Future of Drupal CMS as a Technology in 2020

 

Globally, businesses are looking for a solution that can help their community to grow, increase businesses, and user experience. Here Drupal takes the place. It is an adaptable and open-source platform for website development digital experience management. It offers thorough abilities and endless flexibility. Before Drupal 8 was commenced, the Core Committee hasn’t promised to innovate only, they chose to be persistent.

Persistent making Drupal simpler to adopt – not only throughout the market but by Drupal eCommerce developers with numerous expertise levels. However, to be able to make Drupal efficient and relevant, a radical change was required – a change can create a better future.

For this, Drupal 8 had to disassemble the Drupal 7 architecture and lay a novel establishment for a promising future. Moving to the Drupal 9 and the following versions will be simple and straightforward. You can find the best Drupal development services that can help create remarkable websites for your business.

Freedom to Transform with Open Source

Innovation creates freedom and freedom brings innovation. Open source provides you the freedom to learn, access, contribute, and most likely the freedom to invent. The capability to learn, reinvent, and catch up is very essential today. Drupal start as a small internal news site and later turned into an open-source CMS (Content Management System). Because there was a perspective to make it compelling by gaining more contributions. It provides developers the free hand to improvise, re-use components, and collaborate on them to develop something more powerful, modern, and relevant.

Fortune 500 Companies Utilizing Drupal

Over the past few years, Drupal technology is growing at a rapid pace. Previously, W3Techs directed a survey recognized that around 2 Billion Drupal-based sites are online today. Drupal is primarily used by 3.5% of all the websites that are utilizing CMS and around 1.9% of all sites are built with Drupal.

Drupal has Been Recognized in the Below-Mentioned Categories

• This is the most prominent platform in Belgium within the CMS category

• It is the second most preferred platform in Hungary within the CMS category

• The third most favored platform in India within the Open-Source category

• It is the second most well-known choice in the top 10k sites within the Open-Source category

Here, you can find the list of popular websites built using Drupal CMS –

• Le Figaro

• NCAA

• Infusionsoft

• ABS-CBN News

• Taboola

• Elmogaz

• Patch

• Entertainment Weekly

• Mint

Best Drupal Users

Drupal is the ideal CMS for publications, nonprofits, government firms, SMEs, and large enterprises. It can be easily fit for heavy traffic and complicated sites with huge databases.

Drupal: The Fundamental Architecture & Component Interaction

Drupal module comprises of six distinct layers.

1. Users

In the Drupal community, users can send the request to a server by utilizing the Drupal web browser and CMS, search engines, and so on.

2. Administrator

The administrator is competent in granting access permission to authorized users. Also, it will be able to unauthorized access. Consequently, an administrator is in charge of handling content and administering the website.

3. Drupal

Drupal is an open-source CMS that helps you to handle your content and is built on PHP-based systems. With the help of Drupal, it is essential to connect with other technologies utilizing the Content Management System. Also, you can manage complex workflows and forms.

4. PHP

Drupal is a content management system that is fully written in PHP to work with an app developed by users. To fetch the data, PHP seeks support from a web server. Also, the memory requirements relied on the core components of Drupal that are utilized in your website.

5. Web Server

Users can interact and process the request via HTTP and serve files to website users. For communication, you can utilize numerous web servers including, Nginx, IIS, and Apache.

6. Database

The database stores all the data regarding the content, user, other essential information of the site. It is probable of extracting the information and allows to modify, change, and update the database.

Why Opt Drupal Over Other Content Management System?

There are various reasons to opt for Drupal over any other CMS (Content Management System) for your web app development need. Drupal’s flexibility, adaptability, and popularity are a few of them. It offers a wide assortment of capabilities that lies in its extensibility in a default execution. There are numerous ‘Core’ modules accessible to download from Drupal. It can be effectively customized to give the most recent features to a website. one of Drupal’s core benefits is that there is no extra cost for the software.

Similar to the WordPress plugins, Drupal has modules and extensions to insert features to your website. An activity tracker is used to view the recently updated content on the website. Also, it is the core Drupal CMS module that enables you to add new content.

Future Scope of Drupal as a Technology

In the past few weeks, Drupal is gaining attention. As a result, the demand for Drupal has increased a lot. It is an open-source platform and the whole CMS is completely free for each user. There will be a huge scope of Drupal as a technology.

