Since 2008, we’ve been building websites that not only meet but exceed our clients’ expectations. Our team stays ahead of the curve by adopting the latest WordPress innovations. This ensures our clients benefit from cutting-edge features and a platform built to last.

Our mission is your success. We accomplish this by creating custom solutions that truly fit each client’s unique needs. This includes developing new (or custom-built) plugins, enhancing themes, and tailoring designs.

Embracing Change: Block and Site Editor as the Foundation

We are always looking for ways to push the boundaries of what WordPress can do. That’s why we’ve fully embraced WordPress Block Themes that bring the Block Editor and Site Editor’s visual editing capabilities to the forefront.

The introduction of the Block Editor was a game-changer! It shifted away from the classic, text-based editor to a more intuitive, modular approach. Now, creating complex layouts with text, images, videos, and other media is as simple as stacking blocks together.

This shift has made WordPress more accessible, empowering everyone—from beginners to seasoned pros. Anyone can craft rich, dynamic content without writing a single line of code. The Block Editor isn’t just an upgrade; it’s become the new standard for building and maintaining websites.

WordPress didn’t stop there.

Building on the Block Editor’s success, the Site Editor takes things a step further. It extends visual editing capabilities to the entire website design. With the Site Editor, users can design and customize every aspect of their website. That includes headers, footers, templates, and individual page elements. All of this is done directly within WordPress through a cohesive visual interface.

This evolution has turned WordPress into a powerhouse of flexibility. Users can achieve professional-grade designs without third-party page builders or heavy custom coding. By embracing WordPress Block Themes that are fully compatible with both the Block and Site Editors, we’re unlocking the full potential of WordPress. This means we can continue to deliver visually stunning and highly functional websites that meet the modern demands of our clients.

WebDevStudios Block Theme

We have always maintained our own theme framework for our client work. The framework we’ve been using for years is called wd_s, which is a starter theme that we forked from Automattic’s _s.

It served us well for several years, building themes the PHP way. We watched as the WordPress Block Editor evolved and the Site Editor became a reality.

In late 2023, we realized that our ol’ standard theme framework wasn’t going to cut it anymore. We faced three choices: updating wd_s to support modern WordPress capabilities, creating our own WordPress Block Theme, or selecting an existing theme currently on the market.

Ultimately, we created our own WordPress Block Theme. At first, we drew inspiration from Brian Gardner’s Powder theme. But we quickly realized that, while a very solid theme in its own right, it wasn’t set up for what we needed in our developer toolkit to keep in line with how we work.

WDS BT stands for WebDevStudios Block Theme.

WDS BT can be found in our WDS BT GitHub repo. We also set the theme up on a demo site, which allows us to showcase it when we talk to our clients about WordPress, Block Themes, Block Patterns, and more.

WDS BT is a product of the hard work of our engineering team, spearheaded by JC Palmes, Engineering Manager. A big thanks goes to JC for all her hard work and dedication in making our new Block Theme come to life!

Stylish and Tailored for WordPress

WDS BT is a stylish block theme tailored for WordPress that features native blocks and compatibility with the Site Editor. With a contemporary aesthetic, an intuitive interface, and seamless integration with the WordPress Block Editor, WDS BT ensures a polished and adaptable framework across all devices.

It’s crucial to understand that WDS BT is crafted as a foundational theme rather than a parent theme. This difference affords users a flexible starting point for customization.

Standard Development Tools Included

We equipped it with essential tools like NPM, Node, Composer, and Sass. These tools enable us to:

• Register block styles.
• Override or customize core block styles.
• Create block variations.
• Use mixins for responsive media queries.
• Implement Stylelint for consistent SCSS styles.
• Automated Versioning process designed to increment the BUILD number automatically upon merges to the main branch.
• Built-in WDS Block Template Creation Script

Full Design System Baked In

We created a full design system integrated into the theme, a departure from what we did with wd_s. This ensures that all core blocks and default templates have consistent styles. Normally, theme frameworks are plain and without much styling built into them.

However, for WDS BT, we wanted a starter theme with standard, consistent, and default styling for all core blocks out of the box. These default styles will provide a foundation for customizing client projects moving forward.

Manage Design at Scale

A design system is like the blueprint for your digital product’s look and feel, providing a set of guidelines, standards, and specifications that help you manage design at scale. It’s a framework that brings together design principles, patterns, and best practices, enabling designers and developers to create a consistent user experience across your entire website or product. Organizations use design systems to keep their digital products consistent, efficient, and scalable—whether it’s a website, app, or software interface.

What Makes Up a Design System

1. Design Tokens: These are the basic building blocks—like color palettes, typography, and spacing—that define your product’s visual style.

2. UI Components: Consider these as reusable puzzle pieces, like buttons, input fields, modals, and navigation bars. They’re designed to work together, allowing you to build complex user interfaces efficiently.

3. Patterns and Templates: Design patterns are tried-and-true solutions for common usability challenges, while templates are pre-built layouts for specific pages or screens.

4. Guidelines and Documentation: This is the instruction manual that includes design principles, usage guidelines, coding standards, and examples. It ensures everyone involved in the project is on the same page and knows how to use the design system effectively.

5. Tools and Resources: These are the libraries, design files, code snippets, and other resources that make it easy to implement the design system in your projects.

Why a Design System Matters

• Consistency: It standardizes visual elements and interaction patterns, ensuring your product feels cohesive no matter where the user goes.

• Efficiency: A library of reusable components and patterns speeds up your design and development process, cutting down on repetitive work.

• Scalability: As your product grows, a design system makes it easier to add new features and content without losing that consistent look and feel.

• Collaboration: A design system creates a common language for designers, developers, and stakeholders, making collaboration smoother and more effective.

Design systems aren’t static. They’re living, breathing tools that evolve as your product, technology, and user needs change. Keeping a design system relevant requires ongoing maintenance and governance. This ensures it continues to serve its purpose as your product grows and adapts.

Block Themes and Modern WordPress Development

Block Themes are changing the game, bringing a more unified and visual approach to site-building in WordPress. They make it easier for everyone—from users to developers—to create and customize websites without the hassle.

A Block Theme uses Blocks for every part of your site, from navigation menus to headers, content, and footers. These themes are designed to take full advantage of the latest WordPress features, letting you tweak and customize your site’s key elements without ever needing to switch themes.

Unlike old-school themes that leaned heavily on PHP templates and custom theme options, Block Themes are built almost entirely with blocks. This means you can edit nearly every aspect of your site’s design and content right through the Block Editor, giving you a more intuitive and visual design experience.

Some Key Features of Block Themes

1. Site Editor: Block Themes are designed to support the Site Editor in WordPress, allowing users to customize all parts of their site directly in the editor. This includes headers, footers, post templates, and more without editing theme files or using custom code.
2. Block-Based Templates: Instead of PHP templates, Block Themes use block-based templates. These templates are made up of Blocks and can be edited visually through the site editor.
3. Theme.json Support: Block Themes utilize a theme.json file. This configuration file allows theme developers to define custom settings and style options that can be used throughout the theme, including colors, typography, layout controls, and Block settings.
4. Global Styles and Settings: Users can globally customize styles and settings across their entire site, including fonts, colors, and layout configurations, directly within the WordPress admin interface.
5. Accessibility and Responsiveness: Many Block Themes are designed with accessibility and responsiveness in mind, ensuring that sites are accessible to all users and work well on various devices and screen sizes.
6. Simplified Theme Development: For developers, creating a Block Theme can be more straightforward than creating traditional themes. It relies on Blocks and a theme.json configuration, reducing the need for complex PHP coding and allowing for more direct manipulation of the site’s appearance.

Block Editor

Here’s a breakdown of what makes the Block Editor so powerful:

1. Block-Based Editing: The Block Editor is all about Blocks. Every piece of content—text, images, or videos—is a block you can easily add, arrange, and style. This gives you total control over how your posts and pages look and feel.

2. Wide Range of Blocks: Out of the box, the Block Editor comes loaded with various Blocks, from basic text and images to more complex elements like tables, columns, and embeds. This means you can build rich, dynamic layouts without touching a line of code.

