- Drupal: What is it?
- What are the Major Benefits of Choosing this Platform?
- Flexibility
- Multilingual Features and Support
- Ease of Use
- Strong SEO Functionality
- What is Drupal 10.1?
- What are Drupal 10.1 Features that One Should Have a Good Idea About?
- Much Easier to Tailor the Drupal Look
- Effortless Content Editing
- Dedicated Support in Decoupled Navigation
- Swifter Perceived and Real Page Performance
- Smooth Content Management and Modeling
- More Flexible Page and Block Management
- Addition of Automated Accessibility Testing to Core
- Availability of Project Announcements on Your Drupal Website
- Drupal is Now Officially a Digital Public Good
One in eight business websites currently choose Drupal as their go-to CMS platform due to its versatility and robustness. Its unique features and outstanding capabilities have made it the most-favoured option among site builders and developers for years.
If you are looking forward to trying out this amazing platform or are already using it, then first of all, it becomes crucial for you to know about its latest update, i.e., Drupal 10.1. With the release of every new version, Drupal becomes more robust and user-friendly. Drupal 10.1 is no exception to this.
This new version is packed with amazing functionalities that allow you to build and manage websites with ease.
If you want to get a clear idea about its remarkable features, then it is suggested to read this blog post from the start to the end. Here, we will inform you about these in detail. So, let’s get started:
Drupal: What is it?
Drupal is a leading open-source content management system that is available for free. It is backed by a large and supportive community who are always available to assist you whenever you come across any issues.
What are the Major Benefits of Choosing this Platform?
Flexibility
Drupal is a flexible platform and can be customised in a manner to cater to your unique requirements. As it is a mobile-ready solution and so, you can administer and view web pages from absolutely any kind of device.
Multilingual Features and Support
Drupal possesses out-of-the-box multilingual features. This platform offers installation support in 94 languages. It is well-equipped with a unique language code mapping system that facilitates better language code recognition capability.
Ease of Use
Drupal allows editors and website admins to update and edit the website content seamlessly. Also, users can add meta descriptions and keywords, improve or add tags, etc.
Strong SEO Functionality
Drupal is known for offering rich text formatting abilities that allow you to incorporate a lot of textual information on website pages. It also helps improve the readability of articles, further improving your site’s SEO score.
What is Drupal 10.1?
[Image Source: https://bit.ly/3su2Xjn]
Drupal 10.1 is the first feature release of Drupal 10, packed with fantastic enhancements. This version makes it effortless for you to tailor the appearance of your website. Adding support for decoupled navigation enhances performance, block management, content editing and modeling, etc.
What are Drupal 10.1 Features that One Should Have a Good Idea About?
Much Easier to Tailor the Drupal Look
With the introduction of the latest version of Drupal, i.e. Drupal 10.1, it has become incredibly easier to build UI components with Drupal. It is due to the presence of its new experimental Single Directory Components module. This module is known for bundling style, template, and JavaScript files together as components.
In this case, render caching and twig template debugging settings can be accessed through a user-friendly admin page. Additionally, the new set_attribute and add_class Twig filters are introduced, which help make the markup manipulation easier.
Effortless Content Editing
Drupal 10.1 comes with different CKEditor enhancements, incorporating an autoformat feature. This specific feature helps detect when you are creating a list or a header and automatically applies the proper formatting.
- CKEditor 5 Automatic Formatting
Drupal 10.1 allows you to tailor the language alternatives in the editor configuration for source code examples.
Dedicated Support in Decoupled Navigation
Drupal is majorly employed as a building block in fully integrated decoupled applications. You are also expected to find new APIs in Drupal 10.1.0 that help retrieve menus configured in Drupal. The Linkset standard is typically employed for this purpose.
As a result, the developers can offer non-developers the option to manage their menus effortlessly. So, it is considered one of the most amazing site builder features of the latest Drupal version.
Swifter Perceived and Real Page Performance
Another site builder feature you will most likely find in Drupal is BigPipe. This specific feature typically lets browsers load certain dynamic parts of the page once an initial page is loading. As a result, it considerably improves the speed at which the users can access any information.
In Drupal 10.1, BigPipe supports serving interface previews, especially for delayed content. So, it transforms the user experience and makes it smoother with fewer page reflows.
