Web Site Issues
The existing St. Leonard's website was functional and met most of St. Leonard's requirements, but it looked dated, did not function well on mobile, and did not meet accessibility requirements as mandated by the Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
The current website was designed using Drupal 7 which their editors and IT department were familiar with, and was a great choice due to the complex roles and permissions that go along with having more than 40 editors editing different content on the site. They also required login using their existing Microsoft account credentials, rather than logging in through Drupal directly.
The main improvements they were looking for included:
- A modern clean web design that met AODA requirements
- Clearer contact information to make general contact easier, as well as making it easier for prospective clients to get in contact with the right people in the right department
- Clearer site navigation
- A better job board where site visitors could search and find jobs more easily
- A better admin section so site editors could easily add new job postings, news articles, and update content when programming changed
Our Web Design Solution
Because staff was already familiar with Drupal, Drupal 9 was chosen as the platform for the new site. A custom theme provides a clean and modern design that meets AODA requirements. A new menu structure makes navigation easier and allows for a better mobile menu that is much easier to read and navigate.
Drupal extensive capabilities allow for the use of a number of technologies to solve issues in an efficient way that make long term maintenance of the site content easier. Custom content types with embedded contact forms on each program page make it easy to update contact information for each program as staff and contact information change.
The job boards have a new faceted search which allow listings to be narrowed easily, in addition to a text search function.
A new admin theme, combined with the new admin section in Drupal 9 offers a vastly improved admin experience compared to previous versions of Drupal. Maintenance of content is much easier with clearer navigation and a much improved editing experience.
Microsoft logins are achieved using a module designed specifically for login using third-party credentials so all site editors, roles, and permissions can be managed by the St. Leonard's IT department through their Microsoft account.
