Drupal 11 Unveiled: Major Enhancements and Exciting New Features

Drupal 11 has arrived, ushering in a new era of innovation and flexibility. Unlike previous releases driven by the urgency of expiring dependencies, Drupal 11 is designed for long-term impact. 

“This release is purposefully early, giving businesses ample time to transition while equipping them with modern tools to support ambitious goals.” – Gábor Hojtsy, Drupal Core Initiative Coordinator at DrupalCon Portland 2024

Transitioning to Drupal 11 will ensure future readiness, unlock advanced workflows, enhance content governance, streamline front-end development, and improve next-gen digital capabilities, helping organizations achieve their goals. 

In this blog post, we’ll decode the latest feature advancements of Drupal 11, why businesses should upgrade to this content management system, and how the transition process can be initiated.

Key Updates of Drupal 11

1. Streamlined Administration Backend

Drupal 11 provides various enhancements for administrators to manage the backend more efficiently. One notable improvement is the faster rendering of the classic administration toolbar on both the back-end and front-end pages, making it easier for administrators to navigate and access critical tools. 

Permission management has also been simplified by introducing a quick filter, enabling site administrators to find and adjust permissions swiftly. A new Announcements Feed module has been added to new Drupal installations by default, keeping site admins updated with the latest news and project announcements from Drupal. 

Additionally, the new Navigation Module redesigns the classic toolbar, providing a left-aligned, collapsible vertical sidebar that enhances navigation within the administration menu and is highly customizable.

2. Granular Block Management

With Drupal 11, block management has become more flexible and granular, enabling site builders to create custom blocks directly within the administrative interface. Site administrators can also manage blocks based on specific permissions, enhancing control over who can edit or view each block. 

Additionally, the CMS enables administrators to review and roll back revisions applied to block content, improving content accuracy and consistency. Conditional block visibility based on response status, such as “success,” “access denied,” or “not found” is another powerful feature that enhances the block management experience.

3. Advanced Content Modeling and Management

Site administrators and content editors can refine content modeling and management processes, easily working with fields and content revisions. The revamped interface for reusing fields ensures content models are more consistent, reducing the complexity of managing various content types. 

Additionally, a unified entity revision editing experience has been introduced that empowers content editors to manage previous versions of content seamlessly. A floating action bar for bulk operations enables users to launch actions on multiple content items, all while improving workflow efficiency.

4. New Field UI

Drupal 11 introduces a revamped Field UI that simplifies content creation and management with a user-friendly interface. Building on improvements from Drupal 10.2, it enhances the field creation process with grouped field types, intuitive icons, and unified forms for seamless configuration. The updated workflow eliminates redundant steps, making it easier to configure fields like required status and default values directly during creation. 

Furthermore, re-using fields is now more accessible, with a dedicated discovery page and quick access buttons providing detailed insights into existing fields. With its modern design and accessibility features like keyboard navigation, Drupal 11’s Field UI can enhance user experience by simplifying workflows and enabling site builders. It also creates consistent and scalable content models more efficiently and effortlessly.

5. Single-Directory Components (SDC)

The newly introduced SDC module simplifies UI development by consolidating all elements of a component into a single directory. This streamlines the process, making components easier to locate, reuse, and manage. By integrating SDC into Drupal core, front-end developers can efficiently work with components without requiring extensive Drupal knowledge, reducing complexity and enhancing productivity.

6. Drupal Recipes

Initially, introduced as an experimental capability in Drupal 10.3, the Recipes feature has been significantly enhanced to streamline site-building and configuration in Drupal 11. This approach simplified the setup of complex site structures and promoted consistency across projects. It has been improved to support user input, enabling tasks like adding blocks and layout builders.  The hook system has been updated to align with modern PHP practices, enhancing flexibility and performance. 

7. Decoupled Navigation Made Easy

Drupal 11 builds on its reputation as an excellent CMS for front-end JavaScript applications by simplifying decoupled navigation management. Previously, managing navigation in decoupled architectures could be cumbersome and frustrating, but Drupal 11 addresses this by introducing dedicated API endpoints using the Linkset standard. These endpoints empower developers to access and consume menu data, rendering dynamic navigation without hard codes. This feature also ensures that non-developers manage application menus without requiring programming knowledge.

