In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic - OPTASY would like to offer DRUPAL website support for any Healthcare, Government, Education and Non-Profit Organization(s) with critical crisis communication websites or organizations directly providing relief. Stay Safe and Stay Well.

What Are the Must-Have Drupal Development Tools? Top 8
Drupal

What Are the Must-Have Drupal Development Tools? Top 8

by Adrian Ababei on Sep 29 2016

Drupal development is gaining more and more traction on the web development scene and for good reasons – Drupal is a highly robust yet flexible platform which makes it a great choice for web development projects, e commerce websites and other tech related needs. Drupal development requires lots of programming skills and attention to details so we’ve set out to find the best Drupal development tools for you to use and review.

Here is our list of 8 essential Drupal development tools:

 

Drush for Drupal development

Drush is one of the most sought after Drupal development tools – it’s considered the command line and scripting interface for Drupal.

While it may take some time to get used to it, Drush is an excellent multipurpose tool used to install, maintain and develop Drupal websites. That being said, Drush is a great time saver for Drupal developers and it also helps with building custom modules and themes.

 

Coder for Drupal development

With the Coder module Drupal developers can follow Drupal’s coding standards more closely. This module is composed of two sub-modules, Coder Review and Coder Upgrade.

 

Coder review allows Drupal developers to verify if a module or part of code is up to Drupal’s coding standards or not – it also allows users to know if anything needs changing. Coder upgrade helps Drupal developers upgrade modules or themes to a new version of Drupal. Coder is currently available for Drupal 6 and 7.

 

Backup and Migrate in Drupal

Backup and Migrate makes database backups much easier to create. Just click the admin interface or run the Drush command to order a backup. This module can be configured to send your backup to Dropbox or Amazon S3.

 

Masquerade for Drupal development

Sometimes Drupal development can be a hassle – you have to become a different user to test something in Drupal. The Masquerade module is the perfect solution for this purpose simply because it allows Drupal developers to switch between users easily. This module is perfect when a user reports a bug and another developer is supposed to replicate the same conditions and fix it.

 

Drupal Project Lookup

Drupal Project Lookup is a Chrome extension that’s very handy for Drupal development – the extension helps users save a lot of time when looking for project pages on drupal.org. All you need to do is type pml and the project name and you’re there!

 

Dreditor

Dreditor helps Drupal developers review patches and comment on different issues on drupal.org. Dreditor’s features include auto-completion when adding comments in drupal.org, templates for commit messages and the patch reviewer button.

 

Features

Turn on configuration in the modules in order to source control and deploy them properly. You shouldn’t make too many changes on the live website but instead you should try to make changes on your local server. But how can you deploy modules on a live website? Simply use Features – this is an incredibly useful module which will help you along with any Drupal development project.

 

Diff for Drupal development

Drupal developers who use Features are most likely using Diff as well. Sometimes features may get overridden and the information from the database may not match with the code – This is a perfect time to use Diff. With the Diff module Drupal developers will see any difference with ease – you’ll also be able to see changes between revisions of different nodes and modules, effectively saving you a lot of time. Considering these aspects, Diff is one of the most important Drupal development tools.

 

Conclusions

These are some of the best Drupal development tools available today – not only do these tools speed up your workflow but you’ll be able to achieve better and greater results as well.

Development

We do Web development

Go to our Web development page!

Visit page!

