docs(blog): add DDEV v1.25.3 release post and update related articles

[stasadev]

The Issue

Website coverage for the DDEV v1.25.3 release. Companion to:

• v1.25.3 Release Notes ddev#8544
• docs: add Podman and Docker rootless setup instructions ddev#8434
• docs(wsl2): use Ubuntu-26.04 instead of Ubuntu-24.04, for #8326, for #8408 ddev#8553

How This PR Solves The Issue

• Add release-v1-25-3.md for v1.25.3: faster ddev start/ddev stop, Docker Compose SDK, stable Podman/Docker Rootless, Node.js fixes, DDEV_XDG_CONFIG_HOME.
• Update podman-and-docker-rootless.md: Podman and Docker Rootless are stable; setup steps moved to the docs.
• Update docker-buildx-requirement-v1-25-1.md for the Compose SDK switch and ddev config global --docker-buildx-version.
• Bump the Windows quickstart WSL2 distro to Ubuntu 26.04.
• Add release banner SVGs and ddev start/ddev stop comparison GIFs.
• Point AGENTS.md at the ddev prettier/ddev textlint custom commands.

Manual Testing Instructions

• New blog: https://20260703-stasadev-v1-25-3.ddev-com-front-end.pages.dev/blog/release-v1-25-3/
• Installation instructions for Podman and Docker rootless are removed: https://20260703-stasadev-v1-25-3.ddev-com-front-end.pages.dev/blog/podman-and-docker-rootless/
• Small update for v1.25.3: https://20260703-stasadev-v1-25-3.ddev-com-front-end.pages.dev/blog/docker-buildx-requirement-v1-25-1/
• Ubuntu-26.04 for Windows tab: https://20260703-stasadev-v1-25-3.ddev-com-front-end.pages.dev/get-started/

[stasadev]

DDEV start/stop GIF recording process

Tools

• vhs — record terminal to GIF
• ffprobe — measure GIF duration
• gifsicle — pad shorter GIF's last frame to match the other
• ffmpeg — stack the matched pair into one GIF (top/bottom)

1. Tape files

Four tapes, one per command per version:

Output ddev-start-v1-25-2.gif

Set FontSize 26
Set Width 1200
Set Height 600

Type "ddev start"
Sleep 500ms
Enter
Wait@60s
Sleep 3s

Same for ddev-start-v1-25-3.tape, ddev-stop-v1-25-2.tape, ddev-stop-v1-25-3.tape (swap Type command and Output filename).

Wait@60s replaces a fixed Sleep — it blocks until the shell prompt reappears (command actually done), instead of guessing a duration.

2. Measure durations

ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries format=duration \
  -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 <file>.gif

Results:

pair	v1.25.2	v1.25.3
start	24.44s	22.04s
stop	16.24s	6.40s

3. Pad shorter GIF to match

# frame count of the file being padded
gifsicle --info ddev-start-v1-25-3.gif | grep -c '^\s*+ image'   # 551 -> last index 550
gifsicle --info ddev-stop-v1-25-3.gif  | grep -c '^\s*+ image'   # 160 -> last index 159

# new last-frame delay (cs) = original 4cs + pad needed
# start: 4 + 240 (2.40s) = 244
# stop:  4 + 984 (9.84s) = 988

gifsicle ddev-start-v1-25-3.gif '#0-549' -d244 '#550' -o ddev-start-v1-25-3.gif
gifsicle ddev-stop-v1-25-3.gif  '#0-158' -d988 '#159' -o ddev-stop-v1-25-3.gif

-d must come before the frame selector it applies to, and only frames explicitly selected are written out.

Result: both pairs match exactly (24.44s / 16.24s).

4. Merge each pair into one GIF (top/bottom)

Two separate <img> tags can drift out of sync depending on browser load timing. Stack each matched pair into a single GIF instead, so both halves share one timeline:

ffmpeg -y -i ddev-start-v1-25-2.gif -i ddev-start-v1-25-3.gif -filter_complex \
"[0:v][1:v]vstack=inputs=2[stacked];[stacked]split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen=stats_mode=diff[p];[s1][p]paletteuse=dither=bayer" \
ddev-start-v1-25-2-vs-v1-25-3.gif

ffmpeg -y -i ddev-stop-v1-25-2.gif -i ddev-stop-v1-25-3.gif -filter_complex \
"[0:v][1:v]vstack=inputs=2[stacked];[stacked]split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen=stats_mode=diff[p];[s1][p]paletteuse=dither=bayer" \
ddev-stop-v1-25-2-vs-v1-25-3.gif

Requires matching width and framerate between inputs (both were 1200px wide, 25fps). Output: ddev-start-v1-25-2-vs-v1-25-3.gif (1.72MB), ddev-stop-v1-25-2-vs-v1-25-3.gif (182KB) — replaces the four separate GIFs in the blog post.

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View logs

[stasadev]

@rfay, this is a copy of the result you sent me in Discord. I didn't run any comparison myself.

[stasadev]

I added benchmark on Linux.

[rfay]

This is really fantastic, thanks. I love the animations, and people will also.

• Consider mentioning that it's 125 PRs (this might fit in the fantastic opening section, which I loved).
• It might be too much to talk about, but the difference of ddev restart of a running project is amazing. An animation of that might be interesting, but maybe there are too many anyway. Maybe do ddev restart instead of ddev stop ?

The tone here is absolutely perfect, and you've focused on the key things. Thank you!

[rfay]

Minor suggestions.

[rfay]

Consider just removing this section in the future. I guess maybe it's already essentially removed.

[stasadev]

I want to keep it for historical reasons. I struggled with Podman rootful, and I don't want to throw away this setup (which is heavily simplified) after putting so much effort into it.