Drupal 10: What’s New and Why You Should Upgrade
Drupal 10 Release Date
Initially planned for June 2022, Drupal 10's release date was moved to December 14, 2022. This timeline reflects a shorter interval between major releases, with Drupal 9 having debuted in June 2020. Before that, Drupal 8 had come out in 2015, and Drupal 7 had been launched in 2011. This shows the evolving pace of Drupal’s development cycle, which is set to become faster and faster, especially as migration becomes easier. In fact, unlike past transitions, migrating to Drupal 10 is straightforward, thanks to its close continuity with Drupal 9.
Drupal 10 New Features
As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, Drupal 10 introduces a range of new features designed to enhance user and developer experience with Drupal websites. Here are some of the most important functionalities that mark the evolution from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10.
Olivero, A New Default Theme
Olivero is the new default theme introduced in Drupal 10, replacing Bartik. Designed with modern web design principles in mind, Olivero offers a sleek and contemporary aesthetic that enhances the visual appeal of Drupal websites. Its clean fonts, spacious layouts, and intuitive navigation elements create a delightful user experience across devices. Olivero's accessibility features ensure inclusivity, while its flexibility allows for easy customization to match all branding requirements.
This particular Drupal theme is also meant to honor one of Drupal’s most outstanding contributors, Rachel Olivero, who has worked for Drupal.org for 7 years. She was also head of the organizational technology group at the National Federation of the Blind until 2019, when she passed away.
Claro Admin Theme
Replacing the 2009-designed Seven theme, Claro is an admin theme that provides a refreshing new interface, offering a modern and intuitive user experience. With its clean design, streamlined navigation, and improved usability, Claro simplifies administrative tasks and enhances productivity. The theme's responsive layout ensures consistency across devices, allowing admins to manage their Drupal sites efficiently from everywhere. Moreover, Claro's accessibility enhancements make it easier for users of all abilities to navigate and manage Drupal's administrative interface, ensuring a more inclusive experience for everyone.
CKEditor 5
CKEditor 5 is more than just an updated version of CKEditor 4, its code was rebuilt from scratch. This open API editor can be easily expanded and integrated with the most advanced technologies. It offers several innovative features, such as a modernized user interface, better collaboration tools, accessibility, and media management. Since CKEditor 5 has a modular architecture, it can be used for customization and integration in Drupal CMS. Its user-friendly design and robust editing features allow users to develop engaging, visually appealing content without difficulty.
Symfony 6
Drupal 10 is enriched with all the latest features, performance improvements, and security updates of the Symfony 6 framework. Symfony 6 components and libraries help developers simplify the development process, enhance code quality, and improve project maintainability. Symfony 6’s commitment to safeguarding backward compatibility allows a smoother transition from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10.
Easier Theme Customization With Starterkit
As a powerful theme customization tool, Starterkit provides a comprehensive starting point for building custom Drupal themes. With Starterkit, developers can kickstart their theme development process without starting from scratch, saving time and effort. The tool includes best practices for structuring theme files, implementing responsive design, and optimizing performance. This ensures that custom themes built with Starterkit adhere to Drupal's standards.
New JavaScript Components to Replace jQuery
To address UI/UX problems, Drupal 10 adopts advanced JavaScript components to replace jQuery. These components are highly performant, maintainable, and able to meet current web development standards. By depending on native JavaScript APIs such as Axios, Fetch, and ES6 modules, Drupal 10 minimizes the need for jQuery and enables the most efficient way of developing front-end technology. Modern JavaScript components provide more flexibility, deeper integration with current frameworks and libraries, and enhanced support for developing progressive web applications. As a result, developers can create faster, more interactive, and more responsive websites that are more suitable for today’s web landscape.
Automatic Updates
Drupal 10 streamlines the update process with automatic updates, allowing admins to effortlessly keep their website up to date with the latest security patches, bug fixes, and feature enhancements. Automatic updates can be scheduled during off-peak hours, ensuring minimal disruption to site visitors. Furthermore, Drupal plans to extend this feature to minor updates for modules and themes.
Project Browser
Installing modules in Drupal 9 consisted of multiple time-consuming steps that included long searches for compatible extensions on external websites. Drupal 10’s Project Browser aims to streamline this process by allowing admins to search and install modules, themes, and distributions without ever leaving their Drupal website. Project Browser is, in fact, a one-stop shop within Drupal, where admins can find and add new features without needing to scan through countless external websites.