Recommended Stories

DrupalDrupal 8Tips
How Can Web Accessibility Grow Your Website

How Can Web Accessibility Grow Your Website

  Accessibility for disabled individuals is extremely important because they use multiple assistive technologies that often require accessible websites and mobile applications to function properly. Web accessibility is not just for people with physical limitations; it has real business value too! Read on to learn seven important benefits of creating an accessible site for your business. According to a survey of around 500 U. S. business executives and developers, most of them admit that making websites accessible requires too much time and financial investment. We're here to let you know that creating an accessible website isn't hard at all, will greatly improve the user interface, and will most likely prevent you from facing any legal issues. Laws regarding web accessibility  In the United States, laws are being updated to make sure that websites are accessible to everyone. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was first passed in 1990 and has been amended several times since then. The ADA applies to public accommodations, including businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, libraries, museums, and other organizations that provide goods or services to the general public. It also covers places of entertainment such as movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, sports stadiums, and concert venues. As of 2020, there are no federal regulations requiring websites to be accessible to users with disabilities. However, some states have their own laws that apply to websites. For example, California's Business & Professions Code Section 5412(a) says: "All persons shall have equal opportunity to obtain employment, housing, and commercial transactions without discrimination or segregation based on disability." This means that if you operate a business in California, you must ensure that your website is accessible to people who use assistive technology. If you don't comply with this law, you could face fines up to $2,500 per violation. 7 Benefits of Making Your Website Accessible Improved conversion rates. It's true that accessibility only helps the visitor but if you improve the user experience and make it accessible for everyone, you're planting the seeds for:   More visitors means more sales. Better user engagement Improving SEO ranking Higher conversion rate   Legal complications are less likely when you invest in web accessibility. With increasing legal requirements surrounding web accessibility becoming stricter, making your website accessible has become an absolute necessity unless you want to be fined. Be aware of the various web accessibility requirements and ensure that your website complies with them. Bigger customer base. Accessibility means addressing the needs of larger audiences, which may lead to you attracting more people who are likely to interact with your business on a long-lasting basis. Invest in accessibility so you can attract more people who are likely to interact with your business on a longer-lasting basis. An innovative business mindset: an entrepreneurial one By building accessible websites, you challenge yourself to deal with unforeseen issues and so put your creative juices into action. Adaptability means that you need to be able to adapt your designs by incorporating accessibility tools into them. To stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital world, you need to be innovative and always ready for change. Boosted SEO efforts. You can improve your website's accessibility by including alternative text for any image tags, making sure that your content is easy to read, or choosing a clean and clutter-free design. These steps also mean good SEO practice. By creating an easier-to-navigate website, you're also helping it become more SEO-friendly. You may be familiar with the importance of investing in strong SEO strategies in modern times. It's all about whether your site ranks at the top of search results and how visible your site appears on Google. Improved brand reputation. It’s important to ensure accessibility for your business because it promotes your brand image. Ensuring your web site has a universal interface makes sure everyone who visits your site gets equal access to your content and raises awareness for your company. Today, having an inaccessible website is the digital version of putting up a big "Keep Out" notice outside of your business. Fast page loading times. If you improve a page's accessibility, you'll increase its performance score. To meet the demands of modern web users, you need to improve your site's load time. By implementing features that are accessible to people who use assistive technology, you're making your website a better place for everyone. You can use several different methods to improve the accessibility of your website. For example, if you're designing a web page for blind users, they might be able to use a text-to-speech program to read out loud any important information on your site. Hopefully, this post helps shed some insight into the importance of web accessibil­ity for your business and how making your website more accessible can positively affect your brand. If you'd like to learn more about how we can improve the usability of your website, please contact us today.   Photo credit: Unsplash. ... Read more
Raluca Olariu / Sep 08'2022
DrupalDrupal 8Tips
Why Do You Need Drupal Website Maintenance?

Why Do You Need Drupal Website Maintenance?

