Planet Drupal

Discover how DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 is prioritizing sustainability with eco-friendly initiatives and practices. From reducing food waste to promoting mental well-being, attendees are encouraged to participate in creating a more environmentally conscious event. Join the movement towards a greener future at DrupalCon Barcelona.

Gamification on Drupal Websites Editor Fri, 09/13/2024 - 13:26

Gamification is the integration of game elements into non-gaming environments like websites to enhance user experiences. Its purpose is to make the user's experience more fun, motivating, and rewarding. Like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, where players explore a big landscape full of problems and prizes, gamification adds excitement and advancement to typical digital platforms.
Drupal provides an excellent setting for incorporating gamification elements because it can adapt to changing needs. Like in the game, developers using Drupal can encourage users with rewards such as badges, points systems, and interactive tasks that create a feeling of accomplishment while also promoting involvement within the community.
This article provides a detailed look into combining gamification with Drupal's strong features. Grab a coffee, and let's begin our adventure utilizing Drupal's gamification.

Note: This article has been reviewed by Level Access Senior Accessibility Consultant Mickey Williamson.   Takeaway: Streamline Section 508 compliance with proven strategies and DUSWDS, a tool designed to modernize federal websites while ensuring accessibility—saving time, reducing complexity, and meeting legal requirements efficiently. Ensuring equal access to information is not just a moral imperative—it's a legal requirement for federal agencies.

Yuvania Castillo

Backend Engineer

A graduate of the University of Costa Rica with a passion for programming, Yuvania is driven to constantly improve, study, and learn new technologies to be better every day.

January 1, 1970

Preparing for Drupal 11 is crucial to ensure a smooth transition, and we’re here to help you make it easy and efficient. This guide offers clear steps to update your environment and modules, perform thorough tests, and use essential tools like Upgrade Status and Drupal Rector.

Don’t fall behind! Making sure your site is ready for the new features and improvements Drupal 11 brings will make the upgrade work quick and easy.

Read on to learn how to keep your site updated and future-proof.

Ensure your environment is ready

• Upgrade to PHP 8.3: Ensure optimal performance and compatibility with Drupal 11
• Use Drush 13: Make sure you have this version available in your development or sandbox environment
• Database requirements: Ensure your database meets the requirements for Drupal 11:
  • MySQL 8.0
  • PostgreSQL 16
• Web server: Drupal 11 requires Apache 2.4.7 or higher. Keep your server updated to avoid compatibility issues.

Upgrade to Drupal 10.3. Before migrating to Drupal 11, update your site to Drupal 10.3 to handle all deprecations properly. Drupal 10.3 defines all deprecated code to be removed in Drupal 11, making it easier to prepare for the next major update.

Update contributed modules. Use Composer to update all contributed modules to versions compatible with Drupal 11. The Upgrade Status module will help identify deprecated modules and APIs. Ensure all modules are updated to avoid compatibility issues.

Fix custom code. Use Drupal Rector to identify and fix deprecations in your custom code. Drupal Rector automates much of the update process, leaving “to do” comments where manual intervention is needed. Perform a manual review of critical areas to ensure everything functions correctly.

Run tests in a safe environment. Conduct tests in a safe environment, such as a local sandbox or cloud IDE. It’s likely to fail at first, but it’s essential to run multiple tests until you achieve a successful result. Use:

• composer update --dry-run to simulate the update without making changes
• composer why-not drupal/core 11.0 if there are issues, identify which dependencies require an earlier version of Drupal

Compatibility tools. Install and use the Upgrade Status module to ensure your site is ready. This module provides a detailed report on your site’s compatibility with Drupal 11. Check for compatibility issues in contributed projects on Drupal.org using the Project Update Bot.

Back up everything. Before updating, ensure you have a complete backup of your code and database. This is crucial to restore your site if something goes wrong during the update.

Considerations for immediate upgrade

You may wonder if you should upgrade your site to Drupal 11 as soon as it’s available. Here are some pros and cons to consider:

• Maybe no: Sites can wait up till when the Drupal 10 LTS (long term support) ends (mid-late 2026) and then upgrade. This allows contributed modules to be fully ready for the update.
• Maybe yes: Upgrading early lets you take advantage of new features and improvements but may introduce new bugs. Additionally, if everyone waits to upgrade, it could delay the readiness of contributed modules for the new version.

