Drupal CMS offers a powerful launchpad for building new websites. By streamlining the setup process, it reduces decision fatigue and simplifies the path to a functional site. However, it’s important to understand what Drupal CMS is—and what it isn’t.
Drupal CMS is built on Drupal core, but it’s not a separate version of Drupal that you can “upgrade” or “switch” to. Think of it as a set of pre-configured tools and best practices designed to save time and effort. While you could replicate the same website using Drupal core alone, Drupal CMS eliminates many of the manual steps, providing a quicker route to success.
But what about organizations already using Drupal? How can they tap into the innovation baked into Drupal CMS?
Here are five ways to make the most of Drupal CMS—even if your organization already has a Drupal website.
1. Train Your Team
Drupal CMS is an excellent resource for onboarding new team members if your company is already using Drupal. It offers an intuitive way to start building a site from scratch, so that staff have a playground or sandbox for learning Drupal. It fosters the training process and allows for experimentation with new modules and recipes, before tackling more complex projects with custom themes, extensive configurations, and numerous modules. This approach helps your new staff build confidence and skills in a controlled environment.
2. Adopt Best Practices
Drupal CMS comes with a set of recommended recipes. Let’s take Accessibility Tools as an example. This tool adds a content accessibility checker to your website. You can apply this recipe to a new site, or look at the configuration it adds and implement best practices on your existing Drupal sites. It’s a simple way to improve your accessibility without needing to reinvent the wheel.
3. Foster Collaboration
If your organization manages multiple Drupal installations with different codebases, recipes can help standardize and share features. Recipes are pre-configured components tailored to specific website needs, such as forms or landing pages. They’re easy to customize, making them ideal for sharing across teams while accommodating unique site requirements.
4. Create a Roadmap for Your Custom Drupal Install
For organizations already using a custom Drupal installation across multiple sites, Drupal CMS can serve as a source of inspiration. Its recipes and default modules provide a reference point for updates and improvements, helping you refine your own Drupal ecosystem.
5. Streamline Microsites and Landing Pages
Drupal CMS is a great solution for quick-turnaround projects, such as event microsites or campaign landing pages. By using Drupal CMS for these single-use cases, you benefit from consistency across your web properties. Tools, techniques, and modules already in use on your main website can be easily applied, saving time and ensuring consistency.
Looking Ahead: Experience Builder and Beyond
One of the most exciting innovations on the horizon is the Experience Builder—a no-code solution under active development. While not included in the initial release of Drupal CMS, Experience Builder will soon empower content creators, marketers, and even designers to take charge of creating and styling marketing content without heavy reliance on developers. This rapid innovation, driven by Drupal CMS’s ambitious timeline, will be included in Drupal core and benefit all Drupal users.
Find out more about Drupal CMS
- Product Availability: Drupal CMS launched on January 15, 2025. Documentation and a link to the one-click trial experience are available at drupal.org/drupal-cms.
- Read my post reviewing the key features of Drupal CMS that content managers and marketers need to pay attention to: Why Content Editors and Marketers Will Love Drupal CMS.