Wroclaw Medical University

One of the best medical, educational institutions in Poland

An intuitive, transparent, and efficient Drupal 9-based website for university? Read on to discover the development process details.

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The issue
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2
Our solution
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3
Solution in details
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4
Realisation in numbers
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The results
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Technologies
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The issue

why did we establish cooperation?

For a few years, Wroclaw Medical University has run a website on Drupal 7. However, over time, technology has become out-of-date. Thus, it was a natural decision to migrate the website to the newest Drupal version, which helps to maintain top-class code and security standards.

The main issue of the previous website version was poor user experience. Old-fashioned design, illegible structure, navigation, and lack of mobile views – those problems caused the website to be highly unintuitive and hard to use from mobile devices. To meet users’ expectations, technological upgrades and overall redesign were inevitable.

Social media section on university's website

Our solution

which strategy did we apply?

Our team was responsible for Drupal 9-based website creation from scratch. Moreover, the development works covered an aesthetic, UX/UI-compliant graphic design implementation.

The new website includes numerous recreated functionalities from the previous site. Besides, the project assumed dozens of new functionalities that vastly extend the platform’s possibilities and improve user experience. One of the most crucial parts of the project was content migration – you can read more about this process below.

After completing the development works and the test phase, we released the project in the production environment. At this stage, we precisely verified page speed and efficiency via complex components analysis.

As a result, we implemented various mechanisms which vastly improved the efficiency (e.g., lazy loading, image, fonts, and styles optimization).

Finally, we conducted the security audit and implemented additional security enhancements. Last, but not least, our team prepared complex project documentation for the customer. The documentation included, e.g., precise admin panel instructions and detailed functionalities descriptions.

We were in constant contact with the customer during the cooperation. We organized numerous control meetings, calls, etc. Thus, we delivered a fully-functional project which met customers' expectations.

Solution in details

which areas were crucial?
Mobile menu - UMW

Paragraphs

The entire project was made using paragraphs. Thus, it is possible to build each sub-page using available “blocks” which can be duplicated or placed in a different order. Paragraphs in Drupal ensure vast flexibility in content creation, so as in making modifications in the future.

Dynamic translations

Our team coded a custom plugin for Drupal’s content editor – CKEditor. The module allows dynamic content translations from Polish to English without switching to a DeepL translator in a different browser window. The translations are available directly from the content editor.

Content migration

Content migration from the previous systems was a crucial part of the project. One of the main obstacles in this process was the content location – it was placed in two different content management systems. Moreover, the customer wanted to migrate chosen content from both systems. As a result, we had to build an advanced migration solution based on Migrate API. It helped us to migrate the content from both CMS based on predefined conditions.

LDAP integration

Our team integrated the system with LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). Hence, users can log in to the website via an external CAS system (Central Authorization System) delivered by the customer. Once the user logs in to the system, he can use the same data in various services, which is an indisputable advantage of this solution.

Image editor

The customer wanted to place a simple image editor in the Drupal admin panel. We used the TOAST UI library to make that. Thus, the image editor enables, e.g., rotation, mirror reflection, cutting, scaling, and many other operations. Therefore, the editors can adjust the graphics to the needed form without using external tools.

Dynamic forms

Thanks to the Webform module, users can create dynamic forms needed, e.g., for registration. Authorized users can configure, e.g., fields in forms without any programming knowledge.

PDF files browser

We built up a dedicated university newspapers browser that enables access to full-size files in PDF form. The solution is based on the JavaScript library – PDF.js.

Realisation in numbers

project’s statistics
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We spent 1800 hours on analysis, development works, and consultations with the customer.

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We implemented +135 graphic views (both desktop and mobile).

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Our team coded 22 custom modules specially for this project.

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8 Smartbees experts worked on the project’s successful delivery.

Departments section on UMW website

The results

benefits for our client
  1. The newest Drupal 9.x system.
  2. The website perfectly adjusted to mobile devices.
  3. Top-notch design and intuitive navigation that has a positive impact on user experience.
  4. World-class security confirmed during the audit.
  5. Complete project documentation with extended instructions.
  6. The efficiency warranty confirmed during the test phase.
  7. Compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Technologies

which were used
Drupal 9

Project’s base. We used this CMS as the main technology for the website development.

Vue.js

JavaScript library used, e.g., to build an interactive events calendar.

Apache Solr

Technology used to build a global search engine. We integrated its extended configuration interface with Drupal’s admin panel.

Redis

Caching system used to boost page speed and efficiency.

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