For people with disabilities, web accessibility is highly beneficial. They use multiple assistive technology tools that often require accessible web design and apps to function properly.
It is obvious how web accessibility benefits users with disabilities, but what about businesses? What are the advantages of building accessible sites for your company? Keep reading, and you'll discover seven key benefits of making your website ADA-compliant.
Why do companies hesitate to invest in web accessibility?
A survey of around 500 U.S. business leaders and web designers shows the main reasons behind the reluctance of some companies to make a website accessible. Most of the respondents confessed they are worried about the financial investments and potentially high costs (73.6%), while 66.9% think optimizing their sites for accessibility will require too much time.
We are here to tell you that making your website accessible for people with disabilities doesn't require too many resources, will highly benefit the user experience, and most probably keep you away from web accessibility lawsuits.
7 Benefits of Making Your Website Accessible
1. Increased traffic on your site.
There's a myth regarding accessible websites that says accessibility only benefits the visitors. However, by improving the user experience and making it accessible for anyone, you plant the seeds for:
Higher traffic rates on your site
Better user engagement
Improved search engine optimization rankings
Higher conversion rate
2. Lower risk of legal complications.
As legal requirements regarding web accessibility are getting tougher, optimizing your site for people with disabilities becomes non-optional—unless you don't mind being prosecuted. Make sure your site meets specific accessibility guidelines and pay attention to the accessibility standards required by the industry that you're operating in.
3. Bigger customer base.
Making your website accessible means addressing the needs of bigger social groups, and that, in the long term, could lead to you growing your customer base. By investing in accessible design, you can attract more visitors that are likely to engage with your brand on a long-term basis.
4. A more innovative business mindset.
Building accessible design for your website visitors challenges you to deal with unanticipated issues and thus puts your creativity at work.
The constraint of adapting your design so that it incorporates a whole set of accessibility features challenges you to... come up with innovative solutions—and to preserve that mindset for innovation in the long term.
In the current dynamic digital landscape, staying creative and ready for innovation is key to keep up with the ever-changing trends.
5. Boosted SEO efforts.
You can improve your site's accessibility by adding ALT-text to images, writing clear content, or choosing a clutter-free page layout. All of these steps also mean good SEO practices.
So, by making your website more accessible, you're also making it more SEO-friendly.
You probably already know the importance of investing in robust SEO strategies in today's digital landscape. It's all about how high you rank on SERPs and the level of visibility that your website is gaining.
6. Improved brand reputation.
Accessibility is also essential for your business as it helps grow your brand reputation.
By ensuring your website's universal design grants equal rights and easy access to your content, you raise awareness and build a positive reputation around your business.
Today, having an inaccessible website is the digital equivalent of sticking a big KEEP OUT sign in front of your business.
7. Faster page loading time.
It has been proven that if you improve a page's level of accessibility, you boost its speed score.
As modern internet users demand fast website experiences, you want to improve your page loading times to keep up with your visitors' needs.
By implementing features designed for users with disabilities, you're making your site a better place for all users.
There are many ways in which you can promote accessibility on your website.
For example, users that struggle with visual impairments benefit the most from screen readers to help them understand the content on a particular website. This is a way to make your website accessible for people with sight issues and offer some support in making their daily lives a bit easier.
Hopefully, this article sheds some light on the importance of web accessibility for your business and how building a universal design for your site can positively impact your brand. For more insights on how Optasy can help you make your website more accessible, check out our Drupal Website Accessibility services.
Photo credit: Wirestock on freepik.
Raluca Olariu / Jul 12'2021
As the digital landscape is constantly evolving, there is increased pressure on web content management systems (CMSs) to keep pace with the needs of the modern consumer.
To meet these complex demands that revolve around highly personalized and interactive web experiences and streamlined connectivity between devices, companies require websites that can support these goals.
One of the most powerful enterprise-level CMS platforms, Drupal, can handle more complex projects and its capabilities, as the Drupal founder, Dries Buytaert, reveals, only get better with experience.
Why is Drupal web development the right choice?
There are multiple competitive advantages that organizations can reap from using Drupal to handle their online presence. How do you know if Drupal is the right choice for your next web development project? Check out this list of key features and capabilities that Drupal offers and see how they can fit in with your needs and demands.
Are you looking to highly customize your website and content?
Drupal's widely-known customizing power allows you to adjust and edit over 16,000 plug-ins and modules. If you need a CMS that can support your web development projects by implementing additional custom features like CRM, security, or SEO, with a focus on customizability, then Drupal might be the best fit.
