With features such as simple content authoring, customization, multilingual capabilities, and headless CMS — it’s no wonder Drupal has so many users!
It’s time to get yourself in gear and switch to Drupal 9!
Even though the most recent upgrade, Drupal 9, was published in June 2020, many websites still use Drupal 8, and the vast majority use Drupal 7. In fact, Drupal 7 is still used by 69.5% of sites (about 400,000), whereas Drupal 8 is used by 24% (around 138,000). If you’re one of the many who haven’t upgraded to Drupal 9 yet, you’re missing out on many awesome improvements on the features you love from Drupal 7 or 8. You may not want to deal with the hassle of upgrading, and we can’t blame you, but the point of doing it now is to make upgrading easier later. And with Drupal 7 soon reaching the end of its life (November 2023), it’s time to get yourself in gear and switch to Drupal 9.
4 Benefits of Upgrading to Drupal 9 for Marketers
As a marketer, you might wonder why you should care about all this development. What difference does it make to you anyway? Drupal has placed marketers and content authors at the center of its development plan. A win for marketers, right?! Drupal 8 and 9 have established a more significant focus on the importance of digital experience: something all marketers and developers alike care about. Here are 4 benefits of upgrading to Drupal 9 that marketers should care about.
1. Better Customization for Your Website
Say goodbye to boring cookie-cutter websites. Drupal has the power to deliver fully customized experiences to your website users so you can craft something unique for your users. It also allows you to segment users across devices, and track and report customization performance.
2. Simpler Combined Analytics Tools
With Drupal, you can easily combine and integrate with external analytics tools and data platforms. By combining these tools, you can provide a unified experience across all channels and have all your data in one place. Combined platforms = less of a headache.
3. Better eCommerce Support
Drupal 9 has streamlined integration with e-commerce platforms, which really just means less work for you. This upgrade allows you to sync products from e-commerce sites as entities on Drupal sites to provide a more content-driven e-commerce experience.
4. Easier Integration with DAM and PIM Systems
With enhanced API capabilities, Drupal has improved the integration process with DAM and PIM systems. Drupal helps centralize and optimize digital assets and information to help you manage organizations’ online presence.
Benefits of Upgrading to Drupal 9 for IT & Web Development Teams
Drupal 9 has introduced several improved features like more accessible upgrade pathways, increased functionality for cross-functional performance, and extended dynamic developer tooling. There's so much to love for technical and IT teams, but here are 4 features we want to highlight.
1. Higher Performance
Drupal 9 promises better overall performance thanks to improved caching techniques, page caching, block caching, and views caching that are available by default. This means better performance with less work for you!
2. Easier Management on Backend CMS User Interface
Drupal 9’s redesigned UI and Admin Navigation System allow for more streamlined mobile-first management of content, taxonomy, users, blocks, and themes. This means the ability to manage CMS updates and modifications from anywhere, even from the comfort of your couch.
3. Better Code Structure
The Autoload functionality defaulted in Drupal 8 and 9 allows modules to inherit dependencies that will be loaded only when needed. Look forward to improved website performance and faster load times!
4. Cleaner Codebase
With an improved templating process using the TWIG template engine, which does not allow PHP or other code in theme templates, your codebase will be cleaner. In addition, deprecations will be removed to improve the website's efficiency further, as deprecated codes will no longer be supported.
Symetris Drupal Experts are Here to Help You!
So, are you ready to enjoy all the benefits of the Drupal 9 upgrade? The process doesn’t have to be intimidating or painful — we promise. The migration to Drupal 9 depends on whether you’re currently using Drupal 7 or 8, making it a little more complex. However, they have some amazing guides on preparing your Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 site to upgrade to Drupal 9.
As a Drupal-certified agency and Acquia partner, our Drupal experts can help you on your way to Drupal 9, no matter your website’s needs. We can help simplify this process, so you can begin enjoying all the benefits and improvements Drupal 9 has to offer.
