City of Terrace

In 2016, Upanup designed and developed the City's website on the Drupal 7 (D7) content management system (CMS). Years later, Drupal announced that this version of the CMS would be sunsetting. (To learn more about what this means visit our article about upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9.) The City could have stayed on D7 through extended support from Upanup, but the site would no longer be supported by the Drupal community. Instead, the City determined that upgrading the website to D9 was the best option and would provide its users with an optimal experience. Additionally, this would provide the City with an opportunity to make some design adjustments to better meet their users' needs.

Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 involves rebuilding the site on the new platform with the option to keep the existing design, make adjustments, or create a new design. Upanup performed an accessibility audit for current stylings (link colours, hover states, and focus states) to identify if other areas should be updated. The City was happy overall with the existing website design but wanted to make improvements to the homepage. These improvements included:

• Updated icons that are accessible and provide a modern feel
• Featured news posts to highlight information that is important to the City's citizens
• A more intuitive layout to improve navigation for the City's users

This could have been done during the upgrade project or after the website was rebuilt in the new platform; it was decided that redesigning the homepage at the same time would be most efficient. Our team has continuously made refinements to the Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 upgrade process to help with efficiency and quality (e.g., matching node IDs from the old site to the new one).

The City's new website was launched in July 2022 and the refreshed homepage has provided users with enhanced navigation, making it easier for users to find information. The City will not have to worry about rebuilding its site any time soon as any future Drupal version updates will be performed within the existing platform. The City will have peace of mind knowing its site was built using the most secure version.

To learn more about the Drupal 7 sunset and what it means for your website, contact our team today. To be the first to know about new case studies, tools, offerings, and more sign up for our quarterly newsletter below. 

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