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A quick reference for key technologies and functions

When reviewing suppliers and procuring, it can be daunting to work with many new terms, phrases and products.

This is our guide to help bring quick clarity on a large proportion of things that clients ask for/about, from both general and Drupal-focused angles.

It's not exhaustive, so if your technology isn't listed that doesn't mean it's not workable.

Drupal logo in black

Drupal Versions

From legacy to the latest

We are happy to work with all versions of Drupal.

Building since Drupal 5, we're confident working with all manner of sites (though we certainly recommend upgrading to latest!).

These are some very brief summaries of the Drupal versions you might come across.

  • Drupal 11

    A current version of Drupal

    First released in 2024, Drupal 11 is a minor onward step from Drupal 10 and will be supported until Drupal 13 is released.

    We'll be confidently building new sites in D11 for a few years yet!

  • Drupal 10

    A current and supported version of Drupal.

    Drupal 10 saw the platform achieve a lot more stability, following years of upheaval and foundational change to the codebase.

    We currently build and support sites in Drupal 10 and above.

    First released in 2022, it will be supported until 2026 when Drupal 12 is released.

  • Drupal CMS

    A special version of Drupal for rapid development.

    Built from a "Starshot" initiative, Drupal CMS brings standardisation and improves speed of delivery for a number of key features and functionalities. 

    For many sites, building with Drupal CMS can be transformative - so many things can just come "out of a box" using the recipe system.

    Most large sites, however, tend to have too many layers of complexity and are better served by bespoke development on the standard Drupal Core. While still built with standard Drupal Core, they will benefit from the various decisions and improvements that Drupal CMS brought about.

  • Drupal 9

    An old (unsupported) version of Drupal

    The first major release since D8, as part of Drupal's plan for regular release cycles.

    It brought numerous large updates, and served the community between 2020 - 2023.

    Sites still on D9 should update to latest Drupal ASAP.

  • Drupal 8

    A legacy version of Drupal

    Rebuilt from the ground up, Drupal 8 put the CMS onto more modern code standards and techniques.

    While there was a notable learning curve, ultimately it provided a more powerful and flexible foundation.

    No longer in use - sites should upgrade to latest Drupal ASAP!

    The drupal 8 logo - the number eight cut out of a water droplet
  • Drupal 7

    A legacy version of Drupal

    A hugely successful CMS, Drupal 7 saw immense growth in popularity worldwide.

    It's no longer supported by the main Drupal community, though paid plans exist with some providers.

    Sites on D7 should be looking to get an upgrade plan in place.

    The Drupal 7 "Druplicon" icon

Performance & analytics

As markets grow, shift and change faster then ever before, hitting target KPIs is critical. As you'd hope, the Drupal community has long-established modules supporting most of the key tools and platforms you'll need to develop and manage your site's performance. Our team, too, have plenty of experience connecting Drupal with your tools and services.

  • Ads

    Ad slots in your site can be huge revenue earners for your balance sheet. Most providers can slot in quickly with some carefully curated javascript.

    Line drawing of a speech bubble with 'AD' inside

    Connect your data with your selected advertising platforms, including:

    • Google Ads
    • Google Adwords
    • Microsoft Ads
    • Meta / Facebook Conversions API
    • Amazon Ads
    • TikTok
  • SEO

    Drupal has excellent SEO handling as standard, and is built ready to customise to your application

    Line drawing of a graph inside a computer program window

    As you go beyond Drupal's out-of-the-box markup and templates, we can ensure your site meets all the standard SEO requirements including:

    ✅ page titles and descriptions

    ✅ hreflang tags

    ✅ schema.org metadata

    ✅ json+ld

    More about SEO with Drupal

  • Analytics

    You need to know how your site is performing, whilst also confidently complying with GDPR.

    Getting the right modules and embed codes in place should be a breeze.

    Analytics line drawing - a bar chart with a line graph above

    We've worked with most of the major analytics platforms, not least the below:

    ✅ GA4

    ✅ Hotjar

    ✅ Piwik

    ✅ Matomo

    ✅ Adobe analytics

  • Social

    Connect to social platforms to share data, events and ads

    Line drawing of a graph increasing in value

    Standard connectivity to social platforms is generally simple, and most have modules that provide out-of-the-box functionality to get things going, including:

    ✅ Facebook

    ✅ TikTok

    ✅ X (formerly Twitter)

Commerce & Sales

Thousands of organisations and businesses around the world use Drupal to support their product or payment flows. A huge spectrum of standard and highly-bespoke customer journeys benefit from Drupal's innate flexibility and well-supported community modules, and we have plenty of sites among them.

  • Commerce

    Drupal sells! With an architecture built around flexibility and customisation, Drupal lets you build exactly what you need for your business to thrive.

    Learn more about Commerce with Drupal

    Line drawing of a shopping bag in a browser

    The biggest choice is between Drupal Commerce or a fully custom journey. Our hands-on experience can help you choose the right tool to go forward with.

    Drupal commerce

    Drupal's Commerce module is, like 99% of Drupal's module ecosystem, Open Source with no subscription cost or paid upgrades. Everything is either in the box, or ready for an admin or a developer to customise or build.

    Online stores such as Rex London have been successfully using Drupal Commerce for many years.

    Custom commerce

    You don't have to use Drupal commerce. We've built bespoke customer journeys for holidays, tickets and events. Check out Gullivers Sports Travel.

