In our recent article on Drupal 7 EOL (end of life), we mentioned the CMS’s declining popularity and the possible reasons behind it. We speculated that Drupal was falling out of fashion due to its high complexity and steep learning curve, giving it a reputation as an “enterprise-level CMS.” This, in our opinion, drove away owners of startups and small businesses seeking more user-friendly and accessible solutions.
Turns out, it wasn’t speculation after all.
The Drupal community seems to attribute the decline to the same reasons, as their Drupal 11 release and the introduction of the Drupal Starshot initiative address the very issue we’ve just mentioned. The team is currently working on a myriad of features and improvements to “enable people without Drupal experience to easily create Drupal sites.”
That’s one of the biggest changes in Drupal’s 23-year history, and as a leading provider of Drupal consulting services, we couldn’t ignore such an important topic. In the following paragraphs, we explore Drupal’s efforts to transition from an “enterprise CMS” to a “CMS for everyone.” We’ll discuss the crucial upcoming improvements that will make the content management system more user-friendly and can potentially transform its perception.
Let’s dive right in.
Drupal Recipes: New Feature for Streamlined Website Configuration
Recipes is a new CMS feature that helps users jumpstart their websites. Added to Drupal core in Drupal 10.3.0, Recipes are templates to which we can add a set of predefined configurations (user roles, content types, and the like) and quickly apply them to our websites. We can create our own Recipes or utilize ones created by others.
This feature alone saves hours of manual work. And if you’ve ever configured Drupal websites, you know how tedious and time-consuming this process can be:
1. You start with a barebones installation of Drupal and add the modules you require with specific configurations to them.
2. You select one of the installation profiles and disable or tweak the settings you don’t need after the installation.
3. Additionally, you configure a dozen or so contributed modules to meet your specific needs.
The configuration takes from two to five hours. In case you have several sites, you have to repeat the process with each one of them. To complicate things even further, once you select a specific installation profile, you are stuck with it and can’t easily change it.
The new feature completely revamps the website configuration process. With Recipes, you can configure a site in minutes. All you have to do is download a proper recipe for your type of website and then apply it. The best part, Recipes are more flexible than installation profiles and can be applied at any time during the lifecycle of the website.
Recipes makes the CMS more user-friendly, allowing users without deep Drupal expertise to easily configure their websites.
Automatic Updates for Drupal Core Patches and Security Releases
Manually updating a Drupal site is time-consuming, technically challenging, and expensive. Without proper expertise or Drupal development experts by your side, you won’t be able to install critical updates and security patches. Yet, neglecting them would mean exposing your website to external threats, which isn’t wise. So, whether you want it or not, you have to seek the assistance of professionals every time minor releases and updates are rolled out, which costs you a pretty penny.
Luckily, this is about to change, as the Drupal community is working on the Automatic Updates initiative to provide secure automatic updates for Drupal 11 sites.
As specified on the initiative’s page, its goal is to implement a secure system for automatically installing updates in the CMS, thus reducing website maintenance costs, improving security, and lowering the barrier to entry to Drupal. Automatic updates are not intended for large enterprise organizations with established build workflows and pipelines. Rather, this feature is designed for small and medium-sized businesses with a “set-it-and-forget-it” attitude toward their Drupal installations who don’t want to dive deep into technical depths every time a security patch is released.
Here’s what is about to be added to Drupal core:
- Automatic updates for Drupal core patches and security releases.
- Site readiness check that shows whether updates can be installed safely.
- Code signing and verification for updates from the official website.
- Composer integration.
- A custom "A/B" bootloader that allows you to install updates in a separate location from the live site. If the update is successful, you can apply it to the live site. If it’s not, you can roll back.
Although automatic updates will be available for Drupal core patches and security releases only, they will still save us plenty of time and money on maintenance while helping us stay secure and up-to-date. No wonder this is currently the most requested Drupal feature.
Single Directory Components for Convenient and Easier Front-End Development
Introduced as an experimental module in Drupal 10, Single Directory Components have now been fully integrated into Drupal core and are natively supported in Drupal 11. As the name suggests, this feature consolidates all the files required to render a web component (such as a button, carousel, or menu item) into a single directory, offering quick and convenient access. This organization enables front-end developers to efficiently work with these components, eliminating the need to search through multiple folders.
