After reading this blog post, hopefully you will ask yourself how you missed the parallels between the time-honored classic The Three Little Pigs and the importance of investing in your business’s security by updating/upgrading your Drupal site.
Let’s think of your website as your home and Drupal as the foundation on which your home is built.
Drupal is open source software for building user and content editor friendly websites. Drupal provides the structure necessary for your website to run, along with functionality and layouts needed to keep your site fresh. The system is actively maintained and updated by experts who dedicate themselves to keeping Drupal functioning and secure.
Straws, Sticks or Bricks?
Drupal releases major and minor versions. Drupal 9 was just released in 2020. Prior to that Drupal 8 was the most recent version and it was released in 2015. In between these major versions, minor updates are released to increase security and provide bug fixes.
This is where The Three Little Pigs analogy comes in.
In this scenario, major versions are like moving from straw to sticks to bricks, changing how your site is built. Minor updates, on the other hand, keep the current house infrastructure and fixtures up to date. Your house might still be built with sticks, but you replaced your A/C unit and remodeled the kitchen.
Eventually even the best made stick house is going to succumb to the elements. Waiting too long to invest in an upgrade can cost you. Your website is similar. Technology becomes outdated and leaves vulnerabilities open to the world that hackers can utilize.
After working with clients for over 14 years, we understand the hesitancy in going through the upgrade process.
There are five common reasons that our clients tell us they have been hesitant to upgrade their Drupal site:
1. If it ain’t broke...
2. Time consuming
3. New system to learn
4. “Moving” anxiety
5. It’s expensive
Each situation is unique and these are valid reasons for being hesitant, but a lot of this concern can be addressed. Not taking the step to upgrade leaves your site vulnerable, unsupported, and may diminish the value of your product. We all know the big bad wolf is out there. Making sure you have foresight and put a plan together in advance can be the best defense against having your house blown away.
Website projects can cause stress and upgrading any system can be a concern. At Covenant Web Design, we have a dedicated team of experts that will walk you through the process step by step. Demystifying the unknowns and reducing the stress change can cause.
