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Why Drupal CMS is the Best Framework for Developing Your Website

The content management system (CMS) you use decide the performance and success of your website in terms of user experience. Drupal has long been known both as an efficient CMS and a robust back-end framework for website development. Drupal provides and intuitive and user-friendly interface for both website owners and visitors alike. Also, the CMS platform is known for its scalability, flexibility, and security features. All these factors make Drupal development so among enterprises and organizations.

Key Benefits of Building a Website on Drupal CMS

Drupal is the most preferred web development framework for achieving long-term digital goals. This is mainly due to its unparalleled scalability and diverse development modules. Whether you want to start a blog, build a website, or start an online business, Drupal never disappoints you.

• Immersive user experience & user interface

If you run a business website, the entire story of the conversion of sales via the website depends on the user experience. Website visitors must easily be able to navigate through the website and they must find the experience engaging. The latest version of Drupal, Drupal 8, has built-in tools for managing user experience and user interface. You can easily make your website highly personalized and interactive. Web designers working on Drupal development love the CMS platform for such features.

• Web development flexibility

Drupal offers a strong backend framework that enables developers to build complex websites and web apps without any glitches. The framework provides a diverse range of modules and APIs that make even processes like PSD to Drupal conversion easier. Drupal also has functionalities for generating RSS feed, managing user permission, and listing published pages, among others. Besides, Drupal has been diversifying its features and functionalities with every major release. For instance, Drupal 8 featured many new functionalities in terms of the platform’s flexibility.

• Scalability of websites

Your business or organization does not remain the same forever. It changes with time and requirements expand. So should your website. Drupal’s architecture is designed to offer flexibility and scalability to websites. The framework enables developers to reuse code, web hosting functionalities, and easily manage content according to the growing needs of a website.

Besides, Drupal’s easy configuration enables you to accommodate multiple websites with different functionalities. To ensure consistency in its scalable functionalities, Drupal regularly undergoes performance testing by a global community of developers.

• SEO friendliness

Drupal has an array of in-built features and functionalities that enables website owners to perform well in terms of SEO. For instance, Drupal’s metatag module enables you to decide how the content appears on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, Drupal offers an extensive range of third-party modules that make the SEO process easier and effective. These SEO features allow you to control the URLs while putting less time into the process.

• Robust website security

Drupal has maintained as a reputation of being one of the most secure web development frameworks. This reputation has helped Drupal to convince organizations like NASA and the Tesla to choose the platform for developing their web solutions. The security of the platform has further strengthened with the latest update, Drupal 8. Drupal’s core code and its diverse modules are closely monitored by a huge community of web developers and security experts spread worldwide. They make constant efforts to stop malicious bots and automated malware.

Conclusion

By choosing the Drupal CMS you can control every aspect of your website according to your needs. Whether it’s the design, the interface, or SEO performance of the site, Drupal renders full control. The robustness, flexibility, reliability of the web development framework make it a highly preferred tool among web development veterans.

At Drupal India, we constantly upgrade our web development services with the evolution of the CMS. Alongside development and customization, we also offer efficient Drupal migration services. Follow our blogs to stay updated about everything Drupal.

FAQs

Q. What is Drupal used for?

Drupal is a content management system (CMS). It is used to develop websites and web applications. Drupal has impressive features, like easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. Its flexibility and security set Drupal aside from others.

Q. What is the programming language for Drupal?

Drupal is a PHP-based web development framework.
PHP supplies the logic and MySQL provides the database. The operating system installed on the server to power this process is Linux. The Apache software handles the requests for pages and publishes them.

Q. How does a CMS work?

A Content Management System (CMS) is a Graphic User Interface (GUI) that enables the interaction with a website’s database. CMS is the entirety of the web application, from database tables to admin panel to front-end display.

Drupal 9 Preview – Dependency Updates, API Stability & More 

Drupal has announced that the stable Drupal 9.0.0 will be released on June 3, 2020. The beta version of this forthcoming release is available for download now. The official development team at Drupal has done extensive work before releasing the beta version. So, we can expect this release on the scheduled date. This release will be another pivotal update for Drupal website development services and related offerings.

Key Features of Drupal 9.0.0 (Preview)

Drupal 9.0.0 is the biggest release after Drupal 8. The previous major releases have a track record of significantly drifting away from their previous version. Drupal 8, for instance, looked starkly different from Drupal 7. However, Drupal 9 would be an exception in that sense. As we can make an educated guess from the beta version, Drupal 9 would be functionally very much similar with the latest minor update of Drupal 8.

Changes in Modules & Themes in Drupal 9

Almost half of the themes and modules in the forthcoming version have either stable or a developer version. That means Drupal 9 is compatible with these themes and modules. The remaining themes and modules have a working patch.