What do the experts say?
Nick Wilde, a Full-stack developer (including DevOps) at North Studios, thoroughly recommends Drupal for companies looking to change and customize their digital approaches:
"I love a *lot* of the changes in Drupal 8 compared to 7 or 6, but most of them didn't really change the way I worked. I mean, sure, using slightly different hooks etc. - but that's not really any different than integrating with different modules to my mind at least. What really did change my way of working was the Configuration Management Initiative's work, and by changed I mean massively improved. Yes, some degree of custom integration is possible with Drupal 7 with hook_update_N() and/or the features module, but in Drupal 8, a solid reproducible, testable CI and deployment process is not just possible but easy. (Yes, I'm a smidge of a fanatic about DevOps and process, despite being primarily a developer). When doing complex back-end work, moving to an Object Oriented system has felt like coming home since I started programming with Python in an OOP code-base.”
Is flexibility important for your web development project?
A major selling point of Drupal lies in its rich potential to build and manage a wide range of content types, whether it is a blog post, podcast, or any other custom content types. By enabling a flexible design platform, Drupal allows users to create and manage content-rich media or eCommerce sites.
What do the experts say?
Alex Moreno, a software architect, based in London, is helping big companies with their Drupal and IoT projects and has revealed how he uses Drupal's flexible core capabilities to catch up with the ever-evolving technology transformations:
“Although you could flex Drupal 7 to adapt to this changing environment, the real power and flexibility comes with having a Drupal 8 architecture, where this flexibility is already in the core. That has implications for performance, adaptability, simpler architecture of services around Drupal, etc.”
Are you considering scalability as an important asset for your web project?
If so, Drupal is a winning choice. When accommodating content growth becomes a challenge, Drupal steps in with its tremendously scalable capabilities and supports your growth in an effortless manner.
What do the experts say?
Drupal expert, Malabya Tewari, talks about how Drupal Modules can help build a responsive design and flexible user experiences:
“When I started my career with Drupal 6 briefly and then moved on to Drupal 7, I really liked the abundance of modules Drupal 7 had. ‘There is a module for that’ was a common statement while building a feature. When I transitioned to Drupal 8 and when it was in its pre-release state, there were no contributed modules. Of course, views and entity reference were in core, but it lacked the huge pool of modules that Drupal 7 had. Instead, Drupal 8 had some great flexible and robust components which mostly worked for me. Even though there was a lot of learning to do, pretty soon I got the hang of it and found out that you don't need a module for that. That's how it changed my working approach with Drupal 8 because I can build a lot of great things without any contributed module.”
Do you need greater functionality around your site's translation capabilities?
Drupal 8 supports 100 different languages for translation, and these multilingual features come with the installation interfaces. That means that you can build your multilingual Drupal website easier than ever before, at no additional costs.
What do the experts say?
Penyaskito is a Drupal contributor and developer at Lingotek, who manages a cloud-based translation management system for their clients. He speaks highly of Drupal's multilingual capabilities:
“Thanks to the Drupal 8 Multilingual Initiative, translation is not an afterthought in Core anymore. And thanks to the clean APIs that were designed with this in mind, we are able to improve every day functionalities for our clients in our integration with Drupal 8. While with other CMS we devote time constantly to integrate with contributed modules or alike, we can focus on new functionalities as this APIs make us compatible with most contrib modules out of the box without any extra effort on our side.”
Are you interested in building a content management framework based on API architectures?
Drupal's caching modules support faster page loading, optimized bandwidth, and a robust web performance to meet the needs of the modern digital consumer. Whether used for content publishing or for optimizing the user interface, Drupal's 8 API-based architecture is a top upgrade compared to previous versions.
What do the experts say?
Let's see what Dries Buytaert, the father of Drupal and CTO of Acquia, has to say about Drupal's web service APIs:
“You want to enable your developers to easily deliver content to different devices, channels, and platforms. This means that the content needs to be available through APIs. This is aligned with Drupal 8's roadmap, where we are focused on web services capabilities. Through Drupal's web service APIs, developers can build freely in different front-end technologies, such as Angular, React, Ember, and Swift, as well as Java and .NET. For developers, accomplishing this without the maintenance burden of a full Drupal site or the complexity of configuring standard Drupal to be decoupled is key.”
If you are not yet sure about choosing Drupal for your next web development project, we are more than happy to help you with professional advice tailored to your needs and demands. Contact us and let's start your outstanding web development project. Also, you can check our Drupal Maintenance services as well.
