The Key Things You Need to Know About Drupal 11

Drupal’s open-source nature means it thrives on collaboration. Dries Buytaert, Drupal’s creator, announced that Drupal 11 core resulted from the contributions of 1,858 individuals across 590 organizations. This extraordinary level of community participation highlights one of Drupal’s strongest assets—its collective expertise and dedication.

Dries Buytaert’s August 2024 LinkedIn post about Drupal 11.

Why Was Drupal 11 Released So “Early”?

Given that Drupal 10 was released in December 2022, the arrival of Drupal 11 in just over a year and a half might seem unusually swift. However, Gábor Hojtsy, Drupal core initiative coordinator, shed light on the reasoning during his “Drupal 11- Deep dive: what’s new, how to prepare” session at DrupalCon Portland 2024.
The timing ensures that organizations have ample opportunity to upgrade before Drupal 10 reaches end-of-life in mid-to-late 2026, which will coincide with the anticipated release of Drupal 12. Unlike previous versions, Drupal 11’s release wasn’t driven by the impending end-of-life of critical third-party dependencies. Instead, the team prioritized future-proofing by incorporating the most current dependency versions, setting Drupal 11 up for long-term support and innovation.

Overlapping support across Drupal versions on Gábor Hojtsy’s slides.

How Does Drupal 11 Relate to Drupal Starshot?

At DrupalCon Portland 2024, Dries Buytaert unveiled the Drupal Starshot Initiative, a bold project designed to create an entirely new CMS experience alongside the traditional Drupal core. Gábor Hojtsy explained that Starshot would likely be built on Drupal 11 core, leveraging its stability and advanced features.
Key components of Starshot, such as Recipes, Package Manager, and Automatic Updates, are already embedded in Drupal 11. Users will be able to install Starshot via a “recipe” included in the standard Drupal core profile, blending Starshot’s innovative functionality with Drupal 11’s reliability.

Are Drupal 11.0.0 and Drupal 10.3 Similar?

Drupal 11.0.0 was released shortly after Drupal 10.3, and both versions share many features and APIs. However, Drupal 11 introduces critical updates:

• Removal of outdated code: Legacy modules and themes have been phased out.
• Dependency upgrades: Newer versions of dependencies ensure better performance and security.
• Updated platform requirements:Compatibility with newer versions of PHP, databases, Composer, and browsers.
These updates position Drupal 11 as a cleaner, more efficient CMS, while maintaining backward compatibility to ease the transition.

Notable Features of Drupal 11

1. Recipes — Pre-Packaged Functionality Kits

One of Drupal 11’s standout features is the introduction of Recipes. These predefined packages simplify building website functionality by combining modules, configurations, and default content. Unlike traditional installation profiles, Recipes are applied at any stage of development and are fully customizable.
Recipes are also a cornerstone of the Drupal Starshot Initiative, as demonstrated during Buytaert’s DrupalCon Portland 2024 keynote. A single recipe can install and configure modules, apply settings, and publish content, offering unparalleled flexibility for developers and site builde

A demo of a standard recipe that adds modules, configuration, and default content.

2. Enhanced Content Staging

Content staging in Drupal 11 reaches new heights with the stability of the Workspaces module. This feature allows users—both technical and non-technical—to switch seamlessly between environments like “Live” and “Staging” from the admin UI. Changes can be made, reviewed, and deployed with a single click, making it ideal for large, content-heavy websites.

Publishing multiple content items to the “Live” environment with one button.

3. Streamlined Theming with Single Directory Components (SDC)

Drupal 11 introduces Single Directory Components (SDC), a major enhancement for front-end development. SDC consolidates all files needed to render a component into a single directory, making them easier to find, reuse, and maintain. This simplifies workflows for developers, even those without extensive Drupal experience, and ensures more consistent theming practices. SDC has been mentioned in the official Drupal 11 release video.