     

  • CRM

    Integrating with a CRM could be as easy as downloading and configuring a community module, for many of the big players.

     

    Line drawing of a computer window with the letters CRM inside

    Connect your site up to a CRM like:

    ✅ Maximiser

    ✅ SAP

    ✅ Mailchimp

    ✅ IBM Transact

    ✅ Adobe Campaigns

  • Payments

    We can take your money!

    Setup effort varies by provider, with many payment providers handled by a readily-available Drupal module. Others can be catered for with some custom development.

    Line drawing with two credit cards, one forward facing and one rear facing

    Expect decent support for all major payment providers, including:

    ✅ GOV.UK Pay

    ✅ Stripe

    ✅ Safepay

    ✅ Opayo (formerly sagepay)

    ✅ PayPal

    ✅ Google Pay

    ✅ Apple Pay

    ✅ Klarna

  • Forms

    Collect data with user-editable forms built in Drupal, or by embedding forms from a chosen service provider

    Line drawing of a sheet of paper with checkboxes to complete, and a pencil at the bottom right corner

    Drupal forms & webforms

    We are confident building simple and complex form setups, using Contact Forms or Webforms.

    These systems are highly flexible, and can do a lot of common functionality out of the box.

    All these, and more, are possible:

    ✅ Editors can create, edit and manage forms

    ✅ Keep date GDPR safe

    ✅ Export results via email, API and more

    ✅ Show or hide forms for (not) logged in users

    ✅ Pre-fill values

    Embedded forms

    ✅ Embed forms from your chosen provider

    ✅ GDPR compliance

  • Ratings & Reviews

    Displaying trust signals can make a huge impact on conversion rates, and reviews can make a world of difference to product sales.

    There's a vast array of options out there, and we are happy to support your choice.

    Five stars

    We've already worked with a range of options, including:

    ✅ Trustpilot widgets

    ✅ Google Reviews

    ✅ Custom reviews in Drupal

Site essentials

A modern site now requires a whole range of additional functions and qualities to meet baseline expectations. Fulfilling them all with bespoke work would add years to your project, but combining our expertise with the Drupal community's we can now achieve huge amounts in just days

That said, a well-researched project plan that readily considers and plans for these aspects will set better expectations than one that does not.

  • Accessibility

    Ensuring your site meets a wide range of accessibility needs is not just a trend but a strong requirement if you want to serve the biggest audiences - and it needn't be difficult. Whether or not it's a legal compliance issue, serving optimal content to your audiences should be high on your priority list.

    WAI-AAA WCAG 2.2 compliance logo

    To support your journey to improved accessibility, we can:

    ✅ Build to WCAG 2.2 AAA

    ✅ Monitor ongoing compliance

    ✅ Assess compliance and produce a report

    ✅ Embed tools for in-page accessibility testing

    More about Accessibility

    Site Audits

  • React.js

    React is one of several javascript frameworks supporting modern interactive web applications - rather than just classic web pages.

    React.js logo

    We've built React apps, too!

    With a full Drupal backend, used by hundreds of university students, our SPA supported the analysis of a huge amount of international historical data.

    ✅ Headless react front ends

    ✅ Drupal backend

    Read a React Case Study

    Learn about Headless Drupal sites

  • Search

    We're confident with the main Drupal search options, and are happy plugging in external tools too.

    Line drawing of a magnifying glass

    Tweaking results, adjusting weightings and indexing custom data are all things firmly in our grasp.

    ✅ SOLR search

    ✅ Elastic search

    ✅ External / API search providers

    ✅ Site search

    ✅ Product search

    ✅ Search with autocomplete

    ✅ Facets and filters

  • Mapping

    Achieve engaging map interactions with any mapping supplier (but usually Google Maps!)

    Outline of a map pin icon

    With any mapping provider or service

    Google Maps

    OS maps

    OpenStreetMap

    MapBox

    Leaflet

     

    Standard map uses and interactions

    We can do all the usual things and are confident building custom interactions, too.

    ✅ Show a map with a location

    Use a map to select a location

    Geolocation

    Show and hide markers using filters

    Custom marker icons and colours

    Custom map colours

  • Authentication & SSO

    An enterprise-ready CMS, Drupal supports a range of authentication options through core functionality and contributed modules.

     

    Outline of a shield with a checkmark inside

    Password requirements

    ✅ Set password requirements

    ✅ Different requirements according to user roles

    ✅ Admin UI for management

     

    SSO (Single Sign On) 

    Most major providers are well-supported:

    • Keycloak
    • Microsoft?
    • Google
    • facebook / social sign ons

     

    Other authentication methods

    Most things are possible with contributed modules and a little administrative setup, including:

    2FA/MFA

    ✅  One Time Passwords

    ✅ PassKeys

     

  • Hosting providers

    We're happy working with your existing or required hosting providers - over the years we've already worked with many of the big names.

    Line drawing of a cloud above some web server racks, with arrows going up and down between the two

    Whilst we have our own preferred suppliers, we're happy to work with your suppliers. We're highly familiar with most big names, including:

    ✅ platform.sh

    ✅ Amazon / AWS

    ✅ S3

    ✅ EC2

    ✅ RDS

    ✅ Pantheon

    ✅ Rackspace

    ✅ Google Cloud

    ✅ Digital Ocean

    ✅ Linode