General WordPress Development Standards

We will:

• initially build the site on white label dev server
• use the most currently available version of WordPress at time project is started
• create CSS files that are well-commented, clearly broken into sections and organized in a logical order following the page display order (body, header, navigation, content, row, sidebar, footer, etc.)
• set all external links to target=”_blank”
• disable comments unless otherwise specified
• discourage search engines from indexing the site on our staging server
• use the fonts that are in the design files we receive (if premium fonts are required they need to be purchased by Agency and provided before development starts or similar fonts from Google fonts will be used until actual fonts are received)
• use Open Sans from Google Fonts in situations where clear direction about fonts are not provided
• QA test the sites for the following browsers: latest editions for Firefox, Chrome, and for Safari
• utilize UserSnap plugin to collect feedback screenshots during website review phase by Agency
• create a custom individual WP user admin record for each project we build for an agency
• move site at completion using Duplicator plugin. If Duplicator plugin is not compatible with chosen hosting environment we will provide up to 2 hours migrating the website. If the migration takes more than 2 hours, we will charge for each additional hour or provide a zipped version of the website for the agency to deploy. All migrations require validated FTP credentials and access to cPanel is preferred (cPanel access required for instances where Duplicator can not be utilized)

We will:

• use Dashboard » Appearance » Header so header logo file can be added as an image
• link logo to home page
• use Dashboard » Appearance » Background to set background color and/or background image plus scrolling.
• use Advanced Custom Fields Pro » Options Page to create global options for header content, footer content, etc. resulting in a Dashboard menu item called “Theme Settings”
• will set up Dashboard » Theme Settings » Contact Info as a set of custom fields where user can set site phone number, site email address, physical or mailing addresses, etc.
• will set up Dashboard » Theme Settings » Footer » Copyright Statement and Social Media custom fields where user can add/edit the site’s copyright statement and various social media pages
• will use built in favicon functionality released since WP 4.3 (Appearance -> Customize -> Site Identity)

We will:

• create all menus using Dashboard » Appearance » Menus drag-and-drop editing tool
• clearly identify Menu Locations using obvious naming such as “Top Nav”, “Primary Nav” and “Footer Nav”
• build the responsive navigation using the defaults for Bootstrap or Foundation unless otherwise specified in the design files and quoted specifically in the proposal

We will:

• by default use Slick JS library to create a slider. Depending on requested functionality we can create it via Custom Post Type or Advanced Custom Fields (Repeater/Gallery field)
• make images in the responsive versions of the slider proportional
• put all text that overlays the slider in the full screen view underneath the slider image in the responsive views
• work with premium slider plugins (e.g. Revolution) if provided by Agency prior to development beginning

We will:

• manually set the Page Sort Order on each page we add to the site so that the listing of sites on Dashboard » Pages closely follows the same order as the navigation menus
• wrap the logo in an <h1> tag, unless otherwise stated in the project requirements
• only wrap one text heading, the Page Title or Post Title, in an <h1> tag, unless otherwise stated in the project requirements
• setup any custom fields used on a Page Editor of Post Editor in a logical order using an obvious naming syntax so that non-technical users can add/edit information.
• use Dashboard » Settings » Permalinks to set the default permalinks to /%postname%/ (requires MOD REWRITE in PHP on host)

We will:

• name the theme and theme’s template folder based on the project name. The name can be changed if requested
• add site logo or first letter of the site as favicon
• replace the default screenshot to with one of the homepage
• create a templates folder under the themes directory and create the requested template files there (example: templates/template-home.php
• provide CSS for template files and:
  • single.php
  • page.php
  • 404.php
• use the default responsiveness provided by Bootstrap or Foundation if specific design files are not provided for the responsive views

We will include the following plugins on every site:

• https://wordpress.org/plugins/login-lockdown/
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/ (install but not activate)
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/usersnap/

We will:

• quote client-provided design templates for checkout, cart, and single-product pages. If templates are not provided by the client – we will use the standard WooCommerce templates for these pages
• set the default payment gateway to PayPal and Pay with check
• set default shippings standards of
  • Free Shipping
  • Flat Rate
  • Local Delivery
  • Local Pickup
• Any customizations and additional functionality add-ons must be requested by the client during the quoting stage in order for us to provide an accurate quote

We will:

• work with a premium theme if requested by the client and use the theme’s default functionality to quote and build the project.
• only provide a rough estimate for any additional functionality (not provided by themes default settings) and charge the standard hourly rate for all hours spent. Estimate accuracy will be based on completeness of functionality descriptions by the client during the quoting stage