Drupal 11 Website Review and Launch Checklist
Your website has been migrated from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11, but there's still some work to do before it's ready to go live. While much of your content should have transferred successfully, differences between the platforms mean some pages, layouts, and customized elements may need additional attention.
As your website's steward, you're best positioned to determine whether its content is accurate, complete, and ready for visitors. This checklist will guide you through reviewing your migrated website, completing necessary updates, and identifying issues that require assistance from OIT.
You are not responsible for testing Drupal 11 itself. OIT and our migration partner are responsible for the technical platform and migration process. Your role is to review your website's content, make necessary updates, and report anything that isn't working as expected.
Once you've completed your review and your website is ready for visitors, you'll notify OIT so we can coordinate its launch.
1. Before You Begin
Drupal 11 introduces new publishing tools and components, and some familiar Drupal 7 features have changed or are no longer supported. Understanding these differences before beginning your review can help you distinguish between content that needs your attention and issues that require technical assistance.
We recommend starting with your homepage, important or frequently visited pages, and any content that uses unusual layouts or custom functionality. You should also review a representative selection of other pages to identify problems that may occur throughout your site.
Prepare for your review
- Confirm you can access your migrated Drupal 11 website.
- Familiarize yourself with Drupal 11's editing tools and supported components.
- Identify important pages and content that should receive additional attention.
- Locate any records of changes made to Drupal 7 after your site's migration snapshot.
Understand what may require manual work
Not everything created in Drupal 7 can be automatically reproduced in Drupal 11. In particular, pages built using custom HTML, CSS, or unsupported features may need to be reconstructed using the new platform's supported components.
Pay particular attention to:
- Homepages and pages using custom block layouts.
- Slideshows, accordions, and dropdowns.
- Custom formatting created through Drupal 7's source editor.
- Embedded videos, forms, calendars, and other external content.
These differences don't necessarily indicate that something went wrong during migration. In many cases, they reflect changes to how Drupal 11 manages content and presentation.
If you're unsure whether something is a migration issue or requires manual reconstruction, contact OIT before spending time rebuilding it.
2. Review Your Migrated Website
Start by exploring your Drupal 11 website as a visitor would. Does it contain the information people expect to find? Can they navigate to important pages? Do the pages and components display appropriately? You don't need to inspect every word on every page, but you should review your most important content thoroughly and sample other pages for issues that may have occurred during migration.
Site appearance and navigation
- Your website displays the correct name and university branding.
- Your homepage contains the expected content and important calls to action.
- Headers, footers, and navigation menus display correctly.
- Navigation items and links lead to the intended pages.
- Important page URLs work correctly, including redirects where applicable.
- Pages display appropriately on desktop and mobile screens.
- No important sections, images, or components are unexpectedly missing.
Drupal 11 introduces updated themes and supported components, so some visual differences from Drupal 7 are expected. Focus on whether your content remains complete, understandable, and usable rather than whether every page looks identical to its previous version.
Content and functionality
- Important pages contain the expected text and information.
- Headings, lists, tables, and other formatting display correctly.
- Images and downloadable documents are present and accessible.
- Internal and external links work as expected.
- Specialized content, such as News, Events, FAQs, or People, displays correctly where used.
- Embedded content and interactive features work as expected or have an identified replacement.
- No important content appears duplicated, truncated, or unexpectedly missing.
Accessibility
Accessibility remains an ongoing responsibility for university websites. As you review migrated content, check for common issues that may have existed previously or emerged during migration.
- Headings follow a logical structure.
- Images have meaningful alternative text when needed.
- Links use descriptive text that communicates their purpose.
- Tables are structured appropriately for the information they present.
- Documents and embedded content remain accessible.
- Any accessibility issues identified during your review are corrected or reported for assistance.
These checks are not a substitute for a comprehensive accessibility evaluation, but they provide an opportunity to identify and address common content issues before launch.
3. Complete Content Cleanup and Manual Updates
Once you've reviewed your migrated website, address the content that needs attention. Some updates will be straightforward, while others may require rebuilding content using Drupal 11's supported publishing tools. This is also an opportunity to remove outdated information, improve content organization, and address accessibility issues that may have carried over from Drupal 7.
Rebuild or update content
- Recreate necessary content that relied on unsupported Drupal 7 HTML or CSS.
- Replace custom accordions, slideshows, or other elements with supported Drupal 11 components where available.
- Reimplement supported embeds using Drupal 11's iframe or video components.
- Correct formatting, images, links, or layouts that require manual attention.
