Drupal Development Company

Drupal 9 reached end-of-life in November 2023 and is no longer receiving security updates - sites on D9 must migrate to D10 or D11 immediately. Drupal 10 (released December 2022) is the current Long-Term Support release, requiring PHP 8.1+ and dropping several deprecated APIs from D8/D9. Drupal 11 (released October 2024) requires PHP 8.3+ and drops more deprecated code - it is suitable for new projects but requires more module updates for existing sites. For most existing Drupal 9 sites, migration to Drupal 10 is the recommended path. New projects should start on Drupal 10 or 11. The migration from D9 to D10 is typically straightforward (a few weeks work for a standard site) because D10 is architecturally similar to D9 - the main effort is updating contributed modules that have not yet released D10-compatible versions.

Drupal's JSON:API module (included in Drupal core since 8.7) exposes all of Drupal's content entities (nodes, taxonomy terms, users, media, paragraphs, custom entities) as a standards-compliant JSON:API interface - allowing any frontend application to query Drupal content via HTTP REST calls. The JSON:API specification (jsonapi.org) defines a standardised format for requesting resources, filtering, sorting, pagination, and including related resources. For headless Drupal: a Next.js frontend uses the next-drupal library (built by the Drupal community) to fetch content from Drupal's JSON:API, render it using React components, and serve it as server-side rendered or statically generated pages. Drupal handles all content management (editorial interface, workflows, media, translations) while Next.js handles the frontend performance and user experience.

Drupal requires some familiarisation for content editors, but the editorial interface (Drupal's CKEditor-based WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop layout builder, and media library) is usable by non-technical users after training. The main complexity for editors: understanding Drupal's content type structure (adding content of the right type with the right fields), using the taxonomy system correctly (tagging content with the right taxonomy terms), managing the content moderation workflow (draft, review, publish states), and using the Media library for images and files. We conduct content editor training for every project and provide a custom editor guide covering the specific content types and workflows for each client. Technical knowledge (PHP, server management) is only required for development and maintenance - which should be handled by developers, not editorial staff.

Drupal multi-site is a configuration where multiple separate Drupal websites share a single Drupal codebase (core files and modules) while maintaining separate databases, configurations, and content. All sites receive the same codebase updates simultaneously, reducing maintenance effort across large website networks. Multi-site is appropriate for: government networks (central ministry + state/regional portals sharing common modules and base theme), university networks (main university + faculty and department microsites), corporate multi-brand portals (headquarters + regional subsidiaries), and media groups (multiple publication brands sharing infrastructure). The alternative to multi-site is the Domain Access module approach, where all sites share the same database with domain-based access control - simpler to manage for tightly related sites with significant content sharing, but less isolated than separate databases.

Drupal has the strongest security track record among major open-source CMS platforms, due to: a dedicated Security Team that coordinates responsible disclosure, rapid patch development (typically within 8 hours of a confirmed critical vulnerability), and coordinated release with security advisories (SAs). Drupal's architecture provides security advantages: parameterised database queries preventing SQL injection by design (direct SQL is unusual in Drupal - entity queries and views use parameterised statements), a centrally-managed permissions system (all access control goes through Drupal's permission system - no ad-hoc permission checks scattered through code), input sanitisation utilities throughout (Xss::filter, Html::escape used consistently in templates), and CSRF protection built into form processing. Drupal is the CMS recommended by the US General Services Administration, UK Government Digital Service, and European Commission for government websites - a strong endorsement of its security model.

Migrating Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 is a significant project - not a simple upgrade - because D7 and D10 use fundamentally different architectures. The process: (1) Audit all custom D7 modules: each must be either replaced with a maintained D10 equivalent or rewritten using D10's OOP plugin system (D7's hooks replaced by D10's event subscribers, services, and plugins). (2) Audit custom D7 themes: D7 uses PHPTemplate; D10 uses Twig - full theme rebuild required. (3) Plan content migration: Drupal's Migrate API provides migration plugins for migrating D7 content (nodes, taxonomy, users, files) to D10. Custom migration plugins needed for non-standard D7 data structures. (4) Test migration on full production data extract in staging. (5) Cutover: final migration run, URL redirect configuration (if URL structure changes), DNS switch. Timeline: 8-24 weeks depending on custom module count and content volume.

Drupal has the most comprehensive multi-language support of any open-source CMS - built into core since Drupal 8 through four language-related core modules: Language (enables multiple languages), Content Translation (allows nodes, taxonomy terms, and custom entities to be translated field-by-field), Configuration Translation (translates site configuration - menus, views, system messages - into multiple languages), and Interface Translation (translates the admin UI and user-facing interface strings). The Translation Management Tool (TMGMT) contributed module adds professional translation workflows - sending content for external translation, tracking translation jobs, and importing translations when complete. Drupal's language negotiation is flexible: content can be served in different languages based on URL path prefix (/en/, /hi/, /fr/), domain (site.com vs site.fr), browser language preference, or user account language preference. URL aliases can be language-specific. All of this is configurable without custom code for standard requirements.

Custom Drupal module development, enterprise Drupal portal development, Drupal 7/8/9 to Drupal 10/11 migration, Drupal multi-site architecture, headless Drupal development, Drupal theme development, Drupal performance optimisation, and Drupal security hardening and maintenance.

Drupal 7 (EOL - migration service), Drupal 8 (EOL - migration service), Drupal 9 (EOL - migration service), Drupal 10 (current LTS - primary development), and Drupal 11 (current - new projects).

Yes. Evolution Infosystem builds headless Drupal platforms using Drupal 10's JSON:API module as the content backend, with Next.js or React frontends - achieving 90+ mobile PageSpeed scores while retaining Drupal's full editorial and workflow capabilities.

Yes. Evolution Infosystem provides Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 migration services including custom module audit and rewriting, theme migration from PHPTemplate to Twig, content migration using Drupal's Migrate API, and URL redirect configuration - for sites with up to 120,000+ content items.

Evolution Infosystem applies critical Drupal Security Advisory (SA-CORE) patches within 24 hours of release. Contributed module security updates applied in the next scheduled maintenance window. Monthly maintenance contracts include security monitoring, update management, and backup verification.