- Guide, Shopify development
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Custom Shopify Themes: A Game-Changer for Image-Centric Businesses
Custom Shopify theme development for performance, responsive image handling, and the limits of off-the-shelf themes
Are you planning to kick-start a WordPress development project and have already selected a trustworthy company to handle the job? If so, creating a clear and comprehensive brief is your first step towards success.
For many WordPress projects, problems arise at the handoff stage, transitioning into design and development. When the brief doesn’t include the information required for accurate project completion, the development team cannot meet the initial expectations.
Agencies offering WordPress development services suffer from low-quality briefs even more. When a client describes the project one way, and the project team translates it differently, developers receive incomplete instructions with major delivery questions unanswered. It usually results in additional rework and launch delays.
This article explains what a brief must include and what usually breaks when the details are missing. Follow our best practices to minimize risks when transferring your project to the development team.
What usually breaks when the brief is weak
The first sign that something is wrong with a brief is confusion. When development teams lack information and clear requirements, they have to make assumptions about scope, integrations, content readiness, deadlines, and ownership. Sooner or later, it turns out that the website under development doesn’t look as expected, and rework is required.
In agency projects, miscommunication usually happens during project handoff when client requirements are not documented properly for the development team. Developers don’t know which system owns customer data, mandatory plugins, design change approval steps, third-party integrations, and other details. It leads to guesswork and almost inevitable discrepancies between an initial idea and deliverables.
A brief that includes all the necessary information does not just help developers work faster. It reduces expenses, makes the cooperation easier to manage, and increases end-client satisfaction.
Key Components of a WordPress Development Brief
A strong WordPress brief is not about adding every detail. Its main goal is to reduce uncertainty before development by clarifying scope, dependencies, constraints, and decision ownership. A good brief means an engineering team can deliver a website without constant reinterpretation.
Project Goals and Objectives
Vague goals mean vague priorities, resulting in a website that technically works, but cannot meet the actual business needs. Developers must know what really matters to build the functionality accordingly (e.g., lead generation, ecommerce capabilities, content publishing, campaign landing pages, etc.)
EXAMPLE
PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Our aim is to create a dynamic and engaging website for our newly established online bookstore, “LimitlessLeaf Books”. The primary goal of this project is to captivate readers, promote our unique collection of books and facilitate seamless online transactions.
OBJECTIVES
Engaging User Interface
The website should have a captivating and user-friendly design that not only attracts visitors but also makes navigation effortless.
Book Catalog
We want to display our wide range of books in an organized manner, allowing users to sort and filter based on genre, author, price, and popularity.
Online Purchase System
An integral part of the website will be a secure, easy-to-use online purchase system that offers multiple payment options.
Customer Reviews and Ratings
A section where customers can rate and review their purchases, enhancing the interactive dimension of our website.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
To reach a wider audience, it’s crucial that our website is SEO-friendly, which includes keyword-optimized content and meta tags.
Mobile Responsiveness
Given the increasing use of smartphones for online shopping, our website must provide a seamless mobile browsing experience.
Analytics Integration
The integration of analytics tools is essential for tracking website performance, customer behavior, and sales conversion rates.
Book Recommendation System
A feature suggesting books based on user preferences and previous purchases would personalize the user experience and boost sales.
By achieving these objectives, we intend to create a thriving online community of book lovers while ensuring a smooth online shopping experience, leading to increased customer loyalty and sales growth.
Scope of Work
When the scope is not clear, the project drifts, and estimates become unreliable. Clients and agencies handing projects to development teams must clearly specify what is in scope, what is out of scope, and what constitutes a completed task. Otherwise, the risk of feedback conflict and repeated revisions considerably increases.
EXAMPLE
SCOPE OF WORK
This project involves the design, development, testing, and launch of an e-commerce website for our online bookstore, “LimitlessLeaf Books”. The following is a detailed breakdown of the tasks involved:
Website Design and User Experience (UX):
1. Creation of wireframes for each webpage
2. Designing an intuitive and visually appealing user interface
3. Ensuring a seamless user experience across all devices and browsers
Website Development:
1. Coding and development of the website based on approved designs
2. Integration of a secure and easy-to-use online purchase system
3. Development of a dynamic book catalog with sorting and filtering options
4. Incorporation of a customer review and rating system
5. Integration of analytics tools for performance tracking
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
1. Keyword research and implementation
2. SEO-friendly content creation for all webpages
3. Meta tags and description creation for each page
Mobile Responsiveness:
Ensuring the website is fully responsive and provides a seamless mobile browsing experience
Book Recommendation System:
Development of a recommendation algorithm based on user preferences and previous purchases
Testing:
1. Comprehensive testing of the website to ensure all features are working as expected
2. Testing the website across different devices and browsers for compatibility
Launch and Post-Launch Support:
1. Assistance with website launch and handling any issues that arise post-launch
2. Providing ongoing support and maintenance as required
Design Requirements
To avoid team arguments over whether the build matches the intended outcome, design expectations must be voiced at the start. And the more design precision matters, the more accurately the brief must specify whether exact implementation, flexible interpretation, or builder-based approximation is expected.