- Remove or update obsolete, duplicate, or inaccurate content.
- Address accessibility issues identified during your review.
Reconcile changes made after your Drupal 7 snapshot
Your Drupal 7 website remained available for updates after its migration snapshot. However, changes made after that snapshot do not automatically transfer to Drupal 11. Before launch, you must account for those changes so your Drupal 11 website contains the most current information.
- Review changes made in Drupal 7 after your site's snapshot.
- Recreate necessary text updates and newly published pages in Drupal 11.
- Add or replace any images, files, or other media updated after the snapshot.
- Confirm time-sensitive information is current.
- Verify that Drupal 11 contains the content intended to become your live website.
Review Drupal 7 Webforms
Drupal 7 Webforms and their submission data will not migrate to Drupal 11. Existing forms must be retired or replaced with Microsoft Forms or another approved solution where the functionality is still needed.
- Identify any Drupal 7 Webforms still in use.
- Replace necessary forms with an approved alternative.
- Update website links and embeds to point to replacement forms.
- Determine whether existing submission records must be retained before Drupal 7 is retired.
- Export required records and store them in an approved university location consistent with applicable information security and records retention requirements.
For instructions on creating Microsoft Forms and exporting Drupal 7 Webform submissions, refer to the Welcome to Drupal 11 webinar recording, beginning around the 23-minute mark.
4. Confirm You Can Manage Your Website
In addition to reviewing your migrated content, take some time to become familiar with the routine tasks you'll perform in Drupal 11. You don't need to become an expert before launch, but you should be able to find and maintain your content using the new editing tools.
Editing existing content
- Sign in to Drupal 11 successfully.
- Locate an existing page and open it for editing.
- Update text, headings, links, and lists.
- Add or replace an image and provide alternative text.
- Add or update a downloadable document.
- Preview and save or publish changes.
- Verify that your changes display correctly.
Creating and organizing content
- Create a new page using an appropriate content type.
- Add and rearrange supported page components.
- Find and reuse existing media.
- Create or update specialized content your site uses.
- Preview and publish a new page.
- Add or update navigation items where your permissions allow.
Website access
- Confirm you have the permissions needed to manage your website.
- Verify that approved content managers have appropriate access.
- Identify any missing, outdated, or unnecessary accounts.
- Follow the established process to request or update website access.
If a routine publishing task doesn't work as expected, or you cannot access functionality necessary for your role, contact OIT for assistance.
5. Report Issues and Confirm Launch Readiness
As you work through the checklist, you may encounter problems that you cannot resolve yourself. Some will be content issues you can correct, while others may require assistance from OIT or our migration partner. You do not need to determine the technical cause of a problem before reporting it.
What should I do when I find an issue?
Fix it: If the issue involves content you manage and you know how to correct it using supported Drupal 11 tools, you can make the necessary update.
Report it: If content is unexpectedly missing, a component doesn't work, permissions are incorrect, or the platform behaves unexpectedly, report the issue to OIT.
Ask for guidance: If you're unsure whether something is an intentional Drupal 11 change, a migration problem, or something you should rebuild yourself, contact OIT before proceeding.
How to report an issue
Email drupalupgrade@ucmerced.edu with the following information:
- The website and page URL where the issue occurs.
- A brief description of what you expected and what happened instead.
- A screenshot, if it helps illustrate the problem.
- Whether the issue prevents you from completing an important task or affects information visitors need.
- Providing these details will help the migration team identify, reproduce, and resolve problems more efficiently.
When is my website ready to launch?
Your website doesn't need to be perfect in every detail before going live. However, it must be sufficiently complete, functional, and current to replace the Drupal 7 version.
Before confirming readiness, make sure:
- Your important pages and content have been reviewed.
- Necessary manual reconstruction and content updates are complete.
- Changes made after your Drupal 7 snapshot have been reconciled.
- You can perform the routine publishing tasks needed to maintain your website.
- Any outstanding migration or functionality issues have been reported to OIT.
- No unresolved issues remain that would prevent your website from being used safely and effectively.
If minor issues remain, discuss them with OIT to determine whether they must be resolved before launch or can be addressed afterward.
Confirm your website is ready
Once you've completed your review and any necessary updates, email drupalupgrade@ucmerced.edu to confirm that your website is ready for launch. Include your website URL and identify any outstanding issues already discussed with OIT. The Drupal 11 team will coordinate the final technical checks and transition from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11.
Need help? Visit the Drupal 11 Migration website for project updates and resources, or contact the team at drupalupgrade@ucmerced.edu.
