Sector(s)
Project Team
Project Manager: Victor Künzig
Project Manager: Steffi Hetjens
Backend Developer: Alex Tkacev
Developer: Blazej Owczarczyk
Frontend Developer: John Albin Wilkins
Design Lead: Lisa Müller
Visit the site
Visit the siteOrganizations Involved
Community contributions
As part of developing HEKS, our team contributed to various Drupal 8 core issues as well as to patches for the modules being used.
HEKS is the aid organisation of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland, with its headquarters in Zurich.
About the project
HEKS commissioned us to create a new web presence together with them. The range of global aid projects had to be presented in a clear and appealing way. A modular structure was required to allow editors to set up appealing pages with minimal effort.
The aim was to use Drupal 8 to create a modular website that was both clear and appealing. The web page had to be dynamic, with the search function as a central element.
The new appearance makes full use of the many advantages of Drupal 8 and allows editors to create customised pages. The modular structure means that pages and landing pages can be created in a range of different formats. Information can thus be presented in an attractive and appealing way.
The optimally integrated search function allows users to find content not only on individual pages but also in existing PDFs.
Pages are thus created with content that is dynamic and relevant for visitors. Users can quickly find topics that interest them.
They can also support HEKS through RaiseNow, an online fundraising platform. The integration of this solution placed great value on user friendliness and the overall user experience.
Why Drupal was chosen
Flexible Content Structure
One of HEKS primary goals was to rework their content structure. Drupal allowed us to shift away from having the sitemap tree in the foreground to focusing on just the content. By leveraging features likes nodes & paragraphs, Drupal was chosen to flexibly edit contents based on predefined preset that would provide the content editor with maximum flexibility while maintaining a consistent end user experience and design.
Powerful Search
Drupal’s search capabilities together with Search API and Apache Solr would allow to create a very integrated approach to the complex project explorer functionality that was required for the project.
Amazee Labs
With 10 years of Drupal experience, including early adoption of Drupal 8 and 30+ Drupal experts actively contributing to the open-source project, Amazee Labs is a global power player.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
Modules key to the HEKS website were chosen related to its main features. The main setup was based on Drupal 8 and multilingual was a clear requirement as for most Swiss websites.
Based on Fields, Paragraphs, Page Manager and Metatag we created a system that allows contents to be edited flexible and provides consistency where needed. The Scheduler module allows editors to plan automatic publishing or unpublishing of contents.
The Media and Responsive Images modules allow to upload, organise and display images and videos in various contexts on the website. Large images are resized automatically depending on the end users' device size to optimise frontend performance.
The search functionality was built on Search API, Facets and the Search API Solr Integration modules. Together, they allow users to filter projects by topics, country or region as well as the use of full text search.
The Mailchimp module allows users to subscribe directly to the Mailchimp newsletter from the HEKS website.
By integrating and customizing RaiseNow donation widgets, we allow HEKS to get funds directly from the website.