3. Custom Blocks: For those who want to go a step further, developers can create custom Blocks that extend the editor’s capabilities even more. These Blocks can be tailored to fit specific site needs, bringing in custom functionality and designs that align perfectly with your vision.

4. Live Editing Experience: The Block Editor provides a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) experience. As you build your content, you see exactly how it will appear to your visitors, making real-time adjustments and tweaks. This live preview helps you ensure everything looks just right before hitting publish.

5. Block Patterns and Templates: The Block Editor also supports Block Patterns and templates, as well as predesigned Block layouts you can drop into your content and customize. This is perfect for quickly building complex layouts without starting from scratch.

6. Accessibility and Usability: The Block Editor is designed with accessibility in mind, making it easy for users of all skill levels to jump in and start creating. It adheres to web accessibility standards, ensuring a smooth, user-friendly experience for everyone.

7. Site Editor: With the evolution of the Block Editor, the Site Editor now lets you use Blocks to edit not just posts and pages but also site-wide elements like headers, footers, and sidebars. This brings everything together, offering a more holistic, intuitive site-building experience.

The Block Editor represents a major leap forward in creating and managing content in WordPress. Furthermore, it’s designed to be visual, intuitive, and flexible, empowering both beginners and experienced developers to craft engaging web content and layouts with ease.

Patterns

In WordPress and the Block Editor (Gutenberg), “patterns” are like ready-made block layouts that you can drop into your posts and pages. These Patterns are essentially collections of Blocks that are already arranged in specific ways to create a certain design or functionality.

The beauty of Patterns is that they simplify the content creation process. Instead of building complex layouts from scratch, you can just insert a Pattern and customize it to fit your needs. It’s a fast, efficient way to get your desired design without all the heavy lifting.

The Lowdown on Patterns in WordPress

1. Predefined Layouts: Patterns offer ready-made designs that combine different Blocks into a cohesive layout. These can be as simple as a row of buttons or as complex as a full-featured contact section with text, images, and a form—all setup and ready to go.

2. Time-Saving: Patterns are a huge time-saver. Instead of adding and configuring each Block individually, you can drop in a complete Pattern and tweak it to fit your needs. It’s a fast track to creating visually appealing and functional layouts without the hassle.

3. Customization: While Patterns come with predefined layouts, they’re fully customizable. You can add, remove, or adjust any Block within a pattern to match your content and design preferences, giving you the flexibility to make it your own.

4. Consistency: Patterns help keep your design consistent across your site. Using the same Pattern for similar sections on different pages ensures a uniform look and feel, making your site feel cohesive and polished.

5. Theme and Plugin Integration: Patterns can come from your WordPress theme, plugins, or even the WordPress core itself. This means when you switch themes or install certain plugins, you might get access to new patterns specifically designed to enhance the theme’s or plugin’s functionality.

6. Community Contributions: WordPress developers and designers can, and have, create and share their own WordPress Patterns with the community. The WordPress Pattern Directory is a treasure trove where you can find and import patterns created by others, opening up even more design possibilities for your site.

7. Ease of Use: Inserting a Pattern into your post or page is a breeze. Just browse through the available patterns in the Block Editor’s Pattern Library. Preview what you like, and insert it with a click. It’s that simple.

Patterns in WordPress are all about making content creation more flexible and user-friendly. They give everyone—from beginners to pros—the tools to create professional-looking layouts without needing to be a tech wizard or a design guru. It’s all about democratizing web design, making it easier and more accessible for everyone to build beautiful, functional websites.

Full-Page Patterns (Layouts)

Full-page Patterns are like having a complete, ready-to-go page layout at your fingertips. Unlike smaller Patterns that might only cover a specific section (like a header, gallery, or testimonial), these are full-blown page templates. They come with everything you need—think hero sections, About sections, services, contact forms, and footers—all laid out for you in one cohesive design.

Full-Page Patterns Are a Game-Changer

1. Comprehensive Layouts: They offer a full layout solution for an entire page, combining multiple sections and content Blocks. This means you can skip the grunt work and quickly have a fully structured page up and running.

2. Variety of Uses: Whether you need a landing page, an About page, a contact page, or a portfolio, full-page Patterns have you covered. They give you a quick way to add and customize content for any purpose, so you’re not starting from scratch.

3. Customization: Although full-page Patterns have a predefined layout, they are fully customizable. You can tweak, add, or remove Blocks to fit your content and style. Make it your own while still saving time.

4. Theme Integration: Many WordPress themes include a selection of full-page Patterns, ensuring they blend seamlessly with your site’s design. This keeps your website looking consistent and polished without extra effort.

5. Time-Saving: Full-page Patterns give you a head start, providing a structured foundation that speeds up the page-building process. You can roll out complex layouts quickly without compromising on quality.

6. Inspiring: If you’re stuck on page design ideas, check out full-page Patterns for inspiration. They show practical examples of how to combine Blocks effectively, helping you create effective layouts.

Full-page Patterns make the WordPress Block Editor even more powerful. It is easier than ever to create professional, well-designed pages without needing a ton of design or development know-how. It’s all part of WordPress’ mission to make web design more accessible and efficient for everyone.

Global Settings & Styles (theme.json)

The theme.json file has also changed the game for WordPress themes. It offers a streamlined way to manage a theme’s appearance and behavior, especially in the Block Editor (Gutenberg).

Introduced in WordPress 5.8, this configuration file lets theme developers set up default styles, settings, and configurations. This provides more control over the design and functionality of a WordPress site without needing a ton of custom code.

Here’s what theme.json can do:

1. Define Global Styles: With theme.json, you can set global styles that apply across your entire site, from colors and typography (fonts, sizes, weights) to layout settings. This ensures your site maintains a consistent look, regardless of the content you add.

2. Configure Block Settings: Developers can define default settings and styles for specific Blocks. You can control how they look and behave right out of the box. You can even decide which Block options users see in the editor or hide certain settings altogether.

3. Control Color Palettes and Gradients: Want custom color palettes or gradients available in the Block Editor? theme.json lets you set these up, making it easy for users to apply your brand’s colors throughout the site.

4. Manage Typography Options: theme.json allows you to specify custom typography options, like font sizes, families, and line heights, which users can easily apply through the Block Editor.

5. Customize Layout and Spacing: From one file, you can control the site’s overall layout. Control content sizing, spacing, and Block supports, like padding and margin.

6. Enable or Disable Block Features: theme.json allows you to globally enable or disable Block features like custom backgrounds, color settings, or link colors.

7. Simplify Theme Development: theme.json simplifies the development process by centralizing much of the theme’s design and functionality settings. It reduces the need for extra CSS and PHP, making it easier to implement and maintain design standards.

8. Enhance Theme Consistency: The theme.json file ensures that your site’s look and feel remain consistent. It maintains this consistency even as users customize and add content with the Block Editor.

The introduction of theme.json is a big step forward in making theme development more efficient and user-friendly. It empowers theme developers to create flexible, consistent designs. At the same time, it gives users the tools to customize their sites without disrupting the design system.

Conclusion

At WebDevStudios, WordPress is more than just a platform—it’s the heartbeat of everything we do. We’re all about pushing boundaries. WebDevStudios believes in embracing innovations like Block Themes, Block and Site Editors, and robust design systems. We aim to build beautiful, functional, consistent, and scalable websites.

Our WDS BT WordPress Block Theme proves our dedication to crafting tailored solutions that meet each client’s unique needs. We maximize WordPress’ potential in every project. As WordPress evolves, we’re right there with it, ensuring that every site we build is ready for the future. By partnering together, let’s create a digital experience that lasts and impresses.

The post Embracing the Future: How WebDevStudios Is Leading with WordPress Block Themes appeared first on WebDevStudios.

On the other hand, Headless WordPress emerges as a forward-thinking alternative, separating the frontend presentation layer from the backend content management system (CMS) and leveraging modern JavaScript frameworks to deliver faster, more secure, and highly customizable user experiences. WebDevStudios helps you make the best choice by weighing the pros and cons of each option and considering your project requirements, technical capabilities, and future objectives.

Traditional WordPress

Traditional WordPress operates as a monolithic system where the frontend (what users see) and the backend (where content is created and managed) are tightly integrated. This means that WordPress handles both content management and presentation.

