With the release of Drupal 8 in November of last year, many Drupal website owners and managers are wondering if they need to upgrade. We’re here to answer your questions.
What is Drupal?
Drupal is a Content Management System (CMS), designed to build websites. It’s highly customizable and works well with other applications and services. Because it’s so flexible, developers can build highly specialized websites and apps on Drupal. It’s not just a technical platform - As a powerful publishing tool, it lets multiple people across your organization create and publish content.
What are the advances and features of Drupal 8?
Drupal 8 took everything that was great about the platform and upgraded it, including:
- Designed for mobile - More of your customers are accessing your website through smartphones and tablets. Drupal 8 has responsive design built in, so it looks great on any device.
- More secure - Drupal 8 is designed to be highly secure. Bugs and vulnerabilities are found and fixed quickly, keeping your website secure and stable.
- Easily scalable - Drupal will grow along with your business. As your website traffic and visitors increase, Drupal 8 will scale to manage the demands on your technology.
- Distributed publishing - If you’ve got a distributed publishing network, Drupal 8 makes it easy for multiple people to create, manage, edit, and publish content, including via mobile devices.
- Language support - Drupal 8 has built in support for over 100 languages, so it’s good for your users, wherever they are in the world.
- Integrations - Your website can easily share data and resources with other services, quickly and efficiently, resulting in a more stable, faster experience.
I’m currently using Drupal 6, should I upgrade?
Yes. Websites on Drupal 6 should be upgraded immediately. Support for Drupal 6 has been phased out and security vulnerabilities and bugs won’t be fixed. This leaves your website vulnerable. It’s easier for hackers to exploit your website, compromise your security, and potentially damage your business.
We can help you upgrade, contact us below to find out how.
I’m currently using Drupal 7, should I upgrade?
It depends, but if you’ve got a more complex website, you will probably want to hold off upgrading until later in 2016. This will ensure that any important modules and integrations work after the upgrade.
Drupal 7 will continue to be supported until Drupal 9 comes out, so you’ll continue to get fixes for bugs and vulnerabilities. If you want to take advantage of Drupal 8’s new features you might want to upgrade, but we’d recommend delaying for a few more months.
You’ve got some time to decide - Start planning your upgrade path. We can advise you on the easiest way to update to the latest version. If you’ve got a more complex website, we’ll make sure Drupal works with all your integrations and any special technology.
We’ve upgraded dozens of Drupal websites. We can prioritize your Drupal 6 upgrade, help you plan a Drupal 7 upgrade, and talk you through your options.