Drupal 10’s Compatibility with Emerging Tech

Since 2001, countless developers around the world have used Drupal, a powerful open-source content management system (CMS), to build and improve websites. Version 10 of the platform continues to impress. With features that allow better customizations and performance, Drupal 10 empowers its users to seamlessly curate and manage digital experiences that cater precisely to their specific needs.

Other key features of Drupal 10 to explore include artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), progressive web apps (PWAs), cloud services, headless CMS and mobile applications.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Azure Cognitive Services API

Drupal 10 uses cloud-based services like REST application programming interfaces (APIs) to build cognitive intelligence into web apps. With this tool, developers can integrate intelligent features such as video detection and facial, vision and speech recognition into their Drupal applications via available modules such as:

• Face API Module, which integrates with Microsoft Face API to provide the most advanced face algorithms for face detection and recognition.

• Computer Vision API Module, which extracts information for categorizing visual data to help curate services.

• Text Analytics API, which provides advanced natural language processing (NLP) to help in key phrase extraction and language detection.

Chatbot API

The chatbot API module in Drupal 10 enables you to create a common layer that feeds Drupal content to chatbots and PAs including Alexa, Dialogflow and Google Home. It benefits users through intelligent chatbot interactions based on NLP, supporting advanced AI and ML. It also aids developers by eliminating the need to create separate custom code for each chatbot or personal assistant platform protocol.

Progressive Web App 

The Drupal PWA module in Drupal 10 seamlessly implements PWA features into Drupal websites. By creating a standard setup, JavaScript developers can write service worker scripts to further customize PWA’s app-like behavior. It also creates a configurable file to make the website installable on mobile devices. As one of its main advantages, the module auto-prompts “add to home screen” when a visitor returns to a website. Its additional features include

• The “service worker” feature to load pages faster, cache and work offline

• The ability to create a configurable manifest.json file with specific metadata to allow the “add to home screen” prompt in browsers

• Enabling the configuration of the manifest from Drupal AI by admins

• Modifications to the manifest via other modules on the Drupal website

Headless CMS

More teams are adopting decoupled architecture to deliver unique digital experiences across various channels. With Drupal 10’s API-first approach and composable architecture, it becomes an essential tool for creating these digital experiences. Using Drupal as a headless CMS gives developers these additional benefits:

• A focus on utilizing APIs, rather than building an entire tech stack, for data consumption;

• A single source of truth, such as a central CMS hub that syndicates content via the “create once, publish everywhere” (COPE) feature across multiple channels, thus eliminating confusion over multiple documents and versions;

• An independent, streamlined development process for both front- and back-end teams;

• Easy resourcing that allows developers to communicate with a headless Drupal CMS for building applications; and

• The liberty to design front-end experiences that best meet users’ needs and expectations.

Cloud Services

Drupal modules support not only public clouds such as AWS but also private cloud architectures including Kubernetes (K8s), VMware, OpenStack and Terraform Cloud. Modularized by Drupal architecture, the modern CMS offers such cloud management functionalities as cloud governance and cost-aware features via cloud orchestration.

Mobile Applications

With its extensive module ecosystem, Drupal 10 features several capabilities that can power mobile-based solutions.

• Responsive Theming. Drupal 10 supports responsive web design principles that ensure websites adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions. Responsive themes in Drupal 10 use CSS media queries and other techniques to adjust the layout, typography and images for optimal viewing on mobile devices.

• Mobile-Friendly Administration. Designed to be mobile-friendly, Drupal 10’s administrative interface, Drupal Admin UI, manages websites, creates and edits content and performs administrative tasks using mobile devices.

• Mobile-First Approach. Introduced by Luke Wroblewski, this outlook displays web pages on different devices regardless of their distinct sizes. Drupal 10 utilizes a mobile-first approach to deliver excellent performance and usability on smaller screens.

• Responsive Images. Drupal 10 provides built-in support for responsive images. You can upload multiple versions of an image at different sizes and resolutions, and Drupal will automatically serve the appropriate image based on the viewing device’s screen size. This helps optimize image loading and improves the overall performance of your mobile site.

• Mobile App Integration. Via dedicated mobile apps, Drupal 10 can integrate with various mobile app frameworks and technologies. By using modules like DrupalGap or PhoneGap, the Drupal back end can be leveraged to power the content and data for mobile apps.

• Performance Optimization. Mobile users often have slower network connections and limited data plans. Drupal 10 offers several performance optimization features, such as caching, image compression and minification of CSS and JavaScript files. These optimizations help reduce page load times, improving the user experience on mobile devices.

Migrate to Drupal 10 for an Improved Experience

If you are on an older version of Drupal like Drupal 7, Drupal 8 or Drupal 9, a migration to the latest version offers higher performance ability, increased flexibility and more efficient administration.  Drupal 10 also benefits from automatic updates and detached menus, a new default UI theme and much more.

Of you are on the lookout for an efficient DXP that is compatible with emerging technologies, Drupal 10 should be your choice.

At Material our experts can help you with every stage of your Drupal implementation, from consultation to migration to maintenance. Talk to us today about customizing Drupal solutions for your business.