While Drupal 10 will be supported for some time, it’s advisable to stay ahead with these updates to use the improvements they offer and ensure a smoother, optimized transition.

By following these steps and considerations, your Drupal site will be well prepared for the transition to Drupal 11, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted experience. Get ready for the new and exciting features Drupal 11 has to offer!

References

• Are You Ready for Drupal 11?
• Drupal 11 on Acquia
• YouTube: Preparing for Drupal 11
• Getting Ready for Drupal 11 – Slide Deck

The post Get ready for Drupal 11: An essential guide appeared first on Four Kitchens.

This week's big issue was building a prototype for "Axe Thrower" so we can "throw" multiple URLs at AXE at the same time.

Building a custom Drupal theme nowadays is a more complex process than it used to be. Most themes require some kind of build tool such as Gulp, Grunt, Webpack or others to automate many of the repeatitive tasks we perform when working on the front-end. Tasks like compiling and minifying code, compressing images, linting code, and many more. As Atomic Web Design became a thing, things got more complicated because now if you are building components you need a styleguide or Design System to showcase and maintain those components. One of those design systems for me has been Patternlab. I started using Patternlab in all my Drupal projects almost ten years ago with great success. In addition, Patternlab has been the design system of choice at my place of work but one of my immediate tasks was to work on migrating to a different design system. We have a small team but were very excited about the challenge of finding and using a more modern and robust design system for our large multi-site Drupal environment.

Enter Storybook

After looking a various options for a design system, Storybook seemed to be the right choice for us for a couple of reasons: one, it has been around for about 10 years and during this time it has matured significantly, and two, it has become a very popular option in the Drupal ecosystem. In some ways, Storybook follows the same model as Drupal, it has a pretty active community and a very healthy ecosystem of plugins to extend its core functionality.

Storybook looks very promising as a design system for Drupal projects and with the recent release of Single Directory Components or SDC, and the new Storybook module, we think things can only get better for Drupal front-end development. Unfortunately for us, technical limitations in combination with our specific requirements, prevented us from using SDC or the Storybook module. Instead, we built our environment from scratch with a stand-alone integration of Storybook 8.

INFO: At the time of our implementation, TwigJS did not have the capability to resolve SDC's namespace. It appears this has been addressed and using SDC should now be possible with this custom setup. I haven't personally tried it and therefore I can't confirm. Our process and requirements

In choosing Storybook, we went through a rigorous research and testing process to ensure it will not only solve our immediate problems with our current environment, but it will be around as a long term solution. As part of this process, we also tested several available options like Emulsify and Gesso which would be great options for anyone looking for a ready-to-go system out of the box. Some of our requirements included:

1. No components refactoring

The first and non-negotiable requirement was to be able to migrate components from Patternlab to a new design system with the least amount of refactoring as possible. We have a decent amount of components which have been built within the last year and the last thing we wanted was to have to rebuild them again because we are switching design system.

2. A new Front-end build workflow

I personally have been faithful to Gulp as a front-end build tool for as long as I can remember because it did everything I needed done in a very efficient manner. The Drupal project we maintain also used Gulp, but as part of this migration, we wanted to see what other options were out there that could improve our workflow. The obvious choice seemed to be Webpack, but as we looked closer into this we learned about ViteJS, "The Next Genration Frontend Tooling". Vite delivers on its promise of being "blazing fast", and its ecosystem is great and growing, so we went with it.

3. No more Sass in favor of PostCSS

CSS has drastically improved in recent years. It is now possible with plain CSS, to do many of the things you used to be able to only do with Sass or similar CSS Preprocessor. Eliminating Sass from our workflow meant we would also be able to get rid of many other node dependencies related to Sass. The goal for this project was to use plain CSS in combination with PostCSS and one bonus of using Vite is that Vite offers PostCSS processing out of the box without additional plugins or dependencies. Ofcourse if you want to do more advance PostCSS processing you will probably need some external dependencies.

Building a new Drupal theme with Storybook

Let's go over the steps to building the base of your new Drupal theme with ViteJS and Storybook. This will be at a high-level to callout only the most important and Drupal-related parts. This process will create a brand new theme. If you already have a theme you would like to use, make the appropriate changes to the instructions.

1. Setup Storybook with ViteJS ViteJS

• In your Drupal project, navigate to the theme's directory (i.e. /web/themes/custom/)
• Run the following command:

npm create vite@latest storybook

• When prompted, select the framework of your choice, for us the framework is React.
• When prompted, select the variant for your project, for us this is JavaScript

After the setup finishes you will have a basic Vite project running.