Here's another quote from a Drupal expert, Nick Lewis, on how Drupal 8 is influencing the way he approaches his tasks:
“Drupal 8 is looking very interesting indeed, a big leap forwards from its previous versions. I’m busy working out how to get D8 modules up and running for a client project. Well I am working on a project right now for a large global fast food outlet (here in the UK), switching from one very popular CRM system into D8 as it will cut costs tremendously and not only that, recruitment will be easier given Drupal’s wide adoption in the community.”
Photo credit: Den Harrson on Unsplash.
Raluca Olariu / Jul 01'2021
You know a top-notch Drupal website when you see it—it has personality, it's flexible and intuitive, and it doesn't compromise on the user experience. The most successful Drupal web development projects are well planned by development teams and Drupal experts to match the needs of the existing online environment and promote a robust online presence for various companies.
Regardless of the nature of the development project, all successful Drupal websites seem to have some things in common—the secrets of web development masters that turn Drupal projects into art. This article will look at ten best practices that the most successful Drupal web design agencies use to build highly functional and secure websites.
Secret #1 Revealed: Build a robust project plan from the get-go.
Knowing exactly where you're heading with your Drupal project can frequently make the difference between success and failure. That's why you must start by setting the organizational website requirements and creating strategies with the end-user in mind. In other words, know what's what from the beginning of your Drupal project and follow this scheme throughout your development journey.
Benefit: Easier to avoid getting stuck in the complex nature of Drupal development projects.
Secret #2 Revealed: Put the user experience first.
If there's one thing you shouldn't compromise on when building a website, it's the user experience (UX). After all, the success of a website is determined by whether or not the end-user is comfortable with the site's functionality and UX. The secret here lies in empowering the user with a satisfactory level of control so that it can fully enjoy and immerse into the content of your website.
Benefit: Boost your audience's engagement and generate more visitors.
Secret #3 Revealed: Choose a reliable, secure web hosting service.
The digital environment means connection, and that's what a web hosting service can offer to you—it allows all your site content to be seen anywhere at any time. When choosing a web hosting partner, pay attention to elements like loading speed, uptime score, and the cost-performance index.
Benefit: Improved site performance and security.
Secret #4 Revealed: Make the most out of Drupal modules.
A successful Drupal web development project lies on a foundation of highly customized and optimized modules. To maximize the potential offered by Drupal modules, consider what needs you may be able to address by installing a specific module and how it can shape certain functionalities and content sharing capabilities on your website.
Benefit: From flexibility to time efficiency, modular development meets a wide range of demands in your Drupal projects.
Secret #5 Revealed: Work on your project step by step.
It is widely known that Drupal web development can be pretty complex, and that's why many companies choose a Drupal development agency or outsource their companies to other experts. But if you wish to do it yourself, make sure you set realistic milestones. The lack of project leadership can be a confidence killer for even the most experienced developers and may cause your Drupal development environment to become a highly unproductive one.
Benefit: Boost productivity and confidence amongst developer teams.
Secret #6 Revealed: Build solid brand identity.
Part of what makes the user experience a great one is the ability to make the user comfortable. Solid UX/UI design relies on consistency, bringing comfort to the visitor as it makes him feel in control and know what to expect. If you want to position yourself as a trustful brand with a robust online presence, create a style guide with basic typography and a color palette. Also, don't be afraid to introduce new design elements from time to time to spice things up a bit and re-engage your audience.
Benefit: Attract and retain more customers.
Content management systems like Drupal provide multiple benefits, but Drupal projects can also be hard to handle—if you want to build highly successful websites. With these six best practices at your fingertips, you can manage and optimize your Drupal project more quickly and efficiently.
If you find that you can't reasonably handle Drupal's complexity and want to make more of its performance-enhancing capabilities, let us take care of your project. At Optasy, we put all the six best practices outlined in this article at work and more. See how we can revolutionize your Drupal web development project and discover our Drupal Maintenance services.
Photo credit: Ben Kolde on Unsplash.
Raluca Olariu / Jun 02'2021
Traditional Drupal websites use Drupal as the end-to-end solution for creating, storing, and displaying content to the end-user. Modern approaches leverage headless Drupal, where building and storing happen on Drupal, but displaying is not.
Headless Drupal approaches make Drupal the backend content repository and build the frontend in different technologies that communicate with Drupal through an API.
Why is the headless approach an effective one?