Do You Want to Use Drupal for Developing a SaaS-based Product?

You can create a SaaS-based solution by grabbing the massive features and abilities of Drupal to market your product. With its strong functions for eCommerce can be a crucial solution to take your product to a strange reach.

Drupal is completely associated with numerous modules and extensions. So, it is competent of doing everything. It is easy to install and includes modules of differing complexities. With Drupal, you can transform your thoughts and efficiently customize the multiple modules. Content governance experiences an abundance of social determinants that influence healthcare results a lot and whole spending.

Wrapping Up

The business is capable of adopting Drupal to make their site efficient with adaptable features and core modules. Drupal provides your business with the features and adaptability to innovate according to your user’s preferences and behavior.

If you’re planning to hire Drupal developers, DrupalIndia has a robust team of experts with in-depth experience. Also, it has the potential to satisfy the customers’ requirements.

So, if you would like to discuss your existing website and want us for migration to Drupal 8, you can drop an email and we will give you a solution. With our Drupal Migration Services, you can boost the speed, agility, and flexibility of your website with ease.

Drupal Pros and Cons: Why Drupal is the Right Choice Over Other CMSs

Drupal is one of the most preferred CMS platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises. Ever since its evolution, it has come a long way. It is created into one of the most complex open-source CMS platforms. Drupal has been used to create websites for brands like Ubuntu, Harvard, Sony Music, MIT, and so on. Today, it supports 182 languages and is used by customers in 228 countries.

Drupal utilizes a sophisticated programming interface and has a complex learning curve. It is majorly considered more than a development platform than a simple CMS tool. It additionally has a detailed report producing tools for innovative admins. Even though no programming skills are needed for basic utilization. However, the system is used by advanced Drupal developers and engineers. This is why most of the users go with the more basic CMS tool like WordPress. Also, the Drupal CMS features are highly remarkable and adaptable to build a responsive and SEO friendly website without any issue.

Unlike other available technologies, Drupal also has its pros and cons. Let’s discussed its major pros and cons below.

Pros: Why Drupal As Your CMS?

1. Best Choice for Building Large and Complex Sites

• Open Source & Free Code

Drupal is an open-source and completely free Content Management System (CMS). It provides similar features as compared to other CMS like WordPress or Joomla. Also, it is an open source and users can rebuild it according to their requirements.

• Content Types

You can integrate numerous types of content into your site: forums, informational pages, blog posts, polls, etc.

• Flexible Taxonomies

You can group the content altogether is virtually endless configurations. You also can control who can access and edit particular content sections, the appearance of the subsection, and a lot more.

• PSD to Drupal

Drupal provides the adaptable feature where anyone can convert PSD to Drupal theme without any problems. The right Drupal development agency can help you to build your site with lots of features and functionalities.

• Scalability

Drupal can be simply scaled to meet the needs of your sites and fluctuations in the traffic.

• Multilingual Content

You will need to use plugins for multilingual content in another CMS like WordPress. But in the case of Drupal, a multilingual feature is built into the core.

2. Supported By Devoted Community

• Support

Drupal’s big online community is greatly active, offering support via thorough documentation, user groups, chat rooms, support forums, and various other resources. Everything is accessible at no cost.

• Programmer Experience

Drupal was created for web experts so that anybody can use it. Drupal’s online community incorporates a large number of experts and programmers.

• Updates

Programmers and Drupal eCommerce developers constantly update Drupal with novel plugins or modules, bug fixes, and support documentation.

3. Security is a Big Stress

• Strong Security Functions

As compared to WordPress, Drupal sites are less prone to hacks. This is one big reason why Drupal is prominent with big, security-conscious businesses and govt institutions.

• Access/User Permissions

Drupal is a built-in access control system that enables you to develop roles alongside individual permissions.

• Responsive

A thorough security reports are constantly posted on the official Drupal site. Also, the Drupal developers have a reputation for working fast to keep the system patched up every time.

Cons: Why Drupal May Not be the Right Choice?

1. Complex than Other CMSs

• Sharp Learning Curve

Whether you are a pro developer or a casual user, you have to learn a lot to know basic Drupal functionalities.

• Basic Code Skills Required

Drupal isn’t the right choice for freshers or newcomers. Because it requires a basic understanding of CSS, HTML, and PHP to manage the website.

