The designers and developers at Strogonofy Designs and Adorn Media Studio have more than 15 years of professional experience. That long in the job teaches you when a website needs plugins or tailored code, and what it’s carrying around for no reason. In October we applied that to our own site.
First we counted 23 plugins installed, 20 of them switched on. Some were big packs with dozens of tools inside. Yet we used only one or two of those tools, and every page was loading the rest anyway.
- 8plugins, down from 23
- 93images given text for Google to read
- 32project pages kept at the same address
What we changed: from plugins to tailored code
We replaced the biggest plugins with tailored code written for this site, so it only carries the tools it uses. All 32 project pages stayed at the same addresses, so existing links and Google results still work.
Forms got the same treatment. The usual way to make a form more interactive is to add a plugin for each extra. We add those extras in code instead. Our Get a Quote form has 83 fields over five steps, and you only see the ones that apply to you. For example, tick logo design and it asks about your logo. Tick packaging and it asks if you have the printer’s dielines. Then it adds up an estimate as you go, in rand in South Africa and Mozambique and in euros everywhere else, and anything it can’t price goes in a box called “Not included in this estimate”.
We also tidied the content and structure. Every page now has one clear main heading and its own title and description for Google. We wrote proper descriptions for 260 images so Google can read them, and took 54 thin archive pages out of Google’s index, because they added nothing.
Why fewer plugins cost less to run
Every plugin is something to update, test and often renew each year, and any update can clash with another plugin. With 8 running instead of 20, there’s far less of that work, and fewer yearly licences to pay for. Technical maintenance is time someone pays for, so a lighter site costs less to keep running.
Plugins or tailored code: the pros and cons
We still use plugins. This site runs on 8 of them, because each one earns its place.
Plugin packs
Good
- Quick to set up
- One licence covers lots of tools
- The maker fixes bugs and adds features
Not so good
- Every page can load tools you don’t use
- Your layout ends up depending on the pack, so leaving is a big job
- A licence to renew every year
Add-on plugins
Good
- Cheap or free, installed in minutes
- Fine for a standard need, like a simple form
- No code to write
Not so good
- Each one adds files, updates and a chance of a clash
- You only get the features the maker chose
- If the maker stops updating it, it becomes a security risk
Tailored code
Good
- Only what the site needs, so pages stay lighter
- Works exactly the way you want
- Fewer updates, and no licence for that feature
Not so good
- Costs more up front
- Needs someone who knows it when things change
- Has to be tested after big updates, and badly written code is worse than a plugin
For a small site, a good plugin is usually the right answer, and we’ll say so. We write tailored code when plugins are doing one small job each, when a pack loads far more than you use, or when what you want doesn’t exist yet.
Thinking about a new website?
We have four website packages: Mini, Scrolling One-page, Business and eCommerce.
What the numbers did
Once the plugins were gone we spent a day on speed, then went back for another round. These are our scores on Google PageSpeed Insights, out of 100, averaged across ten of our main pages.
- 96Speed on a computerGoogle PageSpeed
- 94Speed on a phoneGoogle PageSpeed
- 100Google’s SEO checkall ten pages
| Page | Phone | Computer |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 94 | 97 |
| About | 95 | 96 |
| Pricing | 96 | 97 |
| Get a Quote | 96 | 97 |
| Our Work | 90 | 93 |
| A project page | 94 | 96 |
| Insights | 94 | 95 |
| 3D renders | 92 | 96 |
| Website design | 94 | 96 |
| How we use AI | 95 | 97 |
Each score is the middle of three tests. They move a few points between tests, so yours may differ slightly if you try a page yourself.
PageSpeed doesn’t keep a history, so for the before and after we ran one test on our own computer, before the speed work and again now. It scores lower than PageSpeed, so the charts show the points each page gained: 24 on computers and 15 on phones, on average.
| Page | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 83 | 96 |
| About | 71 | 97 |
| Pricing | 80 | 97 |
| Get a Quote | 56 | 96 |
| A project page | 73 | 95 |
| Page | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 56 | 73 |
| About | 65 | 71 |
| Pricing | 57 | 73 |
| Get a Quote | 55 | 74 |
| A project page | 54 | 72 |
Phones score a little lower because the test assumes a slow connection. Our Work is the lowest at 90, so it’s our next job.
Is your site carrying too much?
If you’re not sure what your plugins do or what they cost you, tell us about your site.
Interested in seeing how much we can reduce your yearly technical maintenance cost, or optimise your website? Get in touch here.