Today, many companies opt for using headless Drupal solutions, and the reasons are not few. If you don't want to sacrifice the user experience but still enjoy the powerful tools provided by Drupal, a headless approach might be the best fit.
Decoupled Drupal is known for its several benefits such as:
More channels to display content on
In the hectic digital landscape, your marketing team knows that communicating with your customers on multiple channels is critical. The way companies use content management systems today has to do with their need to push content on various channels, thus increasing their digital presence.
If used properly, headless Drupal can be a source of content for various consumers. It provides content on the frontend site and serves content via API to be consumed on mobile devices, applications, or IoT. This gives great flexibility for headless Drupal users.
Meets the need for intuitive user experiences
Bringing together Drupal with a frontend Javascript framework is a smart strategy for making the most out of Drupal's capabilities for content creation and data storage while at the same time create easy to use, fast frontend applications.
If you're thinking of choosing a headless Drupal approach for your next web development project, combining these two solutions will offer greater functionality—why not enjoy the power of Drupal's modules and the intuitiveness of a Javascript frontend application at the same time?
You can really have the best of both worlds!
Technological reliance is widely spread
This means you get to be more dynamic in managing frontend technologies without the need to re-architect large Drupal backends. From a developer's point of view, this is a real blessing.
Many businesses redesign their websites every few years, and separating the frontend from the backend makes it much easier to rebuild. This saves a lot of resources and reduces the expenses associated with rebuilding Drupal websites.
Drupal works best with a headless approach
One of the reasons Drupal is often chosen for a headless project is because this CMS has most of the required functionality and API modules. As the Drupal community is committed to continuously make Drupal a reliable API-driven CMS, Drupal is known for efficiently serving and receiving content via APIs.
Microsite manager
If you need to create multiple separate websites, a headless approach is the right way to do it. It's a lot easier to build one content engine such as Drupal and use it to deliver content to all microsites. As a result, you'll have all your content in one content hub, and you'll be able to create and close microsites when needed quickly.
What are the challenges associated with a headless approach?
Before deciding to opt for headless Drupal development, you might want to consider these aspects:
A headless infrastructure is harder to manage than a traditional Drupal site
Keep in mind that headless development can be complicated and complex, and you might need a professional developer or Drupal agency, like Optasy, to help you on the way.
Headless Drupal is more expensive
You're likely to spend more resources with a headless approach as you now build two systems. The development process will take longer, and therefore the expenses associated with it will be higher.
You'll have to manage two teams
Since headless Drupal requires two separate components, that means that you'll often have to manage two teams (backend and frontend). At this point, you want to ensure that you enable great collaboration and coordination between your teams as data models have to be agreed upon.
Higher maintenance costs
As decoupled systems rely only on REST API, maintaining these systems to function properly requires intense testing. Compatibility issues when editing and making changes can arise between the two systems. What is more, security updates are required more often as there will be a need to patch more than one system.
How to decide
If you're still torn between traditional Drupal projects and going for a headless approach, seeking advice from Drupal experts might be needed. At Optasy, we offer expert guidance based on your business needs so that you can get the most out of your next web development project.
Photo credit: Nubleson Fernandes on Unsplash.
Raluca Olariu / May 06'2021
When thinking about web development, there are usually three content management systems (CMSs) that come to mind: Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla. This article highlights the pros and cons of choosing Drupal for your web development project so that you can gain a broader perspective on your website building options.
Top Pros of Drupal Web Development
1. Drupal is very effective for building complex, highly customized websites.
As a free, open-source CMS, Drupal offers excellent opportunities for companies of all sizes. It is probably the best choice on the market if your project involves creating a large and complex website with high customizing options.
Drupal also provides flexible content integration and taxonomies. You have the freedom to integrate many types of content into your site and group your content in any kind of configuration that you find is right for your business objectives.
One great advantage of Drupal that developers are pleased about is how easy it is to scale Drupal websites to match specific needs and traffic fluctuations.
As a Drupal user, you will also enjoy the multilingual functionality built in Drupal's core without installing any additional plugins.
2. Drupal has a large community of developers and users.
Drupal's extensive online community is one of the greatest things about this CMS. You'll get free support regarding almost anything Drupal-related via documentation, support groups, user forums, and other resources. Another advantage of Drupal's community is that programmers and users regularly build new modules, plugins, or bug fixes that you can access for free.
3. Drupal is known as the most secure CMS.
Websites build with Drupal are less prone to hacking than other CMSs due to its strong emphasis on advanced security features. Drupal's built-in access control system allows users to create roles with special permissions.
