Every Misconception about Drupal: Debunked and Asserted

A myth is a pretty powerful thing, especially if you end up believing it. Even if you don’t, it does dampen the prospects of whatever it is associated with. It’s like if someone told you that the latest smartphone, which is exorbitantly expensive, is not worth the price. In such a scenario, even if you had the means of buying it, you would end up thinking twice. And you don’t even know whether the myth is true or not. That is how powerful a myth can be. 
 
A myth, a misconception, a false belief, whatever you call it, follows as many things as you can imagine. It follows you and me, and it also follows the inanimate objects, making their abilities seem weaker than they actually are. 
 
And it is one such thing that we are going to be discussing and try to debunk the falsified claims that have been following it for a long time. The thing I would be talking about is actually a software, a Content Management Software by the name of Drupal. 
 
Drupal is used to build websites, websites that are feature packed and give a powerful performance, yet there have been many claims made that try to show Drupal in a bad light.
 
Today, you and I will get into all of these and ensure that all the myths associated with the name Drupal are busted so colourfully that they can never ever be claimed by anyone. So, let’s start with the most common misconceptions about Drupal.

# Drupal tends to be difficult to use

Any software or system that you may end up using, the foremost aspect that you would look out for is its usability. It might be able to provide you with a ton of features and functionality, but if you cannot figure out how to use it, all of that would be a waste. So, on the same note, let me tell you the first Drupal myth. 

The most common myth about Drupal is the fact that it is very difficult to use by all the parties involved. Developers find it tedious to work with, marketers can’t get a hang of it and the content authors and editors, well, they feel that they are way out of their element. 
 
This myth is not true at all. Drupal is a little complex to use, at least in comparison to its competitors. However, it requires that level of complexity to be able to do its job properly. For instance, Drupal provides umpteen number of modules, all of which are able to provide you with any kind of functionality that you may be on the lookout for. Selecting from these could be a daunting task, but it is also a necessary one. 

Let us look at some of the Drupal complexities to understand why they are mis-conceptualising an easy-to-use CMS.

• Drupal’s large codebase seems intimidating, but the system only loads what you need, so the point is basically moot here. 
• Drupal uses more memory, so it is perceived that if there is an out-of-memory error, it would become very difficult to solve, making the experience pretty complicated. 
• Then, there is the fact that Drupal is built on PHP. Since that is a language many developers lack experience with, the myth of difficulty in use prevails all the more.
• The last one would be the lousy UX experience Drupal provides to the non-technical users. Being a content editor myself, I would say that this isn’t true at all. I have been able to use Drupal with ease to edit and publish my content and so far the experience hasn’t been lousy in the least. 

That is my take on Drupal ease-of-use. There is an acclimating period required, but that is true of any new technology. More on the misconception of Drupal being difficult here.

# Drupal migration and upgrade tend to be an insurmountable task

Migrations and upgrades are an inevitable part of website development. There will come a point when the version you have built your site on is going to become so basic and on the verge of being obsolete that you would need to upgrade or migrate to something new and better. 
 
With Drupal, the story is the same. From the first version of Drupal that was launched almost two decades ago to Drupal 9, which is the current version, there is a stark difference that is too obvious to ignore. 
 
The myth going on is that these migrations and upgrades of Drupal are very difficult, complex and will most likely give you a headache. The truth behind it is quite the opposite. 
 
I would be wrong to say that Drupal migrations do not require any work because they do. Imagine moving from your home in India to the US, there would be work required and lots of it too. However, the work won’t be too much to make you rethink the move because the other side is too special to give up. 
 
Coming back to Drupal, the upgrades are usually seen from Drupal 7 to 8, 8 to 9 or directly from Drupal 7 to 9. All of which are possible scenarios for your site and its enhanced functionality. 
 
Drupal 7 users can first upgrade to Drupal 8 and then move on to Drupal 9. Or, they may choose the best route by going directly to Drupal 9 to ensure that the upgraded site has maximum expected life.
 
For the Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 upgrade, there are six steps involved; only 6 and not a bazillion.  

• First, you would need to ensure that your hosting environment aligns with the platform requirements mandated by Drupal 9.
• Then you would need to update to Drupal‘s more current versions, it could be Drupal 8.8.x or 8.9.x. 
• Once that is done, you would need to ensure that all your contributed projects are compatible with Drupal 9 by simply updating them. 
• When that is out of way, you would be required to build custom code that is also compatible with Drupal 9. 
• In the penultimate step, you will be asked to update the core codebase of Drupal 9. 
• And as the final step, all you have to do is run update.php and that is it. 

