Platform is the company’s predefined section infrastructure to help for speedier development and known to be the central source-of-truth of what is possible and what is not possible when making sites.
In the past, when designers were tasked to design a website for a client, the designer would make something from scratch using their own creative professionalism. But now with Platform, a designer follows certain predefined section layouts and modifies them to adhere to a client’s brand. The main advantage to Platform is that it’s scalable. Scalable means that every department will be aware of a particular, predefined section and knows its behavior before-hand. Therefore, departments have a better understanding of how long a site would need to get designed and developed based off of predefined sections.
Platform can also be treated as something the company owns and sells to a client. As a result, a client signing up for a 4ECPs website, for example, can expect most or all of the predefined sections that another 4ECPs client would have which helps with client retention and “stickiness”.
Platform is always constantly worked on and developed by the development and design teams.
There are two main technologies that we have used to develop Platform. The first is Bootstrap which is our general CSS Framework and the second is WordPress which is our Content Management Systems (CMS).
Bootstrap is the world’s most used CSS framework on the modern web. A CSS framework helps to alleviate and abstract web layouts for speedier and responsive web development. Bootstrap also helps in defining common web patterns. For example, common web patterns such as cards, dialog boxes, and buttons are predefined in Bootstrap to help developers lay the foundation of a website quicker without the need of designing and developing individual web components with each web project.
Backed up with a large and supportive community, Bootstrap still remains the top CSS framework because of its ease-of-use, large component library, and theme customization. Getting support on a subject regarding Bootstrap is either quick or has already been discussed in the past by other developers using Bootstrap; therefore, a web developer can find it easy to get the help they need in a fast and efficient fashion.
Since its creation in 2010, Bootstrap is regularly maintained by a team working full-time to deliver flexible and scalable CSS solutions. Their latest release, Bootstrap 5, offers the same great components web developers are used to, but with a number of bug fixes and features.
Recently the company has updated to the newest version of the Understrap WordPress theme and are now using Bootstrap 5 in production.
WordPress is the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is designed to assist with adding and modifying digital content. Back when HTML was in its infancy, web masters would put digital content inside the working file. People would need to approach the web master to add, edit, or remove web content such as images, copy, and videos. Since demand for better and more flexible websites increased over the years, the need for better content management became necessary so that other people, other than web masters, can create and modify digital content.
Since its creation in 2003, WordPress has become one of the more prominent and well-respected CMSs to date. Powering over 40% of the Internet, WordPress helps businesses and individuals manage their web content in a fast and effective way.