From Outdated to Outstanding: A Comprehensive Drupal Redesign Guide

As of Jan. 5, 2025, Drupal 7 will reach its end-of-life, meaning support and updates will no longer be available. The most obvious step for those still using Drupal 7 is migrating to Drupal 10. This updated version of Drupal improves user experience and unlocks new features while enhancing security and overall performance.

Backed by a strong community, Drupal is a highly customizable, accessible, multilingual CMS. In this article, we’ll explore how migrating to Drupal 10 with Pantheon, a platform that offers seamless development, continuous integration, and automated updates, can transform your site. With Pantheon, you can rest assured that your site is in good hands, ensuring security and performance.

Top Reasons to Redesign Your Drupal Site Now

Improved User Experience

First impressions matter. A fresh, modern design can attract and retain visitors, while an outdated website may drive them away. With the growing number of people accessing websites via mobile devices, remember to design your site for smartphones and tablets to cater to these users.

Additionally, well-designed navigation helps visitors find what they need quickly and intuitively, delivering a positive user experience. Lastly, the accessibility focus will improve the user experience for everyone and broaden your audience by making your site usable for people with disabilities.

Enhanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A website redesign is the perfect opportunity to implement the latest SEO best practices, significantly boosting your search engine rankings. Updating your site's structure and content to align with current SEO strategies ensures it reaches the broadest possible audience.

Technical SEO is equally important; optimizing site speed, URL structures and schema markup can significantly influence how search engines perceive your site. During a redesign, you can also optimize existing content and create new, SEO-friendly material that addresses your target audience's needs and interests. These efforts will improve visibility, drive more organic traffic and increase overall engagement with your site!

Addressing Technical Issues

Updated Drupal modules and themes can lead to security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues. A redesign is the perfect time to update Drupal core and modules, protecting against security threats and enhancing performance. Addressing performance issues during a redesign, such as optimizing site speed, URL structures, and schema markup, results in faster load times and a smoother user experience, keeping visitors engaged.

Discover the Exciting New Features in Drupal 10

Drupal 10 introduces a range of new features and capabilities that can significantly improve your site's functionality and performance — the improved admin interface streamlines site management, making content and configuration handling more efficient for administrators. Developers will benefit from enhanced tools and streamlined workflows, accelerating development and deployment processes. Upgrading to Drupal 10 unlocks these new capabilities, providing a better experience for your team and users.

Future-Proofing Your Site

As businesses grow and technology evolves, websites need to keep up. Designing a site with scalability in mind means it can handle increased traffic and new features over time, supporting your business growth. Flexibility is equally important. It enables your site to adapt to future changes in technology and user expectations without constant overhauls. A well-planned redesign extends your site's lifespan, reducing the need for frequent updates and saving time and resources in the long run.

Flexibility is equally important. It enables your site to adapt to future changes in technology and user expectations without constant overhauls. A well-planned redesign extends your site's lifespan, reducing the need for frequent updates and saving time and resources in the long run.

Effective Planning Strategies for Your Drupal Redesign

Defining Your Redesign Goals

When starting a Drupal website redesign, set clear goals aligning with your business objectives and users' needs. This means figuring out what you want to achieve, whether boosting user engagement, improving site performance, or enhancing the overall user experience. To track your progress, use key performance indicators (KPIs) such as page load time, user retention rate and conversion rates.

Equally important is understanding what your users truly want. You can gain valuable insights through surveys, user testing and analytics. By involving your users in the redesign process, you can create a site that meets their needs and drives your business forward, making them feel valued and integral to the process.

Conducting a Comprehensive Site Audit

A site audit can help you identify what’s working well and what needs improvement. Start by reviewing your content to ensure it's up-to-date and relevant, removing anything outdated or underperforming. Then, check the technical aspects: fix broken links, improve page load times, ensure mobile responsiveness and optimize for SEO.

Make sure your site is easy to use by evaluating navigation and accessibility and gathering user feedback to uncover any issues. Summarize your findings in a report with clear recommendations to guide your redesign and build a better, more effective website.

Budgeting for Development Costs

A Drupal website redesign involves various costs, including development, design, testing and ongoing maintenance. It's wise to get quotes from multiple vendors to get a sense of the market rate and make informed decisions.

Budgeting effectively means planning for team members, tools and third-party services, while ensuring a balance between cost and quality. Also, a 10-20% contingency budget should be set aside to handle any unexpected expenses. Tracking expenses throughout the project and conducting regular budget reviews will help you stick to your plan and avoid financial surprises.

