Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More
While competing Content Management Systems like WordPress and Joomla have steadily gained ground in recent years, we’ve learned so far in 2018 that Drupal won’t be left behind in the website-building software market. Drupal is, at its core, an advanced and versatile server-side application that many web developers and designers find irreplaceable and useful. The developers and marketers behind Drupal took a serious initiative in early 2018 to revamp the CMS homepage, branding, and marketing strategy. These efforts have renewed interest among theme, app, module and browser developers who are starting to direct more resources into Drupal development. New features and upgrades coincide the updated marketing efforts and have been exciting Drupal users in 2018.
Drupal Over the Years
There’s a tradition among Drupal developers to make predictions and suggestions for each coming year regarding the software. These predictions and other observations are hosted on the official Drupal forum where in-house staff, consultants, and the public discuss changes in Drupal. In years past, developers focused on making sure Drupal was keeping within current web coding standards and adding options for advanced customization.
What’s new for 2018 is a greater focus on backend usability and user-friendly options for website builders. Drupal is still considered the most capable of the CMSs by many users who are familiar with PHP, HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, but adding a more user-friendly approach to backend panel options is going to attract a larger base of clients who don’t know any programming languages.
Drupal’s Changes in 2018
There have been many changes to Drupal in 2018. New documentation is perhaps the most noticeable for new users and users returning to Drupal after short-lived previous attempts at using the CMS. With the new documentation, getting started using Drupal to build a website is easier than ever.
Another new feature for Drupal in 2018 is a more streamlined approach to using Composer and other easy-edit tools for new website developers to build professional sites. It’s arguably just as easy to build a website with Drupal as it has been to build with WordPress now, and with a solid Drupal hosting plan you’re likely to find the CMS has better SEO and functionality than WordPress or Joomla.
In 2018 Drupal changed the homepage at Drupal.org and added a contribution page for people who want to help market the CMS. As Drupal grows in popularity more theme makers and third-party developers will support the CMS and in turn it will become easier to use and more convenient. This self-perpetuating marketing system, which encourages existing users to help advertise the Drupal product, is already showing results in terms of an increasing number of Drupal themes available in marketplaces like ThemeForest.
Web Hosts and Drupal in 2018
One of the best things website owners have noticed in 2018 regarding Drupal is the increasing support for Drupal optimization among hosting providers. Drupal hosting providers are offering one-click installations, automatic SEO configuration, and server configuration profiles that work amazingly well with Drupal in today’s web market.
The easiest way to get started with Drupal and ensure your website get noticed on the web is to acquire Drupal optimized web hosting. This will help you breeze through the installation and avoid having to configure your server settings manually to achieve a prime environment for your Drupal website.
Many hosts are now offering Drupal support through their technical support channels and customer service systems. Knowledge of CSS and JavaScript are becoming increasingly required of tech support teams at hosting companies and many offer advanced support services perfectly geared for the CMS. This fact, in combination with Drupal’s more user-friendly approach in 2018, is making Drupal the ideal Content Management System for website owners today.
Other New Drupal Features
Website owners are quickly realizing in 2018 that Drupal cares about staying current with web standards and global regulations that affect website operations. An example of this is the new changes Drupal has made to conform to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation which takes effect May 25th, 2018. Drupal has also increased their encryption strength to conform to emerging data safety standards this year.
Drupal has a new premium supporting partner for 2018, an open-source advocate and software developer Zooch, which has inspired many in the open source community to take another look at the impressive CMS. Zooch has been auditing and analyzing the code behind Drupal, checking for internal errors and bugs, vulnerabilities, and improving the overall security of the software.
The strongest take-away from Drupal’s 2018 revamping is how concerned the developers are for staying current in the CMS market. This helps draw new clientele and expand the Drupal user-base while abiding by new regulations and web standards. The Drupal development and marketing teams have proven the renowned CMS is here to stay for 2018 and far beyond.
