Drupal project

A non-profit organization needs to re-design its Drupal site and add some functionality. This is an integrated graphics and admin type project. Accessibility is a key feature. ## Deliverables Request for Proposals (RFP) for COAT Drupal Site The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) is a coalition of disability organizations. We advocate for legislative and regulatory safeguards that will ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet protocol (IP) technologies. COAT consists of over 160 national, regional, state, and community-based organizations dedicated to making sure that as our nation migrates from legacy public switched-based telecommunications to more versatile and innovative IP-based and other communication technologies, people with disabilities will not be left behind. The main content of the site is the many accessibility issues consumers have with new technologies, and the draft bill now before Congress to remedy that situation. We have a current Drupal site ([login to view URL]) which needs major upgrades in design and functionality. This RFP reflects what we’re looking for; we assume that some details will have to be handled in dialogue with you. COAT has 2 volunteer staffers with some Drupal technical and admin experience. We would like to get started soon, and complete the work before the end of March. Visual Design The site will use a Drupal theme and layout that is crisp, clear, and intuitive. The theme can be an original design or an existing/modified Drupal theme, but must meet the most stringent accessibility requirements (see next section). We need a logo as well, which will be reviewed by COAT members before publishing. The overall impression should project an image of technological sophistication and engagement. Site design, including menus, sidebars, search tools, boilerplate, etc. will be tested for effective use on an 800 x 600 pixel window size, in Internet Explorer and Firefox, on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Accessibility The site will have exemplary accessibility without trading off visual interest, including layout, images, videos, use of color, and font selection. The site will comply with WCAG 1.0 Level 3 or equivalent. Users will be able to adjust the font size via an on-screen tool. Some documents on the site will be made available in .brf format, which allows for easy printing on a braille printer. The initial design will be subjected to a rigorous accessibility evaluation. COAT member organizations can help with this issue, but we expect the contractor to be fully aware of accessibility and Drupal implications. Simplified Content Management Some documents will be brought to the site from MS Word and Adobe Acrobat without requiring any special editing or formatting. This can be accomplished by copy-paste or file importing. It is essential that the resulting document not require any manual editing to remove formatting. Documentation The main day-to-day site admin will be performed by non-technical volunteers on a rotating basis, so clear documentation is important. Site documentation will include step-by-step instructions for all the basic operations of the site. This can be accomplished by pointing to existing Drupal documentation, but must be supplemented for any new or modified functionality. Video Hosting For each text item or document deemed necessary, a consistent, identifiable link will bring the visitor to an American Sign Language (ASL) video with identical content. These videos will not require captions, descriptions, narrations, or transcripts. The site will also be able to host ASL videos with original content. These videos will require accessible captions and transcripts. COAT volunteer staff will prepare the captioned videos and transcript files. Site functionality will allow the staff to upload these 2 linked files easily such that they appear on the site correctly, without any further file manipulation. We think this is the only real “software development?? we will need. We would be glad to offer it to the Drupal community as a module if that is workable. Authoring, Commenting, and Spam For now we will only have COAT volunteer staff able to either post new articles or to comment on existing articles. The site will be configured to deny these rights to all users without special authorization. As this may change over time, no commenting capabilities should be removed, just turned off for now. We want good spam protection. Outreach Tools The site will allow the creation and distribution of targeted emails and feeds if desired. Surveys and other interactive tools will be configured as necessary. One early use of a survey or similar tool will be to collect the “personal experiences?? COAT will use to explain the need for new legislation. We would also like to know about any existing Drupal capabilities for identifying site users by Congressional District. Security The site will provide a suitable level of security against tampering. Site content will be backed up at least weekly. Migration We need to move the site from its current host to a new host, retaining all content and links without any manual migration. Items to Include in Your Reply 1. Pointers to at least 3 sites that are examples of your work 2. Other Drupal experience or accomplishments 3. Any recommendations from clients 4. Any accessibility experience 5. Price, including one year of hosting, if you offer that. If you do not offer hosting, please provide some recommended hosting companies. If any of these items are not clear enough for a proposal, please contact me so we can discuss them. ## Platform Drupal