Migrating from Drupal 7? It’s the perfect time for a redesign
Undertaking a site redesign during the migration process may seem like a lot, but it has numerous advantages, including improving the website structure and user experience, a smoother transition and a faster time to market.
In the digital world, where technology is constantly evolving, staying up to date with the latest advancements is crucial. As discussed in previous articles, if your website is currently running on Drupal 7, it is time to consider migrating to a newer version.
Not only does migrating from Drupal 7 offer enhanced features and better security, but it also presents an excellent opportunity to give your site a fresh new look. This article explores why undertaking a site redesign during the migration process is advantageous and why it is best to incorporate it as part of an upgrade/migration strategy.
Why migrate from Drupal 7?
First released in 2011, Drupal 7 has been a reliable and robust content management system (CMS) for many years. However, on 5 January 2025, 14 years to the day since it was initially released, Drupal 7 will reach end-of-life status.
This means that it will no longer receive official support, security updates, or bug fixes from the Drupal community.
Consequently, continuing to operate a website on Drupal 7 poses potential security risks and may lead to compatibility issues with newer technologies.
Moreover, Drupal 11, the latest version of the CMS, offers significant improvements over Drupal 7.
It introduces a more streamlined and efficient codebase, improved performance, enhanced multilingual capabilities, better content authoring experience, and a range of other new features.
Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 is a logical step to future-proof and optimise your website.
The opportunity for a site redesign
While taking a “lift and shift” approach to migrating to Drupal 11 will ensure your website remains functional and secure, incorporating a site redesign during the migration process presents a unique opportunity to enhance your online presence. The reasons for seizing this opportunity are multifold.
Firstly, a redesign allows you to modernise the look and feel of your website. In the digital landscape, where user expectations and design trends are constantly evolving, websites that appear outdated may fail to capture the attention of potential users.
A revamped design can help you create a visually appealing and contemporary website that resonates with your target audience.
Secondly, a redesign enables you to improve the user experience (UX) of your site. During the migration process, you can revisit your website's information architecture, navigation, and content design and organisation.
By implementing user-centric design principles, you can enhance usability, simplify content discovery, and optimise conversion paths.
Addressing pain points and providing a seamless browsing experience will ensure that you provide a better experience for your users and improve user engagement.
Users’ expectations have definitely changed in the last 14 years, and it’s important to ensure your website delivers on these expectations.
Additionally, accessibility requirements have come a long way since 2011. Can you really afford to be offering a website that isn’t accessible to many potential users, especially because compliance with the European Accessibility Act is going to be introduced from mid-2025?
Lastly, a redesign allows you to align your website with your brand strategy and goals.
Over time, organisations may evolve their brand identity, messaging, or target audiences. Incorporating a redesign allows you to reflect these changes accurately and align your website with your current brand positioning.
Consistency across all touchpoints instils trust and credibility in your audience while conveying a cohesive brand image.
Why as part of an upgrade or migration project?
Integrating a site redesign within the upgrade/migration project may seem like it is introducing extra complexity to an already complex project. However, there are various advantages of redesigning and upgrading a website at the same time, rather than treating them as separate projects.
First, and it’s important to understand, Drupal’s underlying framework completely changed with the release of Drupal 8. This means migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 requires significant changes to the underlying codebase, content structure, and database schema.
By combining the migration and redesign, you can leverage this opportunity to clean up redundant or outdated content, reorganise information architecture, and optimise your website's structure.
In the long run, this approach saves time and effort, preventing redundant work in the future. Additionally, migrating and redesigning simultaneously allows for more efficient resource allocation and a reduction in costs. It allows you to avoid the duplication of effort involved in implementing the existing design as part of a rebuild or migration project and then a subsequent implementation for the redesign project (or vice versa).
Moreover, conducting both tasks together minimises the disruption to your website and business operations. Instead of undergoing multiple rounds of testing and deployments, a single migration with a redesign ensures a smoother transition and faster time to market.
Conclusion
Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 is more than just an upgrade; it presents an excellent opportunity to redesign your website and improve your user experience.
After all, the back end of the website is getting a substantial upgrade. It isn’t inconceivable to offer users an updated front end too.
Does your website need an upgrade?
Why not talk to our UX and migration specialists about how we can help ensure a seamless migration and redesign for your website.
Stella Power Managing Director
As well as being the founder and managing director of Annertech, Stella is one of the best known Drupal contributors in the world.
