Knowledge base
Websites & tech stack
How modern websites are built, and why it matters to you. Astro, WordPress, page builders, content systems, speed, and accessibility, seen from the business side.
65 articles
Articles in Websites & tech stack
Measuring basic website health across a region: the method and its limits
How to test thousands of business websites for three basic defects, what our scan of one Dutch region found, and what a scan like this cannot tell you.
4 min read
Analytics without cookies: what you can measure and what you cannot
How cookieless analytics works, which questions it answers as well as the cookie-based kind, and which it cannot.
4 min read
Animations and motion: when they help and when they hurt
The rules we apply to motion on business websites: what it should do, how much, how fast, and how to respect visitors who have asked for less of it.
4 min read
Browser support: which browsers we test and why
How we decide which browsers and devices a business website must work in, what works everywhere by construction, and what we test by hand before every launch.
4 min read
Component libraries: what they are and why they speed up work
What a component library is, how it differs from a theme, and why building from tested components makes every page faster to build and more consistent.
3 min read
Cookie banners: how to do them without ruining the site
When a website needs a consent banner, what a lawful and tolerable one looks like, and how to need less of it.
4 min read
Dark mode: should your business website have it?
What dark mode involves for a business website, when it is worth offering, what it costs to do properly, and how we decide.
4 min read
Fonts and performance: how many, which formats, and self-hosting
How web fonts affect page speed, the rules we apply to font count, weights, formats and loading, and why we serve them from your own domain.
3 min read
How long should a website last? Planning for five years
Why a business website should be built to last five years or more, what makes one age well or badly, and how to plan for the changes that will come.
3 min read
How we structure a website project: from brief to launch
The phases a website project goes through with us, what each produces, what we need from the client at each, and how long each usually takes.
5 min read
Lighthouse scores: what they mean and what they do not
What the four Lighthouse scores measure, why they vary between runs, how they relate to real visitor experience, and how to use them without chasing them.
4 min read
Mobile first: what it means in practice
What mobile first changes in how a website is designed, built and tested, and why it produces better sites on every screen.
4 min read
Moving from Wix or Squarespace to a custom build: what carries over
What a business keeps and what it leaves behind when it moves from a hosted site builder to a coded site of its own, and how the move is planned.
4 min read
Multilingual websites: how to structure languages properly
How to build a website in more than one language so visitors and search engines find the right version, and the team can keep every language current.
4 min read
Our take: the best website is the one you can leave with
Why we measure a website by how easily its owner could take it to another partner, and what that standard forces us to do differently.
4 min read
Progressive enhancement: why the content stays readable when JavaScript fails
What progressive enhancement means, why JavaScript fails more often than people think, and why the essentials must work without it.
4 min read
Real user data versus lab tests: which numbers to trust
The difference between measurements from real visitors and from testing tools, what each is for, and which to trust.
3 min read
Search on your own website: when you need it and how we do it without a server
When a business website benefits from its own search, and how a static site provides fast search without a server.
4 min read
Technical debt on a website: what it is and how it grows
What technical debt means for a business website, how everyday shortcuts create it, and how it is paid down without a rebuild.
4 min read
The European Accessibility Act for business websites: what applies to you
What the Accessibility Act means for a business website in practice, which services are covered, and the build decisions that satisfy it.
4 min read
Version control for content: undoing a bad edit
How content on a modern website is versioned like code, and what that makes possible when an edit goes wrong.
4 min read
View transitions: page changes without the flash of white
How view transitions let a static multi-page site change pages smoothly without becoming a single-page application.
3 min read
Web development glossary: 40 terms in one sentence each
The forty web development terms a business owner meets in proposals, previews and progress updates, each explained in one plain sentence.
6 min read
Webflow, Framer and the new builders: our honest view
What the modern visual builders do well, where they stop being the right tool for a business, and how we decide between a builder and a coded site.
4 min read
Website launch checklist: the 30 items we verify before go-live
The thirty items we confirm before a business website goes live, across eight areas, each with how it is verified.
6 min read
Website templates: why "start from a template" costs more later
What happens when a business website begins from a bought template, where the costs surface, and when a template still fits.
4 min read
What a 404 page should do
What a not-found page is for, what it should contain, what it should return to search engines, and how to find out why visitors are reaching it.
3 min read
What a headless CMS changes for the people who edit content
What day-to-day editing looks like when the content system is separate from the website, what editors gain, and what they have to get used to.
3 min read
What a website audit looks at, and what the report should tell you
The nine areas a proper website audit covers, what evidence each produces, and how to tell a useful report from a sales document.
4 min read
Why we write our own components instead of using a theme
What a theme gives you and what it takes away, why we build each site's components on our own foundations, and what that means for cost and ownership.
4 min read
WordPress in 2026: when it is still the right choice
An even-handed look at where WordPress remains the right platform for a business, what running it well requires, and where a static site is the better answer.
4 min read
Astro vs Next.js: when each one is the right choice
Both are excellent and they solve different problems. Astro for content sites, Next.js for applications, and the honest grey zone in between.
3 min read
Astro vs WordPress for a business website: an honest comparison
WordPress runs much of the web and we still rarely recommend it for a new business site. Speed, security, cost and editing compared, and where it wins.
3 min read
Canonical URLs: why duplicate pages hurt you
The same page at several addresses splits its ranking and confuses crawlers. What a canonical URL is, how duplicates appear, and how to fix each.
3 min read
Code ownership: what "you get the repository" means
Suppliers say you own the code. What that must mean: which repository, whose account, what history, and what a successor needs to run it.
