IWW site relaunches with Drupal (Review)

The following review was posted on the http://www.communicateordie.com/ site.  Our responses to the (more or less positive criticism) are in italics -- intexile.

Submitted by Steve Dondley on Tue, 06/28/2005 - 3:39pm - Categories: Critiques

The International Workers of the World (IWW), the union that refuses to die, recently retooled its website and now has a 4 speed, dual-quad, Posi-Traction Drupal engine purring under the hood. Giddyup!

That's Industrial (--not International) Workers of the World, Steve.

What's amazing is that this small, independent union, with only about 1,200 dues paying members worldwide, now has a site more technologically sophisticated and interactive than most International unions hundreds of times its size. I took a brief look around the site. Here's my initial impressions.

Pluses
Forums
This is a must have for any union site. It demonstrates to workers that the union has interest in fostering communication.

Visual calendar
Again, another item that should be a staple of any union site to keep members apprised of upcoming events at a glance. The site also uses the newest version of Drupal's event module which lets you view only events you might be interested in.

Design
It's obvious a lot of time was spent customizing the default templates that come with Drupal to give the site its own indentity. Though the rather ominous color scheme doesn't work for me, it might work for the Marxist workers the IWW tends to attract.

The IWW has always used red as its color, long before the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 or the Anarchist Revolution in Spain in 1936.  The IWW is unabashedly radical and we are 100% honest about it.  We see no reason why we should not onw the color (just as people of color, or G/L/B/T people own the language used to describe them).

Store
Drupal also has an ecommerce module that allows visitors to purchase products. Great way for generating more revenue and spreading the IWW culture.

We had the store on our previous site; it's not a Drupal Eccomerce module yet; but we'll have one soon!

Pay dues online
Awesome use of technology here. It's something the IWW needs, too, as they don't have dues checkoff on the job.

We've had this for awhile.  The IWW was the second union in the world to even have a website (an Isreali Teacher's Union was the first), and we were definitely the first to allow people to join through our website.    

Features ways to get involved
The site offers opportunities for workers to volunteer on various committees.

Multilingual
Again, this is truly awesome. Though this feature is standard in Drupal, they have made it very convenient. One click at the top of the screen and your site is rewritten in an entirely new language!

No, not quite; we wish that were true.  Right now it must be posted in the chosen language to appear in that language.  We're looking for that capability, though.

Central repository for graphics
The site has a central repository of graphics that can be used by the IWW's branch offices. However, I don't think the implemenation of it is that great (see "Need more user-friendly image repository" below).

See below for our response.

Minuses
Blogs
No blogs? Why not?

We're just getting set up!  The blogs will be added soon.

No Photos
Clip art on a site can only take you so far. I'd like to see some photos of IWW workers in action

We can only post the graphics that our members send us.  As time goes on, we plan to encourage and use photos of workers engaged in organizing campaigns and demonstrations.   

Many pages are too long
The site should use better use of Drupal's book module and chop the pages up into more digestable pieces.

The current site is built within the shell of the old (which had the longer pages).  Most of the content featured here is from the older site.  As time goes on these older, longer pages may be reorganized as Steve suggests.

No success stories
Where is the evidence of what IWW has done to help workers? Maybe I missed it and its buried deep down in the site. If so, that material should be made front and center.

The successes exist.  They'll be featured soon.  Is not the truckers campaign (which is accessible through the link in the "News, Strikes, and Alerts" story--sticky near the top) one such example?

No appeal to mainstream audience
The material on site is geared mostly to Marxists. Maybe that's their intention but I think they should at least make some attempt at explaining their position to a more mainstream audience.

The IWW is not a Marxist organization and our attempt is not specifically to appeal to "Marxists".  In fact our goal is to appeal to rank & file workers.  However we're unabashedly radical and anti-capitalist (that doesn't necessarily make us "Marxist" by the way).  The IWW is not going to lie and claim to be something it isn't. We're nothing if not honest!

Newspaper articles aren't online
The IWW has a newspaper. At least some of the articles should be placed online.

We'll feature news articles soon.  Bear with us Steve!

Must search for the search
search box is hidden behind a graphic.

It's at the top of the flippin' screen--GAWD! (with apologies to Napoleon Dynamite!)

Uses Microsoft Word document for distributing files
I'm being a hypocrite here, but a union like IWW should definitely have made a commitment to open, non-proprietary document formats.

Say What?  We use Trustix Linux on our servers, Drupal for this Content Management System, and PDFs.  To what MS documents are you referring (other than a few attachments that others sent us?)

Needs more user-friendly image repository
The currenly repository of images requires you to click on the link before seeing. This is tedious and time consuming. Why not use Drupal's excellent image module to display them?

Again, this is because we built this site within the shell of the old--which obviously didn't have such a feature.  We'll transition to the Drupal module soon.  

All-in-all Comrade Dondley's criticisms are constructive and positive.  Thanks for sharing them, and we'll do what we can to make the IWW website the envy of business unions and an inspiration to rank & file workers everywhere!

We have added the "Communicate or Die" blog to our collection of RSS feeds.  We hope that they will  return the favor!

The original post is featured here:  http://www.communicateordie.com/node/57