Sector(s)
The Grey Muzzle Organization is a non-profit committed to supporting at-risk senior dogs. They offer funding and resources to shelters, rescues, sanctuaries, and other non-profits nationwide.
They collaborated with Specbee to revamp their website. Their objective was to enhance mission clarity and introduce more uplifting messaging to promote the well-being of senior dogs. They wanted to create a modern, easy-to-use site that would drive more donations and increase user engagement.
The site looks fantastic!!! Huge thanks to the entire Specbee team for making the new site a reality! As a virtual organization, our website is so critical to our success, and this big improvement will ultimately make more second chances possible for senior dogs. They send their thanks as well!
Heather Hayes, Director of Marketing & Communications, The Grey Muzzle Organization
The Goal:
Grey Muzzle wanted their website to better communicate their mission in terms of User Experience and overall look and feel. They were also looking to upgrade their Drupal 9 website to Drupal 10. The website had critical bugs from a previous migration that hurt performance and user experience.
The Challenges:
As we prepared for the upcoming Drupal 10 upgrade, meticulous planning was essential to ensure the previous bad migration issues were resolved without creating redundant work.
Timing was everything, especially since the organization relied heavily on donations during specific periods. Any disruptions to the website during these times could have jeopardized the user experience and, in turn, impacted the flow of donations, which were crucial for their funding.
We also introduced custom solutions, like CKEditor styles that added a squiggly text effect. This feature was carefully designed to maintain visual appeal across all text sizes, enhancing the overall aesthetic of the site.
The Process:
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Bug Resolution Strategy:
- We began by meticulously managing the resolution of website bugs. High-priority issues were tackled first, while lower-priority bugs were strategically scheduled for resolution during the Drupal 10 upgrade. This approach ensured efficiency and prevented redundant efforts.
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Timing Considerations:
- Understanding the critical nature of the organization’s funding periods, our team exercised caution when implementing changes. We prioritized maintaining a seamless user experience to safeguard the flow of donations during these crucial times.
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Frontend Development:
- For the frontend, we crafted a custom theme using our proprietary theme generator, Drupal-theme-init. The homepage was built with Layout Builder and Custom Block Types, ensuring flexibility and ease of use.
- To maintain consistent styling and avoid naming conflicts, we adopted BEM class naming conventions.
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Code Quality Assurance:
- We employed eslint and Stylint to rigorously check JS and CSS code, ensuring high-quality code standards. SVG icons were utilized for better control over image resizing and transition effects.
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Module Integration:
- Key Drupal modules such as Layout Builder Modal, Layout Builder Styles, and Layout Builder Restrictions were integrated. This provided content authors with a seamless and intuitive authoring experience.
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Quality Assurance:
- Throughout the project, we followed our structured internal QA process. This ensured that development quality was consistently upheld before moving on to customer testing and, finally, the production release.
Why did they choose Specbee:
The Grey Muzzle Organization selected Specbee for our Drupal expertise and proven success in complex migrations. Our team’s skill in resolving challenges during the Drupal 9 upgrade and our strategy for a smooth Drupal 10 migration earned their trust for this project.
The Outcome:
The redesigned site has delivered impressive improvements across key metrics, demonstrating the impact of the changes we made. Take a look at the improvement in the average engagement time that showcases the transition from the old to the new Grey Muzzle Organization website.
Average engagement time:
The Grey Muzzle Organization initially migrated from an ASP.NET site to Drupal 7 in 2016 to leverage a modern CMS-based website. They continued with Drupal for its flexibility, security, and robust community support.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
These Layout builder modules helped us provide a seamless authoring experience for Grey Muzzle's team.
