Are you running a Drupal 7 website? Upgrading doesn’t have to be hard
Do I really have to upgrade to Drupal 10 now, or have I still got time?
Do I really have to upgrade to Drupal 10 now, or have I still got time? After all, the end-of-life date for Drupal 7 has been extended to November 1st, 2023. Why do I need to go through so much stress now?
You are probably asking yourself these questions if you have a Drupal 7 site.
Let’s discuss some potential concerns below and explain why you shouldn’t be worried about migrating to Drupal 10.
Budget
Sometimes there is an elevated cost for upgrading to a new and more advanced platform that affects your IT and marketing budget. Especially when you are migrating to a completely new version of a fresh platform like Drupal 10.
Let’s consider why upgrading to a modern platform is an investment worth making. The answer is simple – it’s the way to meet your site visitor’s expectations.
Upgrading to Drupal10 is a cost-effective way to turn your average Drupal 7 site into a successful web platform.
You also need to consider the budgetary cost of not upgrading. The costs of dealing with a security issue, hack. or your site failing completely are much greater than upgrading to Drupal 10.
Unavailable Modules
You might think that not many Drupal 7 contributed modules have been migrated to Drupal 10, and you'd be correct! In Drupal 10 most modules have been migrated or rebuilt to be better than in Drupal 7. In fact, a lot of them have been moved into Drupal Core.
Integrations
Can Drupal 10 support all of our existing integrations that Drupal 7 has been handling successfully?
Yes, that won’t be a problem. Drupal 10 uses a modern architecture that allows websites to easily integrate and exchange data with any third-party application via APIs.
Lack of knowledge of the benefits of Drupal 10 over Drupal 7
This is one of the major reasons why Drupal 7 users are afraid of moving to Drupal 10. But, don’t forget that migrating to a more powerful content management system is like starting a new chapter. It is exciting, but also you need to feel secure and this is a key factor that Drupal 10 brings with it - Security!
And let’s not forget that staying on an old tech stack like Drupal 7 makes you vulnerable to hacking attacks which could result in losing valuable clients.
Because Drupal 7 will soon be end-of-life, upgrading will soon be essential rather than optional. So, it's better to do it now and take your time, than waiting until a problem occurs and you have to rush your upgrade through.
In Drupal 10 most modules have been migrated or rebuilt to be better than in Drupal 7. In fact, a lot of them have been moved into Drupal Core.
How should we prepare for an upgrade to Drupal 10?
Every organization should carefully prepare and pay attention to some very important details in order to make the migration to Drupal 10 smooth and to avoid potential pitfalls.
Here are some tips to help:
- Define your purpose: What has changed in terms of your organizational goals that could require you to add, remove or edit new features of your Drupal site?
- Audience: If your goals have changed, then so could your audience. If this is your case, you should review the features of your site and look at amending some of them to better suit the new audience.
- Content: Do you have a new audience? If so, you might need to update your content strategy. In any case, reviewing the content of your website might give you new ideas and help you answer the question of whether your message is attracting the right audience. Look at your website analytics to see what content and features are viewed or used most often.
- SEO strategy. Have you wanted to implement new SEO strategies? If the answer is yes, but you couldn’t, because of the current architecture of Drupal 7 just take a deep breath and calm down as that nightmare is over. Drupal 10 has all the necessary features so you can implement SEO strategies.
We all know that a new reality is always a challenge. This is why we want you to be well-informed and prepared to migrate to Drupal 10. To help you, we suggest you check two things in particular:
- The new features and functionalities you want to see on your website
- The changes you need to make to the existing website functions
You're now probably wondering: How can I know exactly what I need?
The answer is to audit your website!
A thorough website audit should look at everything from site goals and UX to security
How do I get started with a website audit?
Whether you are an experienced website manager who understands information architecture well or not, we recommend using an experienced and reliable Drupal development partner for your audit.
It is best practice to engage the fresh eyes of a specialist Drupal agency for an audit, as they can help you with fresh ideas due to being up to date with the latest developments in the industry. You can find some tips on selecting a new Drupal partner here.
In fact, if you're looking for a new project development partner, an audit is a great way to test them out and see how well you work together.
Whether you audit your website by yourself or get a Drupal agency like SystemSeed to do it for you, there are three things to do to get started:
- Back up your current Drupal site.
- List out all the existing content types, views and blocks, and other Drupal assets.
- List out all the contributed and custom modules that are currently being used/unused.
These first steps are just the start of a thorough audit process, which should also include assessments of site security, performance, robustness, UX, integration stability and more.
Want help with an audit or upgrading your Drupal site?
We’re happy to talk you through what’s required and answer your questions about the issues around Drupal 7. Get in touch here.