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Ambitious projects with constrained budgets

CU Denver D7 WebExpress�moves to Backdrop CMS

�June 11, 2025 Digital Collegium�Irina Zaks, irina.zaks@fibonacciwebstudio.com

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Introduction

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Building websites and apps for research and academia

https://fibonacciwebstudio.com

Irina Zaks

Web Developer ��Feeds Module Co-Maintainer

One of organizers of �Stanford WebCamp�irina.zaks@fibonacciwebstudio.com

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In this session

  • Challenges of digital presence in higher ed
  • Helping organizations make informed decisions about their web infrastructure
  • What is CampusDrop
    • Features and roadmap
    • Strengths and dependencies in comparison to major platforms like WordPress and Drupal
  • Q and A

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What is CampusDrop?

CampusDrop is a new web platform specifically designed for educational institutions. You can install it yourself on any hosting. CampusDrop Includes:

  • Open source BackdropCMS core (fork of Drupal)
  • Set of recipes (modules) such as profiles, news, events, moderation flows, etc.
  • Bootstrap starter theme

The platform can be extended with modules and themes

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Is CampusDrop available now?

  • Prototype is in testing on Pantheon hosting platform (June 2025)
  • Ongoing releases of recipes (tagged with CampusDrop)
  • First platform release - Fall 2025
  • WebExpress migration - Spring 2026
  • Regular updates on CampusDrop website

https://campusdrop.online/

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How CampusDrop started

  • CU Denver started discovery for migration of WebExpress off D7 early this year on a very tight budget
  • WebExpress is current web platform for College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at CU Denver that is supporting Departments, Programs, faculty directory, events, etc.
  • Wide adoption of BackdropCMS in Higher Ed made it easy to select this platform with confidence
  • As a part of the migration we decided to standardize the platform and open-source it for higher ed organizations

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How One Stanford Team Saved Nearly Half a Million in Migrating from Drupal 7 to BackdropCMS

Project by Aten Design Group for Stanford University

�“It is equivalent to several postdoc salaries, which – quite honestly – the university (and the world) needs more than we need any particular website technology”, said Zach Chandler, Director of Research IT and Innovation at Stanford University.

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Challenges of digital presence in higher ed

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Website types

  • Brochure / Information sites for communication teams
  • Departments / Schools
  • Interdisciplinary research teams
  • Labs / research groups / faculty websites
  • Sometimes student groups

How do you choose the platform that can meet diverse needs of these websites?

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Selection criteria for digital platform

  • Rich features set (more specialized than general website builders like wix, squarespace or wordpress/elementor)
  • Easy learning curve / content editor UI
  • Easy security upgrades and features upgrades
  • Price model (license fee /subscription / dev costs / etc.)
  • Support model (internal developer / agencies /etc.)

= What is the total budget over lifetime of a website?

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“Standard” features

  • An easy and flexible way to add content
  • Editorial workflows (schedule publishing, review flow, etc.)
  • Preset content types (profiles, news, courses, events, etc.)
  • Easy way for tagging and displaying relationships (e.g. person to department, news to person, etc.)
  • Various level of permissions / roles (Admin, Editor, Reviewer, etc.)

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“Custom” features

  • Branded identity theme(s) with variations
  • Integration with central services, like course catalogs, profiles, events, etc.
  • Authentication / Single Sign on services

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How CampusDrop helps organizations use web-related budgets more efficiently without compromising quality

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Cost effective

  • Open source CMS
  • Requires less hosting resources / Runs on shared hosting
  • Site builders can do more configuration using UI - low code/no code platform
  • Does not require in-house developer to add new modules and extend features
  • Designed for easy security and module upgrades and backward compatibility

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Easy and flexible way to add content

  • CKeditor is configured in text format for different roles
  • Components similar to Gutenberg blocks
  • Easily manageable Layouts
  • Media library of reusable images
  • Embeddable content (video, Google forms, etc.)

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Roles and permissions

  • Super admin / site builder
  • Content Admin
  • Users Admin
  • Content editor
  • Content Reviewer

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  • Easily configurable permissions matrix

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Editorial workflows

  • Scheduling posts in core
  • Revisions history in core
  • Moderation flow
  • Reviews / notifications flow
  • Tools for content syndication

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Preset branded identity theme(s)

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Preset content types (news, profiles, events, etc.)

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Easy way for tagging and displaying relationships via reference

  • Referencing content in Web UI via fields and displaying across various pages

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Profile Page Department page

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Integration with central services

Course catalogs, profiles, events, etc. integration can be configured via UI using feeds module or using API

  • API in core
  • Feeds integration (RSS, CSV, JSON, XML, etc.)

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Data Import and Export

  • Configurable custom reports via Views and Views export modules
  • Configurable import tools via Feeds module

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Events Management

  • Events content type and listings
  • Integration with other platforms
    • Example: Import from Google sheets
    • Example: Two-way integration with Localist
      • Create events on your site, import to Localist Calendar
      • Create events in Localist, import into your site
  • Option to use as an integrated registration platform

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Single Sign On

  • SimpleSamlPHP
  • OpenID connect
  • CAS
  • HybridAuth
  • TFA (two factor authentication)

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Configuration management

  • Separation of Content and Configuration
        • Feature: Configuration settings (e.g., content types, views, permissions) are managed separately from content (e.g., nodes, taxonomy terms).
        • Benefit: Prevents accidental overwrites of content when deploying configuration changes which was a huge problem in D7, and is still a huge problem in WordPress
  • Version Control for Configuration Files
        • Feature: Configuration data is stored in human-readable JSON/YAML files.
        • Benefit: Developers can track changes to configuration settings in version control systems like Git, enabling collaboration, rollback, and accountability for changes, ensures consistency across environments and reducing the risk of configuration drift.

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CampusDrop is alternative to CampusPress

  • All source code is open source
  • Flexible - can be extended by a site builder
  • Configuration management in core, not in database
  • No vendor lock-in - can easily find development or support teams
  • No hosting lock-in
  • Developers can set DevOps and testing tools, not limited to CampusPress DevOps flow

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CampusDrop is alternative to Drupal

  • Drupal 10/11 requires a developer to run security updates and / or extend features
  • CampusDrop does not require in-house developer to add new modules and extend features - project browser in core
  • Designed for easy security and module upgrades via Web UI and backward compatibility

CampusDrop is poor man’s SiteFarm

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How to use for your organization

  • Set on any hosting
  • Install your theme
  • Enable features that you need
  • Set SSO authentication that your organization supports

Empower your teams to maintain an effective and sustainable web presence.

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Backdrop CMS Resources

https://backdropcms.org/support

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Discussion and �Q and A time!

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Thank you!

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Extras:

Backdrop CMS

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Select your hosting

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Setup new site

  1. Install core
    1. Get code from Github
    2. Using Softaculous/Installatron and other cPanel tools
    3. Using Lando
    4. Using DDEV quickstart
  2. Install contrib modules
  3. Install contrib theme(s) or your custom theme
  4. If needed install your custom modules

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Install modules and themes

Via Project Installer - Web UI, cloud based

Via drush - command line, local dev setup

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Other options (development)

  • Composer-based installation for developers is an option

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Budget-related info

  • Case study on Pantheon

“We have a fiduciary duty to our university. We take stewardship of funds and resources seriously. With Backdrop on Pantheon, we were able to save nearly half a million dollars!"

- ZACH CHANDLER, DIRECTOR, RESEARCH IT AND INNOVATION AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY

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