There is also a step by step guide in the upgrading section provided by Drupal to help in the transition process with all the details you may be looking for. 
 
It is true that upgrading from Drupal 7 to 8 or 9 can be pretty intricate. Drupal Community took cognisance of this matter and made sure upgrading to Drupal 9 would be the easier you can get. As a matter of fact, the upgrade to Drupal 9 has been deemed as the easiest upgrade of the decade. This in itself should have been enough to pop this myth there and then. Access this ultimate guide to Drupal 9 to know more. You can browse through our complete list Drupal 9 FAQs that answers every burning question that might have regarding Drupal 9.

# As Drupal 9 rolled out, Drupal 7 is less efficient

Since we just talked about the upgrading to Drupal 9, I felt this myth that has been for a while now needed some straightening too. 

The myth is that since Drupal 9 has launched and is the most advanced and feature-packed version of Drupal, the earlier editions of Drupal, namely 7, is simply no longer viable. 

• Talking about Drupal 7, its community support was earlier marked to end by November, 2021. However, with COVID and the consequent crisis, that has been extended by two years. So, Drupal 7 is expected to be supported by the community until 28 November, 2023. 

This support is proof that Drupal 7  would still be fully functional for a couple of years, and its efficiency is not going to be marred in any way. The sites and projects reliant on them will continue to bask in all the glorified features of Drupal. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Dries Buytaert, the founder and project lead of Drupal, takes pride in continuing to care for old software. Drupal 7 released almost a decade ago and continues to get the sort of care and attention from the Drupal Community it requires to function well. He wishes more and more software is well-maintained like Drupal is.

Another thing that I want to add is that even if the community support dies down, there is still the vendor support that lets the project be efficient. For Drupal 7 sites vendor support is extended till 2025.

Yes, the end of life would come for the older versions sooner than the later versions, but that is how life in general works, don’t you agree?

# Drupal tends to be heavy on the pocket

Financial considerations are one of the major aspects to pivot someone’s intentions towards taking up a project or software. The same is true for Drupal as well, taking us to the next myth.

It is perceived that Drupal is extremely expensive, making it hard for smaller organisations to take it up as a software to build their websites.

Drupal is an open source software, which means it is free of cost, so this myth is a little funny to say the least. Yes, open source software is not entirely free or rather its implementation and maintenance is not free. It would definitely cost you to hire Drupal developers to make that happen. From maintaining Drupal modules and updating your digital properties to migrating Drupal to the most current version requires skilled developers who are not always economical. However, these costs are not exorbitant, at least not in comparison to proprietary software, with its licensing fee and other perpetual expenses. 

Then there is the support of the Drupal community, which is always there to help you in any dilemma you find yourself in. Any and all of your questions will always be answered. This also means you get to take advantage of the abundance of experience found throughout the community, you can simply build on solutions that have already been created. 

Apart from this, your non-technical staff, especially your content authors are not reliant on developers to post and edit the content. This frees up the developers, leading to savings. Finally, the migration from one Drupal version to the next is also not expensive at all. So, if you are planning to shift to Drupal 9 from 8, remember the switch from Drupal 8.0 to 8.1, the migration would be that simple. 

Now, you tell me, is this not cost effective?

# Drupal tends to lack in security

For any web application, it is extremely important to be secure. Having security issues often make you vulnerable and prone to hackers and that outcome is never going to be favourable. 

So, this Drupal myth states that the CMS is not secure at all. It is an open source software and that is reason enough to doubt all of its claimed security features. 

Let me start by telling you that Open Source security cannot be taken lightly. Also known as Software Composition Analysis, Open Source Security provides the user an opportunity to garner more visibility for his application. From examining binary fingerprints to using professional and proprietary research and corroborating it with scans is done to build elements and tools that help developers in building safer applications. 

Focusing on Drupal, it is deemed as one of the most secure CMSs in the market, not just in the Open Source market, but the proprietary as well.

The above image clearly shows Drupal leading the way in terms security, being the CMS with the least issues faced as per a sample group’s findings.

Let’s find out why. 

• Drupal’s security team works with the community to tackle any security issue as soon as it arises. 
• Drupal’s API and default configuration is equipped to handle security issues like XSS, injection and forgeries with standard solutions. 
• Drupal provides a lot of out-of-the-box security features like secure access, granular user access control and database encryption to make it all the more secure. 
• Then there is the fact that many prominent government agencies use Drupal to build and manage their online projects. This speaks to its security measures. 

