Here's the next part of our ongoing series dedicated to assisting Drupal 7 site owners in upgrading their websites to Drupal 10. There are many great reasons to upgrade. The modern Drupal offers powerful features for content editors including: customizable editorial workflows, a layout builder for your landing pages, a media library that makes managing and reusing media easier than ever, and more. Developers can leverage the most of these advancements.
In our previous blog post, we discussed using our questionnaire to develop a plan, understanding your budget, and deciding whether to work with a certified partner from our list or take the DIY approach for your migration. As we get closer to the start of 2024 and to Drupal 7 End of Life, it's crucial to consider the next phase. Now, you need to secure your website's future but also start to map your information architecture and enhance your content strategy. In this blog post, we'll explore what that means and why these steps are crucial as you prepare to transition away from Drupal 7.
Understanding Information Architecture and Content Strategy
At its core, these steps are vital to ensure a smooth transition to a new version. Mapping information architecture involves creating a blueprint of your website, showcasing where every piece of content is located and how it's interconnected, along with the key content types, views, and taxonomies crucial to your site. This is crucial because when you transition away from Drupal 7 to a new version, having a clear plan ensures that your website's structure remains organized. Such clarity helps prevent issues like data loss, broken links, and confusion for your website visitors.
Drupal offers tools and features empowering site builders and developers to create and manage a structured website tailored to your specific needs.
Additionally, when you assess your content strategy, you're essentially conducting a thorough review of the quality, relevance, and overall effectiveness of the content on your website. This is crucial during migration as it ensures your content remains valuable, fits the new platform's goals, improves user experience, and maintains or boosts SEO rankings. This preparation is vital for a smooth transition and to maintain the integrity of your content in the new setting.
To learn more about information architecture, explore the information architecture guide. For insights into content strategy, refer to this content strategy guide. For a comprehensive checklist when launching a website, visit the major version upgrade documentation.
Here are some recent sessions from DrupalCon worth exploring:
- Audience Experience - The WHY of Content Management
- Designing Content Authoring Experiences
- What is Technical Strategy and Why Do You Need It
- Structured Content & Flexible Layouts: A Georgia Gov Case Study
- The Crossroads of Data, UX and Content Strategy
- Your First Steps to a Successful Content Strategy (Workshop)
- Future of Content Management: Using Drupal as a Content Strategy Platform
- The Missing Link: Taxonomists and Taxonomy Governance
- Performance Audits: The Top 8 Problems We Find and How to Fix Them
What does End of Life mean for you?
In software terms, End of Life means that the version of that software no longer receives feature updates, bug fixes, or security releases. This last point is the most important. If a security vulnerability is discovered after the end of life date, it may be publicly disclosed, and you will be unable to update your site to protect against the issue. For this reason, we recommend beginning to plan your migration now.
Whether you want to take advantage of new functionalities with Drupal 10 or opt for another option, we’re here to support you.
Visit our resource center to migrate from Drupal 7 now, and stay tuned for more blogs in our Drupal 7 End of Life series!