Enhanced Page Loading
Drupal 10 improves page loading through additional caching functions, such as lazy loading and other speed-optimized strategies. Faster, more responsive pages are made possible by reducing the time it takes to load and display a page. When serving information, page loading performance is enhanced, allowing content to be displayed more quickly and efficiently, with support for interface previews in the event of network interruptions. This makes websites rank better in search engines, lowers bounce rates, and it increases user engagement and satisfaction.
Improved Multilingual Support
Drupal 10 includes improved translation management, language detection tools, and language-specific configuration options. Site admins can easily create and manage multilingual content, translate user interfaces, and configure language-specific settings directly from the Drupal administrative interface. This empowers organizations and businesses to reach global audiences and create personalized experiences for users in different language markets.
Advanced Security Features
Drupal 10’s advanced security features aim to protect websites against evolving cyber threats and to strengthen defenses against common attack vectors such as cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and SQL injection. Site admins can leverage built-in security features such as security advisories, security reports, and security-focused configuration options to proactively identify and mitigate risks.
Deprecations & Changes
Drupal 10 doesn’t include only new features, but also some key deprecations and changes aimed at enhancing the platform’s performance. Some of the most important ones include:
Decoupled Menus
Decoupled Menus separate the menu presentation layer from the back-end management layer. This allows menu data to be stored and managed in Drupal while being displayed on the front-end using separate JavaScript frameworks such as React, Vue, or Angular. This implementation improves performance and allows greater flexibility.
Removed Deprecated Code
This particular change allows Drupal 10 to remove old, unused, and no longer supported code from its core. In return, updated, supported APIs and features are added, enhancing Drupal's performance, stability, and security. Additionally, this change ensures compatibility with modern web development practices, making Drupal 10 a more robust and up-to-date platform for building websites.
Removed Core Modules
Some core modules were removed to improve performance. Modules like Overlay, Workspaces, and PHP Filter, which are either deprecated or have limited use cases, have been replaced by more modern alternatives. This removal results in a more focused and efficient platform, making it easier to maintain and update the website while reducing the risk of security vulnerabilities.
How to upgrade to Drupal 10
The transition from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10 is relatively smooth, but it involves several key steps that may vary depending on the version of Drupal you’re using.
If you are on Drupal 8, you will first of all need to go through an intermediate update to Drupal 9. This is because Drupal follows a continuous upgrade path, where each major version is built upon the previous one, ensuring compatibility and smooth transitions between versions.
Once you’ve upgraded to Drupal 9, to transition to Drupal 10 you need to:
- Switch to PHP 8.1. Drupal 10 is only compatible with PHP 8.1, therefore using older versions might cause issues during the upgrade process.
- Identify Deprecated Code. Use Drupal's built-in tools and third-party modules to identify any deprecated code in your Drupal 8 site. Modules like Drupal Check or Upgrade Status can help identify deprecated code and provide recommendations for resolution.
- Test and Plan. Thoroughly test your Drupal 8 site, including custom modules and themes, to identify any compatibility issues with Drupal 10. Create a detailed plan for the upgrade process, including a timeline, resource allocation, and backup strategy to minimize disruptions during the upgrade.
Need help with your Drupal 10 upgrade? Get in touch to see what we can do for you
Upgrading to Drupal 10 can be a daunting process, but you don't have to tackle it alone. Our team of experts at OSWorkshop.com is here to assist you every step of the way. With our in-depth knowledge of Drupal and years of experience in website development and migration, we can help ensure a seamless transition to Drupal 10 for your website.
By working with us, you will have access to personalized support and solutions tailored to your specific needs and requirements. Our team will handle the technical details and complexities of the upgrade process, allowing you to focus on running your business and achieving your goals.
Don't let the prospect of upgrading to Drupal 10 overwhelm you. Contact us to schedule a consultation and discover how our team at OSWorkshop.com can help you unlock the full potential of Drupal 10 for your website.
Frequently Asked Questions about Drupal 10
What is Drupal 10?
Drupal 10 is the latest version of Drupal CMS. It includes new features, deprecations, and changes meant to streamline the process of creation and customization of your website.
How to upgrade from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10?
The transition from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10 involves multiple steps, including the upgrade to PHP 8.1 and Symfony 6. You can find the full step-by-step process in our article.
When was Drupal 10 released?
Originally scheduled for June 2022, Drupal 10 was released on December 14, 2022.
What is new in Drupal 10?
Drupal 10 introduces several new features, such as new themes and a new editor, JavaScript, and enhancements pertaining to accessibility, streamlined configuration management, multilingual support, and security. You can find every detail in our article.
How to create custom modules in Drupal 10?
The creation of a custom module in Drupal 10 involves multiple steps that go from the definition of the module’s purpose to writing the code.