The themes and modules that have a compatible or developer version include:

• Admin toolbar
• Pathauto
• Entity Reference
• Paragraphs
• Redirect
• Sitemap
• Mail system

Third-Party Dependency Updates

Drupal 8 uses several third-party tools, including CKEditor 4, jQuery UI 3.2, and Twig 1. Drupal 9 will change these third-party APIs. So it will affect Drupal’s backward compatibility with third-party software tools. Drupal maintains a tradition of changing such third-party compatibilities in its major releases. This also impacts Drupal web services in terms of development.

Some important third-party libraries will be updated and some others will remain unchanged in Drupal 9.

Another important update in Drupal 9 is the use of a new version of Symfony, the PHP web application framework. Since Symfony 3 ends in November 2021, Drupal 9 will use the latest version of Symfony, version 4.4.

Using Drupal 9 for Web Development Projects

If you’re associated with Drupal website development services and want to be an early adopter of the Drupal 9 version, here’s some suggestions:

You can update your platform for Drupal web services immediately after the stable release in June 2020.
If you want to start early, use Drupal 8.8 and 8.9 for developing solutions and then test the solution. Then test the solution on Drupal once the new version is assessed properly.
Make sure you don’t use any deprecated API in custom code. And check compatibility of APIs with Drupal 9.

Conclusion

According to Drupal, the new release will be a cleaned-up version of its predecessors. Although it similar to Drupal 8 in functional aspects, it will be significantly better in terms of navigation and overall user experience. Also, the process of updating from Drupal 8 to 9 is much easier than the earlier ones. Drupal India, a leading provider of Drupal web design services to businesses and organizations worldwide. We have empowered many businesses to best use web solutions and achieve desired growth.

FAQs

Q. What is Drupal used for?

Drupal is an open-source web development framework. Drupal is widely used to develop a diverse range of websites Drupal includes a content management platform and a development framework.

Q. How long does it take to develop a Drupal website?

The development time of a Drupal website depends on your requirements. If your requirements are limited and predefined it takes comparatively less time. At Drupal India, we build websites in the shortest turnaround time possible.

Q. How much does it cost to build a Drupal Website?

The development cost for a Drupal website depends on what kind of website you need. Costs are lower for a website with basic themes and features. If you need a high-performance site with more advanced features, the cost will be different. We offer competitive pricing every kind of website.

Why Drupal 8 for Educational Websites is a Perfect Choice

The websites of most renowned universities across the globe are built on Drupal 8. The PHP-based web development platform offers an array of useful features that makes it the most preferred choice among higher education institutes. However, it’s not just about universities, Drupal is a widely used content management system (CMS) across industries. This makes Drupal 8 development popular in commercial and educational sectors alike.

What Makes Drupal Better Than Other CMS Platforms?

Drupal is one of the pioneers in the arena of open-source content management systems. The platform leverages the powerful features of PHP. According to Drupal, 2.3% of the world’s website is built on the web development framework. Drupal enables website owners to maintain web pages by using its interface instead of developing individual HTML pages.

We need to discuss the structural and functional components of Drupal to understand its superiority. From a robust architecture to efficient site administration tools, Drupal is poised to smoothly run your website.

The Architecture of Drupal 8

Drupal offers some changes in core architecture in comparison to its earlier editions. The CMS platform now has the power of the PHP web application framework Symfony. This makes the development ecosystem more efficient and flexible since it’s no longer limited to the Drupal development community. Developers can use the features of Symfony and make websites more powerful. Besides, Drupal provides an array of existing libraries that dramatically speed up the development process. These modifications are especially beneficial for higher education systems as they enhance the over user experience on a website. Efficient Drupal 8 development takes into account all these elements.

User Experience & Accessibility

Visitors to college and university websites are immensely diverse. Developers and website owners should always bear this in mind while developing a website. Every university wants to make its website perfectly user-friendly and easily accessible. That’s why universities like Drupal so much. Drupal 8 offers frictionless website browsing experience. Besides, Drupal provides tools like OpenEDU as built-in tools to check accessibility.

Speaking of user experience, Drupal renders an immersive experience both in terms of functionality and content. The platform is mobile-friendly by design. This is important because most visitors would browse a website from a mobile device rather than a desktop computer. Additionally, Drupal provides seamless support for media like images, videos, and graphics. It also supports externally hosted videos from video-streaming platforms Vimeo and YouTube.

Personalized Content Management

Content management is central to Drupal-based websites since Drupal is, by design, a CMS platform. Websites of universities and colleges are very rich in content. Besides, they also need to periodically update a substantial amount of content. Be it new information for students, applicants, or findings of a new study, university websites are very dynamic in terms of content. Drupal 8 is the most suitable development platform for such content-related features. Many organizations even choose Drupal migration services to move their existing website to Drupal.

Besides, Drupal enables education institutions to create a more engaging relationship with website visitors by going beyond static content types. Such content can create an immersive website experience for visitors. The CMS platform also has easy-to-use content editing features for web pages.