Pros of Traditional WordPress:

• User-Friendly CMS: WordPress is a user-friendly CMS that enables easy content management and organization, even for non-technical users.
• Comprehensive Ecosystem: It boasts an extensive ecosystem of themes and plugins, allowing users to easily extend functionality and customize the design of their sites without needing to code.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Traditional WordPress can be more cost-effective for small- to medium-sized projects. The availability of free and premium themes and plugins enables businesses to create a fully functional website with a lower initial investment than custom development.
• SEO-Friendly: WordPress offers SEO features like customizable permalinks, easy content creation, and plugins such as Yoast SEO to optimize your site and content.
• Large Community Support: With a massive global community of developers, designers, and users, finding help, tutorials, and forums to troubleshoot issues or learn new tricks is easier than ever.
• Regular Updates and Improvements: WordPress is regularly updated with new features, security improvements, and bug fixes, helping sites stay current and secure.

Cons of Traditional WordPress:

• Performance Concerns: Traditional WordPress sites can suffer from slower page load times, especially with shared hosting or when using numerous plugins and complex themes, affecting user experience and SEO rankings.
• Security Vulnerabilities: Being the most popular CMS makes WordPress a prime target for hackers. Sites can be vulnerable to security breaches, especially if plugins and themes are not regularly updated or properly secured.
• Plugin Dependency: Over-reliance on plugins for additional functionality can lead to a bloated website, causing performance issues and potential conflicts between plugins that can break site features or lead to security gaps.
• Customization Limits: While WordPress is highly customizable through themes and plugins, there are limits to what can be achieved without custom coding. Traditional WordPress might require extensive custom development for highly customized or unique designs and functionality, which can mitigate its initial cost and ease-of-use advantages.
• Scalability Issues: For very high-traffic sites, traditional WordPress architecture might struggle to keep up with the demand, especially in cheaper, shared hosting environments. Scaling might require moving to more sophisticated and expensive hosting solutions or optimizing the site extensively.
• Maintenance Overhead: Regularly updating WordPress core, plugins, and themes is required. Neglecting updates can lead to security risks and performance issues, but applying updates without testing can break the site if there are compatibility issues.
• Monolithic Architecture: In a monolithic architecture, the frontend and backend are tightly coupled, limiting flexibility and innovation on the frontend, especially if you’re looking to leverage the latest web technologies or create a highly interactive user experience.

Choosing Traditional WordPress involves weighing these pros and cons against your project’s requirements, resources, and long-term goals. For many, the ease of use, extensive support, and comprehensive ecosystem make Traditional WordPress an attractive choice, despite its drawbacks.

Headless WordPress

Headless WordPress separates the backend (content management system) from the frontend (presentation layer). The frontend is typically built using modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, Faust.js, Next.js, or Angular, and it communicates with the WordPress backend via the REST API or GraphQL.

Headless WordPress offers significant performance, security, and flexibility advantages. It also introduces complexity and potential challenges that must be carefully managed.

Organizations considering a headless approach should weigh these factors against their specific needs, technical capabilities, and long-term digital strategy to determine whether headless WordPress is the right choice. Exploring the headless WordPress approach further, we can outline additional pros and cons that highlight its distinct advantages and challenges compared to traditional WordPress setups:

Pros of Headless WordPress:

• Frontend Flexibility: Decoupling the frontend from WordPress allows developers to use modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, Faust.js, Next.js, or Angular, offering unparalleled flexibility to create highly interactive, dynamic user experiences that stand out.
• Enhanced Performance: With the frontend separated, headless WordPress sites can leverage technologies like static site generators for faster page loads, improved SEO, and a better overall user experience. The ability to serve pre-rendered pages or single-page applications (SPAs) can significantly reduce load times.
• Better Security: The headless approach inherently improves security by reducing the WordPress site’s exposure to the public internet. The attack surface is significantly smaller because there is no direct connection between the frontend and the CMS.
• Scalability: Serving the frontend as static files or through a CDN can dramatically improve scalability, handling high-traffic loads more efficiently than traditional WordPress setups.
• Future-Proofing: Adopting a headless architecture allows organizations to be more agile. As frontend technologies evolve, the presentation layer can be updated or completely revamped without overhauling the CMS, ensuring the website remains cutting-edge.
• Omnichannel Publishing: Headless WordPress makes it easier to serve content across multiple platforms and devices (like mobile apps, IoT devices, and third-party websites) from a single content source, enhancing content reach and consistency.

Cons of Headless WordPress:

• Complexity: Implementing a headless architecture requires a higher level of technical expertise. Developers need to be proficient in API integration, frontend frameworks, and possibly server-side rendering techniques, which increases complexity and, potentially, development costs.
• Plugin Limitations: Many WordPress plugins are designed to work with the traditional frontend. In a headless setup, some plugins (especially those affecting the frontend) may not work as expected, requiring alternative solutions or custom development.
• Increased Maintenance: While separating concerns can lead to better security and performance, it also means maintaining two separate systems (the WordPress backend and the frontend application), which can double the effort for updates, security patches, and troubleshooting.
• SEO Challenges: Implementing SEO best practices can be more complex in a headless setup. Developers must ensure that meta tags, structured data, and other SEO essentials are properly managed on the frontend, as traditional WordPress SEO plugins may not directly influence the headless frontend.
• Cost Considerations: The initial development cost for a Headless WordPress site can be higher due to the need for specialized development skills and potentially more complex hosting setups (e.g., separate hosting for the frontend and the CMS).
• Content Preview Limitations: WordPress’ standard content preview feature may not work seamlessly in a headless environment, making it more challenging for content creators to preview their work in real-time in the context of the final site design.
• Learning Curve for Content Teams: Content teams accustomed to the integrated WordPress editing experience may find the transition to a headless approach challenging, especially if custom solutions are required to bridge functionality gaps left by the decoupled frontend.

Is Headless WordPress Right for Your Website Project?

Choosing between traditional WordPress and Headless WordPress depends on your project’s specific needs, technical expertise, and long-term goals. Traditional WordPress is a great choice if you prioritize ease of use, a rich plugin ecosystem, and a quick setup. However, Headless WordPress might be better if your website strategy focuses on performance, security, and a highly customized user experience that leverages modern development practices. Each approach offers distinct advantages and challenges, so it is important to carefully consider the requirements before deciding.

Ideal Implementation for Headless WordPress

Setting up a Headless WordPress theme involves decoupling the frontend (the user interface) from the backend (where your content is stored and managed). This setup allows you to use WordPress as a CMS while deploying a modern frontend technology stack for a more responsive, secure, and scalable website. Here’s an ideal setup for a headless WordPress theme:

Backend: WordPress Setup

• WordPress Installation: Start with a clean WordPress installation on your hosting provider. This will serve as the backend where you manage content.
• REST API or GraphQL: WordPress comes with REST API out of the box, which you will use to fetch content from the backend. Alternatively, you can install plugins like WPGraphQL to use GraphQL, which can offer more efficient data loading.
• Headless-specific Plugins: Install plugins that enhance WordPress’ headless capabilities. For instance, plugins for custom post types, custom fields (ACF, Meta Box), and authentication (JWT Authentication) can be very useful.
• Security Enhancements: Since your WordPress site won’t serve the frontend, you can enhance security by restricting access to the admin area and using security plugins to prevent unauthorized API access.

Frontend: Modern JavaScript Framework

• Choose a Framework: Select a modern JavaScript framework or library for the frontend. Popular choices include React.js, Vue.js, Faust.js, Angular, or Next.js for headless projects.
• Static Site Generators: For projects that don’t require dynamic content on every page, consider using static site generators like Gatsby (for React) or Nuxt.js (for Vue). These tools pre-build pages at deployment time, ensuring lightning-fast load times.
• Hosting for the Frontend: Choose a hosting provider specializing in static sites and Jamstack (JavaScript, APIs, Markup) deployments if you’re going static. Netlify, Vercel, and AWS Amplify offer global CDNs, automatic HTTPS, and continuous deployment from Git.
• API Requests: Implement API requests to fetch content from the WordPress backend. Depending on the setup, use Axios, Fetch API, or a GraphQL client like Apollo Client.
• Dynamic Routing: Implement dynamic routing to handle WordPress’ diverse content types and structures. Doing so ensures the site can dynamically generate pages based on the content available in the CMS.
• Development Environment: Set up a local development environment that mirrors the production setup as closely as possible. Tools like Docker help create isolated environments for WordPress and the frontend framework.
• Security and Performance: Implement best practices for security, such as API key management. Do the same for performance, like lazy loading images, caching, and optimizing asset delivery.