  If you're new to Drupal web development and maintenance, it may seem like an overwhelming task. However, once you get started, things start to run smoothly. Building and optimizing a website is similar to buying a new house—you start out by making sure everything works fine, then you fix any issues that come up, and finally, you keep an eye on it, so nothing breaks down. The perfect time to clean up your website doesn't exist, so you might want to start as soon as you feel like it should be done—improve its performance, optimize it for search engines, and refresh it. If you do it yourself, you might even be able to increase your potential market value by 50%. First, it's important to understand why regular maintenance is crucial, how to tell if you need Drupal maintenance, what Drupal maintenance includes, and what happens during Drupal Maintenance. Read this article to find out more about why you need regular Drupal maintenance.  Does regular maintenance help keep your site running smoothly? Yes, regular maintenance can help with plenty of aspects of your web strategy. Security Website maintenance used to be an option. It wasn't something that had to be done every month or even every week. You could just let it sit there and not touch it at all for months at a time. As the digital landscape continues to expand and become more vulnerable to cyberattacks, Drupal support is essential for maintaining a secure security posture. While Drupal is known for its high level of security, this only applies if you keep up with the latest security updates and patches. If you don't stay current on the latest security updates and modules, then you're putting yourself at risk for a breach. Updating Drupal core modules regularly helps protect websites from attacks and security breaches. Fixing errors If you want your site to perform well and meet the needs of the modern digital user, then it’s important to fix any bugs and errors. These malfunctions may occur due to rushed coding and deployment, inadequate testing, or miscommunications. They may affect your website's performance and loading speed or even alter its functionality. Because users don't want to wait more than four seconds for websites to load, they won't pay attention to fixing bugs if they're not there. Stay up-to-date by adding new features to your site One reason why Drupal maintenance matters so much are because it allows you to scale your site as your business grows. With Drupal 8, integrations are much cheaper than they were before, so if you haven’t upgraded yet, you may want to talk to a Drupal agency to help determine whether an upgrade is the best option for your business. User behavior has changed drastically in the past year, so content creation, new features, and improvements allow brands to remain fresh and aligned to this changing environment. SEO optimization It’s important to maintain good SEO practices so that your site stays relevant. A great Drupal maintenance team includes SEO experts who perform Drupal SEO audits and optimizations. “Good SEO only gets better over time; it’s only search engine tricks that need to be constantly updated when the algorithm changes.” -Jill Whalen. To know when you need Drupal maintenance, ask yourself these questions: Do you get error messages? If you aren't already convinced that you need Drupal Support and Maintenance Services for your website, here's an indicator that you can't delay it anymore without hurting your business: You have been getting error messages like "404 Not Found" or "500 Internal Server Error". These errors mean that your site isn't functioning properly. Your site might be down or slow to load. Your visitors will leave your site immediately if they see these errors. The solution is simple: hire a professional Drupal developer to do the job for you. We at Optasy have a team of expert developers who specialize in Drupal development. Our team of dedicated professionals will ensure that your site is always working smoothly. Check this page for more details. Photo credit: Unsplash. ... Read more
Raluca Olariu / Aug 09'2022
DrupalNewsTips
How The Project Update Bot Has Been Refreshed for Drupal 10

How The Project Update Bot Has Been Refreshed for Drupal 10

  Drupal 10 will be released on December 14th, 2022. The upgrade process from Drupal 9 to Drupal10 will be even easier than Drupal 8 to 9 was. Making projects that are already compatible with Drupal 9 compatible with Drupal10 requires removing deprecated API uses, which means that you'll have to remove them from your code. There are usually only a few deprecated API uses per module, but when we consider upgrading over 8,200 Drupal 9 modules on drupal.org hundreds or thousands of hours from our community could be spent on this task. The good news is that Drupal Rector is a tool developed by Palatir.net and Pronghorn Labs. that can be used by developers who want to make their modules compatible with Drupal 10. It can also be used to automatically fix deprecated API uses in existing projects. Using Drupal Rector is easy, but running it on all Drupal 9 projects could have taken hundreds of developer days to complete. Drupal Rector is an automated tool that generates patches for contributed modules. These patches will be made available to the community through the Drupal Association which has partnered with Acquia and Palantir. This means that developers will not need to write any code to upgrade their modules to Drupal 10. Instead, they will simply apply the patch. However, for some modules, it may still be necessary to manually replace deprecated API uses. This bot is not affiliated with any individual or company. It is a tool that will automatically post updates to issues created by the Project Update Bot. These updates will be posted to issues that were created during the Drupal 8 to 9 migration. Maintainers are encouraged to review the patches and provide feedback if they feel the patches are useful. If the project maintainers decide to use these patches, then they can help speed up the update process for modules for Drupal 10 dramatically. Related: Drupal 10 New Features and How to Prepare Your Migration.   Maintainer Options There are several ways to deal with these issues when maintaining a project: Leave the issues open and apply the provided patches to remove some or all of the deprecated APIs. The Project Update Bot checks weekly if Drupal Rector can remove new deprecated APIs and posts a new patch if possible, so you don't need to worry about it. If you would like to use this issue as a starting point please remove the "ProjectUpdateBotD10" tag from the issue. The bot will not post any updates if this tag is present. You can add the tag back and the update bot will start posting updates again. If you see an issue that is closed, please don’t reopen it. Closing an issue stops the bot from posting new issues. You can also flag the issue if you think it should be reopened.   For more information and support regarding your Drupal migration, please contact us and get in touch with our team of Drupal experts.      Photo credit: Unsplash. ... Read more
Raluca Olariu / Jul 15'2022

Need a new Project?

Dare us to shape and boost your idea(s)!

Start a Project

(416) 243-2431

Contact

(416) 243-2431

Toronto Downtown

First Canadian Place,
100 King St. W. Suite 5700, Toronto

Toronto West

2275 Upper Middle
Rd. E, Suite 101
Toronto

New York

1177 Avenue of the
Americas, 5th Floor,
New York