Robust Security

College and university websites may contain lots of sensitive information. Hence it’s important to maintain proper security on these websites. Security features are an integral part of Drupal-based websites. Drupal periodically releases new security patches and upgrades security with every new version. Whenever you install an updated version of the Drupal CMS framework, upgraded security features are automatically installed onto your website.

Seamless Website Administration

With Drupal 8 development you get a vast range of tools and extensions for easy administration of your website. While adding an image or a video, you can now use filters and search the right item. Besides, new modules provide a method for scheduling, publishing, and removing content.

We efficiently use all these features and functionalities of Drupal 8 to build custom websites for our clients in the education sector. Our Drupal web development services are known for unmatched content management features and attractive design. We constantly upgrade our development process with the emergence of new tools and technologies. Having served a vast range of industries, we can precisely understand your requirements and deliver the desired solutions.

FAQs

Q. What is Drupal used for?

Drupal is a content management system (CMS). It’s used by developers worldwide to build websites. Drupal offers useful features, like easy content publishing, robust security, and seamless user experience.

Q. Why is Drupal better than other CMS?

Drupal is more flexible and secure than other CMS platforms like WordPress. It’s superior in terms of functionality is freely available as modules. With the help of a professional web developer, you can customize everything in Drupal.

Q. What does CMS mean?

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that is used to create and manage digital content. These platforms can be used for enterprise content management and web content management, among others.

Q. What does a web development company do?

Web developers and designers work as a team to design, create, and maintain websites and web applications. A web development company delivers websites and other web-based solutions according to the client’s requirements.

Q. How long does it take to build a Drupal-based website?

The development time for a Drupal CMS-based website depends on your requirements. If you need a website with basic content management and design features, it will take shorter than a feature-rich website.

Why Drupal 8 CMS is Perfect for Building Education Website?

Drupal is one of the most widely used open-source CMS that was specifically designed to build enterprise websites. It is based on PHP language and is available under the General Public License. It has been observed that over 5% of websites in the world are based on Drupal and its different versions.

A CMS enables a user to maintain a website with a dashboard or an interface. All the data, for example, the content on your homepage or services sections, exists in a database. Whenever a page needs to be load, the data is fetched from the database, placed inside the templates, and then displayed to the end-user, instantly.

Packed with remarkable features, including greater flexibility, scalability, security and higher page load speed, Drupal 8 CMS was launched two years back. Most of the enterprises are investing in Drupal 8 development to get the best benefits of this innovative CMS.

Universities and educational institutes looking to adopt Drupal 8, would be well advised to consider its advantages. Of course, as the latest version, Drupal 8 is the first choice for education websites, where it is not currently in use. This blog will review the benefits of Drupal 8 for your institution.

Why Drupal 8 is used by Education Websites?

Drupal 8, is widely used by universities for multiple reasons. When universities began to have their own websites, it was mostly designed & developed by the students. They always look for easy and robust web design solutions and Drupal was a natural choice. It is an open-source framework that doesn’t need to be licensed. The code is easy to modify using a simple text editor. Due to these features, Drupal migration is also high in demand, where websites based on other CMS are migrated to Drupal 8. Here are some major benefits of this robust CMS for website development.

1. Simple Content Management
Designing and deploying a Drupal 8 based website is only half a job. The main part is to add and manage the content by keeping every information up to date. The best part about Drupal CMS is the Page editor feature where a non-technical user can add or update the web pages in the same manner as a Word document. Whatever you can perform in a Word document, the Drupal 8-page editor offers the same functionality.

2. Multilingual Support
Drupal has a huge community with contributors from all around the world. So it’s no surprise multilingual experiences are integrated with the Drupal 8 CMS. Students, scholars from different backgrounds access the websites, thus dozens of languages are required for the website interface and content. Drupal 8 includes a full set of tools for the content translation, user interface, and admin interfaces making it the best CMS for university website development. Universities hire Drupal developers to make changes that seem complicated as well as customize the website as per the user’s requirement.

3. Support Custom Content
University websites have a number of custom content types, comprising news, events, videos, programs and many more. Drupal 8 has tools to create and manage custom content, including a feature to add an array of multiple types of fields. It has a powerful taxonomy system, allowing content editors to relate content and make it accessible. In addition, it also allows the creation of rich content layouts without technical knowledge. Tools including layout builders can help to improve the user experience and help in content discovery.

4. Advance Security
Considering that education and university websites include lots of sensitive and vital data, features that make a Drupal-based website secure are integrated into the basic structure. New patches are regularly released and based on the installation settings, they are even by default installed as soon as they become accessible.

5. Quick Scalability
Drupal is a highly scalable CMS with features to build and manage a website of 10, 100 or even 1000 pages. A university website usually has a large number of pages that can be easily developed and managed with Drupal CMS. For instance, even if you have a single page, you can use Drupal 8 CMS because it can be easily installed on a basic web hosting configuration. The same goes for a heavy website having 100 pages. The CMS is proficient to handle any type of traffic surge even if you are getting thousands of hits per second.

