Here we’ll talk about Drupal 9 and why you should invest in this version. Why you should consider Drupal 9 migration? What are the top advantages of migrating your current Drupal site to Drupal 9?
It’s been 10 years since the launch of Drupal 7. In the ever-evolving landscape of web development, staying up-to-date with the latest technologies and platforms is crucial for maintaining a competitive online presence. Drupal has to make constant efforts to compete with market trends and other content management solution providers. Principle 7 ‘Embrace Change’ from Drupal’s Values and Principles aligns perfectly with the concept of an evolving platform. Drop is constantly upgrading and Drupal (Drop) has recently launched its latest version, Drupal 9.
When it comes to taking advantage of the latest Drupal upgrade and offerings, as a community we have a lot to do. Of the over 950K sites registered on the Drupal Usage Statistics page for November 21, 2021, on average 520K of those websites are running some version of Drupal 7. Drupal 8 support ended on November 2, 2021, and after an extension due to COVID, Drupal 7 support will end in 5 January 2025. Therefore, it is crucial for any organization running any version less than Drupal 9 must plan an upgrade now.
Benefits of Upgrading Your Site To Drupal 9
Whether your site is built on Drupal 7 or you’ve recently upgraded to Drupal 8, you should consider Drupal 9 migration to receive the benefits from the latest Drupal offerings such as accessibility, functionality and security measures. Before diving into the migration process, it’s crucial to understand the benefits of switching to Drupal 9. Unlike other earlier versions, Drupal 9 has some great advancements as well as improvements and offers a smooth transition from Drupal 8. Here are the significant advantages of Drupal 9 migration:
1. Fast and Improved Performance:
Drupal 9 comes with extended support for responsive images hence, ensuring impressive user experience on mobile devices by displaying best-size images that consume fewer amounts of data. Drupal 9 create high-performance website, thanks to content workflows that allow developers to define multiple workflows. Also, it offers multilingual properties for a wider reach.
2. Enhanced Security:
Drupal 9 has a list of security features that will keep your site secure against hackers. All old codes were removed or replaced, making the platform more secure with fewer security problems. The third-party dependencies have also been enhanced. Most of the code interfaces remained unchanged to avoid compatibility issues. This allows developers to not experience any migration issues and support existing add-ons.
3. Backward Compatible:
Drupal 9 is backward compatible which means that the transition will be easier from previous versions. With this module, D9 will be able to use modules, configurations, and data created on D8 of the same software, unlike the case with D7 and D8. This won’t burden Drupal with historical baggage and hinder the performance of the system. The Drupal community focus is on breaking code and not the data. This helps Drupal remain fast, clutter-free and up-to-date with technology.
4. Efficient Editorial Experiences:
Drupal 9 want its content editors to love the admin dashboard hence, they are continuously working on it. Some amazing features that make it possible are such as Media Library, CKEditor for post creation, configurable toolbar, the quick edit feature, Layout Builder, content moderation options, modern Claro admin theme, and lots more. It is so different and unique from the old Drupal 7’s admin interface.
What’s More in Core With Drupal?
Panels in Drupal 7 have been upgraded with Layout Builder. It allows site administrators to visually configure content in Drupal by node or content type. Acquia customers can take this a notch higher by using a Site Studio low code page building tool. Another enhancement is the native media library which is an excellent tool for content authors to upload and reuse media assets, a modernized administrative theme, enhanced multilingual support, improved accessibility features which comply with WCAG 2.0 and ATAG 2.0, customizable workflow tools and powerful configuration management.
Migrating From Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 to Drupal 9
Due to several underlying changes in Drupal 9, there will be more work required to migrate the Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 site. Both content and configuration are required when moving to a clean Drupal 9 website. Composer is a PHP package management tool used to manage projects in Drupal 7 is also used by Drupal 9. Structuring your composer files correctly is extremely essential, there are some helpful existing composer project templates like the Drupal Recommended Project, opinionated build tools via Acquia BLT and Acquia CMS Project for Acquia customers.
Migration UI OR Drush are two options when you’re looking to migrate from Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 to Drupal 9. Opting for Migration UI assumes your intention of migrating everything. Initially, this requires enabling the core migration modules and any other required modules essential for the new experience. This involves installing and enabling the Migrate Upgrade, Migrate Plus, and Migrate Tools contributed modules.
For users opting for the UI Approach, the process starts with importing the Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 database, visiting the upgrade path, inputting your credentials and then following the step-by-step on-screen instructions to run the migration. The core migration modules support most nodes, taxonomy, fields, users, content, and user roles. It’s important to note certain components such as themes, custom modules, and views without a clear migration path will require manual or custom reconstruction.
For complex migration, using Drush is more useful as it enables you to run migrations one by one and provides more flexibility. The users using Composer to build their Drupal 8 website already have Drush installed. Drush offers much more flexibility and you can also choose your migrations. If you don’t have Drush installed, you can do so from the command line.
Migrating your current Drupal site to Drupal 9 can bring significant advantages that you should not miss. For more details on Drupal 9 migration process, feel free to talk to our Drupal experts at Dotsquares.