• Advanced Interface

As Drupal was created for web experts, less skilled users may find that the interface isn’t much intuitive for them.

2. Requires Effort & Time

• Themes & Plugins

Drupal offers a huge number of modules and templates. However, you need to leave the system to discover the extensions before installing them. Numerous modules are not free so you will need to purchase them.

• Developer Assistance Required

Some Drupal themes are custom-coded which means you will need to work with a developer to build for your site.

• Updates

Legacy installations aren’t supported. It means there is no backward compatibility. You will need to upgrade and it requires time and lots of work on your part.

3. Performance Problems

• Impact on Speed

Unless you take the time to enhance configurations, third-party extensions, if it is not properly optimized, then it will slow down Drupal both for you and your customers.

• Bad Module Compatibility

The module compatibility of Drupal can enable you to effectively upgrade your website. But compatibility additionally implies that you can simultaneously run numerous modules that have their code. The wrong module combination could crash your Drupal core.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully, this post provides you more information on Drupal's pros and cons in detail. This will help you to choose the right CMS platform and how Drupal will help you if you are from a specific industry. If you are looking for a robust CMS platform that provides lots of possibilities, scalability, and flexibility, migrate your site to Drupal. Get assistance from our devoted Drupal web development team to get your site up and running. We have a team of highly qualified Drupal eCommerce developers and we can deliver high-end Drupal projects by considering your requirements.

10 Drupal 8 Features to Help You Build an Awesome Website

 

The digital ecosystem is transforming at a rapid pace. With this, there are increasing needs for CMS (content management system) to keep pace with clients' demands. Customers are demanding more customized experiences, increasing connectivity between gadgets, and more inventive elements in their web experiences. Businesses require omnichannel content, quick and robust user experiences. They also need a website that accomplishes business objectives and KPIs.

So, when it comes to building a website, the big question is to choose the right CMS platform for your website. Here, Drupal comes into the picture. Drupal is a Content Management System that has grown immense popularity in website development. It is an open-source platform. Drupal provides a lot of features that can help you create a scalable, flexible, and secure website.

Drupal 8 is already a robust CMS for developers, administrators, and users. There is a sharp focus on user-interface, content presentation, new approach to create the structure of data, multilingual abilities, build APIs, and out the box mobile accessibility delivery. Drupal 8 CMS brings every one of the features to the table. If you want to create your website using Drupal, you can hire the best Drupal Developers who can help you build a robust portal.

Here in this post, we will uncover some significant Drupal CMS features in 2020.

Most Essential Features of Drupal 8 CMS

1. New Theme Engine

Drupal involves a brand-new theming engine known as Twig. It is a based-on PHP language and also fast, flexible, and secure. Now, it is easy to create a functional and beautiful Drupal site using Twig. Basically, Twig is a template that is written in a syntax. It is less complex than PHP or other templates and also more secure.

2. Mobile First

Drupal 8 is a mobile-first in its way. Every one of the built-in templates in Drupal 8 is responsive. It comes with an admin theme that covers various screen sizes. It also comes with a ‘Back to Site’ button that will let users go back to the front page. Tables can be easily fit into any screen size without a problem. Its new admin tool works great on mobile phones.

3. HTM5 Feature

Now, HTML5 is more and less the de facto regulation with regards to writing web markup. The same is now accessible natively in Drupal 8 CMS. It will provide you the accessibility to submit fields like email, date, phone, etc. Also, it will offer more features and compatibility with a smartphone and handled gadgets.

4. Multilingual Ready

Drupal 8 boasts extensive multilingual functions right out of the box. The admin panel has built-in interpretations. Also, you can create pages alongside language-empowered Views filtering as well as block visibility. Updates of translation from the community have enabled automatically.

5. Manage Your Configuration

Drupal 8 has a configuration management system that is built into it at the file-system level. So, it will help in carrying configuration components (like content views, type, or fields, etc.) from native development to the server as a waft. Furthermore, you can utilize a variant-control system to keep a record of configuration changes. Configuration data is saved in files, separate from the website database(s).

6. Simple Authoring

New Drupal 8 features bring extraordinary power into the hands of the Content Editor, with WYSIWYG editor CKEditor packaged with the core. Thus, the most outed enhancement remains the in-built editing feature that Drupal 8 will afford customers, a result of Spark Initiative.

