Durable, easily updated, fast and stylish WordPress websites

Durability.

A website isn’t only a website. A website is a tool for an individual, community, or company used to inform, improving business, sell, think, pretty much only the imagination is the limit. A good tool is durable, a hammer isn’t used to pound only one nail.

A website should also be a durable tool. That’s why I always develop websites so that they can be scaled as needed, updating some plugins doesn’t break the whole site, and further development is as easy as possible, my websites are build to last. When a site is designed and developed to be durable, its life cycle is extended and the benefits are maximized. For example, the business development is reflected into the website and the development of the website is reflected into the business. A website should withstand this.

I often see sites that are made just because why not. The site can be stylish and fast, but further development can be revealed to be almost impossible: additional costs are incurred and in the worst case scenario the site is not developed further at all, even if needed. This kind of one-nail-hammers I don’t want to develop at all.

Updatability.

Updatability is part of durability. However, in my opinion it is such a huge part that I consider it as a whole. In the worst case the website can be so difficult to update that updating can feel intimidating or even impossible. When talking about durability, I compared a website to a tool and at its simplest form, using the tool is completely intuitive. This is also the case for a good website. At its simplest the website is used for example only to inform. In that case, updating should be so easy that almost anyone can do it.

As the purpose of the tool becomes more complex, so does its use. If the simplest site is kinda like a hammer, an online store might be like a chainsaw. However, even in the most complex sites, updatebility is always one of my most important priorities.

If we’re talking about a simple website of mine, I’m confident to promise that the customer will be able to update the site without any instructions. When language versioning, e-commerce, integrations against different systems, etc. are added some form of training or instructions is needed tho. Still, it just has to be easy.

Usability.

When a site is durable and easily updated, the basics from the owner’s point of view are quite okay At least as important, however, is the user experience of the end-user I always strive to produce the smoothest and most functional user experience possible. When planning usability, I always follow certain rules and standards that have been settled over time. Still, I also want to implement slightly more experimental solutions and break boundaries to an appropriate extent.

Usability consists of an insane number of individual things, from paths designed for end-users to the smallest, almost aesthetic and minimal details. I concider myself a demanding user. I expect consistency within sites and up to a certain point between all sites in general, second time I want to be a “better” user than first time, I expect responses to my actions, error situations should not be my fault, relevant information must always be available where needed, … The list is endless, but I still try to pay attention to all of these when developing a website.

Usability involves careful testing. I use every site I develop for a significant amount of time and browse them quite regularly even after the actual developing process. In general, usability-related updates need to be made over a longer period of time and therefore regular testing and continuous data collection is important.

Speed (& SEO).

There isn’t much to explain here. A website just needs to load as fast as possible in the framework set by goals for the site. For example, the constant growth in the number of mobile connections is no longer a big enough reason, because the standard mobile network is already really fast and soon 5G, which is even faster, is the new norm. Simply It’s just annoying if the site is slow. Sometimes however, you need for example to download external scripts that may slow down the site. However, the use of such scripts and other stuff like that must always be considered carefully and the speed of the site must always be kept in mind.

In this same context, I wanna mention search engine optimization. On a published website, at least the basics of SEO must be more or less in place. Pages must have meta titles and descriptions as well as alt attributes for images. However, I am not a copywriter and the most important SEO is relevant, well written, interesting content. That’s why SEO isn’t on this list as its own point. Perhaps that is also why this site is not search engine optimized in terms of content.

Elegance.

I think my visual eye is at least moderately allright and I consider myself aware of the current trends in webdesign. I want to make each of my sites elegant and good looking. In design I also strive for timelessness, which still wouldn’t make the design any less courageous. The frame or body of the site should be beautiful and eye-pleasing and this is complemented by easily replaceable elements such as pictures and small details: brown leather sofa and seasonal pillowcases.