Terri Nakamura

Terri NakamuraAn award-winning communications professional with over 20 years of experience in design, writing, production and strategy.
terrinakamura.com

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 MetricOld Ruby On Rails SiteNew WordPress Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility77/10091/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices100/100100/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed45/10099/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed61/100100/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization92/10092/100
WebPageTest Speed Index4.7161.746
Total Homepage File Size2.912 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 Requests28 (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

Posted on

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

Posted on

Personalized Website Services for Community-Based Organizations

Pediatric nursing website screenshot

A quick turnaround WIX-to-WordPress website conversion for Nursing Evolutions, an Everett-based organization providing 24/7 specialty pediatric care.

Nursing Evolutions needed a modernized website, with improved search engine optimization features, to help with nurse recruitment.

Scope of Work

  • Branding & Visual Design
  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • WordPress Theme Development
  • WordPress Training & Consulting

Performance

Homepage size has been reduced 22% to 2 Mb, within the industry median. More importantly, web server requests, which contribute the most to page load latency, have been reduced 63%, from 135 to 50. To help facilitate the migration from WIX to a self-hosted WordPress platform, DNS was moved to a Content Delivery Network.

Before & After Performance Comparison

Performance Metric old WIX website New WordPress Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 89/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 100/100 92/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 63/100 89/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 59/100 90/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 86/100 84/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 3.091 2.743
Total Homepage File Size 2.563 Mb (177 Kb Images + 1.9 Mb Scripts + 54 Kb CSS + 264 Kb Fonts + 74 Kb Other + 122 Kb HTML) 2.008 Mb (947 Kb Images + 810 Kb Scripts + 123 Kb CSS + 103 Kb Fonts + 31 Kb Other + 42 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 135 (10 Images + 69 Scripts + 3 CSS + 37 Other + 10 Fonts + 6 HTML) 50 (12 Images + 14 Scripts + 10 CSS + 3 Fonts + 6 Other + 5 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~3 seconds ~2.7 seconds

WebPageTest Speed Index: median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388
In 2022, 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.

Scott Marlow is an exceptional developer who is dedicated to delivering high-quality work within the given time frame.

Throughout the entire process, Scott Marlow remained highly responsive and communicative, keeping us informed of the progress and addressing any concerns or questions we had promptly. He was able to manage the project’s deadlines effectively and delivered on every commitment he made.

Scott’s in-depth knowledge of WordPress development enabled him to provide valuable insights and suggestions on how to optimize our website’s performance and user experience.
Gabrielle D’Ambrosio, Partner

Site Credits

Visual Design: Terri Nakamura
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow

Posted on