[DX] Integrate Gitpod's cloud-based development environment to lower barriers to contributions

[shaal]

Description of the need

The Backdrop project is an open-source content management system that empowers website owners and developers to create and manage their websites with ease. However, contributing to the project can be challenging for new developers who are not familiar with the project's setup and configuration.

Proposed solution

To lower the barriers to contributions, we propose integrating Gitpod's full development environment directly into the Backdrop project's GitHub repository. By leveraging Gitpod's cloud-based environment, developers can spin up a pre-configured development environment directly in their browser, reducing the need for local installation and setup. With Gitpod, new developers can easily start contributing to the Backdrop project, which will accelerate development progress.

Alternatives that have been considered

One alternative that has been considered is providing a detailed setup guide to help new developers configure their local development environment. However, this approach can still be time-consuming and confusing for new developers.

Additional information

Integrating Gitpod's development environment will also benefit existing developers by providing a consistent development environment across the project. Additionally, it will help in onboarding new contributors and attracting more contributions to the Backdrop project. Drupal project has DrupalPod.com, implementing this feature in Backdrop should be much simpler.

Draft of feature description for Press Release (1 paragraph at most)

Backdrop CMS is introducing a new feature that integrates Gitpod's cloud-based development environment directly into its GitHub repository. This integration will simplify the setup process for new developers, as they can now spin up a pre-configured development environment directly in their browser. By reducing setup time and providing a consistent environment, this integration will help accelerate development progress and attract more contributions to the open-source project.

[klonos]

Thanks for starting this issue here @shaal 🙏🏼

Are you also willing to help with its implementation (spearhead this and/or provide a PR)? What is required on our end? Do we need to setup something in our GitHub org, or allow access from a 3rd party service? Are there instructions available?

[klonos]

PS: I've made this a DX task instead of a new feature, since features need to wait for minor releases, whereas tasks can go in at any time. Besides, this is similar to other tooling tasks, such as our testing/CI infrastructure, integration with services like Tugboat and Lando etc., and setting up PHPCS and cspell.

[keiserjb]

Yes, thank you @shaal. It was great to actually meet you and speak at Florida DrupalCamp.