In the past, we had partnered with website developers who developed our site without sharing their process making updates and site maintenance a difficult and time consuming task. The Cheeky Monkey team made us part of their process from project initiation all the way up to project hand off."
Exploring Drupal Upgrade and Migration
At Cheeky Monkey Media, we specialize in Drupal upgrade and migration. Our services offer clients the chance to transition to the latest version and unlock its versatility and scalability. We provide reliable solutions and exceptional service to help organizations join the leading edge of CMS technology. Experience the benefits of Drupal for your online presence today.
Drupal 7 End-of-Life
Unless you’re late to the party, you’ve heard that Drupal 7 has been on its last legs for years. With a final extension, it will reach its End-of-Life on January 5, 2025 – one year from now.
Of course, the platform has been given many extensions. It would be easy to assume that EOL will continue indefinitely. Extension after extension might follow. Drupal 8 and 9, the successors to 7 have already hit their EOL dates, and yet there continue to be extensions for the far older, and less impressive version.
The EOL date continues to get pushed for many reasons, but one thing we cannot overlook is that Drupal 7 is an obsolete platform in today’s digital age. While many organizations continue to ride their D7 sites right to the end, they are delaying the inevitable (and quite possibly setting themselves up for a bigger fall when it fails).
No More Time to Wait
When the switch happened and Drupal went from 7 to 8, the process to migrate websites from one platform to the other was intense and complex. To help understand, the two versions shared the same name and had similar functions. However, Drupal 8 was built on a different framework. It used different syntax and changed many processes from the previous model. It was, for all intents and purposes, a brand new platform that maintained a loose connection to its predecessor.
For early adopters, making the change was a bit more challenging than desired. The ability to easily upgrade from 8 to 9 (and now onto 10) was a key feature and motivator behind creating 8. However, for those who continued on Drupal 7, the gap continued to widen with each update, upgrade, and enhancement to follow.
Drupal 10 has been in use for over a year, and with Drupal 11 expected in the Summer of 2024, obsolescence has definitely overtaken Drupal 7. The time has come to make the change. Waiting until the last minute will only make security risks worse. It will also make the move more complex, and impact project timelines and resources.
Drupal 10 and 11
The Benefits
Drupal 10 improves on its predecessors with a modernized backend look and a future-proof platform upgrade. The updated version delivers powerful features and an enhanced user experience. Drupal developers worked hard over several years to make the open source software that we know and love even better. Its features empower Drupal’s vision for the next generation of the web and include the Claro administration theme, the Olivero front-end theme, CKEditor 5, and more.
Key Features in Drupal 10:
- Claro administration theme
- Olivero default theme
- Introduction of CKEditor 5 with better authoring experience and more modern editing
- Modern JavaScript components to replace some uses of jQuery.
- Theme Starter Kit tools for bespoke theme creation.
- Symfony 6 under the hood and PHP 8.1 to keep the system secure.
Reasons to Make the Switch
Performance
Drupal 10 is faster, lighter, and more efficient than any previous version, but still contains fantastic new and improved features.
Ease of Use
Always improving, Drupal 10 is far easier to use than its predecessors, and is closing the gap with WordPress
Security
Drupal is one of the most secure platforms in the world. Community moderators are constantly in the process of easily identifying, addressing, and fixing vulnerabilities.
Community
The Drupal Community continues to be active and involved in the ongoing improvement of the platform. With the Drupal Association leading the charge, the community continues to set the standard among Open-Source platforms.
Drupal 11
Closing the Gap with WordPress
Drupal 11 upgrades include some significant features that will make site management and administration far easier. Many of these upgrades will sound familiar to users of WordPress as the Drupal Community closes the ease-of-use gap with its largest competitor.
Automatic Updates
You’ll be able to run security, patch, and minor updates through an easy process – something that should sound very familiar to WordPress users.
Project Browser
A special “Browse” tab in your Drupal admin dashboard that will let you search for modules or themes by keywords or categories.
Recipes
You’ll be able to use prepackaged starter kits of features to jumpstart your website with this new feature.
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