These are some of the most important features of Drupal 8 CMS which make it the perfect choice for university website development.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Drupal 8 used?

Drupal is CMS software used to build websites and applications for every vertical whether it is corporate, educational, restaurant or government. Drupal has amazing features, including simple content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. But what sets it apart is its flexibility, and modularity as its core principles.

Is Drupal front end or backend?

A Drupal developer writes a lot of PHP and other server-side languages. They code custom modules, automated tests, consume web services, automate deployment and many more. They may also be known as “backend Drupal developers”.

What is Drupal architecture?

Drupal is a free and open-source CMS allowing organizing, managing and publishing the web content and is based on the PHP language. Drupal CMS is very flexible and robust that can be used to build large, complex websites.

Is Drupal a programming language?

Drupal is not a language, it’s a CMS. It is built on a programming language named PHP, or Python. While a programming language is a collection of rules and syntax to execute specific tasks, a CMS is a platform to manage as well as load the content.

Wrapping Up:
The latest version Drupal 8 is open-source, which is easy to avail and operate. It has added several enhancements, themes, as well as free plugins to make the website even more flexible, scalable, and user-friendly. At Drupal India, we offer top-rated Drupal web development services to our clients using the latest technologies. Apart from development, we have an experienced team of designers, testers that check website quality for end-user engagement. Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 Migration service is also offered to the clients to improve website performance.

Top 7 Drupal Modules To Build Secure & Engaging Enterprise Website

Drupal has always been considered as top-rated CMS for its uniqueness and flexibility. Besides the core features, the collection of different modules makes this CMS special in the website development industry. You will not find a single Drupal-based website that has not integrated modules.

A module is a collective set of PHP, JavaScript and CSS files that boost the website functionality. Modules provide a framework to enhance the features and flexibility of a website so that you can easily customize the digital experience to your user demands. They give Drupal website development an opportunity to enhance the functions, features, as well as the power to complete incredible tasks.

There are thousands of modules available with Drupal, and they are categorized into three types:

Core Modules: They are part of every Drupal installation. For instance, these modules assist in the management of user accounts, content fields, and navigation menus.

Contributed Modules: These modules can be downloaded from Drupal.org but is not present in the Drupal core package.

Custom Modules: These are pretty self-explanatory as they’re coded particularly for the individual projects.

Let’s look at the most contributed and useful modules for a Drupal development company that wants to enhance the client website capabilities. We will look solely at modules for Drupal 8.

1. Entity Browser

The Entity Browser module is a complete savior when it comes to interacting with different digital media. It is a flexible tool that helps in browsing, creating or choosing media files in a smooth and easy manner. With Entity Browser, dragging-and-dropping of multiple files at once can be done as well as enhance the search capabilities. If you’re a fan of WYSIWYG, you’ll be glad that it enables that as well.

2. Views

Views module helps website developer to organize and display the content to the world in different manners; this is great for education industry because it gives opportunity to do multiple things like creating lists showing all assignments a student has finished, that are only available to the student or teacher who is currently accessing the page with its credentials. It allows the teachers and admin department to monitor and schedule daily tasks. It’s a great module that can be integrated without hesitation and is part of all Drupal websites.

3. Panels

Once you hire Drupal developers they use the drag-and-drop feature to build website customized layouts. These layouts are helpful in displaying multiple types of content. Drupal CMS has an additional advantage of actively changing and customizing the content. This feature is quite unique which you’re not going to see with other CMSs for sure. Panels not only help Drupal CMS for building educational websites, but it’s also a great module for every other business website.

4. Delete All

Delete All may just be one of the most efficient modules available for the website users. If you need to clean up a website when facing any system error or are looking to remove dummy content this module is your best buddy. With one click, you can clear all content of a specific node type without having to worry about the pagination or wasting time while scrolling each item.

5. Features

It combines and streamlines the complete process of managing the website elements like a blog, image galleries, e-commerce stores, and a press room. These elements are essential to run an enterprise website, and the Features module removes all the technical issues experienced when handling elements and thereby reduces the developer’s burden.

6. GraphQL

GraphQL is one of the modules that allow you to access content from your Drupal website and easily hand it off to the front-end applications. The biggest advantage of GraphQL is that it gives the requesting application the liberty to ask for things from the Drupal website, rather than the website mentioning what is available. It automatically lowers the time required to request data by grouping queries.

7. Rabbit Hole

With Drupal, there are several content entities to manage. This not only comprises of individual posts but also categorize entities that don’t need to be visible for the website visitors. Nevertheless, Drupal by default creates URLs to those entities, that only host partial content which in reality is only used somewhere else. This module allows easy creation of redirecting that makes the content inaccessible, making the website cleaner, for the users.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the modules in Drupal?