- BigPipe With a Comment Placeholder Element Helps in Effectively Reducing Page Reflows
In this version of Drupal, the responsive images can be lazy loaded with appropriately set height and width values. Also, you could configure the oEmbed content to be lazy-loaded in this case, ensuring a smoother initial page load.
AJAX and HTML pages can now be served before the generation of dynamically processed CSS and JavaScript assets. It results in a faster time to the first byte, even on cache misses. The JavaScript is also minified in this case, which helps considerably reduce file sizes without the need for building steps or any contributed modules.
Configuring the request type typically employed for making AJAX requests is possible, which facilitates caching specific dynamic requests using render and edge caching abilities. Thus, it helps in promoting faster response times. Views AJAX pagers and filters are currently making use of this feature.
An elapsed time format has been introduced, which can be fully cached and is involved in calculating the duration on the front end. As a result, it helps significantly enhance end users’ accuracy along with the cache hit rates.
Smooth Content Management and Modeling
The user interface of the newest version of Drupal, i.e. Drupal 10.1, is revamped to facilitate the utilization of the existing fields. As a result, it hugely assists site builders in making well-informed decisions while crafting content models. At the time of reusing an existing field, the field settings are now directly copied from the field settings that pre-exist.
- Enhanced Field Reuse Experience
In the newly launched version, the text fields have the capability to enforce a designated text format. As a result, it contributes to transforming the user interface and making it more straightforward for content editors.
In addition, bulk operation forms have also seen a significant improvement by incorporating a floating action bar. It helps in effectively reducing the space used when not required. Still, it enables an effortless execution of actions on multiple chosen content items. The best part is that you can do this without scrolling.
- New Floating Bulk Operations Bar Present at the Bottom Position
There is also a seamless incorporation of a unified entity revision editing experience in the latest version of Drupal. This improvement helps simplify the process of managing the past versions of content, whether in content blocks, nodes, or any other entities. Along with that, it also hugely assists developers in offering a user experience that is consistent with the Drupal core. As a result, they find it incredibly easier to manage any kind of revisions in custom entity types.
More Flexible Page and Block Management
One of the most interesting Drupal 10.1 features involves its incredibly flexible page and block management capabilities. From Drupal 10.1, you will now get the option to build custom blocks under Structure in the administrative interface directly.
In this case, having improved permissions granularity helps assign block management depending on types. Also, you will find that revisions for blocking content can go through a comprehensive review and rollback process.
You will even get a completely new option in Views that makes adding administrative listings easier. This specific option typically lets you build pages that leverage the administration theme irrespective of their path.
Addition of Automated Accessibility Testing to Core
Now, there is the inclusion of Axe Core accessibility scans in Drupal Nightwatch tests. These scans have proved incredibly helpful as they help check common forms and pages. Ultimately, it ensures that the core does not backtrack on Drupal’s progress in achieving accessibility.
Availability of Project Announcements on Your Drupal Website
In the Drupal 10.1 version, a new experimental Announcements module is incorporated into the Drupal core. So, it means that, as a site administrator, you would be able to receive important announcements on your website from the Drupal project.
You can approach an agency who offers custom Drupal development services, if you want to learn more about this.
Drupal is Now Officially a Digital Public Good
The DPGA or Digital Public Good Alliance has approved Drupal as a DPG or Digital Public Good. Drupal 10.1 has been the first feature release after that.
The main objective of DPGA involves facilitating the promotion of Digital Public Goods to help the UN achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Also, it was done with the goal of constructing a more equitable world.
One of the crucial things to note in this aspect is that DPGs offer the chance to countries to leverage best-in-class features. Not only that, but it also helps them to nurture their local ecosystems and facilitate digital transformation.
So, it would not be wrong to call DPGs as the foundation for collaborating on joint strategies, knowledge exchanging and community building.
Concluding Thoughts
Thus, it is evident from this detailed guide that Drupal 10.1 is a game-changer for site builders. Irrespective of whether you are a novice site builder or an experienced developer, this latest version empowers you to come up with eye-striking and robust websites.
So, it is high time to upgrade to Drupal 10.1 if you want to make the most out of its features. To receive the best assistance, you can get in touch with a professional Drupal web development company.
About Author
Tarun Bansal - Technical Head
Tarun is a technology enthusiast with a flair for solving complex challenges. His technical expertise and deep knowledge of emerging trends have made him a go-to person for strategic tech initiatives. Passionate about innovation, Tarun continuously explores new ways to drive efficiency and performance in every project he undertakes.