Deployment and Continuous Integration

• Version Control: It is recommended that a version control system such as Git be used to manage the codebase effectively. This allows for better collaboration, tracking of changes, and code organization. Additionally, Git allows separate repositories for the WordPress theme and the frontend application if necessary.
• Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Set up CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD. Automate testing, building, and deploying the frontend application to the hosting provider on every code push or pull request.
• Monitoring and Analytics: Implement monitoring and analytics tools to track the performance and usage of the site. Google Analytics data is valuable for understanding user behavior and catching errors in production.

The ideal setup for a headless WordPress theme depends on the project’s specific requirements. Consider the complexity of the content, the performance and scalability needs, and the team’s expertise. Tailoring the setup to fit these requirements can help maximize the effectiveness of the headless WordPress implementation.

How do you know if headless is the right approach for your website project?  Reach out to us, and let’s talk about it.  You can also learn more about our Headless WordPress service.

The post Traditional Versus Headless WordPress appeared first on WebDevStudios.

What began as a small WordPress website development business operating from a coffee table has now evolved into a robust website design and development agency building amazing websites for big brands. Today, our client roster includes NBA, Care, Campbells, Paramount, and more. Our staff comprises over 50 talented team members from around the world.

As the co-founders of WebDevStudios (WDS), we are excited to celebrate not only our 15 years of WordPress experience but also our dedication to open-source technology, discovering customized solutions to meet specific needs, and the success of our clients.

Starting from Nothing

In April of 2008, Brad sold his house in Indiana and moved to the great state of New Jersey; thus WebDevStudios was born as an official company. We started with a few small clients and grew organically from there. Early on, we had a few key clients that really put their faith in us and helped us grow, including Margaret Roach and Pam Kueber.

As WordPress grew in popularity, so did WebDevStudios.

Lisa began working with WordPress in 2003 and started eWebscapes, a design and development shop, in 2005. By 2012, she was in over her head with her work in the WordPress space, including working for some large enterprise companies as a solo freelancer.

Lisa knew she wanted to continue doing this work for a long time. However, she was no longer able to do it alone. She could either hire a large team and grow her freelance shop into a full agency or look for another emerging agency which she could bring her portfolio of clients and skills to.

That’s when Lisa approached Brad to see if he would be interested in combining efforts. Both of us were heavily focused on the WordPress platform. In fact, as a freelancer, Lisa used to outsource some of her more advanced development needs to WebDevStudios because her background was primarily that of UX design and frontend development.

The two businesses merged with Lisa focusing on UX/UI design, and the WebDevStudios team focused on development and engineering. This move rounded out the service offerings we are very proud of today.

Making a Name for Ourselves

Early on, we learned the best way to bring in new business was to put ourselves out there. We started attending events, which led to speaking at events, which led to organizing events.

We founded the New Jersey and, eventually, Philadelphia WordPress Meetup groups and the WordCamp Chicago event. This helped grow local WordPress communities where we lived.

We spoke at events nationwide and helped spread our knowledge and experience in web development and design. Over time our name spread and the projects grew in size and complexity.

Why WordPress

From the beginning, we were fans of open-source software. The idea of a community that was focused on building and supporting the software’s growth aligned very closely with our own path.

We decided that open-source software would be our primary focus. This included WordPress and other popular open-source systems like Drupal, ZenCart, Magento, and a few others.

It quickly became apparent that WordPress was our platform of choice. Not only for its endless flexibility, but WordPress was a more intuitive system for our clients to learn and manage.

User experience has always been at the forefront of WordPress, which was very apparent when training new users on how to manage their websites and content.

Very early on, we decided to go all in on WordPress. It would become our platform of choice, which at the time wasn’t as obvious as it is today. WordPress was still very much a blogging platform, and more advanced CMS features we use every day didn’t exist back then.

What seemed like a risk at the time quickly became a massive strength for us. We rapidly built one of the first agencies dedicated to expert-level WordPress design and development!

Partnerships

Over the years, we have partnered with amazing companies that truly help WebDevStudios and our clients succeed. This includes hosting partners like WP Engine, Pagely, and WordPress VIP, and plugin partners like Gravity Forms and Yoast SEO, to name a few.

Project Highlights

We’ve enjoyed working with a wide range of amazing clients over the years. There are a few project highlights that really stand out over our past 15 years of WordPress experience.

First WordPress Site Launched Under Microsoft.com

WebDevStudios proudly designed and launched WordPress sites for:

• Microsoft Office
• M365
• Bing
• Surface
• Windows
• Microsoft News Center
• Microsoft Europe

First WordPress VIP Launch for TIME

WebDevStudios built TIME Healthland on WordPress VIP using a customized Twenty Ten child theme.

First Web App / iPad Application Built Using WordPress As the Framework

Our client projects for YMCA and DMA were the foundations for the AppPresser plugin used for building apps with WordPress. AppPresser is a premium plugin WebDevStudios built in partnership with Scott Bollinger and then sold in 2017.

HEB Central Market

HEB Central Market was the largest online grocery store at the time, with over 70,000 products in daily circulation. This particular client project included creating customized features for curbside pickup, online catering orders, and cooking schools, with an eye toward online ordering for delivery. This was all powered by WordPress and WooCommerce.

Intranets Built with WordPress

Not everyone understands that WordPress is powerful enough to use for an intranet system. Our largest and most impressive intranet client projects are:

• The Starbucks training platform
• Chaparral Energy’s internal team platform
• The United States National Park Service’s internal training and resource repository for park rangers

Projects That Make an Impact

WebDevStudios values all clients, but those that make an impact are especially memorable. Not only is our team proud to be a part of the team behind the scenes that fuel their mission, but the work that goes into building their platforms is also challenging and rewarding.

Some nonprofit organizations we have been proud to partner with over the years, helping them bring their digital strategy goals to fruition, are featured below.

DrugFree.Org

On a mission to transform how our nation addresses addiction by empowering families, DrugFree.org is advancing effective care, shaping public policy, and changing culture.

Integrity House

Integrity House is building and transforming lives, families, and communities. This nonprofit group is known as the leading provider of integrated mental health, physical health, and addiction services.

Rebuild Texas

A fund started by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Rebuild Texas was born to support families and communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Company Highlights

Any company that has been in the business of WordPress for 15 years will likely experience a period of rapid growth followed by a period of stability. As such, it’s no surprise that WebDevStudios has changed our services and products, target market, and business model over the years. We’ve faced challenges and setbacks along the way, but we have also learned and grown from every experience.

Custom Post Type UI – The Crown Jewel of Our Plugins

Believe the hype. Custom Post Type UI is the most popular custom post type plugin. We can prove it.

• Over 1 million active installations
• Over 14 million lifetime downloads
• Ranked the 50th most popular plugin

Five for the Future Agency Participant Since Inception

We didn’t wait for Five for the Future to become a trend before we joined the initiative. We got involved the moment it was announced in 2014. Since then, WebDevStudios has contributed just shy of 12,000 hours to this important WordPress effort.

Charity Challenge

Every year during the winter holidays, our website agency gives back to select charities chosen by our team members. Over the years, we have raised thousands of dollars for different nonprofit organizations.

Other Noteworthy Highlights

• Founded AppPresser
• Merged with eWebscapes, which brought Lisa on as a partner, co-founder, and COO
• Acquired Maintainn in 2012, which was sold in 2022

The Future of WebDevStudios

Fifteen years for any business is a long time. Our longevity and success are a true testament to the amazing WebDevStudios team members, past and present.

Their passion and dedication toward client success shine through in every project. We are very fortunate to work with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and design.

To all of our team members, clients, partners, friends, and family, thank you for your support over these past 15 years. We truly wouldn’t be here without you.

The future for WebDevStudios is bright! Our team will always be at the forefront of WordPress and web innovation.

