Migrate to Drupal: Top Six Benefits of Drupal 10
As the end-of-life for Drupal 7 (D7) approaches rapidly, Drupal 7 site owners are faced with an important decision: Should they upgrade directly from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10, bypassing Drupal 9, or should they follow the upgrade path through Drupal 9? In most cases, you can migrate directly to Drupal 10. Thanks to Drupal 10's long-term support, it will be supported until the release of Drupal 12 in mid-to-late 2026, ensuring that you won't need to worry about further upgrades until then.
For those using Drupal 8, which has already reached its end of life, the upgrade process involves two steps: first upgrading to Drupal 9, and then to Drupal 10. It’s important to note that Drupal 8 and 9 have already reached end-of-life, and Drupal 7 will follow by January 2025.
If your site is on Drupal 8 or 9, an immediate upgrade to Drupal 10 is recommended. For Drupal 7 users, the decision to move to Drupal 10 or to find an alternative should be made before Drupal 7 reaches its end of life.
The recent launch of Drupal 10.2 introduces lots of performance and usability enhancements. In this article, we will explore seven standout features that position Drupal 10 as the optimal choice for developing your website or digital experience platform
Benefits of Drupal 10 Migration
1. Improved Performance and Security
As with any new releases, Drupal 10.x is much better than previous versions of Drupal. Drupal 10.2 onwards it supports PHP 8.3, as per performance benchmarks1 , PHP 8.3 with Drupal 10 is much faster than previous versions of PHP. With enhancements like WebP support for image styles, lazy-loading images and improvements in the caching system the page loads faster and provides a better user experience.
2. Improved Content Authoring Experience
With CKEditor 5, you can now enable real-time collaboration and commenting, along with numerous other improvements like an AI assistant, Word import, and pagination. The article, 'CKEditor 5 and Drupal 10: A Powerful Duo for Content Creation,' provides further insights into CKEditor5 and offers guidance on transitioning from CKEditor 4 to CKEditor 5
3. Single Directory Components
Drupal 10 core includes the experimental Single Directory Components (SDC) module. This module aims to align Drupal's front-end development more closely with the component-based design approach, which has gained significant traction in recent years through technologies like React, Vue, Web Components, and Storybook. Implementing this in earlier versions of Drupal core was challenging, but the SDC module seeks to bridge this gap.
4. Improved UI and Content Management
Drupal 10.2 has enhanced its block and content management capabilities, making it simpler to create content types. The user interface has been improved for more efficient reuse of existing fields and easier field creation by merging multiple settings forms. The content editing process is more intuitive, with text fields that maintain specific text formats, and managing previous versions of content, including blocks, nodes, and other entities, is more straightforward.
In version 10.2, it is possible to display or hide blocks on pages based on response status, like success, access denied, or not found. Additionally, block content revisions are more manageable, with the possibility of easy reviews and rollbacks, supported by detailed permissions.
5. Olivero and Claro - The default frontend and backend themes
The Olivero theme, featured in Drupal 10.2, emphasizes accessibility, boasting features that adhere to WCAG AA standards, ensuring the platform is usable for all. Claro, the updated backend, has replaced Seven. It enhances user experience with larger touch targets and repositioned administrator tabs, improvements based on user research and accessibility considerations. Overall, these changes give Drupal a fresher, more welcoming appearance.
6. Decoupled friendly
Drupal 10 is API first with its default support for JSON: API and support to GraphQL via contributed module. Drupal 10.1 introduces dedicated endpoints for the menu that follow the Linkset standard, simplifying navigation management in decoupled setups. This allows JavaScript frontends to directly access Drupal's configurable menus, eliminating the need for hard-coded navigation and enabling easy menu management for both developers and non-developers.
Wrapping Up
Migrating directly to Drupal 10 from Drupal 7 is a strategic choice for most users, especially with Drupal 10’s substantial advancements in performance, security, content authoring, UI, and support for decoupled architectures. The improvements in Drupal 10, like PHP 8.3 support, CKEditor5, Single Directory Components (SDC), and the Olivero and Claro themes, offer significant benefits over previous versions.
Still confused? The guide Essential Guidelines for Migrating Your Website to Drupal will give you the list of things you should consider while migrating your website to Drupal 10. Do let us know if you have any questions on Migrating to Drupal 10 - we are happy to help.
In conclusion, as you explore the significant benefits of migrating to Drupal 10, consider our previous guide detailing the benefits of transitioning from Drupal 9 for comprehensive insights.
