Why It's Time To Upgrade Your Drupal 7 Website

End-of-Life for Drupal 7

As technology evolves, it’s important to keep your website up-to-date and running smoothly. One of the best ways to do this is by upgrading to the latest version of your content management system (CMS).


Drupal 7 is now approaching its end of life, set for November 2023. This means if your website has been built in Drupal 7, your software will no longer be supported.

So what exactly does that mean? and what are the risks of staying with Drupal 7?


1. Support and Security Updates

One of the biggest risks of staying with Drupal 7 is that it reached end-of-life (EOL) on November 28, 2021. This means that it will no longer receive official support or security updates from the Drupal community. This leaves your website vulnerable to security threats and attacks, as new security vulnerabilities may be discovered that will not be addressed by Drupal.


Without regular security updates, your website may be at risk of being hacked or compromised. This can result in sensitive information being stolen, your website being defaced, or your website being used to spread malware. By upgrading from Drupal 7, you can ensure that your website remains secure and protected against potential threats.


2. Lack of New Features and Functionality

Another risk of staying with Drupal 7 is that you will miss out on new features and functionality. Each new release of Drupal introduces a range of improvements and new features that can help you create a more engaging and effective website. By staying with Drupal 7, you'll be missing out on these new features and functionality, and your website may become outdated and less effective over time.


3. Performance Issues

Drupal 7 was released in 2011, and technology has come a long way since then. As a result, Drupal 7 may not perform as well as more recent versions or Drupal or another CMS. Slow load times and performance issues can lead to a poor user experience, decreased engagement, and lower conversions. Upgrading from Drupal 7 to a more up to date CMS can help improve the performance of your website and provide a better user experience for your visitors.


Long term planning

You might be asking, do I need to budget to rebuild our website every few years? In short the answer is no. A lot has changed in technology since 2011 (when Drupal 7 was launched), particularly in the area of security. This has resulted in a massive change to the infrastructure used in Drupal 8 and beyond. This means future upgrades are a more simple process, and doesn't require a full rebuild like Drupal 7 does.


In saying that you should be budgeting for annual maintenance, and a full rebuild every 5 or so years. If you think about it your organisation is likely to look different from 5 years ago - and your website is a window to your business.


Drupal 9 and 10 benefits


Here are some of our favourite features of Drupal 9 and 10:


1. Built-in layout tools

Support Drupal's goal of making the software more accessible, the new Layout Builder now empowers content editors to easily create and update pages using visual drag and drop elements. This gives editors greater control in editing pages themselves without relying heavily on developers.


2. Mobile responsiveness

Mobile responsiveness is vital for user experience and accessibility. Drupal's administrative interface has been fully optimised for responsiveness, delivering a smooth content management experience across all devices. This means that even if a content editor is away from their desk, they can still post important updates from their tablet or mobile phone with ease.


3. Built-in media library

Drupal has introduced a powerful Media Library - a sophisticated management tool that simplifies the process of uploading, searching and inserting various types of media. The library makes it effortless to locate existing media assets, particularly for websites with extensive content, saving valuable time and effort.


4. Improved user experienced

While the overall user experience of Drupal 9 and 10 has been drastically improved, there has also been a focus on the user experience of first-time Drupal users. The goal has been to make Drupal easier to understand and utilised by people with limited web editing experience. The Drupal admin theme standardises everything and makes content more accessible.

Contact us to find out more about upgrading your website

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