Storybook

• Be sure your system is running NodeJS version 18 or higher
• Inside the newly created theme, run this command:

npx storybook@latest init --type react

• After installation completes, you will have a new Storybook instance running
• If Storybook didn't start on its own, start it by running:

npm run storybook TwigJS

Twig templates are server-side templates which are normally rendered with TwigPHP to HTML by Drupal, but Storybook is a JS tool. TwigJS is the JS-equivalent of TwigPHP so that Storybook understands Twig. Let's install all dependencies needed for Storybook to work with Twig.

• If Storybook is still running, press Ctrl + C to stop it
• Then run the following command:

npm i -D vite-plugin-twig-drupal html-react-parser twig-drupal-filters @modyfi/vite-plugin-yaml

• vite-plugin-twig-drupal: If you are using Vite like we are, this is a Vite plugin that handles transforming twig files into a Javascript function that can be used with Storybook. This plugin includes the following:
  • Twig or TwigJS: This is the JavaScript implementation of the Twig PHP templating language. This allows Storybook to understand Twig.
    Note: TwigJS may not always be in sync with the version of Twig PHP in Drupal and you may run into issues when using certain Twig functions or filters, however, we are adding other extensions that may help with the incompatability issues.
  • drupal attribute: Adds the ability to work with Drupal attributes.
• twig-drupal-filters: TwigJS implementation of Twig functions and filters.
• html-react-parser: This extension is key for Storybook to parse HTML code into react elements.
• @modifi/vite-plugin-yaml: Transforms a YAML file into a JS object. This is useful for passing the component's data to React as args.

ViteJS configuration

Update your vite.config.js so it makes use of the new extensions we just installed as well as configuring the namesapces for our components.

import { defineConfig } from "vite" import yml from '@modyfi/vite-plugin-yaml'; import twig from 'vite-plugin-twig-drupal'; import { join } from "node:path" export default defineConfig({ plugins: [ twig({ namespaces: { components: join(__dirname, "./src/components"), // Other namespaces maybe be added. }, }), // Allows Storybook to read data from YAML files. yml(), ], }) Storybook configuration

Out of the box, Storybook comes with main.js and preview.js inside the .storybook directory. These two files is where a lot of Storybook's configuration is done. We are going to define the location of our components, same location as we did in vite.config.js above (we'll create this directory shortly). We are also going to do a quick config inside preview.js for handling drupal filters.

• Inside .storybook/main.js file, update the stories array as follows:

stories: [ "../src/components/**/*.mdx", "../src/components/**/*.stories.@(js|jsx|mjs|ts|tsx)", ],

• Inside .storybook/preview.js, update it as follows:

/** @type { import('@storybook/react').Preview } */ import Twig from 'twig'; import drupalFilters from 'twig-drupal-filters'; function setupFilters(twig) { twig.cache(); drupalFilters(twig); return twig; } setupFilters(Twig); const preview = { parameters: { controls: { matchers: { color: /(background|color)$/i, date: /Date$/i, }, }, }, }; export default preview; Creating the components directory

• If Storybook is still running, press Ctrl + C to stop it
• Inside the src directory, create the components directory. Alternatively, you could rename the existing stories directory to components.

Creating your first component

With the current system in place we can start building components. We'll start with a very simple component to try things out first.

• Inside src/components, create a new directory called title
• Inside the title directory, create the following files: title.yml and title.twig

Writing the code

• Inside title.yml, add the following:

--- level: 2 modifier: 'title' text: 'Welcome to your new Drupal theme with Storybook!' url: 'https://mariohernandez.io'

• Inside title.twig, add the following:

<h{{ level|default(2) }}{% if modifier %} class="{{ modifier }}"{% endif %}> {% if url %} <a href="{{ url }}">{{ text }}</a> {% else %} <span>{{ text }}</span> {% endif %} </h{{ level|default(2) }}>

We have a simple title component that will print a title of anything you want. The level key allows us to change the heading level of the title (i.e. h1, h2, h3, etc.), and the modifier key allows us to pass a modifier class to the component, and the url will be helpful when our title needs to be a link to another page or component.

Currently the title component is not available in storybook. Storybook uses a special file to display each component as a story, the file name is component-name.stories.jsx.