Another way in which Drupal is focusing on security is by regularly posting and reviewing Drupal reports which are quickly worked on and updated.
Top Cons of Drupal Web Development
1. Drupal can be more complex than other CMSs.
When starting your web development journey with Drupal, you have to be ready to read a lot of documentation. Your learning curve might be steep no matter if you're an expert developer or an amateur user so having a lot of patience at this point is a must. Also, Drupal might not be the most inspired decision if you're a total beginner as it requires some basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP.
Another obstacle in handling Drupal as a beginner or casual user is its interface. As it was built with professional web developers in mind, Drupal's interface is not very intuitive and user-friendly.
2. Drupal requires time and effort.
To install themes and modules that match your site's needs, you'll have to invest some time in research. Also, many Drupal modules need to be purchased so take into account that you'll probably have to invest some money for higher functionality.
As Drupal has many custom-coded themes, you'll probably need to hire a developer to create the theme that your website requires.
Drupal does not support backward compatibility, which means you can' perform legacy installations. This translates into you having to dedicate more time and work on additional upgrades.
3. If not optimized accordingly, Drupal can have performance issues.
Like all digital platforms, speed and accessibility are what sets the leading ones apart. Specific tools like a third-party module or plugin are designed to improve configuration and accelerate Drupal websites. However, this requires extra time and effort that you have to be willing to invest in your web development project.
Drupal's module compatibility sets this CMS apart from other similar platforms. Still, it's essential to keep in mind that if you're running multiple modules with their own code, you risk having the wrong combination in place. And a faulty combination of modules might lead to Drupal core crashes.
Conclusion
Like all things on earth, Drupal has its advantages and disadvantages. If you're still unsure whether you should pick Drupal for your next web development project, contact Optasy for professional support. We are happy to provide all the necessary information so that you can rest assured that you have made the right decision for your business.
Image credit: Tumisu on Pixabay.
Raluca Olariu / Apr 29'2021
Custom eCommerce development is undergoing continuous changes. As this environment keeps transforming and evolving, different challenges arise, and businesses face new issues.
Building custom eCommerce functionality into your Drupal site can take up many resources, especially when it comes to scaling your website by adding more features and improving its functionality.
Top challenges of custom eCommerce systems
Let's have a look at some of the biggest challenges you may face with a custom eCommerce system.
Implementing new features can be a slow process. It's difficult to have a proactive mindset when working with custom development since everything you add to your site needs to be built. There are no frameworks or other time-saving options that could help you accelerate your workflow.
Not being able to integrate third-party platforms can be costly. Open-source solutions are a blessing when it comes to integrations. Whether it is a new payment system or a marketing tool, being able to quickly integrate third-party platforms is a must for any successful eCommerce website. When opting for custom development, the lack of underlying frameworks makes it harder, more expensive, and time-consuming to build any type of tool.
Sacrificing the front-end experience. As custom development is created mainly by developers, the design and presentation of a website rarely come as a priority. Building code and building design are different things, and not many developers are skilled at both. Unfortunately, missing the point when it comes to good UX and design might seriously affect your business performance, as customers expect top-notch front-end experiences today.
Not having a community. One of the best things about Drupal is its community. If your website is fully custom-made, everything you need, any issues you might run into can only be solved by your team of developers. All the community-made modules for extending your site's functionality are a great advantage offered by the Drupal community. With the custom eCommerce development approach, you don't get to leverage that benefit.
Depending on an internal development team or agency. A company using custom development is tied to the original development team that has built its website. It's a real challenge to hire new developers when you don't have a predefined framework, and supporting them in learning how your eCommerce components were made can prove to be highly expensive.
Top benefits of Drupal Commerce
This Drupal-native eCommerce module is a popular choice among eCommerce businesses since 2011.
It is widely known for providing secure, scalable, SEO-friendly, and highly optimized Drupal frameworks that work for specific needs and business requirements.
Let's have a look at the key benefits that Drupal Commerce provides for online stores.
More straightforward setup and development. Drupal Commerce has out-of-the-box modules that don't require too much hassle to install.
Combines commerce and content. Being able to manage your content approach on your eCommerce platform easily is a must. With Drupal Commerce, you can handle complex content marketing strategies and build custom landing pages that keep your visitors engaged.
Customization and scalability. Drupal eCommerce's architecture can be highly customized for specific business needs. However, all its extensions follow a general standard, making it easier for developers to handle the software more efficiently. Drupal eCommerce can also scale to meet the demands of all-sized businesses.