Website and content developers or editors can edit text on any page without switching to the full editing form. Drafts are now very simpler to build and security for the web is now better integrated.

7. Quick Edits

There is a great opportunity if something needs a change, then developers can change it easily and efficiently. Now, the Quick Edit feature is an important tool of the Drupal 8 in-place field editing. So, if you are logged into Drupal, you can edit the text directly to instant fixes and inclusions from the front end.

8. Views

Views sit on a high peak in the Drupal module. As it is an important part of some web projects, so most things are possible without it. Website developers had used this utilized this hitherto-contributed module to output galleries, graphs, maps, posts, lists, blocks, tables, menus, reports, and so on. With the help of this Drupal 8 feature, Views are an integral part of it and adequately implemented with the core.

The front page and some administration pages are now Views. So, users can create blocks, pages, admin sections, and so on. Also, they can easily customize the existing ones without any issue.

9. Better Support

Drupal 8 has robust support for business standard accessibility innovations like WAI-ARIA. ARIA Live Announcements API and TabManager are important enhancements in Drupal 8 that offer control for strong web apps. Whistles and bells like better font sizes, jQuery User Interfaces autocomplete, tweaked color contrasts, and modal dialogs, go a long way for making Drupal 8 a draught to utilize.

10. In-Built Web Services

With the help of Drupal 8, it is now possible to use it as a source of data and output content as JSON and XML. You also can post data back to Drupal 8 from your front-end. Moreover, HAL (Hypertext Application Language) is integrated into Drupal 8. It can make misuse of web service features less painful.

Wrapping Up

Website security is the most essential element to survive without any existential risks. Drupal has been the leader in security-focused CMS.

As an open-source CMS platform, it additionally offers important features and timely updates in Drupal 8. Besides, this will help in making Drupal the most efficient and secure content management system.

So, the Drupal 7 to 8 migration has seen a gigantic enhancement in blocking the threats. So, it has proved that Drupal is the ideal CMS platform in terms of security among another CMS. If you want to know more about Drupal 8 and need a great website, you can get in touch with the best Drupal CMS Development Company. Also, the best agency can provide you the most helpful solution to your need. Well, find the right Drupal developers who can help you create your site and help you to reach your goals.

Drupal 9 Is Here - What Leading Drupal Development Companies Suggests?

 

Drupal is the oldest CMS out there in the market and being an open-source CMS it has subsequently has gained a lot of users in the past 2 decades. The last most used Drupal version was D7, launched in the year 2011 and after some time they rolled out another version of Drupal - D8. Recently, In early June 2020, Drupal launched its latest version of CMS - Drupal 9. What does this mean for D7 users? Several Drupal Development companies claim that it’ll be difficult from D7 to D9 directly.

According to research, out of 1.1 million Drupal users, only a handful of users have upgraded their version of D7 to D8. Why? Simply because upgrading from one version to another in Drupal was quite similar to moving from one CMS to another.

But with the launch of D9, Drupal is planning to end its support to D7 by the end of November 2021. Drupal will withdraw its extensive community support from D7. Therefore, it’s no more a choice anymore but a necessity to upgrade your CMS framework to either D8 or D9.

Drupal 9

With the latest release, Drupal learned from its mistakes. Now, Drupal has shifted its focus more on User Experience and Security. Drupal’s previous versions had a lot of difficulties but being in business for more than 2 decades, Drupal has collected some loyalists and its community understands the benefits drupal offers.

Here are some of the new benefits added in Drupal 9-

Backward Compatibility

Drupal’s biggest in previous updates was its backward compatibility. Backward Compatibility shows how much the latest version is compatible with the previous ones and supports the functionalities of legacy systems.

Drupal has overcome this by creating D9 as a Backward Compatible system that supports the functionalities of its predecessors. Therefore, the newly upgraded system of Drupal CMS will be able to use D8’s modules, data, and configurations, something that was lacking with D7 and D8 versions.

Enhanced Performance

With the D9 upgrade, Drupal has included more responsive versions for images that allow users to set the best-fit images for mobile versions while exhausting the least amount of data. Users can leverage the features such as BigPipe, that increases the page loading performance, for implementing effective workflows.