We are constantly exploring new technologies and pushing the boundaries of what WordPress can do. We look forward to many more years of building the best WordPress experiences alongside amazing brands. At WebDevStudios, your success will always be our mission for years to come!

The post WebDevStudios Celebrates 15 Years of WordPress Experience appeared first on WebDevStudios.

History

Initially, we used a waterfall approach 100% of the time. Back then, we used Basecamp as a project management tool.

While it is an excellent platform for managing tasks and providing communication to clients and our team, Basecamp wasn’t a tool that was made for an agile approach. Basecamp didn’t make it easy to run sprints, size tasks, and do effective sprint retrospectives.

Move to Atlassian

Around 2018, WebDevStudios moved to the Atlassian suite of tools, primarily Jira and Confluence, for our task management, documentation, and client communications. Jira is a vital tool for setting up and defining sprints in our development work.

Welcome to Wagile

WebDevStudios gradually moved toward a ‘wagile’ approach, a hybrid combination of waterfall and agile. This method works well for us in many cases because most of our client projects lean in that direction.

There are several ways to approach wagile, but for us, it’s best to use a combination of agile and waterfall when dealing with a complex project with many unknowns and critical elements that must be followed. An excellent example of this type of project would be creating a new feature for an institution that must comply with regulations. This requirement does not lend itself to an iterative, agile approach because it is rigid and fully defined upfront.

Selecting the Approach

When achieving the best results regarding satisfaction, budget, and timeline, the methodology doesn’t matter as much as the project manager’s goals. These questions help determine if a mixed model is appropriate.

• What approach will give us the best chance of success?
• Is it essential to get feedback as the team makes progress?
• Do we need to take risks as we explore new ideas?

Advantages

• The ability to optimize each project for success
• The flexibility to choose the best method for each process
• A custom methodology tailored to the project’s needs

Disadvantages

• The need for expertise in both Waterfall and Agile
• The potential for overwhelming complexity with multiple combinations
• Difficulty in replicating the methodology for future projects

WebDevStudios: Scrum Masters, All!

Moving through 2023, we have committed to sending each delivery manager and project manager back to school! By the end of the third quarter of this year, they all will have obtained their Scrum Master certification (CSM), including yours truly. (See? You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!)

Scrum Master Certification Benefits

Here are a few reasons why obtaining Scrum Master certification is something we feel is beneficial for both our team and clients:

1. Increased knowledge and understanding of Scrum: Scrum is a popular agile framework for managing projects, and obtaining certification requires passing a rigorous exam that ensures a deep understanding of the principles, practices, and roles within the framework.
2. Improved ability to lead Scrum teams: Scrum Master certification demonstrates an individual’s ability to effectively lead and facilitate Scrum teams, making them more valuable and sought-after by organizations that use Scrum.
3. Enhanced career advancement opportunities: Scrum is widely used in software development and IT projects, and Scrum Master certification can make individuals more attractive to new job opportunities and promotions.
4. Better team performance: Scrum Master certification can help individuals to lead their teams more effectively, resulting in better performance and outcomes.

WebDevStudios Scrum Masters Goals

We are excited to take this next step! Consequently, our goals for becoming more agile and less waterfall include the following:

1. Faster delivery: Agile methodologies prioritize the delivery of working software over documentation and planning. This allows organizations to release new features and products more quickly.
2. Increased flexibility: Agile methodologies are designed to be adaptable. Teams can change direction or pivot as necessary in response to changing customer needs or market conditions.
3. Better collaboration: Agile methodologies encourage teams to work closely together. This increases cooperation and communication between team members, stakeholders, and customers.
4. Greater customer satisfaction: Agile methodologies prioritize customer feedback and involve customers in the development process. This ensures that the final product is closely aligned with customer needs, resulting in greater satisfaction.
5. Improved team morale: Agile methodologies prioritize teamwork. This leads to increased motivation, job satisfaction, and a sense of ownership and buy-in for the project.
6. Better project visibility: Agile methodologies include regular reviews and inspections. These processes allow our team to view the project’s progress accurately. They can identify and address issues or challenges early, preventing delays and budget overruns.

The post WebDevStudios Operational Initiatives: Scrum Masters, All appeared first on WebDevStudios.

Additionally, we believe that by sharing these insights, you learn more about us. Whether you’re researching WebDevStudios (WDS) because you’re considering hiring our website agency to build your next big project or you’re interested in joining our team, the more you know about us, the better.

We all know 2022 was an eventful year for everyone. For WDS, it was a year that included many changes and required strong adjustments. WDS made modifications, rearranged, and fine-tuned as needed and where needed. And, we did so gracefully. That’s something we’re especially proud of.

Please join us as we review our 2022. We hope it gives you a deeper understanding of our website design and development company, how we grow, and how we sustain our ability to make your dreams a reality.

Remember, your success is our mission. Here’s how we accomplished that this year.

Organizational Changes

Since 2008, WebDevStudios has built robust solutions for our clients. We have experimented with different organizational setups, workflows, and methodologies for project delivery depending on available technology, staff, and types of projects.

However, as our client base and team expanded, we identified the need for changes and advancements. We go over this more in our WebDevStudios 2022 year-in-review, while also touching on upcoming transformations.

Team Restructuring

2022 brought many changes to how our teams are structured, which required necessary changes to our communications. Up until the summer of 2022, WebDevStudios had been structured in a hierarchical format with our CEO/COO at the top, followed by directors for each department, then managers, and so on.

This format served us well for many years as we were growing and placed reliable processes and policies in place to ensure serviced our clients in the best ways. Growth brought the need for improved communication and transparency. We found that the hierarchical structure, even in a small company like ours, created a layer of bureaucracy that stifled innovation and siloed communications.

After a lot of thought and research into the type of structure that would serve our teams and clients, we found the best solution was a team-based structure that focused on problem-solving, cooperation, and gave employees more control of their day-to-day. This helped us increase productivity, performance, and transparency. It also fitted well with our team scrum format and agile goals.

We eliminated the director-level roles and opted for team managers in the areas of account, delivery, and engineering management-level roles that collaborate with project teams. Additionally, we adopted a pod structure for project teams where each pod has its own sales, strategy, design, development, project management, and QA talent.

This allows each pod to operate independently and is responsible for certain aspects of the product. They own all tasks involved, from sales to launch, and also provide a good deal of redundancy around tasks and projects.

The results were near immediate! Communication at all levels became much more transparent, visible, and collaborative, more so than ever before. Teams and their members are working toward common goals and it is allowing us to move towards a much more agile delivery.

Scrum Masters, All

In the year 2023, our company has committed to investing in the professional development of our delivery managers and project managers. By the end of Q3, all of them will have obtained their Scrum Master Certification (CSM).

The purpose of this investment is to enhance their knowledge and understanding of scrum and agile methodologies. This, in turn, will improve their ability to lead scrum teams. The ultimate goal is to improve overall team performance as our scrum masters become more effective leaders, resulting in better performance and outcomes.

Strategy and Design Growth

In late 2022, we added positions to our strategy and design teams to account for the increase in client work we’ve had the good fortune to take on moving into 2023. In the pod structure, mentioned above, each pod has a UX strategist and UX designer who work together with our delivery manager during the strategy phase of a project in gathering requirements, defining goals, and producing solutions for client projects.

Maintainn Acquired by SiteCare

In 2014 WebDevStudios acquired Maintainn, a WordPress Support and Maintenance company. Bringing Maintainn under the WDS banner of brands and services was a perfect match to enhance the ongoing support of our clients.

As the projects at WebDevStudios became more complex, so did the support requirements for those projects. As such, the Maintainn level of support and service no longer fits what many of our clients required.

Earlier this year we decided to sell our support and maintenance company Maintainn. We needed to find a buyer that would fully support our Maintainn clients and give them the level of service and support they expect.

Enter SiteCare, who was the perfect fit for Maintainn. SiteCare offers WordPress maintenance and support services very in line with the Maintainn offerings. We knew Maintainn would be a great fit at SiteCare and the rest is history!

Pluginize Makes a Comeback

WordPress plugins and products have always been a passion project for WDS. Our most popular plugin, Custom Post Type UI (CPTUI), has over 1 million active users and over 13 million lifetime downloads!