Third-party integration. One great benefit of Drupal is that its modules were built with integration in mind. Interaction with third-party tools like payment gateways, analytics, or SEO is much easier and can be done quickly.
Community support. With Drupal, you can take advantage of a multitude of modules made by users from the community. If you need advice on anything related to Drupal, you have a community of highly skilled developers to answer you.
All things considered, whether you choose a custom eCommerce system or you opt-in for Drupal Commerce, you need a strong and reliable team of experts to have your back at all times. That team can be Optasy, an agency formed by Drupal experts with 10+ years of experience building and maintaining successful Drupal projects. Have a look at our services, and let us provide proactive Drupal support in your Drupal journey!
Image credit: mohamed_hassan on Pixabay.
Raluca Olariu / Apr 26'2021
At some point in their business journey, every website owner can encounter the need to migrate their web host. As more lucrative hosting options are making their way in the industry–VPS, shared, or dedicated hosting—it's no surprise that many website managers choose to perform host migration.
This article provides support in handling one of the most popular DevOps services, hosting server migration, by outlining five essential steps that help you complete a successful migration.
When is the time to move your Drupal website to a new hosting server?
The decision to switch web hosts is not an easy one to take. The good news is that there are multiple signs that can make it clear that your website requires hosting updates if you know where to look. It won't be comfortable to acknowledge them, but as soon as you start on this journey, you are transforming your website for the better.
Let's have a look at how you can spot these signs on your Drupal website.
Downtime has become a recurrent issue.
Your customers demand availability and speed, so every time your website is down and unavailable for users, you risk building a bad reputation of unreliable and low-quality services. Your server can impact your site's availability if your hosting equipment’s quality is low or your host's security features and plugins provide poor protection capabilities, as cyber-attacks can often lead to downtime.
Your host is hard to reach.
As a website owner, you want to ensure that the communication with your web host is fast and streamlined. There may be times when your server crashes or you a server error, and you need to get in touch with your host as soon as possible to provide troubleshooting guidance and get your site up and running.
An unreliable host may not only affect the functionality of your website but can also cost you customers. Getting the support you need when it comes to your hosting account is paramount to provide high-quality user experiences. That's why making sure that you have a solid customer service team at your side at any time is good for the business.
Your current host costs you too much.
Web hosting can sometimes be the most significant investment when running a website. It's a recurring expense, so you want to ensure that you choose the best option. However, expensive web hosts aren't always necessary. You have to figure out if the features and the amount of server space that your host provides are a good fit for your site. You don't need to break the bank for hosting servers that don't serve your current needs. You can always review your needs and upgrade to a more expensive plan.
You don't get the security you need.
As far as investments are concerned, paying extra for a secure web host is worth it. A host that takes security seriously will bring significant benefits to your website.
By investing in a secure hosting server, you'll avoid losing data and parts of your website, having user data compromised, and losing credibility in front of your audience.
When choosing your web host, watch out for features and plugins like Secure Sockets Layer certificates, malware scanning, or server firewalls.
How to switch to a new hosting provider
Migrating your Drupal site to a new host is a process that involves contacting your current host, performing database backups, connecting to a new server, and uploading your files. It's not uncommon for issues like corrupted backups to appear during the migration process. Consider this when planning your migration, and think if you can save some resources by hiring a professional agency like Optasy to complete this process for you.
There are a few essential steps to follow when migrating to another web hosting server. Let's explore some of them.
1. Turn Drupal caching off.
This is the first step to take in order to avoid potential disruptions. Go to your Drupal admin dashboard and:
Click Configuration - Performance - Caching - Select "No Caching.”
Uncheck "Aggregate CSS files" and "Aggregate JavaScript files" in "bandwidth optimization" and click "Clear all caches.”
2. Backup your Drupal files.
Connect to your remote server - Enter the connection details - Hit "QuickConnect" and connect to the remote server that hosts your website.
In your main site's folder, download the content on your local device, and you've done backing up your Drupal files.
3. Export your Drupal database.
Go to the phpMyAdmin on your server's control panel in the Database section.
Click "Check all" on your Drupal site database, then "Export method and the SQL.”
4. Migrate your Drupal database to the new host.
Create a new MySQL database on your target server. Click "Import" at the top of your database, then "Choose File,” and press "Go.” You've now restored your site on the new hosting from the backup.
