Drupal 10 Timeline: New Features, Updates, & End-of-Life Information

Drupal is one of the most popular open-source content management systems in the world. Many government sites are running on Drupal in the US and several are migrating or planning to migrate their applications to this efficient CMS.

It is one of the oldest and trust-worthy CMS amongst other popular open-source CMS. Drupal holds approx. 2% share of the websites across the globe out of which Drupal 7 is used by 50 – 54% websites approx., which is a profound number.

The above-mentioned numbers say it all! Some of the well-known industry name that are using Drupal to manage their data are Tesla, Verizon, NASA, The Economist, Australian government’s website, and it is a long list including social networking giants Twitter and Pinterest.

Across the world, significant businesses are trusting Drupal to offer a seamless digital experience to their users. And to live its customers’ expectations, Drupal keeps on releasing updates and security patches regularly. In the new version release series, Drupal 10 is the latest version. Let’s know more about this recent Drupal 10 new features and other improvements.

Drupal 10 Release and Its Predecessors’ End-Of-Life

The latest Drupal 10 was released on December 14, 2022. This new version has myriad advanced features, deliverables, and goals to keep businesses’ websites updated with changing technologies and market needs.

One of the reasons behind this new release is its predecessors’ EOL. Drupal 9 and 7 both versions are reaching their end-of-life in January 5, 2025. However, this time upgrading the website from Drupal 9 to 10 is simpler because Drupal 10 is built in Drupal 9. Thus, if a website is running on the latest minor version of Drupal 9, it will be easily updated to Drupal 10.

Nonetheless, Drupal 7 to 10 migration might take some time. But now it is also the need of the hour to update your website from the oldest version to the latest one. Because all previous versions are heading towards their EOL and after that, your website will not be receiving any security and other updates.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Key factors to consider before Drupal migration

Drupal 10 New features & Updates

Drupal 10 has come up with several updates and new features out of which, two of the much-talked features are the project browser and automatic update. With these two, there are many other features, look at all of them.

1. Project Browser

Developers will be able to easily search and install modules from their Drupal website admin dashboard, using Drupal 10. With the project browser, the Drupal interface behaves as a smart app store which makes Drupal even more robust and delightful. This functionality is a fresh add-on to the Drupal CMS.

DrupalPod tool allows you to create a cloud-hosted Drupal development environment in the browser using Gitpod, which makes project browsing simple.

2. Third-party components are upgraded

Drupal 10 has upgraded all the third-party components to their latest versions which makes it more powerful, secure, user-friendly, and faster for developers and end-users.

Some important upgrades are-

• CKEditor 4 to CKEditor 5
• Symfony 4 to Symfony 6
• Composer 1 to Composer 2
• PHP 7 to PHP 8
• Replacing jQuery UI with modern JavaScript components
• Internet Explorer 11 is no longer get supported

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Drupal custom development expert tips

3. Decoupled Menus

Drupal 10 includes amazing features such as headless architecture and decoupled technologies. Drupal provides JavaScript development experiences and enables the JavaScript frontend to consume menus managed in it.

The latest version supports REST, JSON, and GraphQL APIs. Also, it allows the creation of an extensive ambassador repository of web components and framework integrations. Developers will be able to update menus using Drupal UI with Drupal 10. The changes will automatically reflect in the JavaScript front-end.

4. Automatic Updates

Automatic updates are one of the features included in Drupal 10 on users’ demand. It allows safe updates automatically, which makes Drupal website upgradation easier and faster.

Since the updates will get done automatically, it will be more secure because of less outer interference. It also leads to an impeccable user experience with robust security.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Drupal Personalization

5. Claro theme replacing Seven

Drupal 10 has a new administration theme named Claro. Though this theme was initially launched with Drupal 9.4 updates to make the admin interface easy to use; in Drupal 10, it is now replacing Seven.

Claro theme is a clean and accessible theme, and it has exceptional color contrast checks, enticing and simple UI, and many other features.

6. Olivero replacing Bartik

Olivero‘s front-end theme was first seen in Drupal 9.4.0. It comes with a modern and clean look with minimal usage of drop shadows and gradient effects. Even the animation, color palette, and typography are out-of-the-box in Olivero. Embedded media, second-level navigation, etc. have also become easy-to-use with Olivero. And now in Drupal 10, it has become the default front-end theme replacing Bartik.

7. New Starterkit Theme

There is a new Starterkit theme included in Drupal 10 to add a new experience for developers to create themes in Drupal CMS. This new update has replaced Classy, which was the previous theme. The Starterkit theme allows front-end developers to copy any existing theme and use it as a template to create new themes. With the help of the Starterkit theme, developers may get rid of subthemes problems and will be able to create new ones.

8. Distribution & Recipes

Another update Drupal 10 has the new recipe functionalities that can solve each pre-existing issue with distribution and recipes. You will find a new and improved way of Composer workflow and recipes packaging. Users will be able to mix and match recipes/distribution with Drupal 10’s new updated architecture.

So, these are the main updates and features Drupal 10 has. Since Drupal 7 and 9 reaching their end-of-life soon, start migrating or updating your websites to Drupal 10. And Drupal 8 has already reached its EOL in November 2021, now the websites running on Drupal 8 are miserable for security threats.

Wrapping up

Drupal 10 incorporates myriad amazing features and profound changes that will uplift the quality of your website. Drupal 9 has some of the features which Drupal 10 includes and since the new version is created within Drupal 9, migration from Drupal 9 to 10 is simpler.

Both Drupal 9 and 10 have the power to help businesses to create flawless web and app experiences.

So, what are you waiting for? Upgrade the flawless experience with the latest Drupal 10 by hiring an experienced Drupal developer. You can contact Skynet Technologies at hello@skynetindia.info to hire a Drupal developer. We also provide Drupal maintenance, Drupal migration, Drupal 10 upgrades, and Drupal SEO services to make your website more user-friendly and secure.