• Inside title create a file called title.stories.jsx
• Inside the stories file, add the following:

/** * First we import the `html-react-parser` extension to be able to * parse HTML into react. */ import parse from 'html-react-parser'; /** * Next we import the component's markup and logic (twig), data schema (yml), * as well as any styles or JS the component may use. */ import title from './title.twig'; import data from './title.yml'; /** * Next we define a default configuration for the component to use. * These settings will be inherited by all stories of the component, * shall the component have multiple variations. * `component` is an arbitrary name assigned to the default configuration. * `title` determines the location and name of the story in Storybook's sidebar. * `render` uses the parser extension to render the component's html to react. * `args` uses the variables defined in title.yml as react arguments. */ const component = { title: 'Components/Title', render: (args) => parse(title(args)), args: { ...data }, }; /** * Export the Title and render it in Storybook as a Story. * The `name` key allows you to assign a name to each story of the component. * For example: `Title`, `Title dark`, `Title light`, etc. */ export const TitleElement = { name: 'Title', }; /** * Finally export the default object, `component`. Storybook/React requires this step. */ export default component;

• If Storybook is running you should see the title story. See example below:
• Otherwise start Storybook by running:

npm run storybook

With Storybook running, the title component should look like the image below:

The controls highlighted at the bottom of the title allow you to change the values of each of the fields for the title.

I wanted to start with the simplest of components, the title, to show how Storybook, with help from the extensions we installed, understands Twig. The good news is that the same approach we took with the title component works on even more complex components. Even the React code we wrote does not change much on large components.

In the next blog post, we will build more components that nest smaller components, and we will also add Drupal related parts and configuration to our theme so we can begin using the theme in a Drupal site. Finally, we will integrate the components we built in Storybook with Drupal so our content can be rendered using the component we're building. Stay tuned. For now, if you want to grab a copy of all the code in this post, you can do so below.

Download the code

Resources

• Storybook docs
• How to write stories
• Single Directory Components
• Storybook Drupal module

In closing

Getting to this point was a team effort and I'd like to thank Chaz Chumley, a Senior Software Engineer, who did a lot of the configuration discussed in this post. In addition, I am thankful to the Emulsify and Gesso teams for letting us pick their brains during our research. Their help was critical in this process.

I hope this was helpful and if there is anything I can help you with in your journey of a Storybook-friendly Drupal theme, feel free to reach out.

Images are an essential part of a website. They enhance the appeal of the site and make the user experience a more pleasant one. The challenge is finding the balance between enhancing the look of your website through the use of images and not jeopardizing performance. In this guide, we'll dig deep into how to find that balance by going over knowledge, techniques and practices that will provide you with a solid understanding of the best way to serve images to your visitors using the latest technologies and taking advantage of the advances of web browsers in recent years.

Hi, I hope you are ready to dig into responsive images. This is a seven-part guide that will cover everything you need to know about responsive images and how to manage them in a Drupal site. Although the excercises in this guide are Drupal-specific, the core principles of responsive images apply to any platform you use to build your sites.

Where do we start?

Choosing Drupal as your CMS is a great place to start. Drupal has always been ahead of the game when it comes to managing images by providing features such as image compression, image styles, responsive images styles and media library to mention a few. All these features, and more, come out of the box in Drupal. In fact, most of what we will cover in this guide will be solely out of the box Drupal features. We may touch on third party or contrib techniques or tools but only to let you know what's available not as a hard requirement for managing images in Drupal.

It is important to become well-versed with the tools available in Drupal for managing images. Only then you will be able to make the most of those tools. Don't worry though, this guide will provide you with a lot of knowledge about all the pieces that take part in building a solid system for managing and serving responsive images.

Let's start by breaking down the topics this guide will cover:

1. What are responsive images?
2. Art Direction using the <picture> HTML element
3. Image resolution switching using srcset and sizes attributes
4. Image styles and Responsive image styles in Drupal
5. Responsive images and Media
6. Responsive images, wrapping up

What are responsive images?

A responsive image is one whose dimensions adjust to changes in screen resolutions. The concept of responsive images is one that developers and designers have been strugling with ever since Ethan Marcotte published his famous blog post, Responsive Web Design, back in 2010 followed by his book of the same title. The concept itself is pretty straight forward, serve the right image to any device type based on various factors such as screen resolution, internet speed, device orientation, viewport size, and others. The technique for achieving this concept is not as easy. I can honestly say that over 10 years after reponsive images were introduced, we are still trying to figure out the best way to render images that are responsive. Read more about responsive images.

