Web design

WordPress Sites Designed to Exceed Expectations

screenshot of civil engineer website

A website rebuild and redesign for CivilAir Engineers.

CivilAir Engineers, PLLC is a certified Veteran Owned Business – providing civil engineering, construction management, and staff augmentation services to public agencies and prime consultants.  CAE also specializes in infrastructure planning, engineering design, and construction management for capital improvement, airports, ports, and transportation projects.

Scope of Work

  • Accessibility
  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • Visual Layout & Design
  • WordPress Theme Development

Performance

To optimize performance, overall page size, at 824 Kb, is 61% below the median industry homepage size of ~2.1 Mb. By migrating from GoDaddy’s site builder to WordPress, server requests, which are the primary cause of slow page load, have been reduced 91%, from 138 to 12.

Before & After Performance Comparison

Performance Metric Old GoDaddy-Powered Website
 New WordPress Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 92/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 75/100 96/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 71/100 99/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 73/100 97/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 85/100 92/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 3.748 1.822
Total Homepage File Size 3.046 Mb (1.34 Mb Images + 1.2 Mb Scripts + 120 Kb CSS + + 419 Kb Fonts + 33 Kb HTML) 824 Kb (335 Kb Images + 19 Kb Scripts + 4 Kb CSS + + 473 Kb Fonts + 13 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 138 (32 Images + 47 Scripts + 34 CSS + 9 Fonts + 10 Other + 6 HTML) 12 (3 Images + 4 Scripts + 2 CSS + 2 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~3.8 seconds ~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

WordPress Design + Development: Scott Marlow

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Creating Usable Websites

A new mobile responsive WordPress CMS for Reclaiming Our Greatness, to replace its previous website powered by Webflow, which ROG found difficult to maintain. The project’s main objectives included providing a more intuitive editing experience, improving page load speed on mobile, and modernizing the visual look and feel of the site thru improved typography and updated imagery – including unique illustrations.

screenshot of new ROG website

ROG assists those affected by housing instability. Its trauma-informed care is designed to help BIPOC communities in King County, WA navigate complex housing, education, and justice systems with dignity and support.


Scope of Work

  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • Visual Layout & Design
  • WordPress Theme Development

Page load speed was significantly improved, particularly for mobile devices, by reducing file size 87% (1/3 the median size) and decreasing web server requests 75%.

Performance Metric Old Webflow Website New WordPress Site
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 88/100 96/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 82/100 93/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 86/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 96/100 99/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 100/100 85/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 6.122 2.325
Total Homepage File Size 5.575 Mb (4.6 Mb Images + 873 Kb Scripts + 171 Kb Fonts) 715 Kb (679 Kb Images + 101 Kb Scripts + 189 Kb CSS + 175 Kb Fonts + 19 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 77 (38images + 22 scripts + 2 CSS files + 12 Fonts + 1 Other + 3 HTML) 19 (6 Images + 5 Scripts + 6 CSS + 1 Font + 1 HTML)
Estimated Homepage Mobile Load Time ~6.1 seconds ~2.3 seconds

WebPage Test 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: Terri Nakamura
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow

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WordPress Training, Education, and Support

An accessible, performance-optimized site rebuild for Forefront Suicide Prevention, a program of the University of Washington School of Social Work.

Forefront website screenshot
Forefront Suicide Prevention offers training, education and program support for suicide prevention – using a public health approach to support community-based suicide prevention work.

Forefront needed to update its outdated WordPress site, which was running PHP version 7.4 (deprecated in November 2022). Unfortunately, the site had not been properly maintained for years, so Plugins and WordPress software could no longer be updated. As a result, significant bugs were impacting site features and visitor usability, as well as content editing.

Scope of Work

  • Accessibility consulting, training and remediation
  • Performance Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • Visual Layout & Design
  • WordPress Theme Development
  • WordPress CMS training

Performance

The new homepage size, at 889 Kb, is 62% below the median industry size of ~2.4 Mb, and web server requests have been reduced 51%, from 80 to 39.

