back-in-2024-unlocking-the-power-of-drupal-for-social-good)
Acquia looks at:

[Drupal 10.2: What You Need to Know](https://www.acquia.com/blog/drupal-10)

ImageX explores:

[Accessibility Elements, Part 1: Alt Text in Drupal — Mission, Settings, New Developments](
https://imagexmedia.com/blog/accessibility-alt-text-drupal)

Soverign Tech Fund announces:

[Funding for Drupal](https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/de/tech/drupal)

Specbee shares a case study:

[Strategic Drupal Partnerships: The Michael J Fox Foundation's Drupal Story](https://www.specbee.com/blogs/strategic-drupal-partnerships-michael-j-fox-foundations-drupal-story)

Evolving Web looks at:  

[Drupal’s Roadmap for the Future: How it Benefits from Open Source Contribution](https://evolvingweb.com/blog/drupals-roadmap-future-how-it-benefits-open-source-contribution)  
  
Brainsum shows:  

[How AI Raised Our Efficiency by 27%](https://www.brainsum.com/blog/how-ai-raised-our-efficiency-27)

Prometsource says:

[Ask Us Anything about Drupal 10 Webinar Recap](https://www.prometsource.com/blog/ask-us-anything-about-drupal-10-webinar-recap)

PreviousNext examines:

[Improving Drupal with the help of your clients](https://www.previousnext.com.au/blog/improving-drupal-help-of-your-clients)

Droptica shows us:

[How to Migrate WordPress to Drupal? A Step-By-Step Guide](https://www.droptica.com/blog/how-migrate-wordpress-drupal-step-step-guide/)

The Drop Times has some interviews:

[Daniel Angelov's Journey into Accessibility Advocacy](https://www.thedroptimes.com/interview/36056/daniel-angelovs-journey-accessibility-advocacy)

[The Genesis and Evolution of Token: A Conversation with Jeff Eaton](https://www.thedroptimes.com/35909/genesis-and-evolution-token-conversation-with-jeff-eaton)

Acquia explains:

[The insides of AM:A's recommendations engine](https://dev.acquia.com/blog/insides-amas-recommendations-engine)

CKEditor announces:

[Drupal CKEditor 4 LTS – what to expect beyond EOL](https://ckeditor.com/blog/drupal-ckeditor-4/)

<br>
Lost Car Park continues its advent series:

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 16 - Cookie Consent](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/16/cookie-consent)

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 17 - Help Topics](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/17/help-topics)

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 18 - The Mentoring Initiative](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/18/mentoring-initiative)

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 19 - ECA Commerce](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/19/eca-commerce)

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 20 - Event Organizers Working Group (EOWG)](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/20/eowg)

**This is one of the things Drupal needs more of to grow.**

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 21 - PHP Attributes](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/21/php-attributes)

[Drupal Advent Calendar day 22 - Working Groups](https://lostcarpark.com/advent/2023/22/working-groups)

### Previous Weeks

I missed these SymfonyCon reviews last week:

Stiven Llupa

[SymfonyCon 2023: A Memorable Blend of Community and Knowledge.](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stiven-llupa-3a6367238_symfonycon-symfony-usergroup-activity-7139969890819416065-8PVQ/)

Commerce Weavers

[SymfonyCon Brussels was a great way to finish our series of international conferences](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7140313429835251713/)

Jolicode

[Du code, des gaufres et des BDs, nous étions à la SymfonyCon à Bruxelles](https://jolicode.com/blog/du-code-des-gaufres-et-des-bds-nous-etions-a-la-symfonycon-a-bruxelles)

Wanadev Digital

[SymfonyCon Brussels 2023 : PHP continue d'innover !](https://www.wanadev.fr/320-symfonycon-brussels-2023-php-continue-dinnover/)

Aliximy Blog

[Alximysts at SymfonyCon Brussels, the debrief!](https://blog.alximy.io/en/article/alximysts-at-symfonycon-brussels-the-debrief)

---

## PHP

### This Week

Sagardhiman looks at:

[Object Oriented Programming (OOPs) Concepts in PHP](https://sagardhiman021.medium.com/object-oriented-programming-oops-concept-in-php-1790d29757850)

Ajeet Singh Raina explores:

[Dockerizing PHP Application using Docker Init](https://dev.to/ajeetraina/dockerizing-php-application-using-docker-at-a-faster-pace-using-docker-init-1h3l)

Tushar Tyagi shares:

[First impressions of using XAMPP on Linux for PHP development](https://dev.to/paraspl01t/first-impressions-of-using-xampp-on-linux-for-php-development-5h0g)

Alex Web Development shows us how to avoid:

[The IF/ELSE Deadly Spiral](https://alexwebdevelop.activehosted.com/social/fe131d7f5a6b38b23cc967316c13dae2.263)

Otsch examines:

