WordPress Modernization
Moving aging nonprofit and e-commerce sites onto a modern, maintainable stack
- 82 sites
- Up to PHP 8.4
- Git deploys and staging
- Industry
- Nonprofit and e-commerce
- Status
- Completed
- Theme repo
- Build
- Staging
- Production
The Problem
A group of client sites, including nonprofits and a WooCommerce multisite, had been built years earlier on a custom server-provisioning toolchain that had fallen out of maintenance. Some were still on PHP 7.4 with a dozen outdated plugins apiece. Every PHP deprecation notice was a countdown.
The Approach
Rebuilding from scratch would have burned the budget on things that already worked. I kept each site's design and modernized everything underneath it: stripped out the legacy provisioning layer, upgraded themes for PHP 8.4, worked through the plugin backlog, and replaced plugins that existed for one small job with a few lines of custom code.
The Architecture
Each theme lives in its own Git repository with a modern build toolchain and deploys to managed WordPress hosting with separate staging and production environments. Staging syncs from production, so changes get tested against real content before they go live. Stray legacy files in the web root get cleaned out or moved into the media library where they belong.
The Results
82 sites now run on supported PHP, with backups, staging, and a deploy history. The process is a repeatable playbook, so each new site needs less discovery than the last.
Built with WordPress, PHP 8, WooCommerce, Git, Managed Hosting
Got a pile of aging WordPress sites?
I'll get them onto supported PHP, then keep them patched and backed up on a monthly maintenance retainer.
Serving the Central Valley: Sacramento · Stockton · Modesto · Manteca, Tracy & Lathrop