So, no Drupal does not, by any means, lack in terms of security, rather its security is almost impeccable and really hard to breach.

# Drupal tends to be unscalable and gives a meagre performance

Despite how great your site is now, there would come a point when its present state is no longer viable with your business goals. And that is when you would need to scale your site accordingly and boost its performance. This leads us to the next myth. 

It is often presumed that Drupal is not very scalable and its lacklustre performance in terms of higher traffic load and more content growth is not appreciable by any means. 

As an answer to this preposterous myth, I just want to say that, if that were the case, why would sites like The Weather Company and NBC, which have a daily audience in hundreds of thousands use Drupal? The justification is the exact opposite of the myth. 

Drupal can handle traffic spikes, it can handle content growth and it can handle an incredibly elevated user count and it can do it all like a breeze. All you have to do is optimise Drupal to its best abilities. It provides a number of features and modules for you to work with to manage your site’s performance and scalability. Be it the Blazy module to provide integration or the Content Delivery Network to offload your site’s delivery, Drupal has you covered.

I think this misconception should be clarified now. These guides to Drupal performance optimisation techniques and scalability offerings would clear the air further.

# Drupal tends to be inaccessible

Web accessibility refers to a website or application being built in a manner that anyone can access it with ease, anyone has a special focus on people with disabilities. The World Wide Consortium has set a few guidelines that web developers have to follow to become universally accessible.
 
According to this Drupal myth, it is assumed that Drupal is not universally accessible. It is not meant to be used by people with disabilities and can cause them harm, if they were to use Drupal sites. 
 
There is absolutely no truth in this misconception. Drupal stringently follows the WCAG 2.0 guidelines and has built its features accordingly.  

• The Olivero theme for the front end in Drupal 9 is the prime example of Drupal’s accessibility. With focus on colour, contrast and fonts in accordance to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, it is universally accessible. 
• The use of HTML5 and WAI-ARIA has led to better semantics of purpose and behaviour of the web pages for the screen readers. 
• The use of alt text in images helps in making them accessible to the visually impaired. 

These are simply a few examples of Drupal’s accessibility features and values. To understand web accessibility completely, read our blog Design Considerations for Accessibility and know that Drupal follows each one of them.

# Drupal tends to be unequipped to handle large site

There are two kinds of websites, the first one is for small businesses and the second one falls under the big business umbrellas. Taking these categories into consideration, we come to the next false claim. 

Many believe that Drupal is only competent to handle smaller sites, when it comes to the larger businesses and their web needs, Drupal may fall short. 

To clarify this bizarre claim, let’s just look at some of Drupal’s clientele. Tesla, Oxford University, European Commission, NBA and the French Government are just a few names that do not need an elaboration, people already know them. With such an elite clientele, is it justified to say that Drupal cannot handle large sites? I think not. 

Drupal is well equipped to provide enterprise grade services and features that include; 

• Impeccable user management; 
• Impeccable content management; 
• Impeccable admin interface; 
• Impeccably easy coding; 
• Impeccable technology stack; 
• And an infrastructure that resounds all the impeccable innovations in it. 

That is a whole lot of impeccable, but that is Drupal for you.

# Drupal tends to be incompatible with mobile devices and unsuitable for mobile solutions

Today, it is the responsive sites that reign over the internet. If you have a site that is compatible with the computer and the mobile phone, you can consider yourself amongst the rulers, metaphorically speaking of course. 
 
Drupal is often understood as a CMS that is not mobile-friendly, which means the sites and applications built on Drupal are not able to support responsive designs. 
 
Again, this isn’t the case. Rather Drupal works on the ideology of building sites that are responsive and creating web applications that provide an enthralling visitor experience, regardless of the device they may be using. This means that Drupal is compatible with mobile devices as well as desktops, since it has the ability to offer a seamless content experience to every user every time. So, the myth is debunked. 

# Drupal tends to be disintegrated with third-party tools

Confining a website to just one tool and software has become a thing of the past. With more technological innovations come more third party integrations. And where does Drupal stand in all of that?
 
According to the myth, Drupal is not at the top of the integrations list. Rather it is assumed that Drupal does not work well with other tools and has an isolated digital marketing philosophy as well. 
 
And there is very little truth in this assumption. In fact, Drupal has the ability to integrate itself with a massive ecosystem of digital marketing technologies and other business applications. It allows you to have the chance of tapping into the most popular tools of the present as well as the chance to do the same in the future. 
 
