! Attention, this article is not AI powered ! It is freestyle writing, which might be even a stream of consciousness.

Since you dreamed about having your website in 2023 and using up to date Drupal version - you could ask someone - what else do I need besides the core, what modules should I download, do they still work under 10? Here is the shortlist to start fast and feel solid.

The modules' list (starring in alphabetical order)

admin_toolbar

I could give it another a (aadmin_toolbar) to stay always on the top of my list. This project gives you the ability to hover and navigate fast to any section of your admin panel. I always think why this isn't inside the core, they throw away the Forum module, so they could swap this one instead. Works flawlessly. I sometimes only forget, that I need to enable the Admin Toolbar Links Access Filter submodule, because it leaves the empty admin menu links, but the community is working on one core issue... since 2008. In Drupal even bugs are mature. But jokes aside - this is an excellent piece of code.

entity_block

Only recently this one came up to my arsenal and I've felt it's strictly required when working with the Layout Builder(let's call him LB) module. What is the essence of LB? Those are blocks - one of the basic elements in the Drupal ecosystem. LB barebones has some limits and I can't imagine, how to put blocks where I want to, or how to put a page into a page. This module is the answer. Pro-tip - you can create a view mode, then a template and get rid of the title when embedding the entity into your page's body (regular Drupal developer wanted!).

eu_cookie_compliance

From the number of stars under this Drupal project, you can see, how much this one's needed. It deals with the GDPR law problem regulations, which now is mandatory for every little website, at least in the EU. Managing cookies on your website is not a small thing. There are plenty of proprietary scripts that try to help you - but this is a pure Drupal solution, so take a look inside and see a great combination of PHP and js code inside.

google_analytics

The fewer analytics the better, fewer cookies, and faster websites, but in the end - regular users just want to see who entered their website and measure their success in the search rankings race. It's as easy as adding your tracking suite id and clicking save. Remember - respect your users' privacy, always!

honeypot

When having forms on your website - this one is a classic point of resistance to spamming bots. They just fill in the inputs they'll find in your form and send it right away with any nonsense information they have been created for. So this one gives them random input, just like honey to stick in and be stopped by the validation process. The additional option is to give a minimum time prediction in which the user can type data. Although I use autocomplete where I can, in the end, I use another 5 seconds to check if it filled properly.

metatag

Opengraph, Twitter graph, Dublin core - you name it. It covers the basic needs for SEO of every website, can conform to many options and is number one when it comes to creating a lot of additional work for content editors. Just check the list of functionalities that it covers. You can do global behaviour, you can set per page. You are SEOhead and want more SEO - search for schema module in the metatag ecosystem.

photoswipe

Carousels are the thing we want, we want them to swipe in the mobile. I've found this module easygoing and it did the job. It integrates with views and makes group galleries, all I need for a simple website. No jQuery. Although haven't tried putting the video in it yet, so be ware. This time just wanted something different from the Slick module, anyway, it's D10-ready already.

rabbit_hole

I add this one in case someone tries to enter your nodes directly. Everything in Drupal is a node, so you could try to hit the user endpoint, a part of your website, a file. This could create unnecessary search results. Might be not the case, but it's good to keep control of what crawlers get.

simple_sitemap

Another SEO module. As simple as it promises. Can create a sitemap, which is crucial even from the menu. It controls what to add or not, again per node or globally. Good stable solution for XML sitemaps.

token

Let you create tokens in a way similar to other CMSs. Automate things a bit, it's a dependency of the metatag module. You can create f.e. a description with the node's author data, and place information in fields, that will compute from other fields. Many possibilities.

webform

When you search for a form solution in Drupal it's a place to go. Gives you internal Form API full possibilities and extends it cleverly, giving you UI, so even beginner users can create sophisticated forms. Want users to choose only certain weekdays values, send custom emails to involved parties, integrate third-party APIs - no problem.

The end(summary)

Insightful readers that count precisely could spot that there are 11 modules. Who knows, maybe the author wanted this article to be future-proof and will rename it on the Drupal 11 release date. But seriously I just wanted to thank the contributors of Drupal modules for the hard work and the thoughtful job they do.

Drupal 10 is a great CMS for even small websites, it even doesn't need a lot of resources or sophisticated hosting.

The recipe is to put some effort and go beyond the learning curve, sit not too many hours and you will end up with a technologically advanced, your place on the internet and maybe a new hobby!