The Media Entity module for Drupal 8

We continue our series about Drupal 8 modules. Previously, we covered the Permissions By Term, Honeypot and Responsive and off-canvas menu modules, this time: Media Entity.

Will a site be interesting for a user if the content is posted without a single picture, video, tweet, etc? Not really.

So, we all agree that adding different kinds of media to a site is an important function, one that was sort of an issue in Drupal 7.

But not anymore! Or to be exact: not since the Media Entity module for Drupal 8 came out. It’s not like you couldn’t add pictures or videos, tweets or Instagram posts before, but now the process has become ten times easier. Keep reading to find out why Media Entity for Drupal 8 is something you definitely need to know about!

What’s the Media Entity module?

Basically the Media Entity module provides a storage for different media files, which can reference many resources. YouTube videos, Tweets, Instagram photos and local files — all of them can be easily added to your site.

Media Entity’s features

• Reusable media. We would say it’s one of the best features of this module. Say “goodbye” to reuploading the same image 100 times to use it in different posts. Now you can upload it once and put it wherever you want.
• Easier maintenance. Since media is now (in Drupal 8) more like a “component” based system, it’s now a lot easier to modify those components without changing the existing data. This is completely different from Drupal 7’s situation, where it was much more difficult to correct something once a media type was assigned.
• Metadata mapping. Another cool feature is the fact that the Media Entity module knows exactly how to handle all kinds of media and it is capable of collecting metadata. By saying this we mean that tags, captions, credit info, thumbnails, the quantity of retweets and likes and more can be displayed on your site along with the media file itself.
• Base module. The Media Entity module combines several Drupal 7 solutions (Scald, Mediabox, Asset and Field entity) to create a base for the D8 media ecosystem).

Additional modules for Media Entity

One of the main features of this module is that it’s a foundation for different plugins, in that it’s a base for other modules that expand its functionality and support different media types.

Those additional modules are:

1. Media entity Image
2. Media entity Slideshow
3. Media entity Audio
4. Media entity Video
5. Media entity Instagram
6. Media entity Twitter
7. Media Entity Documents

You can tell which module does what :)

Is it useful? It sure is.

With the help of the Media Entity module for Drupal 8 you are now able to upload all sorts of media files using more-than-user-friendly interface for that purpose. What’s more — you can reuse everything that’s already in the Media Entity’s storage without having to reupload it again. Make your site much more appealing — share the most interesting tweets, beautiful Instagram photos and helpful documents with the Media Entity module for Drupal 8. And if you have any troubles with that, let us know and we will help you.