A Drupal module is a collection of files containing some functionality and is written in PHP. Since the module code executes within the site context, it can use all the functions and access all variables and structures of the Drupal CMS.

2. What are the core modules?

They are part of every Drupal installation. For instance, these modules assist in the management of user accounts, content fields, and navigation menus.

3. Where do we upload contributed modules in Drupal?

The modules folder at the top level of your Drupal installation is reserved for Drupal core modules. So, you should generally create a sites/all/modules directory and place uploaded modules there.

Wrapping Up:

These above-discussed modules are some of the most demanding modules that work very well for Drupal-based websites. In addition to that Drupal CMS also offers other modules that are less popular overall but happen to work quite well for enterprise websites. Drupal module development demand is growing at a rapid pace and many business enterprises are approaching the platform. Drupal being an Open-Source, secure and top-rated CMS is making a good impact in the web development world.

Top Rated Drupal SEO Modules For Website Optimization

Drupal is a robust and highly customizable CMS allowing users to build search engine friendly websites. And without a doubt, it is very difficult for a website to meet its full potential without following proper search engine optimization.

When it comes to Drupal CMS, there are several modules that can be customized to improve SEO. All these modules help developers, designers and business owners to improve the website performance in search results. At the same time, there is a huge list of modules and choosing from within them is a challenging job. To save you from any trouble, in this blog, we have discussed some of the top Drupal SEO modules to optimize your website.

1. Drupal SEO Checklist

First, on the list, we’ve Drupal SEO Checklist module; it is basically an SEO dashboard that checks whether a website is optimized for the search engines and provides an overview of several SEO functions for the website.

In addition to that, it also helps in executing SEO tasks, recommends multiple SEO modules that further enhance the functionality and also tracks the work done on a specific date and time. It is a perfect module to keep things organized.

2. Redirect

It is very common when changes are done to the website page, which also means changing the URL context. The situation is, that the URL is already cached on search engines – this means that if a user opens the ranked URL, it directs to a link that is no longer present.

Very likely, the user leaves the website and moves elsewhere for the specific data, resulting in lowering your site’s SEO ranking. With the integration of the Redirect module, you can easily redirect the users to a new URL. This simply contributes towards the SEO efforts as it removes the dead links from the website.

3. Pathauto

Pathauto is a highly recommended module that all Drupal development company swears by. When SEO needs to be done, having proper URLs is important if you want the content to rank high on SERPs.

By using the Pathauto module, the need for manual creation of proper URLs for each new node is removed. Instead, the module automatically creates URLs based on particular set patterns that can be user-customized. The URLs created are concise and structured as per the user needs. This Pathauto module is a really simple solution that can boost your SEO.

4. Google Analytics

While not a specific SEO module in itself, Google Analytics is a strong tool for all requirements of a website. It helps to monitor the traffic and keep tabs on an extensive analysis of the website.

When SEO related changes are performed to the website, you might be curious to observe the results it yields. With the Google Analytics module for Drupal CMS, you can simply integrate your website with Google Analytics and check the possible results your efforts bring about.

5. Search 404

The search 404 module helps to handle 404-page errors on the website. Once the module is installed, and when a user enters a URL that displays a 404 page, the output will automatically navigate to the internal website search with the related term present in the URL. Why is this important?

404 page seems to be a negative sign for the visitors. When they found there are no results on the page, they simply switch to another website. This ultimately increases the bounce rate, which is an important parameter search engine uses to rate the website’s quality. Search 404 module helps get over this issue. You can hire Drupal developers to integrate this powerful and feature-rich module within your website.

6. Mollom

Spam is always a major threat that we need to deal with when working with website content. It creates troubles for website visitors and search engines. Sometimes these spam extracts the website page juice. That’s why a module is needed to address this situation.

The Mollon module helps to detect and prevent spam based on the posted content, reputation and user activity history. It operates by blocking the poster immediately or forcing entering the Captcha to be accepted.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the modules in Drupal?

A Drupal module is a collection of files having some functionality and is written in PHP language. Because the module code executes within the site context, it can use all the functions and access all variables and Drupal core structures.

What is Drupal SEO Tools?

The Drupal SEO Tools is a module that smoothly integrates all-in-one suite of search engine reporting, analysis and optimization tools within the website. It provides a dashboard that integrates the analytics reports with links to webmaster tools and important Drupal SEO modules.

How does SEO work?

SEO involves making prominent changes to the website design and content that make your website properly optimized to the search engine. SEO is the process that website owners implement to make sure that their website ranks higher in the search engines for important keywords and phrases.

Wrapping Up:

The above-discussed modules are the top-rated ones as they are very useful from the editor/administrator perspective. On the other hand, these are the most used Drupal modules for the website’s betterment. For more insights regarding Drupal module developments, it is advised to talk to an expert development company. Share your website requirements and you will get the best output regarding your business growth & productivity.

