With all the buzz about the latest versions of Drupal, you may be asking yourself is now the time to upgrade your Drupal 7 website. With the End of Life (EOL) for Drupal 7 (D7) being extended to November 2022, should you start taking steps today toward upgrading to the next version? Not only will a proactive approach help you to avoid a last-minute scramble, but Drupal 9 (D9) offers some impressive new features and functionality that can help you deliver an improved user experience.
Improved Security
Having a secure website or application is likely among your top priorities, and thankfully, D9 is considered one of the most secure versions to date. Among the reasons for this impressive accolade include the adoption of the Symfony framework and several upgraded security modules, helping your organization to prevent security breaches and cyberattacks. The Drupal security team is always on the lookout for vulnerabilities and each security update comes with new bug fixes and patches to ensure your site remains safe and secure.
Pain Free Upgrades
Unlike previous versions, upgrading to D9 is much more seamless and offers simpler configuration steps; saving admins, site builders, and content creators a lot of time and money. What’s even better, once you’ve upgraded to D9, future upgrades to D10 and beyond will be much easier, eliminating the need for complete site rebuilds.
Improved Authoring Experience
Through D9’s Layout Builder, site authors can choose from multiple layouts based on each individual page or content type. Plus, site admins are given a significant boost in flexibility, with drag-and-drop editing functionality and the ability to make real-time edits on the front-end of the site.
Mobile-First Responsive Design
It’s important for your website to shine on any device. Even without customization, D9 is a fully responsive content management system (CMS) and has core themes that automatically format content to look and function beautifully on each and every screen. This responsive design isn’t only a huge plus for improving the end-user experience, but it benefits site builders too. With a mobile-friendly toolbar and authoring features, site admins can easily update or add content from their phone or mobile device.
These are only just a few of the reasons why creating a Drupal migration strategy now is so important. With the help of D9, you can make your site more future-proof, not only because of the streamlined upgrades going forward, but by tapping into the innovative features and functionality of Drupal 9, you can create powerful, personalized user experiences that people want to return to again and again.
Looking for Drupal experts who can ensure your migration is smooth sailing from start to finish? Contact Kevin Leonard at kevin.leonard@breaktech.com to schedule an upgrade consultation.