Accessibility

To conform with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level AA – site features include keyboard-navigable navigation; skip-to-content links; form field labels; semantic HTML; mobile-friendly ‘click-to-call’ phone numbers; and a high color contrast palette.

Performance Metric Old WordPress Website New WordPress Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 80/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 96/100 96/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 67/100 81/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 65/100 81/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 92/100 85/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 3.442 2.960
Total Homepage File Size 3.246 Mb ( 1.6 Mb Images + 1.1 Mb Scripts + 130 Kb CSS + + 320 Kb Fonts + 129 Kb HTML) 889 Kb (357 Kb Images + 161 Kb Scripts + 106 Kb CSS + 270 Kb Fonts + 16 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 80 (23 Images + 37 Scripts + 9 CSS + 3 Fonts + 4 Other + 4 HTML) 39 (10 Images + 14 Scripts + 12 CSS + 4 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~3.4 seconds ~2.9 seconds
WebPage Test 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: Joan van den Berg
WordPress Development: Scott Marlow

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Discover. Develop. Differentiate.

website screenshot of NIIOH

A new mobile responsive WordPress CMS for NIIOH, to replace their non-mobile friendly Drupal site.

NIIOH provides convenings, tools and resources for thousands of educators, health professionals and other organizations to eradicate dental disease.

New site features include an e-newsletter signup, site search, custom 404 error page, and a modern visual refresh.

Scope of Work

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • Visual Layout & Design
  • WordPress Theme Development
Performance MetricOld Drupal WebsiteNew WordPress Site
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility45/10089/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices67/10096/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed90/10070/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed100/10096/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization54/10085/100
WebPageTest Speed Index4.2834.786
Total Homepage File Size252 Kb (153 Kb Images + 54 Kb Scripts + 26 Kb CSS + 15 Kb Other + 4 Kb HTML)1.136 Mb (679 Kb Images + 101 Kb Scripts + 189 Kb CSS + 175 Kb Fonts + 19 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests52 (11 images + 2 scripts + 37 CSS files + 1 Other + 1 HTML)52 (31 Images + 9 Scripts + 9 CSS + 2 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Estimated Homepage Mobile Load Time~4.3 seconds~4.8 seconds

WebPage Test Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2023, 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: David Owen Hastings
WordPress Design + Development: Scott Marlow

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WordPress Website Rebuild for Dermatology Clinic

dermatology clinic website screenshot

A rebuilt website for Advanced Dermatology and Laser Institute of Seattle.

Dr. Greene’s dermatology clinic contracted with me to regain full administrative access to their WordPress site, which a marcom agency would not provide. After content was successfully migrated, I cloned the site into a new open source Theme, _S. Usability was improved  by increasing font sizes and color contrast.

Scope of Work

  • Accessibility
  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • Visual Layout & Design
  • WordPress Theme Development

Performance

To optimize performance, overall page size, at 802 Kb, is 67% below the average industry homepage size of ~2.4 Mb, and server requests have been reduced 42%, from 69 to 40. Accessibility benchmarks are also excellent, with a 38% improvement in Google Lighthouse’s automated accessibility metrics.

Before & After Performance Comparison

Performance Metric Old Website
 New Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 60/100 96/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 95/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 72/100 73/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 91/100 91/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 82/100 91/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 1.805 2.251
Total Homepage File Size 1.047 Mb (230 Kb Images + 421 Kb Scripts + 117 Kb CSS + 271 Kb Fonts + 32 Kb HTML) 802 Kb (416 Kb Images + 193 Kb Scripts + 87 Kb CSS + 106 Kb Fonts + 106 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 69 (15 Images + 16 Scripts + 28 CSS + 7 Fonts + 1 Other + 2 HTML) 40 (14 Images + 13 Scripts + 8 CSS + 3 Fonts + 1 Other + 1 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~11.4 seconds ~3.4 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.

Thank you so much. We are extremely happy.
Peggy Mesnik

Site Credits

WordPress Design + Development: Scott Marlow

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