Thread

Hello,

My name is Dan Ushman. I am one of the founders of SingleHop.com and am in charge of the website. We are working on a new website design and we want to implement it using a CMS system.

I am considering ExpressionEngine but have some questions about my requirements. Basically, here is what I need:

SingleHop.com is a 5-year old website that has had a number of different people work on it. This has resulted in very sloppy code that is hard to follow. Updating the website has become challenging. Further, the pages are extremely heavy and load CSS, images and javascript that does not apply to that particular page.

The purpose of this project is to re-code the SingleHop website using minimal code, implement a content management system for future additions of pages and sections, and modifications, and generally revamp the site.

After this project is done, the site should:

- Must be able to handle a dynamic and static website. Many pages are static but some are dynamically generated
- Must be able to handle different sections that are essentially separate websites under a common header/footer
- Must be able to keep URL structure the same so that we do not damage our SEO rankings
- Use minimalist coding practices in HTML output
- Each page only load CSS, image URLs, and JavaScript that is used specifically on that page
- All common elements (menus, headers, footers, side bars, etc.) should be separated and editable on a site-wide basis
- New internal page structure designed with logical sense
- Content management system allows modification of any page on the site
- Easy tools inside of content management system to add new sub-sections (e.g. Cascade section) to the site
- Page editor in CMS should display all inbound internal links to that page, all inbound external links to that page, as well as top 10 keywords on the page based on keyword density.
- Image files should be optimized for fastest loading
- All code should be 100% W3C compliant
- Site should be tested in the following major browsers: Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Firefox (2.5 and up), Safari, Chrome, Camino, Opera, WebKit (mobile), Blackberry (mobile), iPhone Safari(mobile), iPad Safari(mobile), Windows Phone 7 Internet Explorer(mobile), Windows Mobile 6.5 Internet Explorer(mobile), Android Chrome(mobile), and Opera Mini (mobile).
- Existing SingleHop.com URL structure must be preserved to avoid negative SEO impact. Pages that are moved or changed must be redirected correctly. No broken URLs.

I am wondering if ExpressionEngine is for me based on the above requirements.

Thanks!

Dan Ushman
Co-Founder, CMO
SingleHop, Inc.

Welcome to our community, Dan!

Let’s dive in.

- Must be able to handle a dynamic and static website. Many pages are static but some are dynamically generated

Can do!

- Must be able to handle different sections that are essentially separate websites under a common header/footer

Many approaches here, including our Multiple Site Manager depending on your needs.  So long as these are related internet properties with one owner, the MSM could be a great fit.

Must be able to keep URL structure the same so that we do not damage our SEO rankings

Can you share your current URL structure? EE is highly dependent on URLs - you can modify them but we recommend that only once you know EE and how it relies on URLs.  301 redirects can certainly help you with that changeover without harming your SEO.

Use minimalist coding practices in HTML output

The code in your design is entirely up to you and the practices you engage in.

Each page only load CSS, image URLs, and JavaScript that is used specifically on that page

See above. =)

All common elements (menus, headers, footers, side bars, etc.) should be separated and editable on a site-wide basis

Absolutely.  You can do this using Snippets, Embeds, and Global Variables.

New internal page structure designed with logical sense

There are many ways to approach this and you can largely decide the infrastructure of your site. There are also some third-party add-ons that can give you more options.

Content management system allows modification of any page on the site

Any page you want content managed should have its content in an entry, and if you build it this way - then anyone with permission can edit the content.

Easy tools inside of content management system to add new sub-sections (e.g. Cascade section) to the site

This depends how you build your hierarchy.  If you use categories, you can do this right from the entry screen, for instance.

Page editor in CMS should display all inbound internal links to that page, all inbound external links to that page, as well as top 10 keywords on the page based on keyword density.

Not built-in and would need to be a custom solution combined with some analytics package, most likely.  You could use a Google Analytics overlay to analyze this from time to time.

Image files should be optimized for fastest loading

This is up to you to handle.  EE can resize images, crop, and rotate - but any other optimizing is something you should do before uploading.

All code should be 100% W3C compliant

EE outputs compliant code the rare times it outputs HTML dynamically; most of the time EE outputs exactly what you’ve told it to, so W3C compliance is up to you.  Same with accessibility for the front-end, for instance.

Site should be tested in the following major browsers: Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Firefox (2.5 and up), Safari, Chrome, Camino, Opera, WebKit (mobile), Blackberry (mobile), iPhone Safari(mobile), iPad Safari(mobile), Windows Phone 7 Internet Explorer(mobile), Windows Mobile 6.5 Internet Explorer(mobile), Android Chrome(mobile), and Opera Mini (mobile).

Front-end testing for all of this is up to the design team building the site

Existing SingleHop.com URL structure must be preserved to avoid negative SEO impact. Pages that are moved or changed must be redirected correctly. No broken URLs.

Addressed above.

Based on these requirements I think that ExpressionEngine would be a great fit for your site. 

Please post back if you have more questions!  Thank you. =)

The current URL structure is like this:

<a href="http://www.singlehop.com/about/index.php">http://www.singlehop.com/about/index.php</a>
<a href="http://www.singlehop.com/about/press.php">http://www.singlehop.com/about/press.php</a>
Etc.

There is no method to it unfortunately, but we have a lot of inbound links going to subpages, so for us it is important to essentially be able to define the URL to each page.

Hi, Dan -

Approximately how many of these Pages are there, if you had to guess?

Thanks!

Hi, Dan -

Approximately how many of these Pages are there, if you had to guess?

Thanks!

Our site has probably 250-350 pages on it.

Since there is no rhyme or reason - or pattern - to it, you could use the Pages module for the URLs you need to keep. That lets you set the URI yourself. It’s not ideal for the long-term, for dynamic sites (such as blog entries) but would give you a non-redirect method to maintain those URLs.  They do have to be set manually so there would be some data entry there, or you could possibly import using DataGrab; you’d need to check with the author on how to set a Pages URI on import, if that is possible.

Does that help?

Since there is no rhyme or reason - or pattern - to it, you could use the Pages module for the URLs you need to keep. That lets you set the URI yourself. It’s not ideal for the long-term, for dynamic sites (such as blog entries) but would give you a non-redirect method to maintain those URLs.  They do have to be set manually so there would be some data entry there, or you could possibly import using DataGrab; you’d need to check with the author on how to set a Pages URI on import, if that is possible.

Does that help?

YEs, it does a whole lot thanks

One more question for you—can this custom URL option be used partially? Meaning, if we use it, do we have to define URL for EVERYTHING or can we keep system URLs for new pages, and use the custom URL module for the old pages?

Hi, Dan -

The URI is set per entry, or you can simply not set it.  You could also use a specific channel for those Pages.  There’s a lot of flexibility and many options here. 

You can also use EE conditionals in the template to check or the Page URI and show that if it exists, and if not, use the system generated URL title instead.

I hope that helps!