The long-awaited Drupal 10 will be released on December 14. Are you ready? While some of us get excited about software updates, we get that some might be overwhelmed by what this new version will change for their sites. 

Here we’ll go over how you can be prepared for the latest version, the benefits of moving and the next steps to get there sooner rather than later.

And don’t worry: if you still need guidance by the end of this post, you can watch our recent Drupal 10 webinar, or request custom training for your team. 

Why Upgrade? Can’t I Just Keep Using an Earlier Version?

Drupal 7 and 9 will become obsolete as of November 2023, and having an outdated version of Drupal or any unsecured CMS means your website is more prone to downtimes and bugs. As an organization, implementing and maintaining security measures on your own can be very expensive. Coupled with the custom infrastructure configurations needed to fix bugs, it will invariably cost more than proactively moving to the latest version of Drupal.

Apart from Drupal 7 and 9 reaching end-of-life, Drupal 10 promises to provide an overall improved Drupal experience for content editors, developers and site owners. 

Drupal 10 makes it easy to create content through CKEditor 5, has a greater standardization for using Drupal as a headless CMS, and future features such as automatic updates will make your platform easy to maintain. Overall, this upgrade will provide a better platform for brands looking to create engaging digital experiences. 

Content Creation Front and Centre with CKEditor 5

D10 continues Drupal’s trend of prioritizing content creators and editors for better front-end development. Central to this trend is CKEditor 5, which was an experimental module introduced in Drupal 9.3 and is the sole WYSIWYG editor in Drupal 10.

This new version provides a significantly improved content authoring experience with in-place controls for object editing. It enables you to easily manage media and tables using advanced features. These include various out-of-the-box core features, including basic formatting and styling as well as advanced productivity features.

Shiny New Themes

Content creators will appreciate Claro, which replaces Seven as the new default admin. Meanwhile, Olivero – replacing Bartik as the new default - makes for a more usable front-end, putting accessibility best practices at the forefront. 

Claro is notably less cluttered with more “white space” right out of the box, making it easier on the eyes, less complex to learn and allows for greater accessibility overall. Olivero, first introduced in Drupal 9.4, is now the default front-end theme for Drupal 10. Featuring a simple and modern design, Olivero is focused on the needs of content creators. It is also WCAG AA compliant right from the start, with an accessible and beautiful interface that features a high-contrast colour palette that’s easier on the eyes.

New Dependencies

On the developer side, Drupal 10 has some noteworthy upgrades, including a new underlying technology stack – Symfony 6.2 – and a new version of PHP. 

PHP 8.1, in addition to being a requirement for Symfony 6.2, promises a longer support lifetime for Drupal 10 as well as more stability and predictability in its dependency requirements.

Additionally, Drupal 10 will use modern JavaScript components to replace some uses of jQuery UI and jQuery, as well as a new version of Twig (3.x), which promises to be a faster, more secure and more flexible PHP template engine. Plus, Drupal 10 will no longer support Internet Explorer 11.

Ready-to-Go Headless

Drupal has long been a dependable CMS for hybrid or fully headless configurations thanks to its support for REST, JSON, and GraphQL APIs, (read more about Headless). Drupal’s Decoupled Menus Initiative has sought to make headless design even easier by improving how JavaScript front ends consume configurable menus managed in Drupal.

Beyond Drupal 10.0, the platform’s headless capacity will be expanded further by adding read-only menus for Drupal HTTP APIs. This will make it easier for front-end developers to consume menu data to build navigation systems.

Site Builders Will Soon Have a Project Browser

Another exciting addition that will come in the next versions of Drupal 10 is Project Browsing, which meets the ultimate goal of taking the mystery out of starting and building a new project in Drupal. This handy feature makes it easier for users – especially novice site builders – to hunt down the perfect modules for their projects. It will have a visual browsing interface within the Drupal admin with a more intuitive filtering system and iconography to convey key quality measures faster. 

Three Cheers for Automatic Updates!

Automatic updates have long been one of the most requested features for inclusion in Drupal. The Automatic Updates Initiative has been one of Drupal’s key strategic initiatives for quite some time, and while not yet available in Drupal 10, is expected in version 10.1 or 10.2. With Drupal releasing new features every 6 months or so, it’s only a matter of time before it’s included. 

The upcoming automatic update module will rely on the following three components:

• Public safety alerts regarding critical and highly critical updates from Drupal.org
• Readiness checks, which trigger warnings of issues blocking your website from receiving automatic updates
• In-place updates, which download the update from Drupal.org, check it and create backups of the files, perform the update and restore your backup files if anything goes wrong

The Automatic Updates module is yet another feature aimed at making life easier for content creators, particularly those who don’t have a development background who are tasked with managing Drupal websites and who lack a routine for checking and running Drupal updates upon release.

Need Help With Upgrading?

If you are already using Drupal 9, the upgrade to 10 will be smooth as the two share the same architectures. If you are still using an older version, you are looking at a migration of your site to Drupal 10, which involves replicating applications from the old product onto the new one.

As easy as it sounds to upgrade or adopt Drupal, sometimes you just need a little support. Follow along with Drupal experts as we do a deep dive and reveal some sneak peeks for Drupal 10 in our recent webinar or reach out to request custom training. We offer custom training for teams like yours, from sales and marketing to software development. 

Regardless of which version of Drupal you’re currently using, or even if you’re thinking of moving to Drupal from a different CMS, you can hire us to help. Fill out our contact form to schedule your move and let us do the heavy lifting.

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