So if the concept of responsive images is so simple, why don't we have one standard for effectively implementing it? Well, images are complicated. They bring with them all sorts of issues that can negatively impact a website if not properly handled. Some of these issues include: Resolution, file size or weight, file type, bandwidth demands, browser support, and more.

Some of these issues have been resolved by fast internet speeds available nowadays, better browser support for file tyes such as webp, as well as excellent image compression technologies. However, there are still some issues that will probably never go away and that's what makes this topic so complicated. One issue in particular is using poorly compressed images that are extremely big in file size. Unfortunately often times this is at the hands of people who lack the knowledge of creating images that are light in weight and properly compressed. So it's up to us, developers, to anticipate the problems and proactively address them.

Ways to improve image files for your website

If you are responsible for creating or working with images in an image editor such as Photoshop, Illustrator, GIMP, and others, you have great tools at your disposal to ensure your images are optimized and sized properly. You can play around with the image quality scale as you export your images and ensure they are not bigger than they need to be. There are many other tools that can help you with compression. One little tool I've been using for years is this little app called ImageOptim, which allows you to drop in your images in it and it compresses them saving you some file size and improving compression.

Depending on your requirements and environment, you could also look at using different file types for your images. One highly recommended image type is webp. With the ability to do lossless and lossy compression, webp provides significant improvements in file sizes while still maintaining your images high quality. The browser support for webp is excellent as it is supported by all major browsers, but do some research prior to start using it as there are some hosting platforms that do not support webp.

To give you an example of how good webp is, the image in the header of this blog post was originally exported from Photoshop as a .JPG, which resulted in a 317KB file size. This is not bad at all, but then I ran the image through the ImageOptim app and the file size was reduced to 120KB. That's a 62% file size reduction. Then I exported the same image from Photoshop but this time in .webp format and the file size became 93KB. That's 71% in file size reduction compared to the original JPG version.

A must have CSS rule in your project

By now it should be clear that the goal for serving images on any website is doing it by using the responsive images approach. The way you implement responsive images on your site may vary depending on your platform, available tools, and skillset. Regardless, the following CSS rule should always be available within your project base CSS styles and should apply to all images on your site:

img { display: block; max-width: 100%; }

Easy right? That's it, we're done 😃

The CSS rule above will in fact make your images responsive (images will automatically adapt to the width of their containers/viewport). This rule should be added to your website's base styles so every image in your website becomes responsive by default. However, this should not be the extend of your responsive images solution. Although your images will be responsive with the CSS rule above, this does not address image compression nor optimization and this will result in performance issues if you are dealing with extremly large file sizes. Take a look at this example where the rule above is being used. Resize your browser to any width including super small to simulate a mobile device. Notice how the image automatically adapts to the width of the browser. Here's the problem though, the image in this example measures 5760x3840 pixels and it weights 6.7 MB. This means, even if your browser width is super narrow, and the image is resized to a very small visual size, you are still loading an image that is 6.7 MB in weight. No good 👎

In the next post of this series, we will begin the process of implementing a solution for handling responsive images the right way.

Navigate posts within this series

• Art Direction using the <picture> HTML element

Authored by Nadiia Nykolaichuk.

DrupalCon 2024 is returning to one of the world’s most enchanting cities — Barcelona! As the event draws near, Drupal enthusiasts from around the globe are tapping out the rhythm of Spanish flamenco with their feet in anticipation. Now is the perfect time to explore the conference’s program and select the sessions that will inspire and invigorate you.

The Morpht CI pipeline caught a recent vulnerability in Drupal core which led to the problem promptly being fixed.

Do you deploy changes to production on Fridays?

Some people don't as they're worried about potential issues occuring over the weekend.

When's the last time you did a deployment which caused a issue 24 or 48 hours later?

In my experience, most issues are visible immediately or shortly after a deployment and not days later.

Deploying on a Friday may not be as risky as you think.

The Drupal Forge business model

Drupal Forge is a non-profit project of the Drupal community. Our mission is to support vendors that devote a portion of their revenue to sustaining the software and infrastructure Drupal needs to be a great product. Our product launch buttons are part of a business module to sustain contribution. This is what makes them different from launch buttons that hosting vendors offer on their own.