3 min read
Colour contrast: why the pretty grey text is a problem
Light grey on white looks refined in a design file and unreadable on a phone in daylight. The contrast rule and how to meet it.
3 min read
Content collections: how a static site handles hundreds of pages
Five pages are easy; five hundred articles need structure. How content collections organise, validate and publish at scale, without a database.
3 min read
Cumulative Layout Shift: why things jump and how to stop it
A page that jumps while loading makes people tap the wrong thing. Cumulative Layout Shift measures it. The four causes, the 0.1 target, and the fixes.
3 min read
Design tokens: one place for every colour, size and font
A website's look is a few dozen decisions repeated thousands of times. Design tokens make each decision once, name it, and apply it everywhere.
3 min read
Forms that work: labels, errors and what sites get wrong
A form is where a visitor becomes a lead, and where sites lose them. Ten rules that make forms usable by everyone, and how to test yours.
4 min read
How fast should a business website be? Targets, not feelings
Fast enough is a number, not a feeling. The targets we hold every site to, why mobile is the one that counts, and how to measure yours in five minutes.
3 min read
Images on the web: formats, sizes and why they matter most
Images are most of the bytes on most pages. The formats to use, how sizing per screen works, why dimensions prevent jumping, and the pipeline that does it all.
3 min read
Interaction to Next Paint: why a fast page can still feel slow
A page can load fast and still lag when tapped. Interaction to Next Paint measures that lag. What causes it, the 200 millisecond target, and how to fix it.
3 min read
Islands architecture explained: interactive where it matters, static everywhere else
Islands architecture ships a page as plain HTML and adds script only to the parts that need it. Why that makes sites fast on phones, and how it changes builds.
3 min read
Keyboard navigation: the two-minute test every website should pass
Put the mouse down and press Tab. Whether you can see where you are and reach everything says more than any accessibility badge. Here is the test.
4 min read
Largest Contentful Paint: what it measures and how to improve it
Largest Contentful Paint is the time until the main content shows. What counts, why images and scripts cause most delay, and how to get under 2.5 seconds.
3 min read
Markdown, CMS or code: how content gets into a modern website
Content and code are separate on a modern site. Files, a content system or an API can feed it. Which fits which team, and what changes for editors.
3 min read
Moving from WordPress to Astro: the migration plan
Content, images, URLs and rankings carry over. Themes and plugins do not, on purpose. The seven-step plan to move from WordPress to Astro and keep traffic.
3 min read
Open Graph images: why your link looks broken on LinkedIn
When a shared link shows no image or the wrong one, Open Graph tags are missing. What they are, the size that works everywhere, and how to fix a cached preview.
3 min read
Redirects: 301, 302 and why the difference matters
A redirect sends visitors and search engines to a new address. Permanent or temporary changes what search keeps. Which to use, and the chains to avoid.
3 min read
Responsive images explained: one photo, many sizes
A phone should not download the image made for a large monitor. How the browser picks the right size and format, and why the build does it.
3 min read
Screen readers: how a blind visitor experiences your homepage
A screen reader turns your page into speech in the structure the HTML provides. What a blind visitor hears on a typical homepage, and the fixes.
4 min read
Semantic HTML: why headings are not just big text
HTML tells search engines, screen readers and AI systems what each part of a page is. What semantic markup means and why page builders get it wrong.
3 min read
Sitemaps and robots.txt: the two files every site needs
A sitemap tells crawlers what exists; robots.txt says what to leave alone. What each file does, what goes in it, and the mistakes that hide sites from search.
3 min read
Static site generation versus server rendering: what it means for you
When is the page made: once when you publish, or every time someone visits? The difference decides speed, cost, security and what the site can do.
3 min read
Structured data explained: how Google and AI understand your pages
Structured data is a machine-readable summary of a page. What it does for search and AI answers, which types matter for a business, and how to check yours.
3 min read
Tailwind CSS explained for business owners: why your site's styling is built this way
Tailwind is how we style websites. What it is in plain terms, why it keeps sites consistent and fast, the fair criticisms, and what it means for future changes.
3 min read
Third-party scripts: the performance cost of every tag
Analytics, chat, heat maps, ads, embeds: each tag is code from another server on every page. What each costs in speed and how to keep the list short.
3 min read
TypeScript: why we write your website and software in it
TypeScript adds checking to JavaScript so many bugs are caught before shipping. What it is, what it costs, and why it protects your budget.
3 min read
What a design system is and why it saves money on every page
A design system is the set of reusable parts a site is built from. Why it makes every new page cheaper, keeps a site consistent, and what a small one contains.
3 min read
What Core Web Vitals are and why Google cares
Three numbers describe how a page feels: how fast it shows, how quickly it reacts, how much it jumps. What each measures, the targets, and how to read yours.
3 min read
What is Astro and why we build websites with it
Astro ships pages as plain HTML and adds JavaScript only where needed. What that means for speed, security and cost, and where we do not use it.
3 min read
Accessibility: what WCAG 2.2 AA means for your website
WCAG 2.2 AA is the standard behind accessibility law and public tenders. What the criteria ask for, and the ten checks that catch the common failures.
3 min read
Why JavaScript is the main reason websites feel slow
Images are heavy, but JavaScript is expensive: it must be downloaded, parsed and run before the page works. Why that hits phones hardest, and how to ship less.
3 min read
Why we don't build business websites on page builders
Page builders are fine for a weekend project. For a business that depends on its website, they cost more than they save. Our reasoning, and the exceptions.
4 min read