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Deep dives into design thinking, creative process, and the intersection of business and aesthetics.
A WordPress site is only as good as the discipline that went into building it.
If your WordPress site is slow, awkward to edit or forever nagging about updates, someone has probably told you the answer is a rebuild on something newer. It's fashionable among agencies to knock WordPress as slow and full of security holes. Most of what they're describing is a build problem, and blaming the platform is easier than owning that.
WordPress runs roughly two-fifths of all websites, according to W3Techs. It isn't slow by nature. A slow WordPress site is usually a carelessly built one, and the same goes for any stack: a badly built React site will perform worse than a well-built WordPress one.
The theme you start from sets the ceiling
A lot of poor WordPress sites begin with a multipurpose theme, the cheap kind from a marketplace that promises e-commerce, portfolios, forums and bookings all in one. It loads a heap of code on every page, most of it never used. You can optimise around it and still hit a limit, because the foundation is carrying weight it doesn't need.
We build on a lightweight custom foundation instead, and each page loads only the CSS and JavaScript it actually uses. The speed difference shows straight away.
Every plugin is code someone has to maintain
The quickest fix for almost anything in WordPress is a plugin, whether it's a contact form or something as small as changing a font. Keep going and the list gets long: plugins start competing for resources and conflicting with each other, and every one is third-party code that needs updating and offers another possible way in.
We treat plugins as a last resort. If a feature takes a few lines of code, we write the code.
Security is a maintenance job
A WordPress site left on cheap shared hosting, with updates piling up and nobody checking it, is a front door left open, and you can't blame the house for that.
Looking after it properly starts with managed hosting and a staging copy of the site. We test updates there before they go anywhere near the live one. And if an update breaks something, there has to be a quick way back to the last working version.
Your team should be able to edit without breaking anything
The admin side deserves as much design thought as the front end. A marketing team shouldn't be wrestling with shortcodes, or knocking a layout out of shape because they pasted in a longer headline. We use structured content blocks: you fill in the headline field and the block handles how it looks on a phone or a wide screen, so people can publish quickly without worrying about the design.
Four questions for whoever builds or runs your WordPress site
Ask these whether an agency is proposing a new WordPress site or already looks after yours:
Do you start from a pre-bought theme or a custom starter? You want to hear custom.
How do you handle plugin conflicts? The answer should involve a staging site.
How many plugins does the site run, and what does each one do? A good agency can justify every one.
Can you show me the Core Web Vitals for sites you've built, measured on mobile? They should be passing.
For a reference that isn't an agency's opinion, WordPress publishes its own performance optimisation handbook. It's written for developers, but a skim will tell you whether the answers you're getting are specific or just reassuring. If they're vague about your current site, fix the build before you pay to replace the platform.
Related Brainstorm services and work
WordPress and CMS development · Web design across Ireland · Discuss a WordPress rebuild
Updated 24 September 2026. Dave Curtin, founder and Creative Director of Brainstorm, leads website strategy, brand direction and technical delivery for Brainstorm clients.
A WordPress site is only as good as the discipline that went into building it.
If your WordPress site is slow, awkward to edit or forever nagging about updates, someone has probably told you the answer is a rebuild on something newer. It's fashionable among agencies to knock WordPress as slow and full of security holes. Most of what they're describing is a build problem, and blaming the platform is easier than owning that.
WordPress runs roughly two-fifths of all websites, according to W3Techs. It isn't slow by nature. A slow WordPress site is usually a carelessly built one, and the same goes for any stack: a badly built React site will perform worse than a well-built WordPress one.
The theme you start from sets the ceiling
A lot of poor WordPress sites begin with a multipurpose theme, the cheap kind from a marketplace that promises e-commerce, portfolios, forums and bookings all in one. It loads a heap of code on every page, most of it never used. You can optimise around it and still hit a limit, because the foundation is carrying weight it doesn't need.
We build on a lightweight custom foundation instead, and each page loads only the CSS and JavaScript it actually uses. The speed difference shows straight away.
Every plugin is code someone has to maintain
The quickest fix for almost anything in WordPress is a plugin, whether it's a contact form or something as small as changing a font. Keep going and the list gets long: plugins start competing for resources and conflicting with each other, and every one is third-party code that needs updating and offers another possible way in.
We treat plugins as a last resort. If a feature takes a few lines of code, we write the code.
Security is a maintenance job
A WordPress site left on cheap shared hosting, with updates piling up and nobody checking it, is a front door left open, and you can't blame the house for that.
Looking after it properly starts with managed hosting and a staging copy of the site. We test updates there before they go anywhere near the live one. And if an update breaks something, there has to be a quick way back to the last working version.
Your team should be able to edit without breaking anything
The admin side deserves as much design thought as the front end. A marketing team shouldn't be wrestling with shortcodes, or knocking a layout out of shape because they pasted in a longer headline. We use structured content blocks: you fill in the headline field and the block handles how it looks on a phone or a wide screen, so people can publish quickly without worrying about the design.
Four questions for whoever builds or runs your WordPress site
Ask these whether an agency is proposing a new WordPress site or already looks after yours:
Do you start from a pre-bought theme or a custom starter? You want to hear custom.
How do you handle plugin conflicts? The answer should involve a staging site.
How many plugins does the site run, and what does each one do? A good agency can justify every one.
Can you show me the Core Web Vitals for sites you've built, measured on mobile? They should be passing.
For a reference that isn't an agency's opinion, WordPress publishes its own performance optimisation handbook. It's written for developers, but a skim will tell you whether the answers you're getting are specific or just reassuring. If they're vague about your current site, fix the build before you pay to replace the platform.
Related Brainstorm services and work
WordPress and CMS development · Web design across Ireland · Discuss a WordPress rebuild
Updated 24 September 2026. Dave Curtin, founder and Creative Director of Brainstorm, leads website strategy, brand direction and technical delivery for Brainstorm clients.