Web Development

Web development is the work involved in creating a website. Typically this involves mixing elements of client side code (front end) such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript with back end development including PHP and MySQL.

Here at iFamily we could call ourselves full stack web developers. Today most of our work is WordPress web development. Which is a potent mix of front and back end development. We specialise in developing WordPress powered websites using the Genesis Framework.

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Our Core Skills

  • HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language, the language of the web.
  • CSS: Cascading Style Sheets, the styling of the web page.
  • JavaScript: The world’s most popular programming language.
  • PHP: Server side programming language.
  • MySQL: A popular, open source relational database management system.

WordPress Web Development

When we first started on the web. We had to start from scratch. This was very time consuming and as a result our bespoke creations, although good for the time, couldn’t compete with the breadth of a modern WordPress fuelled site. The beauty of WordPress is that is open source. It has attracted many thousands of developers worldwide. Many contribute to its awesomeness. This global soup has created something which any single individual, team or company could not achieve; the world’s most versatile CMS (Content Management System).

One of the things that attracted us to WordPress was that it was built using the technologies we had already spent so much time learning. This meant we were ready from day 1 to start tinkering under the bonnet. It wasn’t totally straightforward though. We learnt some very hard lessons. The great thing about WordPress is that it is very easy to install. This low entry bar is great and it has helped it’s massive adoption rate globally. However it also means there are a lot of people who call themselves “WordPress developers”, but in reality they may just know how to install it, add a plugin or two and change a theme. This is fine and in some cases they may produce a great website, the meat is in the content. However our experience means that we will develop a WordPress site which is safe, secure and fast. We never install just ‘any old plugin’ or ‘theme’.

Genesis Web Development

Let me get this straight. We choose to work almost exclusively with the Genesis Framework. It is a concise and elegant framework which promotes fast development with rock solid code. Using any just any old WordPress theme can be a dance with disaster. Because nearly a quarter of the top websites in the world are packing WordPress, it is a popular target for website hackers. Many of whom target poorly written plugins and themes. By choosing the premium Genesis Framework we know our websites from the ground up will be safe and secure. The last thing we want is our website to be defaced or even worse infected by silent, malicious code. I am shuddering at the thought…

Our history of web development

We started out developing sites using HTML, then in 1999 we started creating in Flash, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Font choices were limited and layout development was not easy at this juncture. Flash seemed like the answer. After a couple of years we realised that no matter how great our Flash development was, the search engines didn’t like it. So it was back to HTML. In 2003 I read Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing with Web Standards. I have never been the same since. My practice of web design had changed overnight. Almost immediately we found our websites were loved by the search engines. At that time, if you searched for a London Shop, my sister’s gift shop was no.2 in Google, just behind Harrods. Not bad. Over the years our practice has deepened and for example if you search for a chauffeur, my family business will normally be top of the charts. It has been for over 7 years. And no, we will not make you a private hire website, sorry.

Our ethos has always been to do the very best we can. If you have been around this business for a while, you realise that everyone is winging it to a certain degree. No one knows everything. It is still a relatively new field. All web developers are constantly updating and refining their practice. We have to change frequently and often. This is a very fast paced industry. Our core principles won’t change though. We want to make the most elegantly simple web designs possible. We get better every day at this, but know that tomorrow could change how we do it. We always try and take a holistic approach to web development. Seeing the big picture through keyword research, working on our content strategy to create magnetic and current content all encapsulated in a SEO and responsive web design makes sure our web development is not too far off the mark. We are driven to make the next website our best ever work.

View our latest work