Website Build & Development

After the functional requirements, user experience documents and visual design comps are established and approved, we begin front- and back-end technical development.

Back End Development and CMS

Gaslamp Media’s team are experts at Drupal and WordPress implementations, both from scratch and migrations from legacy CMS. These sites are built primarily in PHP. Contributed modules, Bootstrap and jQuery packages will be used to speed up development and aid in our effort to build a clean, high quality codebase that is easily maintained in the future.

Using signed off designs, we will use design files to create a website theme and create new page templates. Initial development will take place on our web server. When they are ready they will be transferred to a staging environment.

Content/Post Types

Unique content types will be created for the various types of content, such as events, blog posts, news articles, pages, and documents. Mandatory and optional “fields” will be configured per content type, such as photos and categories for blog posts, date and location fields for events, etc.

Roles & Permissions

Roles will be created for each type of user, such as site managers, editors, and contributors. Each role will be assigned varying levels of permissions to create/edit/delete content that suits their needs.

Views/Archive Pages

Views in Drupal will be created to display collections of various content types, such as a blog section to show blog posts, calendars to display upcoming events, or recent meeting minutes. In WordPress, these are treated as "archive" page templates or embedded in a page as a custom short code.

Custom Features

Any project specific functions or features unique to the website will be written as custom modules and documentation will be provided.

Thid Party Services/API Integration

here possible, integration with existing third party services will be implemented within the website. Where not possible, a suitable replacement or alternative may be suggested. The integration process will vary based on the services used.

Managing Code

Code will be saved regularly to a git repository (source code management software) where it can be accessed and reviewed by other parties involved.

Front End Development

While the site's back end is being worked on, the front end can be worked on in parallel. This includes the page templates, markup, styling, and interactive features to bring the approved site designs to life. Common elements like page titles, paragraphs, lists, links, and buttons are styled in code as part of a style sheet so they can be used consistently throughout the website. This allows provides a single location to update styling in the future. For example, if you were to change your brand colors it can be done with just a few lines of codes and update across thousands of pages instantly.