Nonprofit portfolio

Scholarships to Support Spokane Student Education

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Spokane nonprofit retired teachers association website

A new WordPress-powered website for Spokane Area Retired Educator’s Association (SAREA), a member organization of Washington State School Retirees Association.

This Spokane nonprofit association lost access to their domain registrar and host, after a key stakeholder passed away. After a new domain name was secured,  site content was manually migrated into a WordPress CMS for more intuitive content editing. The new site incorporates an online application for scholarships and mini-grants awarded each fall.

Scope of Work

  • Content Migration
  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • Visual Layout & Design
  • WordPress Theme Development
  • WordPress Training & Consulting

Performance

Page load speed is excellent with overall page size, 273 Kb, 88% below the median homepage size. Accessibility benchmarks are also superb.

Performance Metric New WordPress Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 70/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 91/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 93/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 1.795
Total Homepage File Size 273 Kb (218 Kb Images + 9 Kb Scripts + 45Kb CSS + 8Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 18 (5 Images + 4 Scripts + 8 CSS + 1 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~1.8 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.

Site Credits

WordPress Design + Development: Scott Marlow

Building WordPress Websites, Online Forms, and Marcom Confidence

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A website redesign and rebuild for Habitat for Humanity of Kitsap County. This new custom-branded WordPress website replaces a 2017 volunteer-built static HTML site, which was not mobile-friendly, despite a significant amount of site visits from mobile devices.

The WordPress CMS with a Block Editor-integrated Theme enables the new marcom staff to intuitively edit content, as well as create rich, modern layouts. Google Lighthouse benchmarks across the board were significantly improved.

Scope of Work

  • Accessibility Consulting
  • Branding & Visual Design
  • Content Migration
  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • WordPress Theme Development
  • WordPress Training & Consulting

Performance

Page load speed improved considerably by reducing overall page size 96% from 15.4 Mb to 618 Kb, 1/4th the median homepage size.

Before & After Performance Comparison

Performance Metric Old Website
 New Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 41/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 83/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 58/100 70/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 53/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 50/100 93/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 11.384 3.422
Total Homepage File Size 15.336 Mb (14.6 Mb Images + 933Kb Scripts) 618 Kb (148 Kb Images + 290 Kb Scripts + 133 Kb CSS + 49 Kb Fonts + 11 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 40 (16 Images + 9 Scripts + 2 CSS + 8Other + 5 HTML) 41 (7 Images + 15 Scripts + 15 CSS + 2 Fonts + 1 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~11.4 seconds ~3.4 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.

Site Credits

WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow

The Web Developer for People of All Races

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screenshot for El Centro de la Raza

Another performance-optimized website rebuild from a ThemeForest template Theme to an open source WordPress Theme.

El Centro de la Raza provides 43 programs and services in 9 different service areas for children, youth, families and seniors around King County. The website features a new events calendar, language translation, and more dynamic program content in a more accessible Theme. The Gutenberg Block Editor provides more streamlined editing, with a plethora of layout and design options for content contributors.

Scope of Work

  • Accessibility Consulting
  • Branding & Visual Design
  • Content Migration
  • Performance Optimization
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Security Hardening
  • WordPress Theme Development
  • WordPress Training & Consulting

Performance

Page load speed significantly improved since 2022. By reducing overall page size 88%, from 11.5 Mb to 1.4 Mb, and reducing web server requests 19% from 64 to 52, average mobile page loads have improved from ~11 to ~3 seconds.

Before & After Performance Comparison

Performance Metric Old Website
 New Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 88/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 92/100 92/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 39/100 87/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 54/100 99/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 79/100 77/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 10.729 3.024
Total Homepage File Size 11.5 Mb (10.1 Mb Images + 853 Kb Scripts + 136 Kb CSS + 31 Kb Other + 42 Kb Fonts + 42 Kb HTML) 1.366 Mb (1 Mb Images + 239 Kb Scripts + 123 Kb CSS + 22 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 64 (18 Images + 18 Scripts + 14 CSS + 10 Other + 4 HTML) 52 (13 Images + 14 Scripts + 22 CSS + 1 Other + 2 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~11 seconds ~3 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.

