Upgrade from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10+: Key Advantages

Introduction

Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 offers a compelling set of advantages that can significantly benefit your website in terms of security, performance, usability, and access to modern features. Here are the key reasons to consider upgrading:

1. Enhanced Security

   • Security Support: Drupal 7 will reach its end of life, meaning it will no longer receive security updates. Upgrading to Drupal 10 ensures your site remains secure with regular updates.
   • Modern Security Practices: Drupal 10 incorporates the latest security practices and protocols, providing better protection against vulnerabilities, and addressing vulnerabilities present in older versions. It enforces stricter password requirements and has a more secure foundation for your website.

2. Improved Performance

   • Modern Architecture: Drupal 10 has a more modern and efficient architecture compared to Drupal 7, resulting in improved performance, leading to faster page load times and a smoother user experience for visitors.
   • Caching Improvements: Enhanced caching mechanisms in Drupal 10 lead to reduced server load, Cloud Platform cost, improved SEO, and better scalability.
   • Automatic Updates: An optional automatic update module simplifies keeping your Drupal core installation up-to-date with security patches and bug fixes, improving overall system stability.

3. Better User Experience

   • Admin Interface: Drupal 10 offers a more user-friendly and intuitive administrative interface with new default Claro Admin theme. It offers better navigation and a more intuitive workflow for managing your site settings.
   • Content Editing: With features like the built-in CKEditor 5, content editing is more streamlined and provides a better WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) experience. The WYSIWYG editor is upgraded to CKEditor 5, offering a richer and more intuitive content editing experience for your content creators

4. Improved Content Authoring & User Experience

Layout Builder: Drupal 10 includes the Layout Builder, which allows for more flexible and customizable page layouts without the need for custom code.

Drupal 10 Layout Builder

1. • Media Management: Improved media handling capabilities make it easier to manage images, videos, and other media assets directly within the CMS. A new media library simplifies uploading, organizing, and accessing various media assets, making media management more efficient.
   • Enhanced Collaboration: Drupal 10 introduces features that facilitate real-time co-authoring of content, allowing multiple users to collaborate on the same content simultaneously.

2. Mobile Responsiveness

   • Responsive Design: Drupal 10 is built with a mobile-first approach, and responsive design foundation, ensuring that your site is fully responsive and provides a consistent experience across all devices.
   • Responsive Administration: The administrative interface is also responsive, allowing site administrators to manage content and settings on mobile devices effectively. It offers better navigation and a more intuitive workflow for managing your website.

3. Modern Development Practices

   • PHP 8+: Drupal 10 supports PHP 8.1. The Drupal community ensures that the latest versions of Drupal are compatible with recent PHP releases, and PHP 8.1 is supported in Drupal 10
     

     Drupal 10 supports PHP 8.1.

   • Symfony Framework: Drupal 10 is built on the Symfony framework, providing a robust and flexible foundation for modern web development.
     

     Drupal 10 support Symfony 6

   • Composer: Dependency management using Composer makes it easier to manage modules and libraries, enhancing the development workflow.

4. Accessibility Improvements

   • Accessibility Standards: Drupal 10 adheres to the latest web accessibility standards, ensuring that your site is accessible to users with disabilities.
   • Built-in Accessibility Features: Enhanced accessibility features are built into the core, making it easier to create inclusive and accessible websites.

5. Long-Term Support

   • Ongoing Support: Drupal 10 will receive long-term support, including security updates, bug fixes, and new features, ensuring your site remains up-to-date and secure.
   • Community and Vendor Support: A vibrant community and numerous vendors provide support and resources for Drupal 10, making it easier to find help and solutions.

6. Future-Proofing

   • Decoupled Architecture: Drupal 10 offers a compelling solution for future-proof headless CMS needs. Its flexible architecture, strong community, and existing features make it a viable option for developers seeking a robust and feature-rich headless CMS.
   • Single Directory Component: Drupal 10.3 supports Single Directory Components (SDC). This feature allows developers to organize all related files (like templates, YAML files, and optional CSS/JavaScript) into a single directory. This makes it easier to manage and maintain a theme or module.
     

     Single Directory Components

   • Innovation: Upgrading to Drupal 10 positions your site to take advantage of future innovations and improvements in the Drupal ecosystem. Upgrading to Drupal 10 ensures access to ongoing support, security updates, and new features from the Drupal community. This keeps your website future-proof and relevant in the ever-evolving web landscape
   • Integration Capabilities: Drupal 10 offers better integration capabilities with modern web services and third-party applications, ensuring your site can evolve with new technologies.
   • End-of-Life for Drupal 7: Drupal 7 end-of-life on 5th January 2025. This means it will no longer receive security updates, making your website vulnerable to potential security breaches. Upgrading becomes necessary to maintain a secure website.

7. Migration Tools

   1. Migrate API: The Migrate API in Drupal 10 provides robust tools and support for migrating from Drupal 7, making the upgrade process more manageable and less error-prone. The content, assets, users, taxonomy, and all other content can be migrated into Drupal 10 or later versions easily.

Conclusion

Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 is a significant step forward, bringing numerous benefits in terms of security, performance, user experience, and access to modern web development practices. While upgrading requires effort, the advantages of Drupal 10 make it a worthwhile investment for long-term health and security, efficient, and future-proof websites.