5. Turn on Drupal caching.
Go to Configuration - Performance - Enable Drupal caching. Kudos to you! You've officially migrated your Drupal site to another host.
Conclusion
Building and managing a Drupal website is a complex process, and hosting is one element that can be pretty challenging to handle. There are plenty of hosting options available on the market, and you might find it difficult to decide which one is the best fit for your website needs.
If you're considering server migration or just need some professional advice on how to handle your hosting server successfully, our team of Drupal experts at Optasy is glad to help.
Photo credit: bsdrouin on Pixabay.
Raluca Olariu / Apr 12'2021
In 2021, it is expected that about 27.2% of the world population will shop online at least once.
A lot of potential customers out there, right?
As eCommerce is becoming the new norm, digital businesses seek out ways to thrive in this competitive landscape and position themselves as leading trend-setters.
To do that, companies need to realize the power of digital transformation and how they can embrace it in order to support the modern demands of speed and accessibility that customers require today.
This starts with leveraging the right tools for building robust digital assets. One of these tools is represented by eCommerce platforms, which are getting increasingly popular for businesses that seek to deploy an eCommerce system.
Drupal Commerce and Magento are two of the leading eCommerce solutions on the market and are often seen as direct competitors in the industry.
This article provides a side-by-side comparison of these two platforms in regards to technical capabilities, development, costs, scalability, security, and mobile responsiveness. Hopefully, this information will help you narrow down your choice in order to ensure that you choose the best fit for your business needs.
Key eCommerce Capabilities Enabled by Drupal and Magento
Drupal Commerce was released in 2011 and offers an open-source application framework that supports retailers in building and managing inventory, track orders, or handle payments.
Magento's initial release was in 2008. This PHP-based eCommerce site provides high levels of PayPal protocol integration and supports 12 worldwide payment gateways.
Both platforms offer, through native features or third-party add-ons, the following benefits:
Intuitive, easy-to-use user interface and control panels. No technical knowledge is required to customize and edit basic features.
Full-featured CMS that supports social sharing.
Business-centric structure for online stores.
Native integration of inventory-driven advertising material
Integration capabilities with third-party analytics, invoicing, or quoting solutions
One thing to keep in mind is that neither of these eCommerce platforms is a "plug and play" solution and making the most out of their potential may require further expertise.
Headless eCommerce
The headless version of Drupal Commerce has been in the spotlight in the last few years. This new initiative is an eCommerce solution that stores and delivers content without a front-end delivery layer. It's an API-driven implementation that transforms eCommerce functionality, making it available across a wide range of potential host environments.
A headless eCommerce model inclines towards a more SaaS-oriented, platform-agnostic solution that allows for better employee adoption and considerable time savings across IT departments.
When it comes to Magento, the open-source eCommerce platform, headless eCommerce is equally prioritized. Both Drupal Commerce and Magento are supporting headless models as the future of eCommerce.
Pricing
Drupal eCommerce's technical cost of entry is free. However, depending on scope and scale, the costs of developing and maintaining performant and secure eCommerce servers might reach tens of thousands of dollars.
Drupal Commerce project costs are directly proportional with a business needs for specific development architecture, module integrations, custom theme styling, or particular feature integrations.
Magento's newer modules are not offered as open-source and upgrading from Magento Open Source to Magento Commerce might be challenging.
From this financial point of view, Drupal Commerce seems to be a clear winner.
Scalability
Drupal Commerce has relevant capabilities of staying highly performant at scale. However, this CMS platform does not provide out-of-the-box database sharding and it can only be implemented on a third-party basis.
Drupal Commerce has lower requirements than Magento Commerce when it comes to the web server—the minimum required RAM for PHP is 64 MB and production systems usually require 128 or 256 MB.
Drupal Commerce-based implementation splits the eCommerce experience across three related Drupal domains. As a result, scaling is better, bottlenecks are eliminated, and the content and purchasing experiences are efficiently separated.
On the other hand, Magento's cloud hosting solves a large number of scalability issues, although at a higher price. The minimum RAM requirement of 2 GB will probably not scale well and distributed networks or caching may need to be deployed with greater care to keep up with the heavy load.
Security
Drupal is proven to be the most secure CMS and Magento's infection rate is much higher than Drupal's. From the point of view of security, Drupal Commerce is a winner for businesses that want to prioritize secure platforms.
Source: Sucuri.net
Mobile Responsiveness
As most websites transition to a mobile-first approach, eCommerce platforms that prioritize mobile responsiveness are a must.