Darren Oh Tue, 09/10/2024 - 15:13 Tags

• Drupal
• Drupal Forge

• Read more about The Drupal Forge business model
• Log in or register to post comments

Can Contact Forms Be Replaced by AI Chatbots on Drupal Websites? bhavinhjoshi Tue, 09/10/2024 - 17:52

Contact forms have been a staple on websites for years.

But, are they becoming outdated?

Say hello to AI chatbots.

Here’s why an AI chatbot might just be the better choice.

Real-time Engagement 

• Contact forms often mean waiting. Users type out their message, hit send, and then wait for a response. With AI chatbots, the response is instant, providing immediate support and answers.
• Example: A user needs information about your services. Instead of waiting hours (or days) for an email reply, the chatbot instantly provides the details they need.

Enhanced User Experience 

• Chatbots can guide users through their queries, step-by-step. This ensures visitors aren't left guessing, navigating through multiple pages to find answers.
• Example: Someone asks about your pricing. The chatbot not only shares the info but can also offer links to relevant pages, FAQs, and even schedule a meeting with a sales rep.

24/7 Availability 

• Unlike human staff, chatbots never sleep. They're available around the clock, ensuring your site visitors always get the support they need, no matter the time zone.
• Example: A potential client from another continent visits your site at 3 AM. The chatbot assists them in real-time rather than making them wait until your business hours.

Personalisation 

• Modern AI chatbots can personalise interactions based on user data. This means more relevant responses and recommendations tailored to each visitor.
• Example: The chatbot recognises a returning user and picks up the conversation where it left off, making the interaction feel continuous and personal.

But is it all sunshine and rainbows? Not quite.

There are challenges.

Some users may prefer human touch over automation. And, implementing a sophisticated AI chatbot can be resource-intensive.

So, should you replace your contact form with a chatbot?

Maybe not completely. A hybrid approach might work best. Let the chatbot handle routine inquiries and simple tasks, while the contact form can serve for more detailed and specific requests.

What do you think? Can AI chatbots replace traditional contact forms on Drupal websites?

Drupal Drupal 10 AI Drupal Planet Add new comment

Noah’s Page Builder offers Drupal users an intuitive way to create front-end pages quickly, without needing extra modules like Paragraphs. Developed by Julian Chabrillon, this tool provides real-time design changes, a variety of widgets, and CSS configuration options. In this interview, Julian discusses the inspiration, challenges, and future plans for Noah’s, including its impact on the Drupal community with both free and paid versions available for flexible usage.

Non-code contributions in open source communities attract considerable interest. Join a panel discussion with diverse experts who are actively involved in non-code contributions within the Drupal community to bridge a gap between experienced contributors and those considering their first step!

Discover together with Norman Kaemper-Leymann and Yannick Leyendecker a selection of Drupal contrib modules tailored to specific use cases, including Config Patch GitLab API, Content Templates, Frontend Editing, and more!

AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT integrate well with Drupal, but identifying the right use cases can be challenging. Explore together with Christoph Breidert the opportunities and limitations of LLMs and learn how to create impactful AI solutions!

Learn together with Artem and Bruno how to simplify content management using the Drupal modules “Content Templates” and “Frontend Editing.” Discover best practices for managing content at scale and improving the editor experience!

Explore the digital transformation of one of Europe’s oldest pharmaceutical companies together with Baddy Breidert, CEO of 1xINTERNET, and Alexander Reisenauer, Director of Global Digital Marketing at Schwabe Group. Discover how strategic decisions led to Drupal becoming a key component of Schwabe's digital ecosystem!

In our recent newsletter, we incorrectly stated the dates for DrupalCon Europe 2024. The event will take place from September 24 to 27, 2024. We regret the oversight and appreciate your understanding.

