Review of the update and implementation of the reference guide by the League Against Cancer

The context

The League Against Cancer had an unfinished, virtually abandoned and poorly functioning website powered by Drupal 7. They contacted our team more than four years after the project began, with the goal of: 

• Finalizing the website;
• Improving user journeys and interfaces;
• Ensuring the site’s go-live;
• Handling corrective and ongoing maintenance after launch.

We also proposed to:

• Conduct user tests to validate user journeys;
• Handle site hosting;
• Upgrade the site from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9.

Taking over the Drupal 7 site – Auditing Drupal standards

Every time we take over a Drupal site developed by another team, we carry out a free audit of Drupal standards. This audit, which requires a Lead Developer for about two days, is used to set up a development environment and run a range of tests to assess the quality of the code (or measure its technical debt). 

The audit report highlighted: 

• that the project did not have a code repository;
• that the site did not use Composer;
• that the site had not kept up with updates (minor version upgrades);
• that some minor code organization and sorting standards had not been followed;
• that no GDPR compliance measures were in place, particularly regarding consent for cookies and data retention periods;
• that SEO requirements were rarely respected.

These findings, reassuring as they had little impact on the site’s maintainability, allowed us to confidently take over the UI of the interfaces.

Work on interfaces and improving user journeys

The UI intervention involved adapting the interfaces to comply with the League Against Cancer’s brand guidelines, while keeping existing features. No new features were considered at this initial stage. Most of the effort focused on search journeys, aiming to simplify them and guide users without losing sight of their original question.

This step allowed us to create testable prototypes submitted to a panel of users. The user tests identified improvements and comprehension issues, which were corrected before integrating them into the site and updating the theme.

Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9

The upgrade secured the site’s operation for the long term. It was accompanied by an update of the operating environment, now running with PHP 8.

Simple and easy to access, the project is now a valuable resource for users seeking information. Traffic is constantly increasing. We thank the League Against Cancer teams for their commitment and availability.

Go-live: 03/21/2023
Website URL: https://droit-demarche-cancer.fr/
See the case study

Client testimonial – Camille Flavigny, Project Manager for Legal Rights for the League Against Cancer: 
"The team of experts provided by Bluedrop Agency did not disappoint us during these first six months of collaboration: efficient, responsive, and full of ideas. That's exactly what we needed in the face of the urgent challenge: to take over and complete an information website for people with cancer. The platform is now up and running, but the collaboration is just beginning."