D9 also added an efficient content workflow feature that lets you handle multiple workflows in a single framework. It’s Multilingual support also extends the reach of a user across the globe.

Cleaner Codebase

Drupal 8 and other versions use to carry a lot of deprecated code within their framework. D9 removed the dependencies of deprecated codes in D8, creating a cleaner codebase for the new framework. How’s this going to affect the new system you ask?

Deprecated codes are those legacy codes that are marked as not useful as they have been superseded by a new and enhanced version of code. Therefore, for D8 modules that want to work in the D9 environment, they first need to be cleansed and all the deprecated codes need to be eliminated.

This lets you develop a more agile and cleaner codebase eventually affecting the website’s performance.

Headless CMS

Drupal’s developers are keen on creating a more advanced Headless CMS so as to enhance the user experience with the help of front-end javascript frameworks like React or AngularJS. Further, both D8 and D9 versions support the API-first approach.

A headless CMS offers Front-end independence to the developers, allows them to reuse the components, and offers easier resourcing.

D9 is more robust, scalable, flexible, and accessible than its predecessors.

Do you Need to Upgrade?

Top Drupal Development Companies that offer Drupal module development services find D9 to be the most exclusive and important update in Drupal’s existence.

It is better to update D7 to D8 and then to D9 rather than directly jumping from D7 to D9 as most of the modules of D7 are not Compatible with the D9 version. Further, the D8 to D9 migration is simple and easy but the D7 to D8 is a little bit complex as you have to completely rebuild your website. It is better to get in touch with a Drupal 8 Custom Module development service provider for the migration. A Simple website is easier to migrate but the more complex working of your website gets, the harder it is to migrate.

What are the Major Features Integrated into Drupal 8 for Application Developers?

 

Over the years, Drupal has become a popular open-source CMS and the standard choice for large web projects. It offers remarkable digital solutions and is managed by a huge community member from across the globe. The reason for its popularity is flexibility, scalability, and high security. Drupal 8 comes integrated with over 200 new enhancements and great features. Whether you run a government website or an enterprise one, a closer look at the Drupal CMS features is worth your valuable time.

1. Mobile Friendly

Recent trends reveal that browsing through mobile devices is increasing exponentially. Drupal 8 has core functionality for mobile users. It comprises new and fully mobile responsive themes. This is extremely beneficial for editors to quickly create and edit content, as well as perform changes. You can apply all this with the support of a handy, purpose-built interface on a small screen.

2. Multilingual Features

The translation is not a simple job to perform. Businesses looking to target global audiences can benefit from Drupal development multilingual capabilities. The translation is easy to perform using a fully integrated CMS right out of the box. The current version is configured with a robust module with content translation, interface translation, and configuration translation. Any component of the software can be translated thus saving a large amount of time and money.

3. Content Authoring

Drupal 8 is integrated with new improvements and features. If you looking to create or edit content it can be performed easily. The first thing is the comfy content creation page which comprises two columns. The interface comprises of essential tool to create content and publishing WYSIWYG editor. This feature gives you the ability to edit the content on the front end. It means you can access the web page as visitors see it and improve it before your website goes live.

4. Brand New Theme Engine

Twig a brand new theme engine that Drupal 8 has integrated. This new theme engine is PHP-based, and flexible enough, fast and quicker but not the least is fully secure. It’s new and good news for the developers. Now they can build more beautiful and functional Drupal web site just because of Twig. Its templates are written in a less complicated syntax as compared to PHP template, while they are highly secure than others. It is one of best feature and Drupal development agency avail of its benefit that will help you to know why to choose this reputed CMS.

5. Loading Speed

Drupal 8 use Cache that stores all of the entities and instantly loads JavaScript whenever needed. Thus, whenever you view the page, it does not reload again and again. The previously accessed content is quickly loaded from the cache thus boosts the speed of Drupal website. Once configured and enabled, Cache is completely automatic.

Wrapping Up:

Considering the Drupal 8 benefits given above, you might be sure to migrate your website to the latest version in a streamlined manner. It can significantly enhance your efficiency in achieving your business objectives. Are you not using Drupal 8 yet? Reach out to an experienced company to hire Drupal Developers India and easily upgrade your website. Stay up to date by going through our new blog posts. This will help you with your Drupal way to success!

