End of Drupal 7: Successfully managing the delicate migration of your digital project to Drupal 10

All good things must come to an end: support for Drupal 7 will end on January 5, 2025. Launched in January 2011, it has powered a very large number of websites and proven its robustness. This end, initially announced for 2021, was postponed to allow the large number of Drupal 7 site administrators to begin this transition smoothly.

The end of support for Drupal 7 makes migration to Drupal 10 or Drupal 11 imperative. Continuing to use Drupal 7 after the end of support poses serious risks for the security of your digital product and can lead to long-term costs:

• No security updates: This will leave your site vulnerable to security breaches and potential attacks.
• No technical support: The Drupal community and official developers will no longer provide assistance, so technical issues will no longer be resolved. There will also be no new modules, nor any bug fixes for existing modules.
• Software compatibility issues: New technologies, modules, or third-party services may no longer be compatible with Drupal 7.
• More expensive maintenance: Without official support, you will need to rely on additional specialized solutions to fix security vulnerabilities and bugs.

Not convinced? For your digital project, upgrading to Drupal 10 or Drupal 11 is an opportunity to benefit from the best of Drupal:

• Modern architecture: Drupal 10 and 11 are built on the Symfony framework, offering a more robust, scalable, and easier-to-maintain architecture.
• Improved performance: The new versions of Drupal boast enhanced performance (better caching mechanisms, faster page load times, improved overall server resource management, etc.).
• Simplified user experience: Versions 10 and 11 support user-friendly themes such as Claro and Layout Builder, enabling the creation of visual layouts.

The changes between Drupal 7 and Drupal 10 are particularly significant, making the migration process quite complex compared to other versions. After carrying out the migration of numerous Drupal 7 sites to Drupal 10, we have developed a methodology that allows you to approach this major upgrade with peace of mind.

1. Technical audit

We create a complete map of your site. We inspect the content, features, taxonomies, modules, code, theme, configurations, etc. This work results in a detailed migration plan.

This is also an opportunity to identify possibilities for improvement. For example, improving accessibility, revisiting navigation, modernizing the design, or optimizing SEO. For instance, during the migration of the IRP AUTO website from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10, the social protection group for automotive professionals, we made subtle graphic improvements so it would better match the branding guidelines, thus enhancing brand recognition.

2. Upgrade to Drupal 10 or 11

First, we install Drupal 10 or 11 and recreate the configurations (content types, views, roles, fields, permissions, etc.). Then, we install and update your modules. Adjustments or alternatives are sometimes needed to ensure they are compatible with Drupal 10.

3. Content

We back up and migrate your media, content types, and content.

4. Theming

We ensure the responsive integration of the Twig theme, the template engine integrated into Drupal since version 8.

5. Testing and deployment

We conduct thorough testing to ensure everything works perfectly. Without delay, we launch your site online!

We train you on how to use the back office, particularly its new features. We also provide ongoing maintenance as new updates are rolled out for your version of Drupal.

Contact us today to plan your transition and ensure the success of your digital project.