8. Improved Content Authoring With CKEditor 5

Drupal 11 integrates CKEditor 5, enhancing content authoring with key improvements. One notable feature is the ability to configure the “Code block” button to display specific programming or markup languages. This customization provides content creators greater flexibility when adding code or custom content, improving the overall editing experience. 

9. Enhanced Lazy Loading Features

Lazy loading for images and oEmbed content enhances site performance in Drupal 11 by reducing initial page load times. Leveraging BigPipe technology, additional content is dynamically loaded after the page is displayed. Responsive images now benefit from lazy loading, ensuring faster rendering on mobile devices. Additionally, interface previews for delayed content help prevent page reflows, improving the user experience.

10. Taxonomy Improvements

Drupal 11 brings major improvements to taxonomy management with a new visual UI that enables users to view, revert, and delete revisions easily. This makes tracking changes and managing content taxonomies more efficient. Additionally, content moderation workflows for taxonomy terms are now supported, enabling administrators to define approval or rejection processes for taxonomy term changes. These features simplify organizing and managing content across the site.

11. Symphony 7 Under the Hood

Drupal 11 upgrades its underlying framework by integrating Symfony 7, replacing the previous Symfony 6. This transition enhances performance, security, and compatibility with modern PHP practices. By adopting Symfony 7, Drupal 11 ensures a more robust and future-proof foundation for developers and site administrators. 

12. Stable Workspaces for Content Staging

Drupal 11 introduces the stable Workspaces module, enabling a dedicated staging environment for content updates before they go live. This feature is ideal for managing multiple updates simultaneously, such as event results or product launches. By enabling content to be staged and reviewed in a separate workspace, administrators can ensure accuracy and readiness, minimizing the risk of errors before publication.

Other than these updates and enhancements, Drupal 11 also focuses on improving accessibility, multilingual capabilities, and API-first initiatives. It introduces refinements to make websites more inclusive, supports advanced language configurations for global audiences, and enhances integration with third-party applications through robust APIs. These features solidify its position as a modern and versatile content management platform.

Set the Stage for a Successful Drupal 11 Transition

Drupal 11 is designed to meet the demands of modern businesses by delivering improved performance, enhanced user experiences, and robust scalability. Key features such as lazy loading, responsive design, and simplified component management make it a forward-looking platform that ensures your CMS remains relevant and future-proof. Here’s a checklist to prepare for the Drupal 11 upgrade. 

1. Determine Platform Requirements

• Update PHP: Upgrade to PHP 8.3 with the Zlib extension enabled for improved performance.
• Update Database Drivers: Transition to MySQL 8.0, MariaDB 10.6, PostgreSQL 16, or SQLite 3.45.
• Web Server Compatibility: Ensure Apache 2.4.7 or higher is in place.

2. Prepare for the Upgrade

• Upgrade to the Latest Drupal 10: Update to Drupal 10.3 before initiating the migration. 
• Deprecation Scan: Use the Upgrade Status module to detect incompatible code.
• Remediate Custom and Contributed Code: Leverage tools like Drupal Rector to address deprecated code.

3. Ensure Tools and Dependencies Compatibility

• Upgrade Drush: Update to Drush 13 for Drupal 11 compatibility.
• Check Composer Dependencies: Ensure all required tools support PHP 8.3 and Drupal 11.

4. Enable Pre-Deployment Testing and Roll Out

• Perform Dry Runs: Use composer update –dry-run to simulate the upgrade in a safe environment.
• Backup Everything: Create a full backup of code and databases before deploying to production.

Unlock a Hassle-Free Drupal 11 Migration with Expert Guidance

Migrating or upgrading to Drupal 11 can be a complex undertaking. Therefore, partnering with a Drupal development provider like Grazitti Interactive can ensure a smooth, hassle-free upgrade experience. From verifying platform readiness to refactoring legacy code, Grazitti tackles every challenge with precision. The team ensures your platform meets all technical requirements, updates custom and contributed modules for compatibility, and rigorously tests in safe environments to prevent disruptions. 

With seamless deployment strategies, Grazitti minimizes downtime during production rollouts and provides ongoing support to address post-upgrade issues. 

Unlock Efficiency With a Seamless Drupal 11 Migration/ Upgrade. Let’s Talk!