Accessibility

My work prioritizes accessibility, which also improves usability and search engine optimization. Contact me if your organization needs help with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance. My WCAG (Level AA) Accessibility Evaluations start at $800 per site.

Proven WordPress Websites that Nonprofits Love!

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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 Metric Old (Divi) WordPress Theme
 New Custom-Branded WordPress Theme
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 88/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 75/100 92/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 47/100 96/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 64/100 99/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 82/100 90/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 6.121 2.008
Homepage File Size 6.46 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 Requests 59 (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.

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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

ThemeForest vs. WordPress: Theme Comparison

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Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation contacted me in fall 2021 about a website rebuild.

The organization was satisfied with their overall brand identity, as well as the look and feel of their existing site. However, the board of directors wanted to address concerns of very poor mobile page load speeds, often in excess of 12 seconds.

Scope of Work

My goal was to clone the site content and mimic the existing visual look and feel – while optimizing accessibility, performance, and search engine optimization.

  • accessibility testing
  • front-end web development
  • performance optimization
  • security hardening
  • search engine optimization
  • WordPress training and consulting

It was easy to identify the root cause of the performance issues: a template ThemeForest Theme, with too many Plugins. Overall page size was 3.6 Mb, well above the industry average of 2.4 Mb. However, the main contributor to page load latency is usually ‘web server file requests.’ Together, the Theme and Plugins generated 89 server requests – including 36 Javascript files. In addition to a rotating content carousel, the Visual Composer Plugin was generating significant code bloat. These poor development practices impacted usability, site engagement and conversions.

Below are screenshots during development. Do you notice significant changes in the look & feel?

Before (left) & After (right) optimization screenshots

Performance Analysis

By switching to a WordPress.org-approved Theme, _Underscores, and consolidating and removing Plugins – web server requests were reduced 64%, from 89 to 32; overall page size also decreased 71%, from 3.6 Mb to 1 Mb. Replacing the Visual Composer Plugin with WordPress’ native Gutenberg Block Editor significantly improved performance. These efforts improved page load speed to reasonable sub 3 seconds on mobile devices.

MetricThemeForest (Anima) ThemeWordPress _Underscores Theme
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility88/10096/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices80/10092/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed31/10085/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed64/10099/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization70/10086/100
WebPageTest Speed Index7.5233.267
Homepage File Size3.6 Mb (1.9 Mb Images + 1.3 Mb Scripts + 199 Kb CSS + 305 Kb Fonts + 70 Kb HTML)1.05 Mb (720 Kb Images + 125 Kb Scripts + 68 Kb CSS + 120 Kb Fonts + 28 Kb HTML)
Web Server Requests89 (21 Images + 36 Scripts +15 CSS + 7 Font + 9 Other + 5 HTML)32 (9 Images + 11 Scripts + 7 CSS +3 Fonts + 2 Other + 1 HTML)
Estimated Homepage Load Time on mobile~7.5 seconds~3.3 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.

The final result is a simpler, faster, yet on-brand, website that is easier to maintain.

Site Credits

WordPress Theme Development by Scott Marlow

What Would Western Wildlife Outreach Do?

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Western Wildlife Outreach (WWO) works with partners to provide science-based information to community groups about the ecology, biology, and behavior of grizzly bears, black bears, cougars, and gray wolves. By engaging communities in wildlife and habitat stewardship activities, WWO programs foster an appreciation for large carnivores’ niche in maintaining ecosystem health — providing critical context to environmental recovery efforts happening throughout the Pacific Northwest.

nonprofit wildlife organization website screenshot
screenshot of WWO’s new WordPress site

By fall 2021, WWO’s old website was becoming endangered. Page load speed was sluggish, above 5 seconds. Volunteers and new staff could not easily add and update content. Compounded by a clunky user interface that was difficult to navigate, visitors were not engaging with the science-based content.

WWWWOD?

WWO found my nonprofit website marketing services thru 501 Commons. Soon, we embarked to completely rebuild their existing WordPress site, using the native Block Editor to provide a rich, intuitive editing interface, which showcases their rich wildlife photography.

Project objectives included:

  1. To refresh and modernize the website based on WWO’s existing brand identity;
  2. To improve ease of use – content management, information architecture, readability, and site maintenance;
  3. To improve the mobile responsiveness of the site layout for displays from phones to tablets to desktops – including a collapsible navigation menu on mobile;
  4. To improve compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level AA – including keyboard-navigable navigation, skip-to-content links, semantic HTML, and high color contrast [> 4.5:1 and > 3.5:1 for large text];
  5. To improve site security and performance.

Overall homepage size decreased 36% from 1.8 to 1.14 Mb, with another 36% decrease in web server requests – resulting in sub 2-3 second page load speeds.

Performance Analysis

Performance MetricOld website (November 2021)New Website (February 2022)
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility90/10098/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices80/10092/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed74/10094/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed97/10097/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization83/10098/100
WebPageTest Speed Index1.5952.029
Total Homepage File Size1.8 Mb
( 1.3 Mb Images + 110 Kb Scripts + 36 Kb CSS + 12 Kb HTML)		1.14 Mb
(788 Kb Images + 241 Kb Scripts + 69 Kb CSS + 44 Kb Fonts + 22 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests67
(32 Images + 24 Scripts + 9 CSS + 1 HTML)		43
(11 Images + 17 Scripts + 11 CSS + 2 Fonts + 2 HTML)
Total Homepage Load Time~2.4 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.

Web Design + Development Team

Visual Design: Erik Fadiman
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow