Drupal 10 is anticipated to land this summer (2022). Even if your Drupal site hasn't had an update since Drupal 8 was first made available, this upgrade should proceed without a hitch. The release of new Drupal versions has become more predictable on the part of the CMS's maintainers ever since the release of Drupal 8, which was the previous version of Drupal. Because of this, it provides a straightforward method for upgrading from one major version of Drupal to the subsequent one for anyone who is involved in the process of developing, maintaining, or managing a Drupal website.
If you are a developer, completing this update will only require a few simple steps from you. It is a seamless transition for site administrators and content producers as a result of the addition of new features and improvements that make managing Drupal sites simpler and faster.
Depending on how far along Drupal 10 is in its development, the first beta version will either be 9.4 or 9.5, and it will be released concurrently with a beta version of Drupal 9. The release of these two major versions of Drupal so close together was done on purpose in order to draw attention to the similarities between them. In all other respects, Drupal 10 will be virtually identical to the most recent minor version of Drupal 9, albeit with a few noteworthy modifications that will be of use to site administrators and software developers alike.
Getting rid of outdated code
Outdated code and libraries will be removed from the core of Drupal 9 when it is released. Throughout the process of developing Drupal 9, enhancements have been made to the underlying code that controls the framework. Whenever there is a modification made to the code, there is a good chance that some of the older code will be retired.
Due to the possibility that removing this code immediately could result in a site's custom code or contributed modules becoming inoperable, Drupal has marked this code as "deprecated" to indicate that it will be removed when the next major version of the software is made available for download. As a direct consequence of this, software developers will have plenty of time to make their code compatible with Drupal 10.
One example of code that has been deprecated can be found in Drupal 9 within the "NodeAddAccessCheck" class. An administrator can use this to determine whether or not a user has permission to create a new Drupal node by looking at their user permissions (a content entity). In the future, "EntityCreateAccessCheck" will take its place. It will carry out the same task, but it will check for permissions to add any entity type to the model as opposed to just checking for permissions to add nodes. This is going to be deleted. As a direct consequence of this, writing code that checks for user permissions is made easier, which in turn simplifies the codebase as a whole.
The deprecation of external code and libraries is yet another kind of deprecation that Drupal needs to take into consideration. "Under the hood," Drupal is built on the Symfony framework, which enables it to provide a vast amount of functionality that is typical of virtually all websites.
This includes things like managing cookies, services, and incoming requests, as well as handling and rerouting incoming requests. Instead of having to construct each of these components from the ground up, we can make fantastic use of this as a starting point for the core of Drupal. In Drupal 9, support for Symfony version 4 will be discontinued in November of 2023. Symfony version 6 which will be used by Drupal 10 will bring the most recent improvements made by Symfony to Drupal and will help to improve the system's overall security.
Even though some of these Drupal 10 updates might not seem particularly significant at first glance, others are absolutely necessary to ensure the continued functionality of the admin user interface pages, in addition to the website's safety and efficiency. Together, these enhancements make it simpler for site administrators and those who create content to work with Drupal 10.
Default changes
When Drupal is installed for a new website application, a number of Drupal settings are activated in order to provide the website with its default functionality and appearance. These settings can be found in the Drupal administration panel.
Olivero, described as a "clean, usable, and flexible Drupal front-end theme," is now the default theme for the front end of Drupal 10. It was initially made accessible in Drupal version 8.8 as an experimental theme for the first time. Since the release of Drupal version 9.3, users have had access to the Olivero theme in its stable form.
The new default themes that are included in Drupal 10 will make it much easier for site administrators to work with Drupal. It will be less difficult for content managers and site administrators to navigate the back ends of Drupal websites.
A few core modules removed
Drupal 10 Core will be updated to remove a few modules that are no longer necessary or that are only occasionally utilised. In the interest of maintaining coherence, these modules will be transferred to the Contributed Module section. The core of Drupal will become less complicated and easier to manage as a result of this change. It is expected that the following modules will no longer be part of the core Drupal distribution:
According to the usage statistics and user surveys, a few of these core modules were turned on by default but received very little engagement from end-users. The user experience will be improved if these are removed from the core of Drupal. This will be accomplished by reducing the amount of visual clutter and making it easier to manage content.
Additionally, a number of essential modules and JavaScript dependencies will be eliminated.
Core will be safer and easier to maintain as a result of the modifications that were made to the JavaScript that was distributed with it. The amount of times jQuery is going to be utilised will noticeably drop in the not too distant future. Since the release of Drupal 5, jQuery has been integrated into the framework (released in 2007). By using pure JavaScript rather than jQuery and jQuery UI's security and release processes, release risks can be eliminated.
The removal of Quick Edit from Drupal 10 will make the administration of the content management system much less complicated. Because of Quick Edit, a pencil icon will appear next to any content field on the website. This makes the process of editing content much less complicated.
This feature was initially presented in Drupal 7 as a nice-to-have; however, with the introduction of workflows that include content revisions, its utility has been significantly reduced. When content moderation workflows are added to a Drupal site, Quick Edit cannot be used because it is not compatible with workflows and therefore cannot be used.
New functions geared toward content creators are one of the many improvements made to the system.
Improved editing
CK Editor 5 will be the default WYSIWYG rich text editor for Drupal 10 when it is released. As a direct consequence of this, the process of editing content will feel significantly more satisfying. When using Autoformatting, you can add bold text by using asterisks, add headings by using #, add inline code by using text, add code blocks by using ", and add bulleted lists by using *.
The function that allows you to paste from a document has also been improved. In the most recent version of CK Editor, it is now possible to get rid of any unnecessary markup that was imported from Word or Google Docs. It not only adds an img> tag with a link to another website, but it also automatically uploads images when they are pasted from the clipboard. This is in addition to adding the link to the other website.
It is also planned to make improvements to Layout Builder, which is a popular page-building tool available in Drupal. These modifications will make it easier for content creators to manage content on the website. Unknown at this point is the extent to which these changes will take place.
When there are a lot of fields to change, it can be difficult and confusing to edit long sections of text in the sidebar. The modifications that were made to this interface will make it much simpler to manage layouts.
In the not-too-distant future, the user interface of Layout Builder might also be improved. Some users find the Layout Builder interface to be overly complicated, and there have been numerous requests for improved ways to move and organise Layout Builder blocks that are currently being considered for future feature development.
Groundwork for the next generation
Because Drupal 10 has been made available, the content management system will keep evolving and expanding over the course of the coming months and years. Maintaining an up-to-date version of Drupal with the latest, quickest, and most secure open-source libraries and components enables Drupal developers to continue innovating and adding new features to the platform.
Drupal 10 continues to pave the way for some fantastic user experiences in the future thanks to the rise of composable experiences as well as the deeper integration of the web and social media in marketing.
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