With more than one million experts, Drupal has a massive community of developers. Drupal is popular software for content management. It is an open-source framework using the PHP scripting language. Although Drupal came out almost two decades ago, it has preserved its spot as one of the best CMS. As of today, Drupal developers are in high demand, and of high value. So, the average pay of a Drupal developer is $26, on an hourly basis. Thus, here are 6 Drupal development resources you should know if you are a beginner, an expert, or even someone who wants to hire Drupal developers
Why is Drupal Special?
Before you hire Drupal developers, it is good to know a little about it. Drupal is put into use a lot for back-end development purposes. Almost 2.3% of all websites in the world use Drupal for back-end help. There is a lot of variety on it as well. As of today, it has 38,000 modules and 2,700 different themes. Even government and political sites use Drupal.
Fun fact, the White House made use of Drupal for almost eight years, from 2009-17. You can create and assemble content, initiate tasks, and control the appearance of your site. Additionally, Drupal uses servers like Apache and MySQL for operation.
There are many features on Drupal like blogging, discussions, and other tools, for free. Also, it is there in almost 100 different Languages. 1.6% of all sites that we see on the internet, worldwide, are using Drupal. Out of these, 0.56 million sites are live. Drupal is highly trusted and preferred, having a satisfaction score of 97%.
So, moving on, here are some benefits of using Drupal:
Highly flexible as you can create a wide variety of content on it
Excellent customizability, thanks to its numerous plugins
Scalable and secure
Hire Drupal Developers to Work on Best Drupal Development Resources
Here are 6 Drupal development resources you must know to hire Drupal developers:
Drush
Drush is the abbreviation for Drupal Shell. It is a famous command tool for Drupal development. It is known for speeding up all tasks for you. Drush also has a massive list of core commands for Drupal making it versatile. The best part is you get to build your modules or themes with the help of it. So, here are the benefits of Drush:
- Very Fast: Lightning speed, updates and clears in seconds
- Easy customization and Integration
- Free to use
Drush is one of the best tools as it has been in the market for over ten years now, and has over 3.4 million downloads.
Xdebug
Xdebug is the choice of a considerable portion of Drupal users when it comes to debugging. It is an extension of PHP. It allows you to break a code and check all variables between it. For Drupal, all you need to do is add its custom line to your PHP config and done. It will always debug your code for you. Xdebug has a one-step debugger. You can use it with IDEs. Thus, here are some benefits of using Xdebug for Drupal:
- Makes use of breakpoint mechanism, very helpful for debugging
- Saves a massive chunk of time
All in all, highly increase the efficiency of developing
PHPStorm
PHPStorm is an integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP. You can also use PHPStorm for cross-platform development. It has built-in terminals for easy and quick connections. PHPStorm can also run tests and debug for you. You can deploy this tool on Mac and Windows. For training purposes, there are webinars and documentations for you.
Furthermore, it has full-time online support. PHPStorm has extra features like version control, collaboration, and code review. Here are some advantages of PHPStorm:
A comprehensive tool with top-class features and high accessibility
It is the ideal Java-Based tool and coding assistant
Secure, fast, and robust restructuring
Although it is not free of cost, it has a free trial version for a month which is probably a reasonable period to decide.
Coder
Coder is a primarily used module for Drupal development. It mainly helps in observing the coding rules of Drupal precisely. The Coder tool has two diversifications, coder upgrade, and review. It is also the tool many people choose to fix any coding violations.
Coder Review helps in letting the users know if their code needs any changes in it. Whereas, Coder Upgrade helps developers in keeping all modules and themes up to date. So, here are the benefits of Coder:
Helps in finding bugs quickly, hence saving time makes you abide by the coding standards
Masquerade
Masquerade is a little different than the other tools you should be familiar with to hire the best Drupal developers. It helps you in switching between different accounts with ease. Masquerade is the perfect tool for testing purposes. Additionally, it even helps in bug reporting. Moving on, here are some plus points of using Masquerade:
Very easy to use; all you need to do for switching users is switch between the ‘mask’ and the ‘unmasquerade’ button
Highly secure, fast, and trustworthy
Diff
Most Drupal users must already be familiar with Diff. Developers use Diff for comparing and showing you the difference between two files. It will mainly show you the difference between specific modules. Diff makes differentiating easier by printing different text. Thus, here are some advantages of using the Diff tool for Drupal:
- Diff saves a lot of time in coding, making it easier
- Also shows the difference between different nodes
- Easy to use
Diff has been there for a long time and is used not only in Drupal but also in other platforms.
Conclusion
Though these tools are exceptional, there are various other tools for Drupal development. It would be best if you tried becoming familiar with these tools, and all other necessary acceptances of Drupal development before you hire Drupal developer.
Drupal is still as secure as it was and is still used by many people for getting their business going. So, these were the six best Drupal development resources you should know.