Drupal also has an API-first rule, which essentially means that your content can easily be connected to other sites and applications. This means your words would resonate with a much wider audience, making them all the more powerful.

# Drupal tends to have an inflexible and uneasy content workflow

Content is basically the voice of your site, so it is wise to choose a platform that makes your voice the loudest and most clear. Does Drupal do that?
 
The myth related to content workflow doesn’t believe that. As per the misconception, it is believed that Drupal is quite inflexible in terms of content and using it for creating, editing and publishing the content is not easy at all.
 
Let me start debunking this Drupal myth with its Admin Interface. This helps you in creating the exact content architecture that you want. You get to display only the content suitable for every context. The use of Drupal efficient display mode tools and Views makes this task all more fun. You can add any media type you want, be it images, videos or pdfs. Then there is the fact that you can customise your menus to make them aligned with the user’s device. 
 
And there is more. 

• You can create and edit in-place. You can simply browse to a page, click on the content and start editing then and there. 
• You can edit from any mobile device, iPads, smartphones or tablets, android or iOS, your pick. 
• You can make revisions multiple times and keep track of all of them even months after. 

Is this what you call inflexible and difficult? 
 
Modules are Layout Builder and Paragraphs are renowned for the ease they provide to editors and content authors.

# Drupal tends to be unfriendly with SEO

SEO and all that it encompasses is essential or more like life-saving for your website and its visibility on the web. Since that is what brings in the numbers, you know how important that should be. 
 
So, the myth that is doing that rounds is that Drupal is not SEO friendly. It does not have the features to heighten the visibility of your site on Google or any of the other search engines.
 
Do you think that could be true?
 
I certainly don’t and neither should you. Drupal has dedicated features and modules that help you get the best out of SEO. Take the SEO checklist module for instance. Being an SEO module, it helps you be on top of all the SEO related tasks and ensures you are reminded of them. It is always being updated with the latest SEO guidelines so that you are aware and ready to tackle all of them. 
 
From modules capitalising on your URLs to tags and onto communication and editing, Drupal will have you covered for every SEO dimension you can think of. Our blog, The ultimate Drupal SEO guide will help you get an even elaborated explanation of Drupal’s SEO capabilities, which by no means are lacking.

# Drupal tends to be incompetent as a headless CMS

Going headless or decoupling has become a trend as it allows the developers to use the different technologies available in the site building process and make it all the more impressive. 
 
With Drupal, it is often assumed that decoupling would mean more work and less benefits. You would have a lot on your plate when you decouple Drupal and the result would be a dysfunctional and mismanaged site. 
 
This is nowhere close to the truth. When you decouple, you would have a separate frontend and backend development and management; both of which will be interdependent and connected through an API. Yes, you would most definitely have to part with some of Drupal’s out-of-the-box features, but that isn’t necessarily bad. 
 
With decoupling, you would be able to build a frontend the way you want to, with whatever technology you want to. Fancy React, go for it. Have a liking for Angular, go for that. You would be using Drupal as a content repository and since Drupal knows its contextual ABCs pretty well, you will be in great hands. You can publish your content across varying channels and manage it from one place. 
When you go headless, you will get to choose from the best frontend technologies and get the best at the backend layer with Drupal. The best of both worlds for you. 
 
Now, do these features portray incompetence to you? 
 
Read about everything you would want to know about Decoupled Drupal, Decoupled Drupal Architecture, how to decouple Drupal and some of the success stories to get an understanding of how competent decoupled Drupal can be.

# Drupal tends to be efficient with multisites

Many organisations have subsidiary businesses for which they need to build multiple sites. They might want these sites to become a replica of each other, offering the same features and functionality, yet be different to each other. 
 
There is a false claim being made that Drupal cannot optimise multisites. It cannot provide the separate individual sites their own database, configuration or even the URL/ domain names .
 
Drupal offers a multisite setup that is pretty efficient and well-equipped to handle all the requirements.

• You would be able to manage all your Drupal sites running on the same version of Drupal core, which ultimately saves you time. 
• You would be able to update all your sites simultaneously when there is a  new release because all of them would have one codebase. 
• You might have some drawbacks through the multisite setup, but by using Aegir hosting system, you would easily overcome them.

Inefficient isn’t a term that should go with Drupal, since it is anything but that. So, manage your sites from across the globe from your laptop while sipping coffee on your kitchen island with Drupal. I consider this pretty efficient.

