Drupal 9.4.0 is Released! What’s new in the latest version?

Drupal 9.4.0 was released on June 15, 2022 with some highly expected predicated updates.

Drupal 9.4.0 has many modern and fresh features to make the websites more flexible and accessible. This new release has umpteen improvements without breaking the backward compatibility for public APIs. If your website is currently running on the updated version of Drupal, then upgrading with Drupal 9.4.0 will be easier. But if still you have not upgraded and running on the previous version (Drupal 6 or 7), it is highly recommended to migrate now from Drupal 6 or 7 to the latest version of Drupal 9.4.0.

In this article, we will try to cover the latest changes, elements, features, and other improvements in Drupal 9.4.0.

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The more evolved Drupal 9.4.0!

• New default back-end theme – Claro

  Claro is officially the default theme for Drupal 9.4.0. This theme has an all-new design, and it is created to be more user-friendly and profoundly accessible. With a minimalist approach, Claro has a high-contrast color palette and extremely attractive visual cues emulating the physical properties such as depth and shadows.

• Frond-end default theme – Olivero

  Olivero is one of the accessible (complies with WCAG AA) themes of Drupal until now. It is made adhering to ADA compliance, which helps you to create an accessible website easily. Its design is beautiful yet accessible, alluring yet simple with plenty of white space and prudent use of effects such as drop shadows and gradients. It has few features like multi-level navigation, layout builder, embedded media, and more. It is utterly compatible with your current Drupal website’s features.

• New more advanced coding standards

  Drupal is using ESLint to validate JavaScript for an exceptionally long time. In Drupal 9.4.0, this tool is the same but now Drupal core is using eslint-config-airbnb-base configuration instead of eslint-config-airbnb. Drupal developers who have been using ESLint for the React or JSX code must add eslint-config-airbnb back to their dependencies because the base version used now does not have rules for libraries. Drupal 9.4.0 is compatible with the latest version of Coder.

• Lazy image loading

  Drupal 9.4.0 includes a lazy loading option for image field configuration. Lazy loading allows images to load only when they are needed; this approach improves the page speed. The pages with heavy images no longer take time to load, rather they are ready to use in seconds. It improves user engagement and conversion as well.

• Hassle-free permission management

  Drupal 9.4.0 enables administrators to configure permissions in-context for content types, vocabularies, and other entity bundles using the ‘Manage Permissions’ tab. In previous versions, administrators need to do this by going into sitewide Roles and Permissions, which was causing many errors.

• Patch-level composer dependency security updates

  Drupal 9.4.0 offers better security to the websites. The drupal/core-recommended is now applying patch-level updates for Composer dependencies. This feature enables you to apply Composer dependency security updates as soon as they release. Thus, you do not need to depend on Drupal core for Composer updates. A slight change in drupal/core-recommended code is the reason behind this impeccable development.

Which modules are marked deprecated in Drupal 9.4?

The Color module is marked deprecated and will be eliminated in Drupal 10. If you still need the Color module, then you can try the contrib version instead of this obsoleted module. Hypermedia Application Language (HAL) module is marked deprecated as well and users can install the contrib version if this deprecated module is still needed. Moreover, the Aggregator module is also marked deprecated in Drupal 9.4.0. This module also has the contrib version that can be used instead. Similarly, the Entity Reference and SimpleTest stubs, and Forum module is also deprecated.

If you are wondering, how to deal with deprecated functions, the Upgrade Status contrib module is the solution. It has different lists of deprecated functions used in contrib and custom modules and themes. Also, you can depend on IDE, which has features to enlist the deprecated functions and proceed accordingly.

Which all libraries are deprecated in Drupal 9.4.0?

Modernizr.touchevents – This library was used for discovering if the device used to explore the website, supports the touchevents or not, so that website’s behaviour can be adjusted accordingly. Thus, if you are using this library in a custom code, you need to omit this dependency.

Backbone and Underscore – Backbone was used to build interactive user interfaces and Underscore was a series of functions that was helping write code faster. In Drupal 9.4.0, drupal.editor.admin and drupal.filter.filter_html.admin libraries are not using Backbone and Underscore. And these libraries will be completely removed in Drupal 10. Thus, the themes and modules using these libraries must need to re-write.

What major changes are required now?

• Drupal 9.4.0 supports PHP 7.4, but recommended version is PHP 8.1. Sites using 7.3 can install Drupal 9.4 but their security is not guaranteed.

• Database drivers such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite have been moved to their own modules. The modules are installed when the Drupal 9.4.0 update is run.

• If the database connection does not support JSON, Drupal core will give a warning. This warning feature was already there in Drupal 9 for MySQL, MariaDB, Percona databases. So, now the warning will appear for PostgreSQL and SQLite users.

• CKEditor 4 will reach its EOL in 2023 and the CKEditor 5 experimental module will replace CKEditor 4 in Drupal 10. Thus, it is recommended to start testing CKEditor 5 to become compatible with Drupal 10 (which is releasing later this year).

Wrapping up

Drupal new minor version upgrades are seamless because of its in-built backward compatibility. Users who are using the latest version of Drupal, are experiencing the best of this platform. The new evolved Drupal is more flexible, accessible, secure, and user-friendly. So, what are you waiting for? Start upgrading your websites with Drupal 9.4.0.

Our future success is directly proportional to our ability to adopt latest updates and act accordingly. Thus, contemplate once, and upgrade your website with the latest version of Drupal.

Drupal 10 release announcement is creating a buzz among the developers and Drupal community. To ensure security, safety, and consistent performance, the Drupal community have decided to release its latest version Drupal 10, this year in 2022. So, it is necessary to upgrade your website to Drupal 9.4.0.

Are you looking for migrating or upgrading a Drupal website? Whether you are looking for Drupal 6 to 9.4.0 migration, Drupal 7 to 9, Drupal 8 to 9, or planning for Drupal 9 to 10, our experienced team of dedicated Drupal developers provide complete Drupal migration services. We strive to keep our clients’ Drupal websites up-to-date and secure. We fix any security issues immediately to avoid trouble. Contact us at [email protected] or submit the following request free quote form to know more.