[Testing Abstract Classes in PHP using Anonymous Classes](https://www.otsch.codes/blog/testing-abstract-classes-in-php-using-anonymous-classes)

Exacat looks at:

[Null safe operator in practice](https://www.exakat.io/en/null-safe-operator-in-practice/)

Christian Nastasi explores:

[Value Objects in PHP 8: Entities](https://dev.to/cnastasi/value-object-in-php-8-entities-1jce)

Hamidreza Niazi examines:

[Logging Layers: A Guide to Structured and Consistent Logging](https://medium.com/@hamidrezaniazi/logging-layers-a-guide-to-structured-and-consistent-logging-fa6ba41f5f6d)

Mateusz Jasiński continues a series:

[PHP 0 to hero pt. 5 - Math in PHP](https://dev.to/wizarddos/php-0-to-hero-pt-5-math-in-php-2l3o)

Sergey Lisovskiy shows us:

[How to Launch a PHP Project in VS Code Dev Container](https://dev.to/lsvs/how-to-launch-a-php-project-in-vs-code-dev-container-2mp0)

### Previous Weeks

Patricia Hernandez has:

[Understanding PHP Predefined Constants](https://dev.to/patricia1988hernandez2/understanding-php-predefined-constants-6db)

---

## More Programming


Symfony Station favorite Jason Knight asks:

[Was Agile Bullshit All Along? Almost Yes.](https://medium.com/codex/was-agile-bullshit-all-along-almost-yes-16219619a58b)

Mozilla announces:

[Firefox 121.0](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/121.0/releasenotes/)

TPGi  shares:

[The Top Accessibility Errors Found in 2023](https://www.tpgi.com/the-top-accessibility-errors-found-in-2023/)

Speckyboy shows us:

[How Old-School Technologies Still Shape Web Development](https://speckyboy.com/old-school-technologies-still-shape-web-development/)

MIT Technology Review adds:

[Recapturing early internet whimsy with HTML](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/21/1084525/internet-whimsy-html-energy/)

Smashing Mag has:

[Building Components For Consumption, Not Complexity (Part 2)](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2023/12/building-components-consumption-not-complexity-part2/)

[New CSS Viewport Units Do Not Solve The Classic Scrollbar Problem](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2023/12/new-css-viewport-units-not-solve-classic-scrollbar-problem/)

[Delightful UI Animations With Shared Element Transitions API (Part 1)](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2023/12/ui-animations-shared-element-transitions-api-part1/)

Go Make Things explores:

[Vanilla JS doesn't scale](https://gomakethings.com/vanilla-js-doesnt-scale/)

**This is a sarcastic title btw.**
<br/>

Hawk Ticehurst continues his 12 days of Web Components:

[Portable HTML web components – 12 Days of Web Components](https://hawkticehurst.com/writing/12-days-of-web-components/day-4/)

**Great stuff.**

[Web components in VS Code – 12 Days of Web Components](https://hawkticehurst.com/writing/12-days-of-web-components/day-5/)

[Web components reading list – 12 Days of Web Components](https://hawkticehurst.com/writing/12-days-of-web-components/day-6/)
<br/>

HTMhell continues its advent calendar:

[Swallowing camels](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/16/)

[Revisiting Fundamentals - Semantic lists for Improved Accessibility](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/17/)

[The road to HTMHell is paved with semantics](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/18/)

[Boosting testing efficiency: how semantic HTML transforms End-to-End testing](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/19/)

[Design pattern for custom tooltips](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/20/)

[The Implied Web](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/21/)

[ARIA Live Regions](https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/22/)

---

## Fighting for Democracy

[Please visit our Support Ukraine page](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Support-Ukraine) to learn how you can help kick Russia out of Ukraine (eventually).

### The cyber response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

TechUkraine has their year-end review:

[What was 2023 like in TechUkraine](https://mailchi.mp/53d4331ade83/what-2023-was-like-in-techukraine?e=7f55ce44cd)

Politico reports:
  
[To stem North Korea’s missiles program, White House looks to its hackers](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/21/north-korea-missiles-program-hackers-00132871)

Ars Technica reports:

[FTC suggests new rules to shift parents’ burden of protecting kids to websites](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/ftc-moves-to-block-platforms-from-making-money-off-data-of-children/)

Bleeping Computer reports:

[FBI disrupts Blackcat ransomware operation, creates decryption tool](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-disrupts-blackcat-ransomware-operation-creates-decryption-tool/)

The Verge reports:

[EU opens formal DSA investigation into X in wake of Israel-Hamas war](https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/18/24005947/eu-x-twitter-dsa-formal-investigation-hamas-israel-terrorist-attacks)

**It's the beginning of the end for Shitter in Europe.**

ACH announces:
  
[ACH leaves Twitter, commits to contributing to better DH social media elsewhere](https://ach.org/blog/2023/12/19/ach-leaves-twitter-commits-to-contributing-to-better-dh-social-media-elsewhere/)

