Children's Brain Tumor Foundation Website & Community Portal
Website: Children's Brain Tumor Foundation
Partner: NPower
Challenge
We arrived on the scene with Children's Brain Tumor Foundation (CBTF) struggling through a poorly implemented Drupal website and design. They had no community features on their website and were supporting survivors and families with phone calls, emails and Facebook.CBTF wanted an attractive website which supported the reality that they are a leading provider of support to survivors and their families – but more importantly – they needed a safe place for survivors and families to make discuss issues with staff, doctors and each other.
Solution
Again using Capellic Drupal as the starting point for the new website, my role was to theme the site in the new design, implementing the information architecture and configure a community portal with features such as groups, chat and private messaging.Home Page
Catering to first time visitors and regulars, the home page allows users to get an idea of the breadth of CBTF's activities as well as log into the online community.http://www.cbtf.org
Drupal Notes: Panels is used for the layout and Views Rotator is used for the feature slideshow.
Blog
A blog is a web-familiar style for news and announcements. Featured on the home page as well as having it's own section of the website, CBTF is able to both formally and casually connect with their constituents. The Blog is also available via RSS to provide content to the widest possible audience.http://www.cbtf.org/blog
http://www.cbtf.org/feed-blog
Drupal Notes: Instead of using the Blog module, we've created a Content Type with fields specific to CBTF's needs. We find that this approach gives us the most flexibility. The most recent blog items list is done using Views. The monthly and yearly archive blocks were created with a custom module.
Learn
The Learn section compiles articles from authorities on topics ranging from financial aid to conferences.http://www.cbtf.org/learn
Drupal Notes: Instead of using the out-of-the-box method for categorizing and navigating nodes in taxonomy vocabularies, we use our own Content Type and Views set. We used Content Taxonomy Tree for the navigation within the Learn section.
Online Community
The online community requires registration and can't be viewed without being logged in.Registration
The first step in registration asks the user to identify their role so that we can assign them the proper role and ask them the proper questions on step 2. The role is important to identify the member within the community and, in some cases, is used to provide additional functionality.Most of the information on the registration form is private, but some will be used to build the member's community profile.
Members must be approved before they can gain access to the site. Administrators receive an email notification of a new member application which contains the information completed on the registration form and a link to approve the member.
http://www.cbtf.org/registration
Drupal Notes: Step 2 of the registration process has a unique path that corresponds to roles. The Auto Assign Role is being used to assign members to roles based on that path. The Terms of Use module is being used to insert the terms of the website which must be agreed to.
Dashboard
This is where the member is directed when logging in to give them an overview of their activity in the online community. See Screenshot)If a member belongs to any groups, links to those groups are included. If the member is not a member, he/she is invited to join groups.
A list of articles and events of interest is displayed based upon topics the member selected during registration. Members are invited to update their interests to refine the feed of articles and events. If the member has not yet defined any interests, they are invited to do so.
The user is also reminded to complete their user profile with a progress meter in the sidebar. A list of active chat rooms is also on the dashboard, inviting users to dive into real-time conversation.
Drupal Notes: The Login Destination module is being used to direct members here, but these days we're using the Rules module for redirection since we're using it for several other things in our implementations. The Dashboard layout is done using Views and blocks either appear or disappear based upon their role and other variables achieved through custom modules. The Profile Complete Percentage module is used to provide a progress meter on specific CCK fields that have values.
Profile
In an effort to build familiarity between members, members are encouraged to complete their profiles and are asked to provide their favorite TV shows, books, foods as well as their home town, hobbies and their profession. Their profile photo appears next to any post that they make in the online community.Drupal Notes: The Content Profile module is used to allow us to add specific fields to profile. CCK Private Fields is used to show a sub-set of profile fields to members while keeping more sensitive information available to staff only.
Member Engagement
The member is able to engage with CBTF and other members of the online community in several ways including- real-time chat,
- message boards,
- ability for members to "friend" other members,
- email notifications of when a new article meets their area of interest,
- email notifications of when a discussion in which they are participating gets updated,
- and email notifications when they receive a private message.
Drupal Notes: Real-time chat is being provided by the Chat Room module. Groups functionality is provided by an array of Organic Groups modules including OG Forum, Organic Groups Access Control (OG), Organic Groups Notifications (OG), Organic Groups Panels (Panels). Discussions are managed by the core Forum module and we've added the Advanced Forum module. The Privatemsg module is used to handle intra-site email. The Notifications module is the work horse behind notifying users of new content via email. The Flag and Flag Field modules are used for the friend functionality.
Additional Drupal Notes & modules
- Dynamic Persistent Menu: Responsible for displaying the secondary level of the primary menu when the primary menu item is rolled over.
- ImageCache: Considered standard on all our implementations, resizes images per design specification. We're using Imagecache Canvas Actions to get rounded corners on photos.
- Pathauto: Another standard module to us, gives users sensible paths and gives search engines more meta information.
- Rules: Yet another standard module that we use from everything from redirects to custom messaging and content manipulation. The duct tape of Drupal.
- CCK & Views: It should go without saying: Absolutely critical to any Drupal website of note.
- Content Access: Used to be sure that anonymous users don't have access to online community content.
- Cobalt: A module for the site builder, provides a Quicksliver-like interface for jumping around the site. Very handy.
- IE CSS Optimizer: Another great module for the site builder. Allows you to work on the theme CSS file without breaking the site for IE users.
- Location: Using the Location module for address information should we want spacial/mapping functionality in the future.
- Nodewords: Used for SEO
- Backup and Migrate: Backing up database daily and keeping for two weeks.
- Better Formats: Absolutely essential for sorting through the morass of input formats.
- Image Resize Filter: Great utility module that will resize an image used in the Body field to the defined width and height.
- Menu Trails: Great for being sure that the menu trail is properly highlighted. Now also has the ability to affect breadcrumbs which leaves the future of Custom Breadcrumbs in doubt.
- Signwriter: Using to covert field strings into a custom font face without using Flash.
- Webform: Used for the contact form as well as any future form needs that may come up.
- CAPTCHA: Used on the registration form to avoid bot spam.
- External Links: Automatically opens external links in a new window.
