Sparrows is a children’s home established in 2000. At any one time, it cares for an average of 25 children placed in its care by the court system. Placements are for a renewable period of 2 years. Few of the children are orphans (without parents), with most being from difficult socio-economic backgrounds.
Disclosure: I was secretary of the governing board from 2014 – 2017 and still regularly donate time to the organisation.
Objectives
Results
Installation and Migration
Theme Development
Sparrows uses the Enfold parent theme, with a customized child theme.
The creation of a child theme allows for updates to the parent theme while retaining customizations made in the child theme. Enfold is my recommended theme due to its adaptability for various types of websites, its focus on speed optimization and ease to modify through child themes.
Security
Sparrows makes use of various security measures. It uses Cloudflare as a CDN and WAF off-site, with WordFence security measures on-site. Security is further enhanced through OLS server-side security solutions, as well as my custom security settings.
Speed Optimization
Sparrows uses various speed optimization methods. These include Cloudflare as a CDN, OLS as a server, LSCWP optimization as well as browser preload and prefetch features.
GSC
Sparrows uses GSC information to ensure that the site is performing as expected. Due to South African laws surrounding children in protective care, little information is available to the public, which hampers marketing of the organisation’s services to potential donors. Alternative strategies are being considered.
GTM
GTM is used to insert tracking code on the Sparrows website. Currently, the organisation tracks events through GA and Facebook Pixel.
GA
GA data is collected from the site and used to track events. Currently, no plans exist to expand the site or add content.
