PIXELS WITH PURPOSE

Confessions of a Recovering Propriety Software User

June 2012

A web designer’s worst nightmare

Source: www.theoatmeal.com

Here it comes…

Source: www.theoatmeal.com

Source: www.theoatmeal.com

Where We Were •  Proprietary CMS

developed in 2007 •  Same CMS used

2007-2010 – we were stuck

•  Expensive updates and upgrades

•  Fewer developers able to work on the CMS

•  Declining usability, accessibility

Source: Flickr, L.Marie

All that we wanted to be: •  Leaders in ICT – setting

the trends in Qatar •  Constituent focused –

user friendly and accessible

•  Agile and flexible •  Less reliant on

consultants – build in-house capacity

•  BUT also secure and resilient

Source: Flickr, â–“â–’â–‘ TORLEY â–‘â–’â–“

The Solution: Open Source and Drupal

•  No vendor lock-in •  A larger pool of designers and

developers – and ones we could hire!

•  Built-in features that were constantly being upgraded by the community

•  Ability to quickly upgrade, modernize as web trends evolve

And of course it’s for the greater good! •  Open source keeps knowledge and

innovation moving forward •  A major contributor to the Arabic

developer community •  ictQATAR is committed to growing

an open source developer community in Qatar

•  AND supports digital openness in general

So here we are now…

And more open source sites too!

Reflections on our experience – we are reformed (mostly) •  Overall, the migration to Drupal went fairly

smoothly •  Very limited errors, “bugs” upon launch •  User feedback has been very positive •  Regular upgrades, tweaks, and modifications

since – without breaking the bank •  In-house team leading many projects now •  No security breaches or issues •  Advances have been shared with the

community •  AND we aren’t locked in (mostly)!

But of course there were some challenges…

•  The Arabic developer community is not as developed for as other communities in both Drupal and WordPress

•  Open Source can take more time – off-the-shelf is sometimes easier

•  With a highly customized site, incumbent developer still has a leg up

Source: Flickr Bludgeoner86

Source: Flickr, marc falardeau