Blog

Proven WordPress Websites that Nonprofits Love!

Posted on

Sound Generations’ Project Enhance provides licensing, training and assistance for two nationally recognized evidence-based programs: Enhance®Fitness and Enhance®Wellness.

The new Project Enhance WordPress site features an integrated members-only content area for fitness instructors and affiliates across 43 states. Benchmarks across all measurable areas have improved significantly. Overall page size has reduced 93% from 6.5 Mb to < 500 Kb; web server requests have reduced 69% from 59 to 18. These improvements result in page load speeds less than 3 seconds.

Enhance Fitness and Wellness website

Site Statistics

Performance MetricOld (Divi) WordPress Theme
New Custom-Branded WordPress Theme
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility88/100100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices75/10092/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed47/10096/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed64/10099/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization82/10090/100
WebPageTest Speed Index6.1212.008
Homepage File Size6.46 Mb (6.06 Mb Images + 205 Kb Scripts + 239 Kb CSS +100 Kb Fonts + Kb HTML)484 Kb (302 Kb Images + 3 Kb Scripts + 33 Kb CSS + 149 Kb Fonts + 8 Kb HTML)
Web Server Requests59 (16 Images + 17 Scripts + 19 CSS + 5 Fonts + 2 HTML)18 (7 Images + 2 Scripts + 6 CSS + 2 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Homepage Load Time~6.1 seconds~2 seconds

WebPage Test Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2021, 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.

Other site updates and improvements include:

More readable content with font sizes > 16 pixels and reduced line widths; keyboard-navigable menu with skip to content link for screen readers;  custom-branded browser favicon; improved security, including bruteforce protection.

Project Enhance is a collaboration between Sound Generations, University of Washington and Group Health Cooperative (now Kaiser Permanente).

WordPress. The Most Respected Content Management System in the World.

Posted on

Did you know WordPress powers 39.5% of all websites (up from powering 35% of sites in 2020)?

CMSMarket Share (2021)
WordPress65%
Shopify6.5%
Wix3.4%
SquareSpace3.0%
Joomla2.5%
Drupal1.9%
2021 stats according to W3 Techs

Lytle Enterprises contacted our team in October 2021 with accessibility, SEO and usability concerns for their aging website. Our goals included:

  1. To refresh and modernize the website based on the organization’s existing brand identity;
  2. To improve ease of use – including content management, information architecture, readability, and site maintenance;
  3. To improve conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level AA – including keyboard-navigable navigation, skip-to-content links, semantic HTML, site search; and high color contrast [> 4.5:1 and > 3.5:1 for large text];
  4. To improve site performance and security;
  5. To improve search engine visibility and optimization.

The final benchmark results were impressive …

Performance MetricOld website (November 2021)New Website (April 2022)
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility96/100100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices67/100100/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed59/10086/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed71/10098/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization71/10093/100
WebPageTest Speed Index5.8452.116
Total Homepage File Size377 Kb
(201 Kb Images + 172 Kb Scripts + 13 Kb CSS + 40 Kb Fonts + 19 Kb HTML)		383 Kb
(231 Kb Images + 4 Kb Scripts + 41 Kb CSS + 107 Kb Fonts + 8 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests25
(3 Images +13 Scripts + 5 CSS + 2 Font + 5 HTML)		20
(6 Images + 2 Scripts + 8 CSS + 3 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Total Homepage Load Time~5.8 seconds~2.1 seconds
WebPage Test Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2021, 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.

Web Design + Development Team

Visual Design: Erik Fadiman
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow

Accelerated Rebranding for Nonprofit Consulting Firm

Posted on

A visual design refresh for Alford Group, a minority & woman owned firm that provides fundraising and strategy consulting to nonprofits.

Scope of work for the website refresh included:
a new logo, new typography, updated color palette with a bright orange accent; as well as other layout and style updates to coordinate with the updated brand identity (created by Advocate Creative).

Before (top) compared to After (bottom)

Despite a homepage content slider, Google Lighthouse performance benchmarks remain impressive:

Accessibility: 96/100
Best Practices: 92/100
Mobile Optimization: 78/100
Desktop Optimization: 99/100
SEO: 83/100

Total Page Size: 948 Kb (In 2021, the average page size was ~ 2.4 Mb; median = ~2.1 Mb)