The release of Drupal 9 on June 3, 2020, marked the end of Drupal 8. With no more support releases available, many businesses are considering migrating from Drupal 8 to take advantage of Drupal 9’s new features and improvements. But what exactly are the differences between Drupal 8 and Drupal 9, and why should businesses consider Drupal 9 migration?
What To Expect From Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 Migration
Drupal 9 comes with a range of new features and improvements that distinguish it from Drupal 8. These include:
The Removal of Deprecated Code
Drupal 8 contained deprecated code that was no longer in use but still existed within the system. This was problematic because it slowed down the performance of Drupal 8 and made it more challenging to maintain.
Drupal 9 eliminates all deprecated code, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient system. This change also means that Drupal 9 is more secure than its predecessor, as deprecated code can create vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit.
Updated Third-party Dependencies
Drupal 9 has updated third-party dependencies, including Symfony, Twig, and Guzzle. Symfony is a popular PHP framework that Drupal uses as its foundation, while Twig is the template engine used to render the HTML for Drupal’s front end. Guzzle is an HTTP client that Drupal uses for making API requests.
Drupal users can use the latest features and improvements available in these third-party libraries by updating these dependencies. This helps to improve the overall performance and security of Drupal 9.
Updating these dependencies also makes sure that Drupal is compatible with other third-party tools and services that rely on the same libraries. This makes it easier for developers to build and maintain Drupal sites and applications.
Updating third-party dependencies can introduce challenges and potential compatibility issues. Before deploying it to a production environment, developers should test their code for compatibility with Drupal 9 and its updated dependencies.
Compatibility With Symfony 4 and 5
Drupal 8 was compatible with Symfony 3, which ended in November 2021. Drupal 9 is compatible with Symfony 4 and 5, more recent versions with long-term support. This new version is more future-proof and will receive security updates and bug fixes for longer.
The upgrade to Symfony 4 and 5 also improves performance, security, and developer experience. They also offer new features, such as better HTTP/2 support, a more flexible and powerful routing system, and improved error handling.
Developers can create more complex and robust web applications with Drupal 9 migration while providing a better user experience.
Improved Media Handling
Media management may be a challenge for developers. Drupal 9 addresses this by introducing new features and improvements to media handling. Drupal 9 streamlines its media handling with a dedicated media library. The library allows users to easily manage and reuse images, videos, and other media assets across multiple pages and content types.
Drupal 9 has also improved media workflows with remote video embedding and automatic transcoding support. Better integrations with third-party media providers, such as YouTube and Vimeo, make managing and embedding media from these sources easier.
These enhancements make Drupal 9 a more versatile platform for managing and delivering media-rich content.
API-first Approach
API-first is a new approach in Drupal 9 that emphasizes building web applications from the ground up with API functionality in mind.
This means that web applications built in Drupal 9 may provide easy access to their data and functionality to third-party applications through APIs.
This allows for better integration with other web applications, straightforward content syndication, and improved interoperability with other systems.
Drupal 9’s built-in RESTful web services enable the API-first approach, allowing developers to expose content and functionality via a JSON API easily.
This new approach makes Drupal 9 a more flexible and powerful platform for building web applications.
Making the Switch to Drupal 9
Drupal 9 may be a positive direction for businesses and organizations looking to stay on their game. With improved features and functionality, migration from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is wise. While it may seem daunting, the benefits of Drupal 9 outweigh the effort required for migration.
Drupal 9 provides better performance, improved security, and easier updates. These advantages can help your website be faster, more secure, and easier to maintain. Start planning your Drupal 9 migration today.