Do you know, Drupal 7 end of life is finally happening now on January 5, 2025?
It is said to be a final extension for Drupal 7 website owners. Previously, on February 23, 2022, it was announced that Drupal 7 would not receive security support from the community after November 1, 2023; however, it is extended as of now till January 2025. And there are possibilities that it will be the last and final EOL date for Drupal 7 since the dependencies are also reaching their end of life.
Please understand here that despite the decent performance of your website, it is important to migrate Drupal 7 website to the latest version of Drupal because it will not be able to deliver same performance & security after its EOL.
What to expect from Drupal 7 EOL?
Drupal community has some planned restrictions, that every Drupal 7 website owner should consider and begin migrating websites to Drupal 9 or 10 or should wait for Drupal 11 (As it is expected to be release this year)
Drupal 7 has many modules and themes that are marked as unsupported, and they will no longer be maintained or supported again.
The Drupal community will not offer security to unsupported D7 libraries, for instance, CKEditor 4.
However, the community will process non-critical D7 issues to reduce security risks till January 2025.
Support for PHP 5.5 has already ceased by the Drupal core team, PHP 8 is the minimum requirement now.
Moreover, third-party libraries for Drupal 7 (including jQuery) will not receive support after January 2025.
Any further Drupal 7 modules development will not be supported after January 2025.
Drupal 7 branches will be labelled as unsupported.
Archive packaging (tar and zip file) of the Drupal.org file will be not available for D7 after January 2025.
Drupal core 7.x will not receive new core commits.
Package tarballs may no longer be downloadable after Drupal 7 end of life.
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Why it is mandatory to plan migrate now from Drupal 7 to the latest version?
If even after Drupal 7 EOL, you wish to stick to the same unsupported version, your website may face some risks such as,
Security vulnerabilities
The website will not receive any updates, which will ultimately make it vulnerable to malicious threats.
Significant userbase loss
Since Drupal 7 will not have new functionalities for websites, business owners will not be able to offer new experiences to their users. Also, outdated websites will be less compatible with modern server environments and browsers, increasing user attrition.
Limited partnership formation
Tech vendors will not be able to work with business owners whose websites will be outdated or maybe they won’t rely on such websites because of its unsecured and outdated environment.
Negative results in SERPs
Google and other search engines prefer upgraded and secured websites while ranking them. Thus, Drupal 7 websites will not be ranked due to obvious reasons.
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So, what can be next possible option for your Drupal 7 website?
Drupal 10 is anytime a better choice now since Drupal 9 has also reached its end of life. Drupal 10 is the latest version currently and will receive community support till December 2024 (if any extension not received). Drupal 7 website owners who think their website is doing precisely right strategically, they should see what all Drupal 10 contains. Few of the noticeable advantages of using Drupal 10 are:
Accessibility
Drupal 10 has in-built accessibility support to create accessible websites.
Developer friendly
It has modern architecture such as support for modern PHP versions, improved APIs, and easier integration with other technologies that makes development work less complicated for developers.
Improved performance
Drupal 10 has enhancements in terms of caching, speed, optimization, resulting in a better Drupal version.
Mobile responsiveness
Drupal 10 supports responsive themes and web designs for mobile phones.
Configuration management
Drupal 10 has a comprehensive configuration system, which was missing in Drupal 7. The system allows easier to manage configurations across various environments.
Decoupled architecture
The latest version supports headless or decoupled architecture, which enables the use of Drupal as backend with different front-end cutting-edge technologies such as React, Angular, and Vue.js.
Multilingual capabilities
Improved multilingual support is a boon for creating websites in multiple languages and reach out wider segment of target users.
Automatic updates
Drupal originally always required manual upgrades but now the platform has evolved, and its automatic updates feature is a big help for security fixes and other regular updates.
There are significant numbers of Drupal websites across the world that are still running on Drupal 7. So, you are not the only one; however, it is crucial to decide that now your website require new and latest version to match modern market pace.
Wrapping up
To make migration process seamless and simple, the Drupal Association is planning to certify migration partners. The certified migration partners will have access to the migration resources library along with their promotion on Drupal.org. Skynet Technologies is recognized as a Drupal Gold Certified Partner and Drupal Supporting Partner. We specialize in assisting with existing Drupal website migration, upgrades, maintenance retainers, redesigns, redevelopments, and ensuring ADA WCAG 2.2 AA level compliance for your website. Feel free to contact us at [email protected] or request a free quote to discover more about our Drupal services.