**The Association of Computers and the Humanities tells SpaceC^nt to fuck off. Better late than never.**


### The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Next Web reports:

[How Microsoft’s AI chatbot ‘hallucinates’ election information](https://thenextweb.com/news/microsofts-ai-chatbot-hallucinates-election-information)

The Register reports:

[Hacktivists boast: We shut down Iran's gas pumps today](https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/18/hacktivists_shut_down_irans_petrol/)

Dark Reading reports:

[Israel Blames Iran for Hospital Data Breach](https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/israel-blames-iran-for-hospital-data-breach)

**Two sets of c^nts attacking each other. Gotta love it.**

### Cybersecurity/Privacy

And:

[Municipalities Face a Constant Battle as Ransomware Snowballs](https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-operations/as-ransomware-attacks-abound-municipalities-face-a-constant-battle)

The Register reports:

[Hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto stolen after Ledger code poisoned](https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/16/ledger_crypto_conect_kit/)

**One set of douches stealing from another. Gotta love it.**

The Hacker News reports:

[3,500 Arrested in Global Operation HAECHI-IV Targeting Financial Criminals](https://thehackernews.com/2023/12/3500-arrested-in-global-operation.html)

[German Authorities Dismantle Dark Web Hub 'Kingdom Market' in Global Operation](https://thehackernews.com/2023/12/german-authorities-dismantle-dark-web.html)  

Decipher shares the:

[Decipher Library: Holiday Edition 2023](https://apple.news/AxeucpuxmTwKsX3zpOm1KSQ) 

**These sound like great holiday presents.**


---

### Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

[Last Week in Fediverse – ep 48](https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-ep-48/)

[Flipping the Federation Switch: Flipboard joins the fediverse](https://fediversereport.com/flipping-the-federation-switch-flipboard-joins-the-fediverse/)

**This is fucking fantastic! For me and my 50K followers there.**

Flipboard has the formal announcement:

[Flipboard Begins to Federate](https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/flipboard-begins-to-federate/)

**We will let you know when we have a handle there. In the meanwhile, follow our [Symfony for the Devil magazine](https://flipboard.com/@mobileatom/symfony-for-the-devil-allupr6jz).**

And this podcast/video:
[The State of the Federation, with Mastodon's Eugen Rochko](https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/eugen-rochko/)

The Letter Two has:

[Flipboard’s ActivityPub Embrace Sparks Content Revolution in the Fediverse](https://thelettertwo.com/2023/12/21/flipboard-brings-content-to-fediverse-with-activitypub/)

And The Verge has:

[Flipboard is pivoting to ActivityPub and the fediverse](https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/18/24006062/flipboard-fediverse-mastodon-activitypub-profiles-social)

And:

[2023 in social media: the case for the fediverse](https://www.theverge.com/23990974/social-media-2023-fediverse-mastodon-threads-activitypub)

[Adam Mosseri spells out Threads’ plans for the fediverse](https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/15/24003435/adam-mosseri-threads-fediverse-plans)

[Threads will let you push fact-checked posts further down your feed](https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/13/24000356/threads-reduce-fact-checked-posts-moderation-meta-facebook-instagram)

Foss Academic shares this gem:

[Thoughts on Threads, or Is Mark Zuckerberg Jesus?](https://fossacademic.tech/2023/12/16/ThoughtsThreads.html)

Erin Kissane also takes a detailed look:

[Untangling Threads](https://erinkissane.com/untangling-threads)

L. Rhodes shares:

[A thread about Threads, ActivityPub, and problems of federation](https://lrhodes.net/threads/threads-federation)

Lemmy announces:

[Lemmy v0.19.0 Release](https://join-lemmy.org/news/2023-12-15_-_Lemmy_Release_v0.19.0_-_Instance_blocking,_Scaled_sort,_and_Federation_Queue)


## CTAs (aka show us some free love)

- That’s it for this week. Please share this communiqué.
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- Do you like Reddit? Why? Instead, follow us [on kbin](https://kbin.social/u/symfonystation) for a better Fediverse and Symfony-based experience. We have a [Symfony Magazine](https://kbin.social/m/Symfony) and [Collection](https://kbin.social/c/SymfonyUniverse) there.

Do you own or work for an organization that would be interested in our promotion opportunities? Or supporting our journalistic efforts? If so, please get in touch with us. We’re in our toddler stage, so it’s extra economical. 😉

More importantly, if you are a Ukrainian company with coding-related products, we can offer free promotion on [our Support Ukraine page](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/Support-Ukraine). Or, if you know of one, get in touch.

You can find a vast array of curated evergreen content on our [communiqués page]((https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/communiques). :FasRocket: 


## Author

![Reuben Walker headshot](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/sites/default/files/inline-images/Reuben-Walker-headshot.jpg)

### Reuben Walker

Founder
Symfony Station