Site Credits

Visual Design: Pixel Lighthouse
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow

Regular Website Check-ups = Better Performance

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mobile dental van website

A modern refresh for Arcora Foundation’s SmileMobile van, a 3-chair mobile dental office that brings oral health services to babies, children, youth, pregnant/postpartum people and adults in Washington State who have limited options for dental care. The new site features a mobile-friendly event calendar, as well as translation tool for under-served communities.

Mobile performance was significantly improved by reducing web server requests 63% and overall page size 77%.

Accessibility improvements included skip-to-content links, keyboard-navigable navigation, semantic HTML, and a higher contrast color palette.

Scope of Work

Accessibility Remediation
Performance Optimization
Search Engine Optimization
Visual Design & Layout

Performance Analysis

Performance Metric Old Website
 New Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 95/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 92/100 92/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 31/100 84/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 81/100 95/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 80/100 91/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 7.309 2.879
Total Homepage File Size 2.2 Mb ( 1.36 Mb Images + 574 Kb Scripts + 156 Kb CSS + Kb HTML) 509 Kb (153 Kb Images + 128 Kb Scripts + 77 Kb CSS + 150 Kb Fonts + 12 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 84 (25 Images + 32 Scripts + 16 CSS + 11 Other + 1 HTML) 31 (6 Images + 11 Scripts + 11 CSS + 1 Font + 2 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~7.3 seconds ~2.9 seconds

WebPage Test 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.

Identifying Usability Problems. Developing Effective Websites.

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Henry M Jackson nonprofit foundation website screenshot

A recently redesigned website for Henry M Jackson Foundation, a Seattle-based nonprofit diversifying and democratizing  public policy by broadening access to public policy graduate study programs; and encouraging young legislators to build relationships across party lines through cross-partisan dialogue, debate, and action.

Despite using a WordPress-approved Theme, the foundation’s previous mobile site speed was sluggish, primarily due too excessive number of Plugins and associated Javascript. Our goal was to improve benchmark performance, while modernizing the brand identity and improving ease of use.

Scope of Work

  • Accessibility Consulting
  • Performance Optimization
  • Visual Design
  • WordPress Theme Development
  • WordPress Training & Consulting

Performance

Mobile page load speed was improved significantly by reducing web server requests 66%, from 102 to 35 and by reducing overall page size 54%, from 1.196 Mb to 551 Kb.

Accessibility

Improvements include higher contrast colors to better adhere to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) color contrast ratio guidelines; increased font sizes; increased vertical rhythm; a navigation skip link; and text links with 2 visual indicators.

Before & After Performance Comparison

Performance Metric old website New Website
Google Lighthouse: Accessibility 94/100 100/100
Google Lighthouse: Best Practices 83/100 92/100
Google Lighthouse: Mobile Speed 56/100 88/100
Google Lighthouse: Desktop Speed 97/100 98/100
Google Lighthouse: Search Engine Optimization 93/100 92/100
WebPageTest Speed Index 4.036 3.318
Total Homepage File Size 1.196 Mb (636 Kb Images + 253 Kb Scripts + 145 Kb CSS + 177 Kb Fonts + 13 Kb HTML) 551 Kb (317 Kb Images + 113 Kb Scripts + 106 Kb CSS + 16 Kb Fonts + 12 Kb HTML)
Total Web Server Requests 102 (7 Images + 47 Scripts + 41 CSS + 4 Font + 2 Other + 1 HTML) 35 (5 Images + 11 Scripts + 14 CSS + 2 Fonts + 2 Other + 1 HTML)
Estimated Mobile Homepage Load Time ~4 seconds ~3.3 seconds

WebPage Test 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.

Site Credits

Visual Design: Erik Fadiman
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow