Moving to Drupal 8? How to Find the Perfect Company for Your Site
At least 82,000+ sites are running Drupal 6 as of December 4, 2016. And more than 1.37 million people were a part of the Drupal community as of March 2019, with 114,000 actively contributing. Drupal 6 users must immediately switch to an upgraded version because Drupal 6 is no longer actively supported by the Drupal community. What happens if you already have one of those sites and wish to upgrade to the newest Drupal version?
In this blog article, I’ll discuss several considerations when choosing a person to handle your migration project. I won’t discuss the price tag, timeline, or scope. I’m not just going to say, “Hire us!” I’ll provide recommendations based on how I would personally select a Drupal company that provides this migration service.
What advantages does Drupal 8 have over Drupal 7?
If you’re still debating between Drupal 7 and 8, take a peek at the list below. The new CMS provides more than 20 major benefits, including:
- Intelligent design. Why does this matter? Your Drupal 8 site will be appropriately presented on mobile devices without additional adjustments to avoid delving into technical details. Additionally, the creators went even further! Now, you may instantly alter content and settings from a mobile device. Updates are made faster than ever, and new mobile app development costs are nil.
- There are now more design tools available. Drupal 8 has many additional choices, like autofill, model dialogues, and colors. With the help of new technologies, you may produce original material that stands out from the hundreds of other internet pages with repetitive text.
- Several additional built-ins. The system is now more effectively integrated with numerous services. Showcasing all the best features and incorporating them into the main platform structure enables you to process information much more quickly, which will be helpful for better website development.
- The Drupal 7 through Drupal 8 developers promised their clients multilingualism, and they delivered on that promise! No longer does one need to use Google Translate to read the material in their language.
- The View module provides quick and simple topic formation. With just two clicks, you can alter the website’s appearance and website development thanks to the software suite’s extensive library of templates.
- The built-in module now handles field creation.
How to Pick the Best Company to Migrate Your Website to Drupal 8
Since Dries Buytaert first presented Drupal about 19 years ago, the software has continuously increased in popularity. As of March 2019, there were more than 1.37 million members of the Drupal community and 114,000 active contributors. Over 7.2 million websites, including news, social networking sites, blogs, forums, political organizations, businesses, the media, charities, etc., use Drupal CMS.
On November 19, 2015, Drupal 8 was released. Since then, few businesses have taken steps to switch from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. The fact that there are numerous intricacies involved could be one of the main causes. The following tips will help you choose the best company to migrate your website to Drupal 8.
1 : Avoid making estimates in a hurry
You probably shouldn’t pick that person if they take one glance at your website and say, “We can finish it in 300 hours.” To create a realistic estimate for a project, a thorough analysis of every aspect of the site is necessary.
If necessary, you can obtain a high-level estimate, but always plan to conduct a more thorough one before signing the contract. You can give developers a temporary account that you can deactivate after they are finished using it if you are concerned about the security of your data. At the same time, they examine it during your website development.
2 : Experience in migrating Drupal 6/7 to 8
More than a year ago, Drupal 8 was made available. The real benefit comes from having experience managing Drupal 8 migration projects. Don’t be the “experimenting” customer; inquire about the agency’s related initiatives. You’ll obtain more accurate estimates and better outcomes with a team of experts.
Just keep in mind that no one can provide an accurate estimate without thoroughly inspecting the website—reading custom code, examining the theme’s JS and CSS, researching the site’s modules and settings, and comprehending the content architecture, to name a few. Anyone who provides an estimate without taking all of this into consideration is lying about the estimate.
3 : Seek proof of the overall Drupal experience
I refer to previous exposure to several Drupal iterations. It must be thoroughly explored to understand whether your site is built with Drupal 6 or 7. Knowing Drupal 8 is also necessary to comprehend how features will be mapped from one site to another.
Businesses around for a while have probably used Drupal’s previous three versions. Request proof and testimonials from prior clients.
4 : Drupal Core contributions and Drupal community involvement
The judgments made while requesting components, custom coding, and warranty of the solution are more refined the more actively a team participates in the Drupal community.
Good software projects minimize risk from the outset and foresee issues before they arise. This will almost always produce accurate estimations and results.
Developers of Drupal Core and modules, i.e., Drupal developers, are aware of the current status of the major initiatives within the “Drupal ecosystem” and the key problems about each project they work on. To at least have a realistic notion of the amount of labor necessary to complete it, you’ll want someone familiar with how things operate at the most fundamental level.
You want to employ someone updated with best practices, has demonstrated real community involvement, and won’t spend hours coding PHP rather than adopting truly maintainable and adaptable ways that are future-proof. That is ultimately the reason we all select Drupal.
5 : Specifically, check about the modules you utilize the most.
You won’t want to mislead or let down your audience the day after the “Migration” is implemented, even if you know which parts of your “current site” clients’ daily usage you or they use. Request replacements for missing modules by asking, “How will this be solved in the new solution?” or “This portion is essential.”
If we can call it that, “since Drupal 6,” some modules have eventually merged, while others have vanished, been forked, or been fully redone under a different name. However, your current site still functions on top of it, and you want to maintain those features.
Here are some crucial pointers you should be aware of for a seamless migration:
1 : Getting Your Basics Right Before Upgrading to Drupal 8
It is a complicated process, keep in mind. Therefore, involving the Drupal development team from the beginning is crucial. If you require support, working with a digital partner like us is best to complete the move efficiently. We’ll make sure the upgrade goes off without a hitch.
2 : Establish a staging environment
The most important thing to do is to back up the live site. Never update to Drupal 8 on a live site because doing so is unsafe. You won’t need to worry if something goes wrong because a backup is always available. Just go back to the previous version to assess what went wrong.
3 : Get to Know the Core Modules
Learn the fundamentals of how your site is constructed. This should include learning the precise inventory of the Drupal modules that have been used. For more information, Go to Administer > Site building > Modules or the Available Updates page at admin/reports/updates. These changes might be useful in the later phases of the migration process.
4 : Seek Out Module Information
Nevertheless, not all core modules will have a 1-to-1 complete upgrading path, regardless of the Drupal Software version. If you come across modules that are not upgradeable, refer to the known issues page for Drupal. Insights will aid your ability to prepare for various scenarios.
5 : Choose the Correct Migration Platform
Running on a common platform is essential before you start the migration process. Get your routine update done if it needs to be done before you make the big decision. Let Drupal be as close to Drupal 8 as feasible, to put it simply.
6 : Setting Up the Drupal 8 Website
Hold off on setting up the Drupal 8 site until the upgrade and migration process is finished, i.e.until your website’s Drupal development is complete. This is so because any customizations you make on the old platform will be overwritten by your upgrade and migration process. Once everything has been properly launched, begin the configuring procedure.
Wrap Up
Due to the benefits it offers for your business’s growth, and Drupal development is essential for your website. So, choose the right company based on the tips mentioned above and the points to ensure a successful migration of your website.
