I’m excited to share a new project I worked on with the talented team at Accelerate Media: the Finger Lakes Wine Country website! This project was a collaborative effort, with design and information architecture laid out by the team, while I handled the development to bring the vision to life.
The site is packed with features:
- Content-Driven Framework: With over 100 business listings and more than 50 resources like recipes, itineraries, and travel guides, the site offers a wealth of information. The setup empowers content editors to easily populate data through WordPress’ admin interface without needing HTML knowledge.
- Interactive County Tab System: The homepage includes an interactive feature that lets visitors explore the five counties of the Finger Lakes region. Built using JavaScript, this tab system loads data asynchronously for speed optimization. It’s entirely editable in the WordPress backend, making it incredibly powerful for admins.
- Experience Builder: Visitors can create a custom itinerary by selecting options like their travel dates and interests. The system then dynamically generates a personalized travel plan. Future enhancements, such as AI integration, could take this feature even further!
- Responsiveness: The site is fully responsive, providing a seamless experience on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. Features are equally accessible across all platforms.
- Speed Optimization: The site often achieves a Lighthouse score of 100 on desktop and over 90 on mobile. While tools like Lighthouse are not perfect, we’ve ensured that images are responsively served and assets are optimized for performance.
- Custom Development Highlights:
- Utilized bi-directional relationships in WordPress for features like linking wineries to wine trails, allowing content editors to manage relationships from either end.
- Node.js and Webpack were used for compiling SCSS and JavaScript in one click.
- Developed a hybrid approach using React-based Gutenberg blocks and traditional PHP for a fully editable experience without sacrificing flexibility.
- Balanced Use of Plugins: While I typically prefer custom code, plugins like Ivory Search were strategically used to provide robust AJAX-powered search functionality.
This project was a great example of tailoring technology to client goals, striking a balance between modern development practices and practical solutions for content management. Although I considered using WordPress Full Site Editing, the classic approach provided more consistency for this project.
The website is live at: https://www.fingerlakeswinecountry.com/
Stay tuned for a deeper technical breakdown of the interactive features, challenges solved, and development approaches in an upcoming blog post!