Tips To Consider For Hassle-Free Drupal 8 Migration

Drupal 8 comprises remarkable features including greater flexibility, fast loading speed, and scalability, which turns out to be a remarkable CMS for website development. It has grabbed the attention of enterprises and they are migrating to this powerful CMS. Drupal 8 migration is not an easy task to perform if not executed properly As several complications regarding data migration and module shift occurs. A perfect approach to lower the troubles is to prepare in advance. If you hire Drupal developer, the migration process will be simple, they will help you move in the right direction.

In this blog, the important tips regarding migration and its advantages are discussed. The benefits are present by default as it is built with new technologies including Symfony and Twig. Apart from being a secure and flexible CMS, it is projected as a far more scalable version.

Tips For Smooth Drupal Migration Process

  • Environment Set Up

The first and foremost activity is to make a backup of the live website. Never perform any migration activity on a live site, as it is not safe a practice to do so. If something goes unexpected, you’ll not have to panic as backup is always present. Simply go back to the earlier version and find out what went wrong.

  • Get Your Basics Right

Remember, it is a complicated approach. Hence, it is crucial to involve the Drupal development company right from scratch. They will provide better assistance, to finish the migration hassle-free. They are proficient and expert in the upgrade process to perform everything smoothly as planned.

  • Identify The Core Modules

Have knowledge of how your website is built, and this should cover details of the exact inventory of the implemented Drupal modules. Go to Administer > Site building > Modules, for the details. These updates may come in handy in the later stages of the migration process.

Advantages of Drupal 8 Migration

  • New Website Theme

With Drupal 8 migration, your website theme will get a complete makeover. Your website will appear completely different after the migration from the way it appears earlier. The major reason for such a change is that the old website is based on a different theme. A majority of Drupal websites are not responsive as it was not in the craze. However, with Drupal 8 migration, the website becomes responsive too.

  • PHP Native OOPS Features

Drupal is an Object-Oriented Paradigm (OOPS) based CMS. It is a relevant feature included within the design system to make the web development work best in class. Drupal 8 version focuses more on the OOPS features by giving more importance to the PHP. There are numerous constructs in Drupal that are referred to as “objects.” Some of the more recognized components that can be measured as objects are modules, nodes, themes, and users.

  • Updated Architecture

Migrating to the latest architecture will improve the productivity to build more innovative web applications. Though it seems a difficult task, it is the perfect opportunity to update the information architecture crafted earlier. This update in the information architecture is a big asset for the Drupal 8 development. It gives features to audit the fields and modules to streamline the development task. The update does not make the older version useless. It basically means, the older version is duplicated into Drupal 8 and then fixes are done as per the new requirements.

  • Mobile-Friendly Web Applications

The Drupal websites that are not mobile responsive lacks popularity among users. Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 versions were designed mostly to support desktop websites. However, Drupal 8 comes with a mobile responsive feature as it is largely implemented with a mobile-first technique. Most of the users nowadays prefer mobile gadgets to open websites and perform day to day tasks. Drupal 8 is not only a bonus for the developers but also for brands looking to expand the business. The UI & UX design must be perfect for a mobile user’s needs. The themes are also selected in relation to the mobile-responsiveness of the website.

  • Faster & Better Performance

With the introduction of a new cache feature in Drupal 8, the page loading is quite faster than earlier versions. With the cache tags, each section of the page is cached separately within the database making fast loading of the page. This works perfectly with content delivery networks (CDNs) for removing the pages when content gets changed. Drupal 8 provides a strong base to firms for delivering better web, mobile, and social experiences to the end-users.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I migrate to Drupal?

To start the migration:

  • First, download the files to your desktop.
  • Upload the files to your new server.
  • Next export your old database.
  • You’ll need to export your database like SQL.
  • Import to the New Database.
  • Select the file that you exported and tap “Go” to import it into the new database.

2. How do I backup my Drupal site?

  • Sign in to PHPMyAdmin.
  • Choose your database from the dropdown button on the left.
  • Click the “Export” tab.
  • Click “select all”
  • Click the “structure” and “data” checkboxes.
  • Checkmark “Save as File” desktop.
  • Click the “Go” button and save the .sql file to your desktop.

3. How long will Drupal 7 be supported?

Drupal 7 will be supported until November 2021

4. How often does Drupal update?

Usually, Drupal updates are released once in a month but when any case of security vulnerability an immediate release is done. Make sure to enable the update status module and check for new releases every week.

Conclusion:

Most updates and upgrades offer multiple advantages. But, Drupal migration is always a challenge for website owners as there are several concerns of data loss and bad customer experience, particularly, during the migration process. Hence, it becomes crucial for the application owners to first find the needs and benefits, as well as challenges, before the migration process. An upgrade will no longer be a choice but it will be advantageous since its a complete revolution. If you are looking for quality Drupal migration services, look for a reputed web development company having expertise in migration, development and customization work.