We also continue to expand the features on our WP Search with Algolia plugin and have grown that user base to over 5,000 active installs and 80,000 downloads. While you might be familiar with CPTUI and WP Search with Algolia, many people are not familiar with our product brand Pluginize.

One of our goals for 2023 is to revamp and recharge our commitment to products through Pluginize. We are actively working on a new premium plugin with hopes of releasing it in Q1 2023.

In 2022, we retired our older plugins, updated our current plugins, relaunched the Pluginize blog, and rebuilt Pluginize to be a block-based theme with more modern technologies. All of this work sets the stage to supercharge Pluginize in 2023 and beyond.

WebDevStudios 2022 Year-in-Review by the Numbers

Data is impressive, isn’t it? Here is how our achievements measured out in 2022.

1,350+ Hours Contributed to  Five for the Future

We talk about it a lot, but there are still many who don’t know about Five for the Future. An open-source technology designed to democratize publishing, WordPress fuels more than one-third of the web. As such, WordPress needs all of us to contribute.

Five for the Future is an initiative that allows the WordPress community to contribute to the platform’s growth. WebDevStudios actively participates in this effort by dedicating the last Friday of every month to giving back to WordPress in a myriad of ways. Overall, our team proudly contributed more than 1,350 hours to the initiative in 2022.

Looking forward to my first #5FTF day with @webdevstudios and #WordPress pic.twitter.com/pxFB3jJ2Tv

— Matt Ryan (@MattRyanCo) October 28, 2022

38 Active Clients

From education to media, eCommerce to consumer packaged goods, our 2022 was jam-packed with some amazingly interesting projects for big brands. Our roster of clients includes some impressive brands and names, such as Campbell’s, George School, Monster, Wall Street Journal, and Care.

One of our newest clients kept us especially busy with the launch of five separate websites under the brand and an ongoing retainer. That client is the NBA.

27 New Hires

We were no strangers to the Great Resignation this year. Some people left WDS that had been here a very long time; others only a few years or less.

At the beginning of the year, it was challenging to replace people quickly, making sure we hired the right people for the team. Thankfully, our culture, authority in the WordPress community, and genuinely supportive teammates were the key selling points for us to get such good talent.

“I’m pretty proud of the people we added to the team this year,” says Julie Sarnik, Employee Experience Coordinator. “Our diversity is up, which was a big goal for us. We have an impressive amount of female engineers and our team has expanded globally. It’s amazing to be able to work with people all over the world and learn from them!”

13 Lunch & Learns

It was a baker’s dozen of lessons and internal webinars for our team this year. Topics ranged from personal interests to technology and development, such as “DIY LEDs,” “Remix vs NextJS,” and a panel discussion on accessibility for all.

“WDS Lunch & Learns are a great way for people to share their expertise in a work-related area or just something fun,” says Justin Foell, Engineering Manager. Justin coordinates, schedules, and promotes every single Lunch & Learn event. “It helps the team level up and connect with each other at the same time.”

23 WordPress Talks, Podcasts, Webinars, Interviews, and Media Mentions

Face it. WebDevStudios is everywhere. When WordCamps and WordPress meetups call for speakers, our team submits their ideas.

When WordPress and tech media publications need experts on hand, we volunteer. WDS team members love to lend a hand and share their expertise. Then, we like to brag about it via our Company News blog posts.

26,197 Tacos Given

This WebDevStudios 2022 review wouldn’t be complete without talking about tacos. We use a variety of methods to keep our remote work company culture engaging. One of our favorites is HeyTaco rewards.

HeyTaco is our internal reward system that allows coworkers to thank and recognize fellow teammates. It’s our way of saying, “Hey, I appreciate you. Here’s a taco.” Collected tacos are redeemed for gift cards and PTO.

Take a look at our top taco givers and recipients.

Coming Up

Looking forward to 2023, our commitment hasn’t changed: Your Success is Our Mission! As always, we are committed to learning new technologies, building amazing building experiences for our clients, and continuing to give back via our various open-source contributions. Our team is laser-focused on helping our clients meet and exceed their online goals in 2023 and beyond.

The post WebDevStudios 2022 Year-in-Review appeared first on WebDevStudios.

We onboarded a number of high-profile clients. WDS joined a very exclusive club as a Gold Agency Partner on WordPress VIP. We continued to lean into Headless WordPress with the launch of our Next.js Starter Framework and our first-ever, free Headless WordPress Webinar.

Our team continued to push the boundaries of WordPress. As we kick off a new year, we are continuing to stay laser focused on client success.

Staying Ahead of Technology

It’s critical our engineering team stays ahead of technology trends in the web space. WebDevStudios clients rely on our expertise in the field and know they can trust us to be at the forefront of web technology.

We want to make sure we’re bringing the best solutions to the table to help our clients meet and exceed their online goals. Our engineering team dedicates time for continuing education and research towards those goals, and that will continue to increase in 2022.

Exploring Web3

Our team is passionate about the web and love exploring new technologies. The WDS Lab is where R&D time is spent exploring new trends and tech on the web. One area that has us all very excited is Web3.

Blockchain and smart contract technology allows for the development of decentralized apps. Web3 has the opportunity to truly disrupt the internet as we know it. So, it’s natural that WDS will be on the front lines of this exciting new technology.

Getting a New Look, Going Headless

WebDevStudios is one of the oldest and most respected agencies in the industry with a focus on WordPress. We’ve worked hard over the years to grow our brand organically.

As such, we realized it was time for a refresh. We’re extremely excited to launch a completely overhauled website and refreshed WDS brand in early 2022!

While our logo and branding refresh is subtle, our new website will be anything but. Starting from the ground up, our Strategy and Design team took on the challenge of a completely new design for the WebDevStudios website.

But we’re not stopping there. Our talented Engineering team also decided on a full decoupled setup. That means we are relaunching WebDevStudios.com as a Headless WordPress website!

More info soon.

Experimenting with Marketing

When it comes to marketing we’re a small but mighty team. We love experimenting with new marketing channels including a recurring Twitter Spaces event every Friday dedicated to WordPress.

One marketing goal we have for 2022 is a bigger focus on video media. We love contributing back to WordPress, so creating more videos could be a fun an interesting way of doing just that.

It’s a new year at WDS and our core remains the same. Your success is our mission!

The post WebDevStudios 2022 Goals and Resolutions appeared first on WebDevStudios.

It’s with great pride that we announce WordPress VIP, the leading provider of enterprise WordPress, has added WebDevStudios (WDS) to its prestigious listing of Featured Gold Partners. WDS is one of only 14 partners in this prestigious group and the first agency in several years to enter this significant partnership at the Gold level.

As the experts in enterprise WordPress, WordPress VIP provides a fully managed WordPress cloud platform for unparalleled scale, security, performance, and flexibility; as well as end-to-end guidance and hands-on support. Some of their enterprise clients include Spotify, Capgemini, Facebook, Microsoft, CNN, and others.

The WebDevStudios journey began 13 years ago, and it is a storyline that is filled with milestones, prominent client projects, extensive WordPress core and community contribution, and the curation of a talented team of technologists who are passionate about making the web a better place.

From the learning management system WDS built for Starbucks and the United States National Park System, to the multitude of projects we have built for Microsoft and the consumer packaged goods powerhouse, Campbell’s, and every project in between, our work continues to be exciting, innovative, dynamic, dependable, and most of all, rewarding for all of us.

Yet, WDS continues to make time for giving back to open-source technology. This has always been a huge part of our company culture and reputation, which remains pertinent as we dedicate one workday a month to Five for the Future, the WordPress initiative that encourages agencies and developers to donate 5% of company time to giving back to WordPress.

Now, as we join forces with WordPress VIP as a Featured Gold Partner, WebDevStudios focuses our attention on Headless WordPress and decoupled technologies. The future is bright for WDS as a WordPress VIP Gold agency partner.

“This is exciting for our company because we have operated in the WordPress space for 13 years.  In fact, over the years, we’ve worked on several projects on the VIP platform already; TIME, MSNBC and MSNBC Latino are projects we built and launched on VIP a decade ago – so I guess you could say we’ve been VIP from the beginning.  Cementing our partnership now, in 2021, is kind of like coming home for us.”