Maximizing Drupal 10 Features

One of the new features in Drupal 10 is the Claro administration theme, which replaces the old Seven theme. Claro offers a clean, accessible, intuitive interface that makes managing content easier. The Olivero front-end theme complements this with a modern, visually appealing design that meets WCAG AA accessibility standards, making Drupal sites more user-friendly for everyone.

Drupal 10 also includes CKEditor 5, offering a more modern editing experience with enhanced authoring capabilities. Upgrading to Symfony 6 and requiring PHP 8.1 ensures better security and performance, while modern JavaScript components streamline development by reducing reliance on jQuery.

The new Theme Starterkit makes creating custom themes easier, while the recipes functionality allows for quick deployment of tailored solutions by assembling Drupal functionality for specific needs.

Drupal 10 is also introducing Automatic Updates and the Project Browser, which are game changers. Automatic Updates keep your site secure by applying patch-level updates, while the Project Browser, in partnership with Pantheon, simplifies finding and installing modules and themes for easier site customization. With Pantheon, you have the power to design your site the way you want.

Pantheon: Your Trusted Partner in Site Security and Performance

Regular backups: Automated backup features to secure data and enable easy recovery.
Drupal core updates: Use one-click updates with automated notifications for hassle-free updates.
Module and theme updates: Safely test updates in a development environment before going live. Pantheon’s Dev, Test, Live workflow helps you safely test updates, ensuring everything works smoothly before going public.
Security updates: Keep your site secure with automated updates and 24/7 monitoring.
Performance optimization: Improve speed and performance using Pantheon tools and New Relic analytics for deeper insights.
Content updates: Maintain engaging content easily with Pantheon’s workflow tools like Multidev.

Choosing the Best Host for Your Drupal Site

Your hosting provider can significantly impact your site's speed, safety and growth potential, so making the right choice is a must. Here’s a breakdown of what to look for when choosing a hosting provider:

Performance

Fast loading times and reliable performance are vital for user experience and SEO. Slow websites frustrate users and can lead to higher bounce rates, while search engines also favor faster sites. Look for hosts that offer features like SSD storage, CDN integration and server optimization to ensure your site runs smoothly. Pantheon, for example, has a global CDN and optimized caching, delivering quick load times and keeping visitors engaged.

Security

Essential security features include SSL certificates, DDoS protection and automated backups to safeguard your data and maintain user trust. Pantheon offers advanced security solutions, including automated updates and 24/7 monitoring, giving you peace of mind that your Drupal site is secure.

Scalability

As your business grows, your website should be able to handle increased traffic without any hiccups. Choose a host with scalable infrastructure and flexible plans that can adapt to your needs. Pantheon is an excellent choice, offering on-demand scalability, supporting high-traffic sites effortlessly and ensuring your Drupal site can grow with your business!

Support

Reliable support can make all the difference in maintaining your site's uptime and functionality. Look for providers that offer live chat, phone support and extensive online resources. Pantheon provides 24/7 support and comprehensive documentation, so help is always available when needed.

Cost

Consider both initial setup fees and ongoing expenses. Compare different providers to see what value they offer in terms of performance, security and support. Pantheon provides a competitive pricing structure, offering excellent value with top-tier performance, robust security features and exceptional support!

Pantheon in Action: Macomb Country

Macomb County, Michigan, one of the largest counties in the state. The County undertook a significant website redesign to enhance user experience, improve accessibility and meet the growing demand for online services.

Collaborating with Pantheon and the agency TEN7, the county aimed to revamp its flagship site to align with modern digital standards. The project successfully improved search engine optimization, particularly on mobile and achieved WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance, increasing accessibility scores from 80.4 to 86.2 on Siteimprove, surpassing industry benchmarks!

Pantheon's platform enabled the county's team to use Multidev environments and Dev, Test, Live workflows for collaboration and testing. This flexibility empowered over 100 content contributors to efficiently manage and enhance content quality during the transition to Drupal 10. The redesign work of modernizing the site underscored the importance of choosing the right hosting platform and partners for a successful digital transformation.

Implementing Your Drupal Redesign With Pantheon

Redesigning your Drupal site is a smart way to improve user experience, boost performance and enhance security. Pantheon provides an optimized platform with a global CDN, automated updates and Multidev environments, making your redesign smoother and more efficient.

Take the first step towards a better digital presence with Pantheon and experience these benefits firsthand. For more information, download our ebook on migrating to Drupal 10 today!