What’s New Changes Drupal 8.8 Update Brings?

A number of major changes have been introduced with Drupal 8.8 latest release. The update was released in December 2019 and before the release of Drupal 9, it is a great move by the Drupal community. The release mostly focused on improving the management that will help the Drupal 8 developer in building a secure & smooth enterprise website.

Let’s have a look at the features of Drupal 8.8

1. Media Embedding with WYSIWYG

This update is the much-awaited in this latest release. For website developers, this WYSIWYG integration is a decade long wait. The earlier poorly handled media embedding has become simpler for the content creators who wish to build and integrate the media embedding. Another benefit is that this feature comes with complete media management capabilities.

2. New Admin Theme

Claro is the latest Drupal admin theme with an improved look and better interface. On top of this update, the theme will bring a new refreshed design to Drupal 8. This UI change has been long in demand by the Drupal community. However, with the latest release, these requests are finally coming on board. The clean, concise and advanced look adds to the web accessibility feature.

3. JSON API Module

The Drupal 8.8.0 update empowered and fixed the below issues:

  • The include paths are now fixed for every resource in the resource collection.
  • The normalization of the resource is no more shared or leveraged.
  • The resourceTypeRepository computes ResourceType value objects on every demand.

This change is a big boost to the growing ecosystem of contributed modules and hence, the JSON: API can develop faster working and communication by removing the necessity for an ad-hoc code.

4. Complete Composer Support

The composer has helped Drupal 8 development to become more streamlined with the PHP standards. The bonding between the Composer and PHP had started to build more with the Drupal 8 release. Now, Drupal 8.8 comes with more Composer plugins.

  • Drupal-composer-scaffold

The new plugin will be in charge of automating the Drupal composer scaffolding in the right place. On top of that, this will offer a number of options for the setup approaches.

  • Drupal-vendor-hardening

This plugin task is to eliminate some of the useless folders that are present in the vendor directories like tests or documentation. This is an important process when the vendor folder is comprised of the doc root.

  • Drupal/recommended-project

This composer template helps in building the Drupal project structure which follows the suggestions presented in Drupal 8.8. These suggestions state that the vendor folder should be out of the doc root.

  • Drupal/legacy-project

This template is used to generate a Drupal project that follows the old structure. But using this will not be suggested for Drupal 8.8.0 and further.

5. Customized Browser Support

Websites can run properly with the modern browsers that support CSS and JavaScript. While some browsers are getting outdated with time. But with Drupal 8.8 release the browser policy has been changed.

It supports the latest release of browsers for both desktop and mobile browsers:

  • Google Chrome
  • Firefox
  • Opera
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Safari
  • Safari for iOS

In addition to that the latest release is also supported by the desktop and mobile browsers:

  • Internet Explorer
  • Firefox ESR
  • Chrome for iOS
  • Samsung Internet
  • Chrome for Android
  • UC Browser
  • Opera Mini

6. End of Life for jQuery UI

In the method of switching to JavaScript solutions, the Drupal core is eliminating jQuery UI which allowed the developers to add experience components within the code. This collection of widgets is being eliminated for now and will be completely removed in the upcoming Drupal 9. The modules and themes dependent on it will have to search for a replacement contributed to the project.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How often does Drupal update?

Usually, Drupal releases updates on a monthly basis but when any security issue is observed an immediate release is also done. Make sure to enable the update status module and check for new releases every week.

2. Is Drupal front end or backend?

A Drupal developer is someone who codes in the PHP and other server-side languages. They code the custom modules, consume web services, automated tests, automate deployment, etc. They are also known as “backend Drupal developers”.

3. How long does it take to customize a Drupal website?

An enterprise-level website needs a lot of time to customize in comparison to the small websites. Overall the time required for the customization completely relies on the requirements and nature of changes required within the website.

4. What is Drupal 8 good for?

Drupal is the first choice of developers and business owners who need to build enterprise-level websites. It is a powerful CMS that is not only open-source but also offers high-level features to maintain the online branding image.

5. What features Drupal 8.8 offer to developers?

Drupal 8.8 offers multiple features that were missing in the earlier versions and were in huge demand for a decade.

  • Composer Support
  • Browser Support
  • JSON API Module
  • Claro Admin Theme
  • Media Embedment

Wrapping Up:

Drupal 8.8 update brings out a collection of features and quality of the life improvements that will definitely make the life of the site builders and content creators simpler. This release is an important release giving a clear indication for the arrival of Drupal 9. if you own a website or looking to build a website from scratch it is the perfect time to avail the services of this latest version. Drupal Development company can be consulted to build an engaging as well as secure enterprise website. They have all the resources to build, customize and migrate a Drupal website.

Why Drupal 8 CMS is Perfect To Build Travel Business Websites?

To drive potential customers, all travel industries need a website to offer multiple services. You may own a transportation company offering bus booking, travel websites, airlines, tour operators or hotel booking services. So to build such a website multiple content management systems are available in the market. Here in this blog post, we are going to talk about Drupal 8 and how it manages the website content and assets in an effective manner.