~ Lisa Sabin-Wilson, COO – WebDevStudios

Key criteria for agency partners include clear product understanding and innovative go-to-market strategies. VIP vets every partner to identify agencies with a proven track record of successful and forward thinking implementations of WordPress at scale.

“WordPress VIP is experiencing significant growth and we’re poised to deliver transformational results for brands who require best-in-class digital experiences,” said WordPress VIP CEO Nick Gernert. “We’re excited to welcome new agencies alongside our existing partners to help us deliver on the most demanding implementations of enterprise WordPress.”

As the CEO and COO of WebDevStudios, we’re excited, too. We look forward to the promise this partnership brings for our agency and clients. For more information about WebDevStudios’ partnership with WordPress VIP, please visit our WordPress VIP Agency Partner page.

About WordPress VIP

WordPress VIP is the leading provider of enterprise WordPress. VIP’s platform provides enterprise-grade digital marketing and publishing platforms with WordPress at their core. VIP supports flagship digital marketing platforms for some of the best-known brands, including Capgemini, Hachette Book Group, and Facebook. Our digital publishing clients span the media landscape, from focused outlets such as Quartz, Tech Crunch, and FiveThirtyEight to some of the biggest publishers and sites in the world, like News Corp, Rolling Stone, and Abril.

With its unparalleled power, flexibility, and interoperability, WordPress is the best digital experience solution at scale. Together with VIP’s expert support, best-in-class infrastructure, and exceptional partner network, it’s an unbeatable combination.

The post WebDevStudios Named WordPress VIP Gold Agency Partner appeared first on WebDevStudios.

“WordPress is used by 64.5% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 40.6% of all websites,” reports W3Techs, who tracks these numbers from several sources, including Alexa’s top ten million and Tranco’s top million websites. Every year, we see the market share for WordPress surpass the year before, and that gives us the validation of what we already know: WordPress is the best CMS available on the web today.

WebDevStudios has been a proud part of the WordPress ecosystem for the past 13 years as a company. In the beginning, we made the strategic decision to focus strongly on the WordPress platform for building websites for our diverse range of clients, and it was clearly one of the best business decisions we made back then.

Year after year, we continue our commitment, as evidenced by the books that Brad Williams (our CEO) and I write on WordPress, our ongoing dedication to our Five For The Future pledge, as well as confidently steering our clients in the direction of the number-one platform as a solution to their content management and website requirements.

In terms of cost, there just is no beating the cost of WordPress. As a platform, it’s free to use. Yes, there are costs associated with running a website, like the cost of hosting, for example, but the platform itself is free.

There is not just one feature, in particular, that makes us point to WordPress as the top CMS, rather all of its features put together make it the perfect tool. The recent addition of the Block Editor (Gutenberg) to the platform has really created a beautiful way for writers and editors to manage and maintain content, while not being required to understand technologies like HTML and CSS, in order to make it happen.

I, personally, like WordPress as a platform solution because of its flexibility and extensibility. The plugin engine really allows us to be super flexible in what types of solutions we craft, which makes WordPress the perfect solution to any technical challenge our clients bring our way. We can use any of thousands of existing plugins built for WordPress, or create custom plugins of our own (or a combination of the two!) to craft websites that meet any requirement, while still keeping strong security and coding standards in place. Combine that with a robust API and ability to connect a multitude of microservices, like MailChimp, for example. It is much easier and most cost-efficient to utilize the MailChimp API to connect it to WordPress for email newsletter needs than it is to build a custom email newsletter service for marketing purposes.

At WebDevStudios, we have built so many different and creative types of projects with WordPress, each one different and unique in their own way. We use WordPress to build eCommerce platforms for clients that enable them to integrate their product and service offerings, allow payment transactions and account management on the same website and domain as the one they use for their sales and marketing content offerings. We’ve also used WordPress as a web app to build out very complex applications that rely heavily on the custom post type, custom taxonomy, and custom field features available in the platform. The flexibility is what really attracts agencies like us when it comes to crafting reliable, secure, and performant solutions.

Very recently, we have been focusing on using WordPress as a “Headless CMS.” A Headless CMS acts as a bridge between your main website platform and your library of content, such as blog posts, static text, and media. WordPress is already the world’s most popular CMS, making it an easy, go-to solution when you find yourself in need of a Headless CMS. It’s important to talk about a headless option with clients, particularly ones who prioritize speed, security and performance for their project.

CMS refers to the application in which you store and manage website content. Traditionally, that meant using a monolithic system such as WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla. They’re called “monolithic” because their architecture involves several layers, including the backend (database), functional (plugins), and presentational (themes) layer. These layers can all work harmoniously together in a single interface such as a dashboard.

The rise in popularity of microservices and JavaScript frameworks such as React, along with WordPress’s REST-API meant developers could decouple the presentational layer (theme) and build a frontend without having to worry about interrupting the workflow of content editors.

-From Headless WordPress and Headless CMS, by Greg Rickaby, Director of Engineering

Clients in all industries benefit from the flexibility, ease of use, extensibility, and cost of the WordPress platform. We have seen first hand how it has made a difference for our clients in a variety of industry verticals, such as consumer packaged goods, technology, travel, education, nonprofits, and more. The fact that WordPress is open-source software with such a large and passionate community of developers is also a big plus because it is being constantly iterated on, improved, future-proofed, and secured by the web’s most talented development community.

At WebDevStudios, we are not surprised that WordPress has passed the 40% market share mark for all websites on the web. It is a joy to tell our clients, and really anyone who will listen, that WordPress powers more than 40% of the web. We are proud to play even a small part of that success by contributing, committing ourselves, and consistently pointing to WordPress as the solution for clients who approach us to craft their presence on the web.

I fully expect this time next year, we’ll be talking about WordPress surpassing 50% market share and beyond. Do you need a team who knows WordPress and has focused all of their skills, talents, and experience toward crafting amazing WordPress solutions? Don’t be afraid to reach out to us. We are more than happy to talk with you!

The post WordPress Market Share Surpasses 40% appeared first on WebDevStudios.

WordPress Core contributions

WebDevStudios (WDS) is always proud of our team and proud of our contributions to WordPress and the community (check out our Five to the Future contributions below), but when we see one of our team members receive credit for contributing to an official WordPress release, well, our hearts really swell then.

This year, Backend Engineer, Michael Panaga, received credit for contributing to WordPress 5.4, while Senior Backend Engineer, Sal Ferrarello, contributed to WordPress 5.5. Support Engineer, Michael Beckwith, contributed to WordPress 5.6.

1400+ Hours for Five for the Future

You read that correctly. Amazing, right? Pending client work, every last Friday of the month is dedicated to giving back to WordPress. These contributions range from plugin development to taking support tickets, speaking at a virtual WordCamp to captioning videos at WordPress.TV. Keep up with our contributions on Twitter, via the hashtag #5ftf.

Clients, Clients, Clients

We have the best clients! 2020 required businesses across the world to pivot and make some changes. As such, we launched new websites, redesigns, and a plethora of other client work, totaling 60 overall client projects. One of those projects was for a new live streaming service, while another saved the snow day.

Meanwhile, at Maintainn, the WordPress support and maintenance division of our company, we supported 75 clients on development projects and saw a 32% growth in our SMB website design project. We more than doubled our hosting subscriptions count from 2019, and added a new Dedicated hosting plan. Additionally, Maintainn rolled out a new Emergency Support tool and an on-call process for our 24/7/365 SLA clients. In response to the pandemic, Maintainn introduced quarterly billing options to still provide discounts while helping with cashflow.

Because relationships matter, we also saw two WDS clients transition to Maintainn for ongoing maintenance, while two Maintainn clients sought website redesigns from WebDevStudios.

Virtual WordCamps and Events

Before the pandemic hit, Frontend Engineer, Alfredo Navas, was able to volunteer in person at WordCamp Miami. That was the last WordCamp any of us were able to attend in person, but we did our best to participate in the virtual events.

For example, Engineering Manager, Justin Foell, helped with the KidsCamp portion of WordCamp Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Support Technician, Christina Workman, spoke at WordPress Accessibility Day. Director of Business Development, Jodie Riccelli, participated in CMS Philly, while both WDS C0-Founders, Lisa Sabin-Wilson and Brad Williams, spoke at WP Agency Summit. WDS and Maintainn were Bronze Sponsors for WordCamp Philly.

