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CMS development

CMS development built for performance and scale.

An easy to maintain, open-source CMS that can be architected for any industry and business type.

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cms / typical buildwhat you get
Custom themeBuilt to your design, no page-builder bloat
Standard
Editable blocksReusable sections your team can rearrange
Standard
Custom content typesStructured content modelled on your business
Standard
Editor trainingHandover documentation and a walkthrough
Included
Why it matters

CMS development without compromise.

A content system is only as good as the way its content is modelled. That decision gets made early and then lived with for years.

Custom themes

Bespoke theme development tailored to your brand and content requirements.

Block editor development

Custom blocks that give editors flexible, structured content controls.

Multisite

Manage multiple sites from a single installation with shared resources.

Performance optimisation

Lean code, efficient queries and considered caching for fast page loads.

Security hardening

Proactive security measures, updates and monitoring to protect your site.

Migration from other platforms

Move from Drupal, Joomla or other legacy systems to a modern CMS with careful data handling.

When you need this

When editors are fighting the system.

The usual complaint about a CMS is that it is slow or awkward. The underlying cause is almost always that the content was never modelled properly, so everything became a page and every page became a free-form layout.

Modelling content around what it actually is costs a little more at the start and saves a great deal every time somebody needs to change something.

Signs it is time

  • Everything is a page builder — Layouts drift between pages, nothing is reusable, and consistency depends on whoever is editing.
  • Content is in the wrong shape — Structured information — dates, prices, locations — is typed into a general text field and cannot be sorted or filtered.
  • Editors need a developer — For changes they should be able to make themselves in a couple of minutes.
  • It slows down as it grows — The more content there is, the slower the site gets, which usually points at how it is queried rather than at the host.
At a glance

How a CMS build is structured.

wordpress / architecture diagram
How a CMS build is structuredEditorsno developer neededContent typesmodelled, not genericTemplatesconsistent & reusableDeliverycached · fast
Content is modelled around what it actually is, so editors work in fields that make sense rather than fighting a page builder — and the front end stays fast under load. Scroll the diagram sideways to see all of it.
Typical deliverables

What the engagement can include.

  • Technical discovery and CMS architecture
  • Custom theme and plugin development
  • Block editor configuration and custom blocks
  • Performance, accessibility and QA
  • Content migration and SEO preservation
  • Ongoing CMS support and updates
theme-build / progressbuild phase
Theme architectureCustom post types · taxonomies · ACF
Complete
Block libraryReusable blocks, editor previews and patterns
In progress
Content migrationPages, posts and the full media library
Queued
Questions

Planning the engagement.

Why this CMS over other platforms?
Because it is mature, open source, well understood by developers, and you are not locked into a single supplier. It is not always the right answer — for a largely static site a generated approach can be faster and cheaper to run, and we will say so when that is the case.
Do you use page builders?
Not as the foundation. We model content into proper fields and build templates around it, so editors fill in what the content is rather than laying out how it looks. That keeps the site consistent and makes a redesign a front-end job rather than a re-entry job.
Can you work with our existing site?
Usually. We start with a technical review covering the theme, plugins, custom code and update status, then set out what is worth keeping and what is costing you more than it saves. Not everything needs rebuilding.
How do you keep it fast?
Sensible queries, caching at the right layers, images handled properly, and restraint about plugins. Most slow CMS sites are not slow because of the platform; they are slow because of the twenty things installed on top of it.
How is it kept secure and up to date?
Updates applied in scheduled windows after being tested on staging, rather than automatically in production or not at all. Combined with backups that have actually been restored at least once, that covers the large majority of real-world risk.
Ready to build?

Need a CMS solution that actually performs?

Tell us who edits the site and what they currently cannot do without help. That tends to shape the build more than the design does.

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