4. Intuitive Admin Navigation

The new experimental admin navigation module in Drupal 11 modernizes the user interface. It introduces a left-aligned vertical toolbar with collapsible sections, simplified labels, and customizable blocks. Once enabled, this feature provides a more intuitive and efficient navigation experience, especially for content editors and site administrators.

5. Improved Security Features

Security takes a leap forward with contextual permissions in Drupal 11, enabling access to be granted based on specific conditions rather than roles alone. Additionally, the ability to disable the superuser account enhances protection by eliminating a potential single point of vulnerability.

6. Automatic Updates

Automatic Updates is a game-changer for Drupal users. This feature allows core updates to be managed directly from the administrative dashboard, reducing the need for technical expertise. While the initial focus is on patch-level updates (e.g., 11.0.0 to 11.0.1), future versions aim to support minor version updates and contributed module updates.

The progress bar in Drupal’s Automatic Updates.

7. Simplified Module Installation with Project Browser

The Project Browser eliminates the need for command-line tools when adding modules. Users can search for, filter, and install modules directly from the admin dashboard, with Composer running seamlessly in the background. This feature is particularly beneficial for non-technical users, ensuring only secure and compatible modules are displayed.

Earlier enhancements between Drupal 10 and Drupal 11

As Drupal 10 was evolving in its forward movement towards Drupal 11, lots of great accomplishments were made. Not to mention a bunch of smaller features, here are at least some of the most major ones:

• New field creation and re-use experience. Drupal’s interface for field creation and re-use was totally revamped with field grouping, handy icons for field types, reduced field creation steps, prominent buttons, and more.

• More options for CKEditor 5. Drupal’s text editor, CKEditor 5, got enriched with new options such as autoformatting, flexible settings for available languages in code blocks, the possibility to highlight the blocks in text with HTML tags, and more.
• An interface to manage Twig development mode. A new development settings page was added to the Drupal admin dashboard allowing you to easily configure Twig debugging and render caching settings with just a few clicks.

• Improved performance. The BigPipe started supporting interface previews for delayed content, reducing page reflows and leading to better performance.
• A new Announcement feed. You can now get announcements from drupal.org directly in your Drupal admin dashboard.
• A new Announcement feed. You can now get announcements from drupal.org directly in your Drupal admin dashboard.
• Menu Linkset setttings. As part of the cutting-edge Decoupled Menus initiative to easily expose Drupal-managed menus to JavaScript front-ends, Drupal has new APIs and a user-friendly page for enabling the menu Linkset endpoint via one checkbox.

UI To enable the menu Linkset endpoint in Drupal 10.1.

Upgrading to Drupal 11

Key steps include:

• Meeting system requirements: Ensure compatibility with PHP 8.3, Drush 13, and database versions.
• Updating to the latest Drupal 10 version: This ensures a smoother transition.
• Removing deprecated code: Tools like the Upgrade Status module can identify and help resolve compatibility issues.
• Running the upgrade: With tools like Drupal Rector or Upgrade Rector, deprecated code can be automatically updated.

Organizations with complex websites may benefit from professional Drupal support to ensure a seamless upgrade.
Tools like the Upgrade Status module can do a comprehensive website check to identify the compatibility of all of your website’s components with Drupal 11 and provide useful hints. The Deprecation Status page offers a handy dashboard showing the readiness of contributed projects for Drupal 11. Next, the Drupal Rector tool or its Drupal module implementation, Upgrade Rector, will help you fix deprecated code.
If you need assistance with a seamless and hassle-free update to Drupal 11, consider reaching out to a professional Drupal partner.

Final thoughts

Drupal 11 is a milestone release, offering enhanced functionality, improved performance, and future-ready features. From Recipes and Automatic Updates to streamlined theming and advanced content staging, it sets a new standard for CMS technology.
As Drupal 11 evolves with minor releases every six months, it promises even more innovations to come. Whether you’re upgrading from an earlier version or starting fresh, now is the time to harness the power of Drupal 11.
Ready to make the move? Contact us today to learn how we can help your organization thrive with Drupal 11!