First-Ever WDS Virtual Camp

After booking and announcing internally the location of our annual company retreat, known as WDS Camp, pandemic reality set in and we had to postpone our in-person meetup and start fresh with a virtual event. WDS Virtual Camp took place October 1-2, 2020 and included swag, a schedule of activities, and opportunities to bond and create new memories. Somehow, some way, our planning committee made it work.

9 New Employees

Team WDS grew by nine! This year, we added three new staff members to Maintainn: Technical Project Manager, Alex Juchniewicz, Assistant Project Manager, Autry Reeves, and Support Engineer, Tanner Record.

At WebDevStudios, we added Frontend Engineer, Amor Kumar, Senior Backend Engineer, Ashar Irfan, Digital Strategist, Bret Phillips, Lead Engineer, Darren Cooney, Project Manager, Daniel Lama, and Digital Designer, Jennifer Cooley to our team of experts.

8 Lunch & Learns, 3,432 Continuing Education Hours

WDS thinks it’s important to keep our skills leveled up in order to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology. Our internal Lunch & Learn events allow individual team members to educate their peers. And, when there is downtime, our company supports staff taking classes, such as webinars on React, Gutenberg, Next.js, and project management, during company time. Everyone wins when everyone is informed and educated.

2nd Edition of Professional WordPress Plugin Development Released

Co-authored by WDS CEO, Brad Williams, Justin Tadlock, and John James Jacoby, Professional WordPress Plugin Development, is considered one of the most popular open source content management systems available today. The highly anticipated second edition was released last year.

CPTUI Hit 900,000 Active Installs

Our most popular WordPress plugin, Custom Post Types UI (CPTUI), hit 900,000+ active installations. Additionally, for the first time ever, CPTUI made it to the finals of Plugin Madness. Thank you to everyone who uses CPTUI.

27,694 Tacos!

At WDS, we integrate Hey Taco! in our Slack and use it as a rewards system to acknowledge each other’s work and efforts. We must really like one another because in 2020, we collectively gave each other 27,694 tacos, which can be turned in for gift cards, PTO, and even actual tacos.

The post WebDevStudios 2020 Year in Review appeared first on WebDevStudios.

19 New Employees

Nineteen new employees in 2019, how perfect is that? Our 100% distributed force is now not only based in the US, but we also have team members in Canada, Philippines, and Costa Rica. One of our newest teammates is also WDS’ first-ever Employee Experience Coordinator, which, according to WDS Director of Operations, April Williams, was one of our hiring goals for 2019.

“Our Employee Experience Coordinator, Julie Sarnik, has come into the company with three primary goals, and she has already made huge improvements in just a few months,” says April. “First, she is assisting with the increasing HR duties of our growing company. Second, she is creating a better and more cohesive experience for WDS employees throughout their tenure here by being the point of contact for their performance, career growth, and their wellness and mental health initiatives. Third, Julie also improves our employee-related processes from hiring to exiting the company.”

Additionally, our engineering department went on a hiring frenzy. “There were two major hiring crunches, one in the spring and another this fall,” explains Greg Rickaby, Director of Engineering. “I conducted nearly 50 interviews and reviewed hundreds of applications. Not only did we bring on 15 engineers, we also added new disciplines, like UI and data engineers. Plus, to help me lead the department, I elevated Will Schmierer to Engineering Manager.”

Looking back at the year in review, Will agrees with Greg’s assessment of our recent engineering new hires, saying, “We’ve added a tremendous group of talented engineers to an already amazing group. The additions have been seamless, like we’ve all been working together for years.”

When asked about goals for next year, Greg says, “We’re looking forward to tackling new technical challenges with Gutenberg, Docker, and pushing the boundaries in the headless WordPress space in 2020.”

Over 150 Proposals Written, 18 New Clients Attained

After seeing the impressive solutions our team can build for our clients in two very specific industries, we altered our strategies to focus on these categories and increased our portfolio of clients.

“As I look back at our year in review, one of the things that stands out is we learned a lot about business development,” says Jodie Riccelli, Director of Business Development. “I had the pleasure of attending the Bureau of Digital Business Development Camp where I got the chance to meet many people in the industry. I also went to DrupalCon and spoke on web trends. We forged new relationships with Big Commerce, Gatsby, Hubspot and Fly Wheel, too.”

Increased the Size of PMO, Moved to New PM Software

“One of the biggest goals this year was to focus on client satisfaction and retention. We did this by extending our client relationships into partnerships by providing excellent client service, improving communications and ensuring quality work,” reports Cristina Holt, Director of Project Management.

Another goal that our project management department set for 2019 was to improve their internal tool set for project managers by making a big shift from Basecamp and Github over to Jira and Confluence. “This has improved task creation and planning, task management, risk management and overall transparency with our clients throughout the project,” Cristina says. “Plus it has made our project managers’ lives easier day to day.”

Additionally, we nearly doubled the size of PMO by adding two new project managers, Jessica Lujan and Christine Dixon. “Jessica is a stellar communicator, someone who connect with all levels in every way, while Christine always knows how to make tough decisions on challenging projects,” Cristina describes her new team members.

The Biggest Year for Maintainn

The WordPress support and maintenance division of our company, Maintainn, experienced its biggest year ever with the addition of small business website design services and hosting. Additionally, Maintainn maintained over 200 websites for 170 clients, launched five new small business websites, and rolled out two new hosting plans drawing interest from new and existing clients daily.

“Client success was our primary mission for 2019, and with every opportunity or despite any challenge, the team at Maintainn rose to the occasion,” states Jim Byrom, Director of Client Services. He goes on to say about our year in review, Maintainn increased its marketing efforts of the new and already-existing services, thus solidifying Maintainn’s position as a trusted WordPress partners.

“Knowing that an expansion of services could also bring an even larger client-base, another key to success this year was identifying gaps in operations and building redundancy wherever possible,” Jim explains. “Everyone at Maintainn understands their primary, secondary and sometimes even their tertiary roles, who they back up, and vice versa. This enables us to be a lean, yet highly efficient team. We are also very thankful to our counterparts on the new implementations side of the house and the collaboration we have with them on a daily basis.”

1,292 Hours for Five for the Future, 26 Team Members at WDS Camp

Since 2014, WDS has been contributing to the WordPress initiative known as Five for the Future. By the end of 2019, we expect to have contributed 1,292 hours by donating time to core and plugin development, WordCamps, and WordPress meetups. And now, there is an official Pledges landing page at WordPress.org where all organizations donating their time to Five for the Future are featured. Giving back is an important part of our values and something that will always be integrated into our company culture.

As a 100% distributed team, our annual company retreats play a big role in our endeavors to sustain a connected and cohesive team. This year’s retreat, known as WDS Camp, was held at Lake Lanier, Georgia.

5 WordCamps Organized, 11 WordCamp Talks Given

WDS can’t stop giving back to WordPress. That’s why our team has spoken at 11 WordCamps, organized five, and volunteered at two.

“WordCamp is one of the biggest reasons WordPress has the market share that it does,” expresses Justin Foell, Senior Backend Engineer. “It is an opportunity to share ideas, meet new people, and spread the love. The diverse WordPress community is fully the reason I’ve staked my name and employment on it. If you haven’t been to a WordCamp, you need to go. If you have been going and you feel like you’re getting diminishing returns, it’s time to step up and speak or volunteer. WordCamp gives back whatever you put into it, and more.”

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2019 has been one of our best years yet at WebDevStudios. One of our primary goals this year was analyzing our entire project processes and identifying areas for improvement. Keeping the focus on client success, it’s important that our tools and processes are optimized towards our client goals.

With the help from our team, we migrated our project management tool to Jira, an enterprise-grade solution. We revamped our discovery process and created a formal strategy department to help translate our client ideas and needs into action and deliver creative solutions that meet, or exceed, their goals. We on-boarded some amazing new clients and continued to grow and strengthen our partnership with existing clients.

As always, our team is the reason we’ve had such a successful year and we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of them. We are very excited for 2020 and continuing to create amazing WordPress powered web experiences for our incredible clients!

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