Drupal 11 - Release Date, Features, and What to Expect
This year, we lived to see the release of a new version of Drupal. Drupal 11 brought many new features, such as intuitive menus and ready-made configurations (called recipes), making it an even better choice as a platform for building a dedicated CMS. How does this system differ from previous versions, and how can you take advantage of its capabilities when building your website? Find out why you should consider choosing this system or upgrading to Drupal 11.
Drupal 11 release date
Drupal 11 is the latest version of one of the most popular content management systems, which was released on August 2, 2024. Eagerly awaited by the Drupal community, "eleven" has brought many changes compared to version 10.
Particularly now, ahead of the official launch of Drupal CMS (announced as the Drupal Starshot initiative), it’s worth noting that the core is becoming more intuitive, faster, and more user-friendly.
Key Drupal 11 features you should know
Drupal 11 has introduced many new features that make the system an increasingly better tool for building websites. These changes visibly improve the security, performance and user convenience of the CMS solution. Let's learn more about them.
Drupal Recipes
Drupal Recipes are a new feature in the system's core that was simultaneously announced as one of the flagship solutions for Drupal CMS. Recipes are ready-made thematic packages of modules and settings that you can install with a single command on your website. This is a great option that can be extremely useful when creating a new web page and developing an existing one. You can add recipes at any point in the website's life cycle.
With recipes, developers can deliver the required functionality (e.g., advanced SEO tools or multilingual support) much faster, and they’ll be assured that everything will be properly configured and ready for use.
You can create such recipes on your own according to your current needs or use ready-made configurations published, for example, on Drupal.org. The Droptica team also regularly works on recipes to improve the creation of new functionality, which you can find on our profile on GitHub.
Recipes in Drupal 11.1.0 (the version released on December 16, 2024) have been enhanced to accept data from users, such as API keys for integration with external services. Also new are configuration actions, which allow adding new blocks, enabling the layout wizard for content types, and cloning configurations.
Drupal Workspaces
Drupal Workspaces is a great feature for larger projects that came as part of the stable version of Drupal 11 core. Workspace is a kind of copy of a production website. Such spaces work independently of the main site. This enables you to edit and test the workspace without affecting what is presented on the actual website version, visible to end users.
Source: Drupal.org
After applying all the changes and making sure that the final result meets expectations, the workspaces can be implemented on the main version of the website. This makes carrying out content updates easier to control.
It’s worth noting that in Drupal version 11.1.0, the user interface for the Workspaces module has been moved to a separate module called Workspaces UI. This change enhances the modularity of the system and provides users with greater flexibility in managing their test environments.
Single Directory Components (SDC)
Another valuable feature in Drupal 11 is Single Directory Components (SDC). Components significantly improve frontend work. They allow you to create reusable and customizable elements that you can use and transfer to multiple pages.
SDCs automatically create libraries from added files, such as JavaScript and CSS, and are testable as elements isolated from the rest of the website, allowing for easier error detection.
Administration UI improvements
The new navigation menus in Drupal 11 are customizable, providing each user with more convenience than in previous system versions. Menu blocks can be added and managed by the UI using Layout Builder, making configuration easy.
Source: Drupal.org
We also know that the Drupal team is planning further improvements to the UI for an even better user experience.
Access Policy API
The new API in Drupal 11 offers developers greater flexibility in creating access policies. From now on policies can be defined as services, providing full control over the rules that determine how permissions are granted.
This approach allows permissions to be assigned based on factors such as the current URL, time of day, or any other specific requirements of your website.
Improved system performance
Drupal 11 also introduces significant improvements in website performance. These include optimized database queries, more efficient caching, and better handling of JS and CSS files, among others. Notably, the minimum required PHP version has been raised to 8.3 (with version 11.1.0 introducing full support for PHP 8.4). Together, these enhancements ensure that websites built on the latest version of Drupal will run smoother and faster.
How is Drupal 11 different from Drupal 10?
The new version of Drupal brings many new features. So how does it differ from Drupal 10?
- Some modules have been removed from Drupal's core to make it easier to maintain. These modules are still installable. These are:
- Actions UI
- Book
- Tracker
- Forum
- Statistics
- Tour
- Drupal's system requirements have been raised:
- Improved Admin UI
- More intuitive content moderation
What's on the horizon for Drupal 11?
Drupal 11 has already brought a lot of new features at launch. However, we know that there are still some exciting functionalities to be released. Here are examples:
Project Browser is a step to simplify the process of finding and installing modules directly from the admin panel. Developers are preparing a convenient interface that saves time that would normally be spent manually searching repositories.
Automatic Updates will allow Drupal core to be updated directly from the admin panel. There are many indications that this tool will perform updates in a separately prepared sandbox environment, as well as make sure everything works as expected on its own. If there are errors at any update level, you’ll be notified.
Future versions of Drupal 11 may also bring the impetuously announced Experience Builder module along with the Drupal CMS project. It’s supposed to allow friendly web design from the browser, using only basic HTML, CSS, or Twig. It will enable you to design a website, add elements, or even rebrand without relying on programmers.
Drupal 11 - summary
As you can see, Drupal 11 has brought many new features, and it’s still full of surprises. We’re witnessing great changes in the Drupal world. With the planned improvements and the announced Drupal Starshot, we should start preparing our websites to make the most of these new features.
Drupal 10 support is scheduled to end in 2026. Make plans now to move your website to the new version. Our Drupal development team will help you smoothly through the process of upgrading to Drupal 11.