Top 14 Tips to Optimize Your Drupal 8 Website’s Performance

If you need to get your website up and running within a day, Drupal 8 is the solution that you need. Because of its sleek designs, stability, and appearance, the Drupal 8 system can cater to most of your online needs. Even though this platform offers a plethora of benefits for your website, there are always a few ways you can boost up your Drupal 8 website’s performance.

Fast loading speed and high performance are crucial for increasing user engagement. Content is still king and will always be, the overall performance of a website is also significantly important. Website visitors and search engines are the primary factors that can contribute to the success of your website. Therefore, you need to have fast Drupal hosting and efficiently-performing website. Otherwise, it can create an unpleasant experience for both your users and search engines. Above all, you can always approach a professional Drupal development company and take advantage of their Drupal 8 development services to better optimize your Drupal 8 website’s performance.

Here are a few essential tips that will improve your Drupal website significantly.

 

1. Simple Yet Effective Design

 

Keeping minimalist design of your website can make your site faster ad efficient. Cramming your website with too many features will only hurt the performance of your website. As there is so much to add to Drupal, it can be difficult to slim it down. However, everything from captivating themes to engaging modules can greatly affect your website’s performance. Having fewer graphics and calls to the database, the site can deliver faster website experience to users.

If you wish to create a more professional and impactful website, you should consider getting help from a professional Drupal development company for their complete suite of website design and development services.

2. Image Optimization

 

A blog post with attractive and high-quality images can fetch 94% more views. Although it is important to use HD-quality images on a website, these images can be double-edged blades which can hamper your Drupal 8 website’s performance. Large high-resolution graphics and images can make your website much slower to load. Therefore, one of the best ways to improve your Drupal site’s performance is to optimize your images by fitting them to the right size before uploading them on your website. It is not a good idea to use huge graphics and then altering the size using coding. Web browsers can still render the entire graphics as a whole. It is recommended to keep images to 72dpi and upload it with the right size.

3. Reduce the Number of Modules

 

If you don’t want to go with the minimalist approach to web design, then you may consider reducing the number of modules. Each new module can hamper the speed of your Drupal 8 because each will have their separate code that needs to execute or calls to a database. By keeping the modules to a minimum, you can make your website light-weight and easier for browsers to load your website. Even if a module is currently inactive, it can still affect the performance of your Drupal.

If you’re not comfortable with the coding, it is wise to hire Drupal developers who have strong expertise and knowledge in creating effective and relevant modules for your Drupal website.

4. Reduce External Resources

 

External resources also have a significant impact on the performance of your website. Incorporating affiliate links, ad sharing, or any other add-on that retrieves data from external or third-party websites can easily reduce the speed of your website. For instance, your site’s performance can be deteriorated whenever you add a Google Adsense block to your web page. Therefore, keeping these external resources to a minimum can improve the overall performance of your Drupal.

5. Caching Modules

 

Caching can boost your website’s speed when the elements of your website are saved and used when a user visits your website. It is similar to saving the settings on a program that you use daily. However, this is only possible unless a user doesn’t empty his cache on the computer. Drupal 8 comes with some built-in methods that enable it to do this without having to install additional modules. However, there are some extensions that have greater control and versatility than the pre-built modules. For example, the Boost module will cache and minify coding which empowers your website to perform at its peak level. It also adjusts the cache life cycle of different data which improves user experience as well as SEO.

6. Use a Reliable CDN

 

Using a reliable Content Delivery Network or CDN is one of the easiest and effective ways to boost the speed of your Drupal 8 website. A CDN automatically distributes your website across a network of servers in different locations. These web copies are useful when a user tries to access your CDN website from any server regardless of his current location. This removes the distance barriers, thereby improving the speed of your website.
If you need a custom CDN, you can always approach a professional Drupal 8 development company that can provide you with custom CDN to meet all your unique business requirements.

7. Update to the Latest Version of PHP

 

Drupal is a PHP-based content management system. Each new version of PHP promises improved performance and efficiency. Therefore, make sure you are using the latest version of PHP to improve your website’s performance. Many hosting providers give you the liberty to update to a newer version of PHP through cPanel. You just have to select the version of your choice from a drop-down window, and then you’re good to go. However, it’s worth noting that some modules or scripts may not support specific versions of PHP, so you should be careful when changing the version of PHP all by yourself.

