The Agency

Street scene around the turn of the century on an aged postcard. An arrow on the right-hand side points to the webshapers office.

Historic view of Tulln an der Donau around 1920. On the right: the former inn that now houses the webshapers office.

We've been shaping the web for over 20 years.

webshapers was born out of curiosity, a passion for technology, and the ambition to create digital solutions that aren't off the shelf. What began with our first web projects in Tulln in the late 1990s has grown into a specialized agency for sophisticated Drupal and CiviCRM platforms.

The Early Days

In the late 1990s, Thomas Renner and his then business partner Markus Rössler discovered the possibilities of the internet. A website for an Austrian cabaret artist became their first joint project – and laid the foundation for webshapers.

From the very beginning, our name and the plane in our logo reflected our philosophy: tailor-made digital solutions instead of off-the-shelf websites.

Early on, we developed not only traditional websites but also our own web applications – from bulk SMS services to online tariff calculators. Eventually, we even began developing our own content management system.

Then we discovered Drupal.

And our plans for our own CMS became history.

Drupal Changes Everything

Drupal impressed us from the start. Not just as a content management system, but as a technical foundation for complex digital solutions.

Flexible data and content structures, sophisticated user and permission systems, workflows, and virtually unlimited extensibility opened up entirely new possibilities.

We had found exactly the tool that matched our philosophy: a flexible foundation for individual solutions.

At the same time, we discovered the Drupal community. Camps, conferences, and exchanging ideas with developers from around the world became an important part of our work – and remain so to this day.

Over the years, our first Drupal projects evolved into a specialization in sophisticated digital platforms.

Today, we use Drupal and CiviCRM to develop solutions for businesses, public institutions, NGOs, and associations – with a particular focus on accessibility, security, scalability, and long-term maintainability.

An Inn Becomes an Office

In 2018, another chapter in our story began: webshapers moved into the premises of a former traditional inn on Wiener Straße in Tulln.

The plan was to turn it into an office.

We only partially succeeded.

The old bar, the cozy counter, and even three chilled beer taps were still fully intact. They had to stay.

Today, the historic atmosphere of a traditional Austrian inn meets modern web development in our office. This is where we create concepts, code, and digital solutions for our clients – and occasionally, after a successful project, a drink still finds its way through one of the taps.

What Has Remained

The web has changed. Drupal has changed. And, of course, we have evolved too.

What has remained is the idea that webshapers started with:

No off-the-shelf solutions.

We listen, question requirements, and develop digital platforms that fit the people and organizations who work with them.