Web Relaunch German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Relaunch of the main portal of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) www.dlr.de with Plone 6

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V., DLR) is the research center of the Federal Republic of Germany for aeronautics and space. With 10.000 employees at 30 locations, it is one of Germany's largest and most significant research centers.

In April 2023, the leading portal, www.dlr.de, was launched with a new layout and a new content structure based on Plone 6.

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Introduction

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) faced the challenge of modernizing its website to meet the constantly growing demands of its users. The existing website no longer met current standards and could not optimally reflect the variety of content and the needs of the different target groups.

DLR's previous website had an outdated user interface and insufficiently structured content. This led to inefficient navigation and made it difficult to access important information. In addition, the website was not barrier-free, which limited accessibility for certain user groups.

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Challenges

DLR's challenge was to create a website that was aesthetically pleasing, enabled user-friendly navigation, and presented content in an accessible way. A solution had to be found to present DLR's wealth of information in a structured and easy-to-understand way while ensuring a positive user experience.

The DLR website was to be redesigned, and its content was to be revised within one year. In addition, a technical basis was created that was secure, user-friendly, and scalable to replace the large number of different CMS systems within DLR in the medium term.

To stay on schedule, the Plone editorial system, therefore, had to be fully implemented within six months to give the editors enough time to revise the content of the website.

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Solutions

DLR opted for a comprehensive web relaunch, during which a new website was developed that meets modern requirements regarding design, usability, and accessibility. A targeted analysis of user needs and a clear content structure enabled intuitive navigation. The new website was also designed to be barrier-free to ensure broad accessibility. This solution successfully transformed DLR's website, which now offers an optimal platform for information and communication in aerospace.

Within 5 ½ months, a new, visually simplified, and clear design was created for the DLR main portal based on a new and consistent information architecture and orientation. The new editorial system was implemented with Plone 6, and editors were trained to use the new user-friendly system. In addition, the basic content from the old CMS was migrated automatically.