Drupal 11 has arrived! Okay, it’s been a month, but we were too busy exploring its new features to write the blog right away. With improved CKEditor integration, performance boosts, a redesigned Field UI, and updated taxonomy term revisions, this version builds on the success of Drupal 10. It introduces new tools and workflows designed to simplify development, improve performance, and streamline content management—making it easier than ever to create and maintain high-quality digital experiences. In this article we’ll talk about what makes Drupal 11 so exciting and even walk you through the upgrade from Drupal 10. Dive in! What’s introduced in Drupal 11 Drupal 11, the latest major release of the Drupal Content Management System, brings powerful new features that enhance the capabilities of developers, site builders, and content owners. This version focuses on modern technologies and best practices to make sites more efficient, scalable, and easier to maintain. Key improvements in Drupal 11 include enhancements to the developer experience, performance boosts, and advanced tools for content creators. With these updates, Drupal 11 empowers users to build and maintain optimized digital experiences with greater ease. Below are the major features and enhancements you can expect in Drupal 11 compared to Drupal 10: Faster real and perceived page performance including interface previews and lazy loading. New Experimental Recipes API. Single Directory Components (SDC) - used to create UI components. Symfony 7 under the hood (replacing Symfony 6). Decoupled menu support improved with Linkset support. Content editing is streamlined with automatic formatting. Menu, taxonomy, block and permission management made easier. What’s removed Several Drupal core modules and themes are deprecated in Drupal 10 and removed in Drupal 11. While they are no longer included in Drupal 11, you can still install and use them if needed: Actions UI Book Tracker Forum Statistics Tour How to Upgrade from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11 Platform requirements This version of Drupal 11 requires specific conditions to be met in your environment. Please ensure you check the following requirements: Update to PHP 8.3 Update to Drush 13 Database: It requires MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.6+. Otherwise, use the mysql57 module to use Drupal 11 on MySQL 5.7.8+ and MariaDB 10.3.7+. Symfony 7 jQuery 4 PHPUnit 10 Composer 2.7.7 Web server - As of Drupal 11.0.0, it does not support using Microsoft IIS. Other web server requirements remain unchanged.  Upgrade to the latest Drupal 10 Drupal sites running version 10.2.x or earlier must first upgrade to version 10.3.0 or later before updating to Drupal 11. This is necessary because all core updates introduced prior to version 10.3.0 have been removed. Upgrade Status + Drupal Rector Run a deprecation scan using the Upgrade Status module in conjunction with Drupal Rector to identify and address deprecated code before upgrading your Drupal site. The screenshot below shows the upgrade status report for Drupal Core version 10.1. Here is a snapshot of the upgrade status report after upgrading Drupal core to the latest version, 10.3. Update platform requirements as needed Drupal 11 requires PHP 8.3 and the MySQL database driver requires MySQL 8.0. While Drupal 11 does not currently use MySQL 8-specific syntax, future versions will. If you cannot upgrade to MySQL 8.0 immediately, you can use the MySQL 5.7 backport module as a temporary solution. Upgrade Contributed Packages Upgrade contributed modules & themes to the latest compatible version using Composer. For example: composer require drupal/package_name:^x.y --no-updateWhere, ^x.y is the latest available version of the package. For packages without Drupal 11 compatibility, use composer require with mglaman/composer-drupal-lenient and apply necessary patches using cweagans/composer-patches. Update Custom Code Use Upgrade Status and Drupal Rector to assess the readiness of your custom modules and themes for Drupal 11. Replace any code that was deprecated in Drupal 10 and removed in Drupal 11. Update Core to Drupal Core The following provides instructions for updating from Drupal 10.3.x to Drupal 11.x. Temporarily grant write access to protected files and directories: chmod 777 web/sites/default chmod 666 web/sites/default/*settings.php chmod 666 web/sites/default/*services.yml Update the required versions of the core-recommended packages. Use the --no-update option to prevent issues with mutual dependencies during the update process: composer require 'drupal/core-recommended:^11' 'drupal/core-composer-scaffold:^11' 'drupal/core-project-message:^11' --no-update Upgrade drush to version ^13: composer require 'drush/drush:^13' --no-update Perform upgrade to the core using: composer update After successfully running composer update without errors, verify that you can also run composer install. Update the database using drush:  drush updatedb Once complete, restore read-only access to the sites/default directory: chmod 755 web/sites/default chmod 644 web/sites/default/*settings.php chmod 644 web/sites/default/*services.yml For a detailed guide on upgrading, please visit https://www.drupal.org/docs/upgrading-drupal/upgrading-from-drupal-8-or-later/how-to-upgrade-from-drupal-10-to-drupal-11. Final thoughts No need to stress though! Drupal 10 isn’t going anywhere for a while. It will remain supported until Drupal 12 arrives, which is expected around mid to late 2026. But the fact that there are so many exciting updates and features in Drupal 11 means that moving from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11 is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. Transitioning now will set you up for future success and make the most of what Drupal 11 has to offer. Thinking about making the jump to Drupal 11? Our Drupal experts are just an email away!