Journal
Notes on Craft, on working with studios, and on the parts of a build that get expensive if you leave them too late. Written by the people who do the work.
What we adopt from a Craft release, and what we skip
Most release notes are a list. Ours is a policy: what changes our defaults, what waits a version, and what we skip entirely.
Why you probably shouldn't hire an in-house developer
A developer is a fixed cost against variable work. Most studios don't have the pipeline to make that maths work, and the ones that do usually know it already.
Craft vs WordPress, for design studios rather than end clients
Every comparison online is written for someone picking a CMS for their own site. This one is for a studio deciding what to sell a client, which is a different decision with different economics.
A Matrix field is a design system, if you build it like one
The gap between a page builder your client enjoys and one they work around is about a dozen decisions, nearly all made in week one.
What a tidy Figma file is worth
Skip the auto layout lecture. This is a list of the things that change how long a build takes, in the order they matter.
Every plugin is a subscription your client will forget to renew
A plugin is a licence, an upgrade path and a security surface, and somebody has to own all three for the life of the site.
Lighthouse 90+ isn't hard, it's just early
Nearly every performance problem we've inherited was a decision made in week one and discovered in week nine.
Accessibility is cheapest in the design file
Contrast, focus order and target size are design decisions. Made in Figma they cost nothing. Made after a client's audit they cost a fortnight.
What we charge, and why we publish it
You can't build a client proposal on "get in touch". So here are the numbers, and the reasoning behind each of them.
Moving a large WordPress site to Craft without losing the rankings
The redirect map is most of the job. Everything else is data entry with extra steps.
The handoff spec we send every studio
One page, six headings. It moves the awkward questions to the start, where they're cheap.
Why we only build in one CMS
Specialising costs us work every month. We think what it buys over five years is worth more.
The control panel is part of the design work
Your client judges the site every day through an interface most studios never look at.
Who writes
this lot
Tom HartleyPoppy RadcliffeCallum RathboneNell OgilvieMartha HartleyIdris PembertonSophie Yardley
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