# Drupal tends to be hostile to multilingual sites

Like I talked about in the previous point, sites today aren’t confined to a region, they are almost universal. An American brand is also famous in India and it gained popularity because it was able to resonate with the Indian audience at a personal level in their language and dialect. 
 
Everybody knows that Drupal can handle multilingual sites, but many believe that Drupal isn’t great at that. Translations and other multilingual features tend to be below average. And that is just a myth.
 
Translations are the most crucial for multilingual sites and Drupal offers not one nor two, but four translation modules in Drupal 8. From content to configuration and interface, everything can be translated to the local language with ease. You can install Drupal 8 in as many as 94 languages without any need for the installation of extra components. Moreover, custom translations are often packaged and deployed on several properties, so you developers have lesser language related headaches. Everything on Drupal’s multilingual capabilities can be accessed here.
 
I would not call Drupal hostile to multilingual sites, would you?

# Drupal tends to only be suitable for a few industries

A CMS builds and manages websites. Since these websites can be for any business and field, a CMS should be able to cater to their industry type. 
 
There is a Drupal myth going around that states that the CMS isn’t meant for every industry. It only caters to a few, and I am not even sure which ones account in those few. 
 
This one is probably the most ludicrous misconception of them all. I can understand that people may be skeptical about open source security, but this is just nonsensical. I mean if a CMS is able to build a site for a retail business, what is stopping it from building one for a blogger? Kind of bizarre, isn’t it?

This is a list of industries that has Drupal imprinted on their web services. And the extensiveness of the list is clarification enough for the myth.  From publishing houses and educational institutions to government agencies and charitable organisations, Drupal serves the majority of the industries.

# Drupal tends to become a pain when it comes to support, maintenance, hiring and partnering with digital agencies

Working with Drupal on your own can become challenging. You would need support and expertise of someone who has worked with the CMS and knows its ins and outs with clarity and that is a Drupal agency. 
 
This Drupal myth states that the hiring of Drupal agencies is a blood-sucking task, which would drain you of the same. Add to this the support and maintenance of Drupal and you might just give up on site building altogether. 
 
Let me start with Drupal agencies, there are a lot of them for you to choose from. The good thing about that many agencies is that they try to outweigh each other in terms of the services they offer and you end up with everything you desire. Being a part of OpenSense Labs, I can proudly say that we rank amongst the top 5 Drupal agencies in the global Drupal marketplace.

Talking about support and maintenance, whichever agency you may choose, you are bound to get some very convenient services in this regard. 

• Performance tuning and optimisation 
• Personalisation and Conversion Rate Optimisation
• Drupal upgrade and migration
• And 24*7 Drupal support desk 

These are only a few of the support and maintenance features available and they won’t let you be in any kind of pain.

# Finally, Drupal tends to be incompetent with the emerging technologies

We live in a dynamic world, where everything is transitory, from human life and thoughts to the technologies we have become so dependent on. These changes are basically advancements that aim to enhance our quality of life and all of the experiences in it. So, how does Drupal come into the picture and what is the myth?
 
This Drupal myth states that the software cannot work well with all the new technologies coming on every day and its integration with them is almost impossible. 
 
Do I have to say that this is untrue? I’m sure you know that by now. Drupal and its abundant content-heavy sites mandate that it utilises the latest technologies to make the user experience even more delightful.
 
The use of artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots, cognitive search and digital voice assistants like Alexa on Drupal sites is probably the most justified clarification to the bizarrely unjustified claim. Along with these, the streamlined incorporation of Virtual Reality, with all its realness, IoT and Blockchain into Drupal sites is further proof of the myth being a colossal misconception. Our blog, From conception to reality:Drupal for futuristic websites will shed further light on this notion. 

Conclusion

Drupal is one of the very best content management systems in the market. Its features and abilities are truly astounding. Believing some false claim that says that Drupal is anything but one of the finest would be a mistake you do not want to make. Yes, there isn’t everything Drupal is great at and yes, it may even have some flaws, being perfect is almost impossible after all, but all of Drupal’s imperfections are not enough to dampen its overall appeal. 
 
So, if you have chosen Drupal to provide your site’s groundwork, rest assured that you have made the right choice. We, at OpenSense Labs, have clients from across the globe asking us to build their sites using Drupal and to this day, not a single one of them has gone disappointed. 
 
Finally, the moral of the story is that don’t believe everything you hear, at least not until you have proof of its trueness and I think I have managed to tell you all of Drupal’s truths for you to shun all of Drupal’s myths. Debunking Drupal myths was fun.