TL;DR
After working with Drupal 11 / Drupal CMS on a real WordPress → Drupal migration, I found that many common tasks (migration, search, comments, avatars, backend usability, Views) are harder than expected due to outdated or fragmented documentation. Drupal is extremely powerful, but onboarding and "basic" workflows still feel unnecessarily complex, especially for newcomers or people coming from other CMSs.
I'm writing this after several weeks of hands-on work with Drupal 11 / Drupal CMS, mainly while migrating a real blog from WordPress.
This is not a rant, but a collection of real difficulties I ran into, which I believe are mostly caused by outdated, fragmented, or overly implicit documentation. Maybe this can help others, or spark a constructive discussion.
1) WordPress → Drupal migration: common use case, weak tooling
In theory, WP → Drupal migration should be a well-covered scenario. In practice:
- Migration modules did not work reliably in my case
- Very little guidance for real-world data (comments, authors, media, taxonomy)
- I eventually had to write a custom migration script to get full control
Drupal's flexibility is great, but for such a common task I expected something more robust and better documented.
2) Even basic things are not really "basic"
A simple example: adding search. It's doable, but:
- Too many steps
- Too many alternative approaches
- Unclear which one is the recommended way today (Drupal 11 / CMS)
Most guides assume prior Drupal knowledge, which makes onboarding harder than necessary.
3) Comment form UX: subject, required fields, placeholders
The comment form was one of the most frustrating parts:
The subject field: - Even if disabled, it still appears in the frontend - Not obvious how to make it properly required or fully removed
Placeholders for name and email are not easily configurable
Default UX feels outdated. I solved everything with a custom module, but for such basic UX requirements this feels excessive.
4) Avatars / Gravatar: unclear and undocumented
Another confusing area is avatars / Gravatar:
- It's not clear how avatar rendering is supposed to work today
- Fallback behavior (initials, default images, anonymous users) is poorly explained
- Configuration feels scattered or implicit
Again, I ended up writing a custom module just to have predictable and understandable behavior.
5) Backend usability: missing global search
In the admin UI I often thought: "I know this thing exists… but where is it?"
A global backend search (config, views, fields, content) would greatly improve usability, especially for newcomers.
6) Views: extremely powerful, but hard to internalize
I know Views is one of Drupal's core strengths, but honestly:
- Very steep learning curve
- Common use cases vs advanced ones are not clearly separated
- Documentation often assumes you already "get it"
I still haven't fully internalized Views, and I suspect I'm not alone.
7) Drupal CMS vs Core: not always clearer
The idea behind Drupal CMS is great, but paradoxically:
- Some things feel more direct in plain Drupal core
- It's not always clear when CMS helps and when it adds abstraction
- There's no clear "decision guide"
Final thought
I think Drupal today would really benefit from modern, practical, up-to-date documentation, especially focused on:
- Drupal CMS
- Real projects (blog, editorial site, comments, avatars, search, basic SEO)
- "How to start from zero and reach a complete, usable site"
Many resources feel: - Written for much older Drupal versions - Or aimed at long-time Drupal developers
Drupal has huge potential, but onboarding is still its weakest point.
If others had similar (or opposite) experiences, I'd be very interested in hearing them.
Login
