Housing Rights

Migrating Housing Rights to Drupal 10 with Improved UX

Image of dad and 3 children playing with wooden block toys on floor of their sitting room.

The Problem

Housing Rights, a Northern Ireland charity supporting homeowners, landlords, and tenants, needed a website upgrade. Their main site was still on Drupal 7, approaching end-of-life, with two additional sites requiring consolidation.

The goals were to:

  • Migrate to Drupal 10

  • Consolidate multiple websites into one

  • Improve accessibility, SEO, analytics, and load time

  • Ensure fast access to relevant advice and resources

  • Deliver a consistent, easy-to-use content editor experience

Image of laptop showing housing rights website home page.

The Idea

We built the new site on Drupal, ensuring continuity for staff familiar with the platform. Key activities included:

  • Discovery and content architecture: defined content types and structures for editors and users

  • Drupal 9 build with Drupal 10 readiness: module compatibility decisions ensured a smooth upgrade path

  • Search and navigation: implemented Solr search via Drupal’s Search API modules, delivering refined results with taxonomy filters

  • Restricted content: role-based access control for members-only resources

  • SEO migration: URL analysis, redirects, and optimised templates safeguarded organic visibility

  • Feedback and testing: trialled Marker.io for structured bug reporting with screenshots, URLs, browser data, and annotations

The Outcome

  • A modern, consolidated Drupal 10 site with improved UX and accessibility

  • Robust search powered by Solr, ensuring users quickly find relevant content

  • Restricted content features to serve different user groups securely

  • Smooth SEO transition, maintaining traffic and search visibility

  • Faster and clearer feedback cycles using Marker.io, improving collaboration between client and development teams

  •  Housing Rights now has a scalable, user-friendly digital platform ready to evolve with future needs

FAQs

  • Why did Housing Rights need a new website?

    Their main site was still on Drupal 7, with multiple sites needing consolidation, and required modernisation for accessibility and SEO.

  • How did Ideas + Outcomes ensure a smooth Drupal migration?

    By building in Drupal 9 with Drupal 10 readiness, managing SEO migration, and ensuring module compatibility for longevity.

  • What results did the project deliver?

    A modern Drupal 10 site, stronger UX, robust search, secure member-only content, and a smooth SEO transition that maintained visibility.

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