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Improving WordPress Sites With Web Standards
A new WordPress site for Arcora Foundation’s Washington State Water Fluoridation campaign.
Scope of Work
This project involved upgrading a DIVI Child Theme running outdated, insecure PHP software to a modern, Full Site Editor Theme running PHP 8.4. Non-semantic DIVI code was replaced with accessible, semantic HTML structure.
- Accessibility Compliance
- Performance Optimization
- Security Hardening
- WordPress Theme Development
Accessibility improvements include:
- Scalable viewport for mobile and assistive technology devices
- Links with 2 visual indicators
- Skip-to-Content links for screen readers
- Secondary navigation method: site search
Homepage file size was reduced 50% to 1 Mb, less than half the industry median; and server requests were also reduced 50% from 64 to 32 – resulting in sub 3 second mobile load times.
Benchmarks
| Performance Metric | Old DIVI Website | New WordPress Website |
|---|---|---|
| Google Lighthouse: Accessibility | 83/100 | 96/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Best Practices | 92/100 | 92/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed | 57/100 | 94/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed | 88/100 | 96/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization | 92/100 | 92/100 |
| WebPageTest Speed Index | 4.130 | 2.684 |
| Total Homepage File Size | 2 Mb (612 Kb Images + 1.05 Mb Scripts + 154 Kb CSS + 306 Kb Fonts + 612 Kb HTML) | 1 Mb (325 Kb Images + 772 Kb Scripts + 99 Kb CSS + 35 Kb Fonts + 75 Kb HTML) |
| Total Web Server Requests | 64 (9 Images + 18 Scripts + 13 CSS + 7 Fonts + 11 Other + 6 HTML) | 32 (6 Images + 11 Scripts + 5 CSS + 1 Font + 4 Other + 5 HTML) |
| Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time | ~4.3 seconds | < 1 second |
In 2025, the average page size = ~2.4 Mb and median page size = ~2.1 Mb.
Database-driven websites, like WordPress, are more performance optimized when server requests are < 40 – 60.
Site Credits
WordPress Design & Development: Scott Marlow
Creating Quality Websites Together
Scope of Work
To highlight members’ mosaic artwork, visual design is modern and minimal.
- Block Editor Integration
- E-Commerce
- Visual Design & Layout
- WordPress Theme Development
Benchmarks
| Performance Metric | Old WordPress Website | New WordPress Website |
|---|---|---|
| Google Lighthouse: Accessibility | 88/100 | 96/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Best Practices | 68/100 | 74/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed | 75/100 | 76/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed | 97/100 | 94/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization | 92/100 | 100/100 |
| WebPageTest Speed Index | .832 | .930 |
| Total Homepage File Size | 524 Kb (65 Kb Images + 426 Kb Scripts + 25 Kb CSS + 11 Kb Other + 8 Kb HTML) | 536 Kb (Kb Images + Kb Scripts + Kb CSS + Kb Fonts + Kb HTML) |
| Total Web Server Requests | 45 (8 Images + 21 Scripts + 6 CSS + 4 Other + 6 HTML) | 45 (8 Images + 21 Scripts + 6 CSS + Fonts + 4 Other + 6 HTML) |
| Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time | <1 second | < 1 second |
WebPageTest Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2024, the average page size = ~2.4 Mb and median page size = ~2.1 Mb.
Database-driven websites, like WordPress, are more performance optimized when server requests are < 40 – 60.
Site Credits
Visual Design & Layout: IvyCat
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow
Quality Nonprofit WordPress Sites
A new Block Editor-enabled WordPress site for Washington State Council of the Emergency Nurses Association – a not-for-profit professional organization affiliated with the National Emergency Nurses Association. Washington ENA is dedicated to quality patient care, public safety, continuing education, nursing research and promotion of the nursing profession.
Scope of Work
Our web design team was selected as part of a formal RFP to clone a Ruby On Rails website into a standalone WordPress environment so that WA ENA would have more control over content management.
- Client discovery and needs assessment
- Accessibility conformance
- Content migration
- Performance optimization
- Visual Design & Layout
- WordPress theme development
The new site includes a dynamic events calendar, online contact forms, and a variety of member resources.
Overall homepage size decreased 58% to 1.227 Mb – 42% below the industry median; and reducing Javascript improved mobile page speed 3 fold, to ~1.7 seconds.
To improve conformance to WCAG Level AA – the new website features ‘skip to content’ links, keyboard-navigable navigation, high contrast colors (> 4.5:1), semantic HTML, and other best practices.
Benchmarks
| Performance Metric | Old Ruby On Rails Site | New WordPress Website |
|---|---|---|
| Google Lighthouse: Accessibility | 77/100 | 91/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Best Practices | 100/100 | 100/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed | 45/100 | 99/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed | 61/100 | 100/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization | 92/100 | 92/100 |
| WebPageTest Speed Index | 4.716 | 1.746 |
| Total Homepage File Size | 2.912 Mb (666 Kb Images + 1.582 Mb Scripts + 222 Kb Fonts + 462 Kb CSS + 42 Kb HTML) | 1.227 Mb (760 Kb Images + 256 Kb Scripts + 117 Kb Fonts + 92 Kb CSS + 32 Kb HTML) |
| Total Web Server Requests | 28 (4 Images + 9 Scripts + 4 CSS + 5 Fonts + 3 Other + 3 HTML) | 71 (14 Images + 26 Scripts + 23 CSS + 4 Fonts + 3 Other + 1 HTML) |
| Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time | ~4.7 seconds | ~1.7 seconds |
WebPageTest Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2024, the average page size = ~2.4 Mb and median page size = ~2.1 Mb.
Database-driven websites, like WordPress, are more performance optimized when server requests are < 40 – 60.
Site Credits
Branding & Visual Design: Terri Nakamura
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow
Your Website. Well Built.
A new Block Editor-enabled WordPress site for Make it Matter – a community of marketing professionals who provide branding, copywriting, strategy and visual design services.
Scope of Work
- Performance Optimization
- Security Hardening
- WordPress Theme Development
Performance
To optimize performance, overall page size, at 241 Kb, is 91% below the average industry homepage size of ~2.4 Mb. Page load speed is improved with a modest 16 server requests.
Benchmarks
| Performance Metric | New WordPress Website |
| Google Lighthouse: Accessibility | 91/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Best Practices | 100/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed | 99/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed | 100/100 |
| Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization | 92/100 |
| WebPageTest Speed Index | 1.755 |
| Total Homepage File Size | 241 Kb (73 Kb Images + 26 Kb Scripts + 12 Kb CSS + + 119 Kb Fonts + 16 Kb HTML) |
| Total Web Server Requests | 16 (4 Images + 5 Scripts + 4 CSS + 2 Fonts + 1 HTML) |
| Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time | ~1.8 seconds |
WebPageTest Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2024, the average page size = ~2.4 Mb and median page size = ~2.1 Mb.
Database-driven websites, like WordPress, are more performance optimized when server requests are < 40 – 60.
Site Credits
Branding & Visual Design: Make It Matter
WordPress Design + Development: Scott Marlow
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