Fortunately, both Magento Commerce and Drupal Commerce provide robust mobile capabilities to satisfy the need for accessibility and performance.
Drupal Commerce's themes allow building a fully responsive design for eCommerce websites and offer screen flexibility for creating versatile experiences.
The most popular themes like Corolla or eStore provide:
Multi-level responsive header menus
Custom layouts and color options
Box shadow and background textures
Custom field additions
Magento Commerce is close to Drupal when it comes to mobile optimization capabilities. Its responsive web design features help users create optimal viewing experiences for multiple devices. Magento Blank or Luma are out-of-the-box themes that deliver a fully responsive design.
Who's the winner for eCommerce?
While both Drupal Commerce and Magento Commerce are reliable options for a digital company that wants to thrive in the eCommerce market, every business has its own unique needs and requirements. Choosing the software that best supports these needs is a process that involves a lot of research and planning.
If you want to speed up this process and ensure that you reach the right decision, don't hesitate to contact Optasy for professional Drupal and Magento 2 services in Toronto.
Discover which platform is most suited to provide a robust eCommerce experience for you and your customers.
Photo credit: Mark Konig on Unsplash.
Raluca Olariu / Apr 06'2021
Today, businesses interact with their customers in many forms of digital services on all kinds of devices. As the digital world is more and more present in our lives, delivering streamlined experiences at the tip of your customers' fingers is the key to success.
A vital role in delivering rapid, accessible IT services is played by DevOps, a set of practices that brings software development and IT operations together. And when it comes to Drupal web development, DevOps represents a valuable instrument that can maximize the potential of Drupal-delivered projects.
How does DevOps work and what benefits does a DevOps model deliver?
DevOps, the culture that encompasses most digital businesses today, uses automation and advanced tech stacks to add a new layer of velocity to a company's infrastructure.
“DevOps represents a change in IT culture, focusing on rapid IT service delivery through the adoption of agile, lean practices in the context of a system-oriented approach. DevOps emphasizes people (and culture) and seeks to improve collaboration between operations and development teams. DevOps implementations utilize technology — especially automation tools that can leverage an increasingly programmable and dynamic infrastructure from a life cycle perspective”. - Gartner, Inc.
Businesses that incorporate a DevOps model into their workflows see benefits like:
Scalability. Fundamental processes like infrastructure and development are operated at scale, which allows for a more efficient approach to developing, testing, and producing environments in a repeatable and streamlined way.
Faster and more reliable delivery. The modern customer's need for speed is real, and DevOps can support organizations in their quest to speeding up feature releases, bug fixes, and other types of upgrades. Continuous integration and delivery are two critical practices that can automate the release process.
High velocity. Adopting an efficient DevOps model allows professionals to build digital innovations faster and keep up with the trends imposed by ever-changing markets.
Security. When adopting DevOps, you don't have to compromise on safety as DevOps models provide automated compliance policies and configuration management mechanisms.
DevOps best practices
To make the most out of DevOps, there are some key practices to follow when implementing your model:
Leverage microservices architecture, which allows breaking down large systems into more specific, independent projects. As a result, developers and architects have more flexibility over managing these projects, and applications are more pliable and allow faster innovation.
Install minor updates on a regular basis to solve issues and fix bugs quicker. The DevOps model aids companies in deploying updates more often and constantly optimizing their ongoing processes.
Use continuous integration and continuous delivery to overcome operational challenges in complex development workflows.
Don't forget about infrastructure as a code, as automating your infrastructure provides better computing resources and higher responsiveness to possible alterations.
DevOps for Drupal development
Implementing a DevOps model into your Drupal development workflow will not only accelerate your development cycle and delivery but will also contribute to better user experiences and business outcomes.
As more companies are adopting DevOps models (according to a recent report, 60% of businesses are using or are considering DevOps for their organization), it is expected that DevOps will gradually become even more essential for any digital business. With this growth will come better opportunities for building future-ready Drupal deployments and web experiences suited for the modern customer’s complex needs.
Wrapping Up
DevOps continues to grow in new industries, opening possibilities for enhancing security, product monitoring, development, and cluster computing. As it will become the new norm, DevOps will continue to integrate more departments, improve solutions and designs.
As we've seen, DevOps models can also support a Drupal development team that focuses on improving project timelines and delivery.
Optasy is the right partner for fostering digital innovation and can help you create customized Drupal digital experiences.
What do you need support with?
Photo credit: PCB-Tech on Pixabay.
Raluca Olariu / Apr 02'2021