If you want to build a university website on Drupal, the first thing you need to do is to plan your .edu Drupal development, as this process is long, challenging, and requires a lot of time and effort.
Today, the web development team at WishDesk, who have developed a number of successful university websites, explain the right way to plan educational website development on Drupal.
Reasons to build higher education websites on Drupal
Over 70% of the best university websites are built on Drupal. This isn’t surprising, as Drupal is the most flexible and scalable CMS available nowadays. Universities love Drupal because it allows them to connect websites from different departments using its multisite feature. What’s more, Drupal offers a special Workflow module that simplifies the process of content publication. This content management system also provides an out-of-the-box multilingual feature that offers a choice of over a hundred languages to install on websites.
Discover more Drupal’s benefits for university websites.
How to plan educational website development on Drupal?
Follow this guide to plan educational website development on the Drupal content management system.
1. Choose a credible Drupal web development agency
In order to develop a successful and functional educational website, you need to find professionals who already have experience in .edu Drupal development. There is no need to have a team of web developers on board just for educational website development. You can easily search for such agencies online, check out their portfolios, and outsource your project, saving money in the process. Later, you can outsource your project for support and maintenance services as well.
WishDesk may be your best solution, as we are experienced in Drupal educational website development.
Discover why outsourcing to Ukraine is a smart solution, as well as check out these tips on hiring remote web developers.
2. Define the core features of your education website
When the Drupal agency is chosen, you need to explain how you see the final version of the website. What features do you want to see on the platform? Create a detailed list in order to set clear and accurate tasks for the development team.
Features of a successful .edu Drupal website:
- mobile-friendliness
- responsive design
- modern design
- intuitive navigation
- capabilities to easily publish and update content
- clear call-to-action buttons on every web page
- third-party integrations
- multi-lingual feature
- accessibility
3. Identify user roles and permissions for educational website development on Drupal
If you want to provide high-level website security and usability, it is crucial to determine user roles and permissions: specifically who is allowed to view, edit, or delete content on your educational website. Drupal CMS makes the configuration of user access easy, as Drupal offers out-of-the-box user roles, as well as contributed modules for such functionality.
All you need is to determine who you want to have administrative privileges. Here are examples of roles and permissions:
- a non-logged-in user (can only read published content)
- a logged-in user (may read content, write comments)
- a logged-in use with the role of Content Editor (can create and edit content)
- a user with multiple roles (can do all functions on the website)
4. Choose a trusted hosting service
Web hosting is a type of service that provides space for your website so that people can visit it on the Internet. The hosting provider influences a web page's loading speed. Besides, a reliable host is a guarantee of your site’s security. You never know what websites share hosting server with you. However, Google knows and associates you with them. These sites could have anything on them — even gambling or drugs. If any of them gets hacked, all the other websites on that server will be taken down as well. To avoid this, make sure you have a reliable and credible hosting provider.
Contact DevOps services providers for hosting services for your .edu Drupal development.
Also, learn more about different types of hosting.
5. The educational website development process
After all is planned and the reliable agency is chosen, it is time for educational website development on Drupal. You can constantly monitor the progress via task trackers, such as TeamWork, Jira, Trello, or any other. You can also request any changes and updates, or ask for additional functionality.
6. Ongoing support and maintenance
Things do not end with website development. Any platform needs ongoing support and maintenance in order to keep it updated, secure, and functional. Even the best site can pile up with bugs and errors, so you need someone to continually monitor the website's performance and eliminate any issues immediately.
You can contact Wishdesk for website support and maintenance services.
Develop a higher education website with WishDesk!
We have a successful case in Higher Education Website Development, showcasing our expertise in creating impactful university platforms. Now is the high time to plan educational website development on Drupal and build an outstanding platform to boost education and encourage more and more students to participate in school activities. And WishDesk is always here to assist you with any stages of Drupal website development or support.
