Drupal 7 new features

Drupal 7 contains several new features plus previously optional modules included in the core download.

Unfortunately Captcha and Image Captcha are not included in core.

Contextual links

Provides contextual links to perform actions related to elements on a page.
Forget this until you finish your conversion to Drupal 7. After the conversion, start investigating the new and improved actions system in Drupal 7.

Dashboard

Provides a dashboard page in the administrative interface for organizing administrative tasks and tracking information within your site.
The dashboard is both annoying and useful. You have to learn a new way of administering your site, a real annoyance during a conversion. You could turn the dashboard off during the conversion and turn the dashboard back on after the conversion. You can also install a similar dashboard in Drupal 6 and practice with the dashboard before the conversion.

Field UI

User Interface for the Field API.
This is part of the old optional CCK module. CCK started life with a really silly design mistake. Eventually a sane developer rewrote the worst part of CCK. On several occasions I tried to use a fixed CCK for major projects but CCK was always more work than simply creating a custom module.

A small part of CCK, a useful part, is rewritten again and included in Drupal 7 core as the fields API. The big bulky CCK user interface is included as the optional Fields UI module. Fields UI is switched on in the Standard Drupal 7 install and switched off in the Minimal install. Switch Fields UI off unless you want to go through the hassle of creating your own fields, something you do not want during the conversion from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7.

Image

Provides image manipulation tools.
This module is part of a Drupal 6 optional image handling module and creates a node for each image. Unfortunately it does not provide a professional level of image handling and you will still need an optional module to complete image handling.

Overlay

Displays the Drupal administration interface in an overlay.
This module presents the administration page as an annoying slow javascript based overlay. Switch off this module to make your administration access faster. Instead of getting a slow overlay on your current page, you can open the administration pages as new tabs in your browser.

Path

Allows users to rename URLs.
Path is switched on in the Standard Drupal 7 install. Path is useful. Use it. This is one reason to use the standard install then switch off the two useless features included in the standard install.

RDF

Enriches your content with metadata to let other applications (e.g. search engines, aggregators) better understand its relationships and attributes.
This is good for accessibility. Use it. Do not worry about it during the conversion to Drupal 7. Look at it afterwards.

Shortcut

Allows users to manage customizable lists of shortcut links.

Toolbar

Provides a toolbar that shows the top-level administration menu items and links from other modules.
There is a toolbar style theme for Drupal 6 and a dashboard style module. Both the toolbar and dashboard use new headings and structure to confuse you during the conversion. The Drupal 6 equivalent modules and themes might not represent the Drupal 7 version.