Website Redesign and Data Migration:
A Client Success Story

Every WebDevStudios (WDS) client is appreciated and valued, but when a former WDS client returns, that client wins a special chapter in the history book of our WordPress agency. That’s what happened when Rockbrook Camp, a North Carolina sleepaway summer camp for girls, came to us for a complete website redesign that included a complex data migration.

“After having been a part of their website project over eight years ago, it was a treat and a compliment to have them return to us for a new redesign,” says Brad Williams, WDS CEO and Co-Founder. The project itself was a heavy one that included a multi-network data migration, global elements, content modules, and a new, modernized look.

“We did a bit of CSS magic,” reports JC Palmes, WDS Frontend Engineer. “The design called for layering images as a part of the background, as well as intricate details, such as texture and transparent imagery.”

Founded in 1921, Rockbrook Camp provides a supportive community of kindness, respect, and care. It is a place for girls to explore nature, develop their confidence, forge friendships, and learn new skills.

“We love our new site,” Jeff Carter, Rockbrook Camp Owner and Director, states. “We’re now proud of its design, and very happy with the flawless technical transition. The site loads fast, generates zero errors, and looks fantastic.”

Data Migration

While every data migration is important and complex, the migration for Rockbrook Camp was especially heavy because it included the migration of a multisite network to a single site installation. Previously, there were three websites as a part of the camp’s WordPress Multisite (WPMU) network: main, staff, alumni.

Our WordPress agency created a custom script to migrate all necessary data from the existing WPMU install into the new WordPress single-site install. This included:

• 1626 blog posts
• 150 pages
• 767 tags, 33 categories
• 13 plugins
• 23 users
• Media
• Post types

Website Redesign

The objective of the website redesign for Rockbrook Camp was to balance a new, modern design with sprinkles of fun and tradition to appeal to both kids and adults. We relied on content modules and global elements to create a system that would be simple for Rockbrook Camp to sustain.

Content Modules

The new Rockbrook Camp website features content modules, which can easily be populated dynamically, with little or no user input required, or manually managed by the site administrators, allowing for content flexibility and ease. These modules included:

• Hero
• Title and text
• Video
• Image and text
• Testimonial
• Category
• “From the Blog”
• Single post
• Newsletter signup
• Related posts
• Image gallery
• Camp sessions
• And more!

The “From the Blog” module was particularly interesting to build because it is a WDS-custom Gutenberg block that gives the admin the power to customize subtitle (displayed as “Latest”), title (displayed as “From the Blog”), and the last three blog posts (ordered from newest to oldest).

Global Elements

The most beneficial aspect of global elements is they can be reused across the website. So, when you edit a global element, those changes are made site-wide at very point where that global element is being used. Basically, global elements allow for the power of efficiency.

Rockbrook Camp required easy configuration of global elements. Specifically, the client needed the following:

• Site header and site header logo
• Top navigation menu
• Search form
• Primary navigation menu
• Global footer and global footer logo
• Global footer countdown
• Fallback hero image
• People post form submission
• And others

The global footer countdown was an interesting global element to implement because its purpose serves as a literal countdown to the first day of camp. With this element, the website admin can easily enter that upcoming, important date in the customizer and the countdown element will be displayed in the bottom right corner of the footer.

Additionally, the people post form submission was another standout feature because it involves user-submitted content. With this global element, users submit a form via Gravity Forms containing fields for post content and post meta. Upon submission, the post will immediately be published to the “people” custom post type created specifically for Rockbrook Camp. There is no moderation process, however, site admin has been given the ability to edit or delete posts in order to keep the content up-to-date and accurate.

Ongoing Maintenance

After launch, Rockbrook Camp transitioned over to Maintainn for ongoing maintenance under the company’s Standard Maintenance Plan. Maintainn is the WordPress support and maintenance arm of WebDevStudios; so should Rockbrook Camp find themselves in need of small development projects here and there, they will have access to the WebDevStudios team, as our partnership continues to grow and flourish.

Success!

“Our experience throughout this project was outstanding,” Jeff says, describing what it was like to have WebDevStudios work on Rockbrook Camp’s website redesign and data migration. “Our every expectation was met or exceeded, with the tricky technical issues handled with assurance and the design work pleasing everyone on our team. We appreciated the attention to detail at each step in the process and were happy to see timely progress unfold according to the estimated schedule.”

Contact the Website Redesign and Data Migration Experts

WebDevStudios treats each website project as its own unique experience. No two clients are alike, and our WordPress agency respects and understands that by customizing every single website design and development project to specifically meet the needs of each individual brand.

Do you require a full website redesign and data migration? Contact the experts. Reach out to WebDevStudios and let’s talk about it.