Moreover, Single Directory Components are designed with modularity and reusability in mind, allowing for easy integration across multiple pages or applications. This streamlined approach not only enhances development efficiency but also helps to reduce website development and maintenance costs.
Experience Builder: Now We Can Develop Websites Coding-Free
Many startups and small businesses prefer website builders like Weebly and Wix because they allow them to quickly put together simple websites and validate their ideas without significant upfront investments. If the business proves successful, they can then invest in a more scalable solution and migrate their websites. Historically, Drupal hasn’t been a go-to choice for these early-stage businesses due to its complexity and steep learning curve. However, with the upcoming Experience Builder for Drupal 11 and subsequent versions, everything is about to change.
Experience Builder will enable users without website development skills and Drupal experience to theme and build their websites using only their browser. This feature will allow them to create websites without coding, except for some basic HTML, CSS, and templating markup. As for content creators, they will be able to compose content on any part of the page without the help of Drupal developers.
The feature is about to reshape content management in Drupal 11 and make it more straightforward. Content creators will be able to use a single CMS to manage content across headless and coupled architectures, whereas site builders will be able to make large-scale design changes and perform various content operations with ease.
Compared to competing tools, Experience Builder will be better suited for reusing content across different channels and managing large amounts of content. It takes advantage of Drupal's strengths, such as organized data and detailed access controls, ensuring data and design consistency.
Project Browser: Installing Modules in One Click
Module installation is the first thing users do when configuring their websites. Drupal 11 offers over 50,000 modules that can enhance the functionality of your solution. From search engine optimization to multilingual capabilities to decoupled architecture—the CMS offers modules virtually for everything.
However, you have to spend quite a while to find and install them, as it takes many steps. Firstly, it requires you to leave your website and visit Drupal.org, which is inconvenient. Moreover, certain technical skills are needed to be able to use Composer on the command line and successfully install modules.
The Project Browser initiative aims to make this process simpler and more straightforward. This feature will allow you to browse and install contributed modules directly from the Drupal admin dashboard. Just go to the “Browse” tab in your admin interface and search for the modules and themes you need using keywords or categories. What’s more, each module will have a short non-technical description, allowing users without Drupal experience to get an idea of what it does.
The Project Browser is already available as a contributed module, but it will soon be added to Drupal core as a native feature.
Other Improvements in Drupal 11
Besides the amazing features we’ve just discussed, the Drupal 11 release also offers a variety of other improvements:
- Drupal 11.0.0 is built on Symfony 7, bringing the latest advancements from the Symfony framework into the Drupal ecosystem
- The Layout Builder has been enhanced to offer more flexibility and control over page design
- Decoupled navigation is now easier thanks to the addition of dedicated endpoints
- The new Drupal version brings a revamped admin interface, focusing on usability and accessibility.
- CKEditor 5 now supports autoformatting, allowing users to format content on the fly without interacting with the toolbar
- Block creation and management became easier and more flexible
- The new media management tools in Drupal 11 allow for more flexible handling of images, videos, and other media types
- The CMS is easier to integrate with other systems and platforms thanks to the API-first approach
- Besides automatic updates, Drupal introduces stronger encryption protocols to make websites more secure
- Drupal leverages modern JavaScript components, replacing some uses of jQuery UI
- Drupal 11 offers improved core code performance
Wrapping Up
Drupal has long been recognized as an enterprise-grade CMS, offering substantial rewards for those willing to invest time and resources to master its complexities. However, this same complexity and steep learning curve have deterred many business owners. Usage statistics across all Drupal versions reveal a significant decline in its user base, from over 1.1 million in 2017 to approximately 750,000 as of June 2024. Of course, the Drupal team couldn’t ignore this issue.
With Drupal 11 and the Drupal Starshot initiative, things should change for the better. As you’ve learned, this release brings many new improvements that will make Drupal user-friendly and accessible. New features such as Drupal Recipes, Automatic Updates, Single Directory Components, Experience Builder, and Project Browser aim to lower the barrier to entry and make Drupal more appealing to a broader audience.
These updates are designed not only to address the challenges faced by existing users but also to attract new users by making the platform more intuitive and easier to navigate. By focusing on usability and modernizing its core functionalities, Drupal 11 seeks to reverse the trend of declining user numbers and reinvigorate its presence in the CMS market.
