Drupal is one of the best CMS platforms around, and it supports some of the most visited websites across the globe.
Recently, the Drupal network launched a new update, namely Drupal 9. This sequel makes big news for website owners currently using the Drupal network through Drupal 7 and Drupal 8. They will need to take action to maintain the functionality and performance of their website.
Drupal 9 is the next update to the Drupal network, and it has been planned for some time. It is a change that aims to improve what Drupal websites can achieve, including an improvement to features and security.
Drupal is already one of the most secure CMS options around and known to be more secure than the likes of WordPress.
As of November 2022, both the previous versions of Drupal – 7 and 8 – will not receive updates, security patches or bug fixes.
It is estimated that this will affect around 700,000 websites that are currently operating from the Drupal 7 network alone. These websites will be at risk if they do not migrate to Drupal 9 by the aforementioned deadline.
The PHP Framework of Drupal 7 was coded and created by their in-house team. When Drupal launched their version 8, they opted to use some third-party PHP frameworks. For example, they used libraries from Guzzle, Twig and Symphony. This was good news for website developers because it gave them more tools to do even better work.
Drupal 9 will continue down this path and lean on PHP frameworks from other vendors. By using external products, Drupal must continue to update in order to keep up to speed with these framework updates. And for that reason, Drupal 9 will become the new version to maintain the functionality and security of its websites.
But for this to happen, Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 will be withdrawn.
Until November 2022, you could remain on Drupal 7 or Drupal 8. However, we would strongly advise against this.
And we’ll tell you why…
You should migrate to Drupal 9 at your earliest convenience. It is not recommended to start your migration close to the Drupal 9 deadline in November because the process can be complex and time-consuming.
You can migrate yourself if you have the prerequisite skills. But if you are not a website developer then it is important that you leave the migration process to a professional. Trying to migrate to Drupal 9 yourself could damage your website function and make it more difficult to migrate.
For help and support migrating your current Drupal website to Drupal 9, do not hesitate to contact our Drupal experts at WEBPRO Creative.
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