[Nfb-web] Drupal Information

[Charles Buggs]

Hello Everyone,

I use Drupal at work and for a few personal projects and wanted to pass on some important information regarding Drupal.

Drupal 6 has passed its end of life date and is no longer supported.  There is an announcement about this at https://www.drupal.org/drupal-6-eol <https://www.drupal.org/drupal-6-eol>.  If your site is still running Drupal 6, you should at least upgrade it to version 6.38, which is the last release issued on February 24, 2016.  However, for security reasons site admins or owners should be making plans to migrate to Drupal 7 or 8, or to another platform in the near future as future Drupal 6 security vulnerabilities will not be patched.

A critical security update for Drupal 7, version 7.43, was also released on February 24th.  Details on this critical security update can be found at https://www.drupal.org/drupal-7.43-release-notes <https://www.drupal.org/drupal-7.43-release-notes>.  This update fixes 10 critical security issues.  It is highly suggested that all sites be upgraded as soon as possible.

One of Drupal’s biggest criticisms in the past has been that you can’t build a site with the Drupal core software you get “out of the box.”  Drupal 8 is the newest version and was released in November 2015.  This new version brings many improvements, including accessibility, views module and many fields in core, and generaly gives much more functionality out of the box.  You can read more at https://www.drupal.org/8 <https://www.drupal.org/8> or spin-up a 24-hour test site with simplytest.me <http://simplytest.me/>.

If you haven’t heard already, the most important thing about Drupal is not the software, it’s the community!  I attended my first regional Drupal event, the Midwest Drupal Camp, March 18th and 19th in Chicago.  I have to say that this event and the people there were very nice and made it a priority to ensure the event was accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.  I know the Drupal software can be difficult to learn and has many dark corners one can stumble into and get lost.  I’d highly recommend finding a Drupal event near you if you want to learn more and meet people.

Thanks

Chuck Buggs
cbuggs at me.com
608-576-4180

Member, NFB of Wisconsin Dane County Chapter