8. Keep Your Database Clean

 

Besides optimizing the coding of your website, you should also consider optimizing your database from time to time by cleaning the data and removing unwanted or out-dated chunks of information. By using modules like Memcache, you can make your database faster as this toll stores your data in the active memory for a limited time-frame which makes data retrieval much faster and easier. This eliminates the need of making constant queries to fetch data as the data is readily available. This system is also useful for shared web hosting plans.

9. Be Picky About Background Image

 

When it comes to selecting the background images, you must choose something that does not affect your website’s performance. You should try to keep the background of your Drupal 8 website to standard color schemes as much as possible. Drupal comes with many templates that allow you to adjust the background image of the site. By dropping the graphic and using the hexadecimal color platform, you can eliminate a large part that browsers don’t have to render upon visiting. If you still want to use high-quality large JPG files, make sure your compress its size prior to upload. This can improve the overall performance of your website.

10. Leverage Lazy Loading

 

Unlike traditional websites where all the images and content are pre-loaded into a web browser, lazy loading allows a user to access website elements as needed. With lazy loading, the elements of the website are loaded as soon as a user scrolls to view the content. This feature can be used in a mobile environment as well as improving mobile speed is an essential part of the overall performance. By installing modules like Blazy will enable your Drupal 8 website to attract and engage some of those users.

11. Add Expires Headers

 

Expiring headers can make caching more efficient on the browser’s end of the website. You may get a warning if you don’t add an ‘expires’ header in the .htaccess file. An ‘expires’ header tells the user’s web browsers to save certain unchangeable elements of the site such as your website’s background, logo, icon images, and many others so that the user’s computer simply recalls the graphics itself whenever the user visits the website the next time.

12. Do Not Use Flash

 

Earlier, Flash was useful when it came to animated graphics on the internet. Today, this system is considered out-dated and therefore should be avoided. This includes everything from website backgrounds to buttons. Flash has become obsolete over the years because of its slow behavior and security risks. Instead, there are plenty of HTML5 components that are faster and secure. Frequent buffering while watching videos online is quite annoying for users. Moreover, as videos play a significant role in marketing today, you should try avoiding the use of Flash for this purpose on your Drupal website.

13. Manage the Use of CSS and JavaScript for Reduced HTTP Requests

 

CSS and JavaScript make your website dynamic, customizable, and flexible. However, a huge number of CSS files and JS use can also affect the performance of your Drupal website. Therefore, you should try to keep your coding to a minimum and try to avoid excessive CSS files and usage of JavaScript to ensure the optimal performance of your website.
Drupal 8 comes with a built-in ability to aggregate these extra files into bundles to reduce the load time of your website. We recommend installing the Advanced CSS.JS

Aggregation (AdvAgg) module to boost the speed of your Drupal. Using AdvAgg enables you to

• Aggregate CSS files using media queries and group them into one bundle
• Add JavaScript to any part of your website’s theme, block or views
• Render Cache and cache the generated HTML file
• Disable aggregation using a cookie or the query string in a URL

Besides, the AdvAgg module comes with several submodules to carry out front-end tasks and protect your site from cyber threats. If you’re not an expert at handling these technology files, it is always best to approach a Drupal development company where you can hire Drupal developers to address your concerns with your Drupal 8 website.

14. Handle 404 Error in a Fast and Efficient Manner

 

If you do not handle 404 Error by setting up a redirect or an error page offering users alternative information, you send a negative signal to your users as well as Google. Moreover, even a failed image can make your website slow. Therefore, you need to fix these issues to deliver a seamless website experience to users. Although Drupal 8 comes with limited ability to manage 404 errors quickly and efficiently, you can consider installing the Fast 404 module. This module not only ensures better resource utilization but also allows you to whitelist files and trace pathways of the issues.

Wrapping Up

 

Every Drupal development company or individual user strives to improve Drupal performance to deliver an excellent experience for both visitors and search engines. A fast performing website has a lot of potentials to engage your audience and convert prospects into leads. You can always a reputed Drupal 8 development company that can help you build a robust, responsive, and high performing website for your business. If you need to optimize your Drupal 8 website, you can hire Drupal developers on an hourly or part-time basis to add the element of speed to your website and feel the difference.