Drupal is an open-source CMS known for creating digital experiences that engage consumers throughout their website journey, from navigating deals to booking. Drupal 8 is the latest version and takes website development work to greater heights from developers & end-users perspective. There’s more emphasis on user-friendliness, but the new ways to build data structures, create APIs, multilingual capabilities, and mobile responsiveness are some of the prominent features.

Why Drupal CMS for Travel Websites?

For a traveler, the website of yours shouldn’t appear like an information-brochure on the internet. Having an engaging website is not a simple job in the travel industry, where the competition is severe. The need for a perfect solution to integrate all the details is always in-demand.

1. Theme

Your website must possess content that is relevant to the whole booking process, but more than it should appear engaging & entice the travelers to navigate further. Therefore select a theme that syncs with the goals of your business. It has been found that engaging graphics influence the purchase decision of the website visitors. Tell your Drupal developers to implement beautiful themes on your website and provide a more accurate navigation process.

In Drupal 8, you can choose from thousands of themes built particularly for the travel industry and proficient to increase the conversion rate. Further, themes are completely mobile responsive and support multiple layouts based on your content. Whether you want to add 1 or 100 blog posts, images, reviews or videos on your website, Drupal CMS will never let you down.

2. Scalability

People love traveling during the holiday season and if you own a travel website the traffic might not be easy to handle. Even if you’re having an amazing digital experience with all the necessary features, it won’t matter if the website hit with lots of traffic. You have to check whether your website is able to handle the traffic smoothly or not. More than a million sites worldwide are powered by Drupal. This CMS has amazing scalability features meaning, even on the busiest days, your site will work spectacularly without facing any glitch.

3. Smooth Navigation

You don’t want your visitors to get lost between the menus & various buttons on the website. The main objective of your travel websites is to show your services and grow conversions. Whether it is with the implementation of the virtual tour, multiple tabs, and buttons, or their positioning. What matters the most is, whether the visitors reach their destination. The navigation must give your users proper control on the website. To make this practical, make sure the Drupal development company you outsource display details properly like tour package collections, itineraries, overviews, highlights and several add-ons.

4. SEO & Social Media Friendly

Most of the travel brands found that their bookings have grown with their presence on renowned social networking websites. When a user plans to avail of any service, reviews and user-generated content is very important. To catch the user’s attention, it is important to connect with different social media platforms and convert the user into a possible sale.

Drupal is a flexible platform having features to integrate third-party apps as per the business processes comprising CRM and ERP systems. Payment modules also ensure that you get the payment without redirecting the user to any third party website. SEO features of Drupal help a website to get good ranking on SERP.

5. Booking Engine

Online booking engines help business enterprises to generate money in a simple manner. But how does Drupal helping businesses?

Drupal provides two prominent booking solutions for your website:

1. BAT

BAT is a module for the complete solution for your travel website, it helps to build an exclusive booking engine for simple online bookings. Its strong online booking engine gets you multiple bookings for the zero commission straight from your website.

2. EasyBooking

It provides a set of options to the visitors to avail of different services regarding special discount offers, contact details, room reservations through various parameters like contact form or newsletter.

BAT and EasyBooking provide a complete solution to your travel website while taking several parameters into consideration. They offer you:

  • Information page
  • Pricing Calendar
  • Easy payment method

Drupal also provides other booking engines to ensure that your website can book quickly, make payment secure and manage traffic.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Drupal used for?

Drupal is a free, and open-source software that is used by individuals or groups of users. People who are not strong in technical skills can also easily create and manage their Websites. The application comprises a content management tool and a development framework.

2. What is the purpose of using CMS?

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that is used to create and manage digital content in a systematic manner. CMSes are basically used for enterprise content management and web content management.

3. What language does Drupal use?

In Drupal’s case, the PHP programming language creates the logic and MySQL manages the database. Usually, the operating system present on the server to manage this process is the Linux, and Apache is the software handling the requests for pages and delivers them after they are designed.

4. Which type of CMS Drupal is?

Drupal is a free and open-source CMS written in the PHP language and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal powers around 2.3% of all the websites worldwide ranging from personal websites to enterprise-level, political, and government sites.

5. What are the modules in Drupal?

A Drupal module is a collection of files having some functionality and is based on PHP language. Because the module code runs within the website context, it can use all the functions and access all variables and Drupal core structures.

Wrapping Up:

These are some of the most innovative & engaging features of the Drupal 8 that can be integrated to build engaging travel websites. It is the complete responsibility of the developers to build websites that are responsive, secure & engaging. If you are planning to build a website for your business enterprise, simply hire Drupal developer from a reputed development company. This will help you to integrate the best features on your travel website in the best possible manner. Share your requirements to avail of the best possible solution for your travel business.