EXAMPLE
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
Look and Feel
The design of our website should be warm, inviting, and easy on the eyes, much like a cozy bookstore. A mix of modern and traditional elements can help create an atmosphere that appeals to both young readers and seasoned bibliophiles.
The color scheme should be neutral and calming, with occasional pops of vibrant colors to highlight featured books or special promotions.
Branding Elements
Our logo, featuring a stylized ‘L’ should be prominently displayed. Our tagline, “Unleash Your Imagination”, should also be incorporated into the design.
Typography
We prefer a combination of serif and sans-serif fonts that are easy to read and give a friendly, approachable feel. Headings can be in a more decorative or unique font to add a touch of creativity and intrigue.
Imagery
Images used should revolve around books, reading, and the joy of learning. This could include high-quality photographs of books, illustrations related to popular titles, and images representing diverse genres and authors.
Navigation
The site navigation should be simple and user-friendly. Important pages such as ‘Home’, ‘About Us’, ‘Shop by Genre’, ‘Bestsellers’, ‘New Arrivals’, and ‘Contact Us’ should be easily accessible from any page on the site.
Product Display
Each book listing should include a clear image of the book cover, a detailed description, author information, price, and customer reviews. An option to preview a few pages of the book would also enhance the user experience.
Existing branding guidelines will be provided for reference.
Content
Outlining the content needs will guide the content creation process and ensure the website appeals to your target audience. Besides, missing or unfinished content often causes blocked QA, broken layouts, or delayed approval.
EXAMPLE
CONTENT
Our main objective is to create original content that mirrors our bookstore’s ethos, mission, and product offerings. We offer a diverse range of books from various genres such as mystery, romance, science fiction, and non-fiction.
Therefore, the content should effectively articulate these offerings in an approachable and enticing manner, without overwhelming our customers.
In terms of structure, we foresee the following sections:
Home
A brief introduction to our bookstore and offerings.
About Us
Detailed information about our journey, team, and mission.
Book Categories
Detailed descriptions of each genre we offer.
Blog
Regularly updated articles about literary trends, book recommendations, and our events.
Contact Us
Information on how to reach us.
We welcome suggestions on how to better organize and present our content to captivate and engage our target audience
Hosting and Domain Information
For a seamless development process, provide access to any existing hosting or domain accounts. If you require new ones, outline your requirements so that the team can set them up for you.
Access issues, unclear environment setup, and late hosting decisions often take too much time, delaying development.
EXAMPLE
HOSTING AND DOMAIN
We currently have a domain registered with DomainNameRegistrar – www.limitlessleaf.com. We would like to keep this domain name for the new website.
For hosting, we are currently using a shared hosting plan with HostName. However, we’ve noticed that our site’s speed has been slow lately, so we are open to suggestions for a new hosting provider if you think it would be beneficial. We need a hosting plan that can handle high traffic volumes as our business is growing rapidly.
Here are the login details for both:
DomainNameRegistrar Account:
Username: limitlessleaf
Password: ************
HostName Account:
Username: limitlessleaf
Password: ************
If you require any further information or access, please let us know. We also ask that you ensure all passwords and sensitive data are handled securely throughout the development process.
Timeline and Budget
Timelines must take into account approvals, content readiness, integrations, and changes volume. The same works for budgets. Otherwise, they are not realistic and misguide both engineering teams and end clients.
EXAMPLE
TIMELINE AND BUDGET
The project for the development of LimitlessLeaf Bookstore’s website has been scheduled over a six-month period. We’re planning to start the project on September 1, 2026, with an anticipated completion date of February 28, 2027.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the timeline:
1. Project Commencement: September 1, 2026
2. Research and Planning Phase: September 1, 2026 – October 15, 2026
3. Design Phase: October 16, 2026 – December 15, 2026
4. Development Phase: December 16, 2026 – January 31, 2027
5. Testing and Launch Phase: February 1, 2027 – February 28, 2027
Our budget for this project is $50,000, which we believe should cover all aspects of the work from research through to launch. The allocation of the budget is as follows:
1. Research and Planning: $5,000
2. Design: $15,000
3. Development: $20,000
4. Testing and Launch: $10,000
We are aware that unexpected expenses can occur, but we will strive to stay within this budget as much as possible. Any additional costs must be approved before they are incurred.
Please bear in mind that these are estimates, and while we are open to discussion and adjustment if necessary, transparency about any changes to the timeline or budget is crucial.
Existing Website
If there’s an existing website, include information about it, such as analytics or user data, in the brief. The team redesigning the website should know what currently performs, what users actually do, and what must be preserved. Without these insights, they may delete valuable features or miss structural issues that are already visible in analytics.
EXAMPLE
EXISTING WEBSITE
LimitlessLeaf Bookstore currently has an existing website that has been operational for the past five years. Over this period, we have gathered a significant amount of user data and analytics which we believe could be instrumental in guiding the development process of the new website.
Here are some key insights from our existing website:
1. Website Traffic: Our website receives an average of 10,000 visitors per month.
2. User Behavior: Most users (around 70%) land on our homepage. The most visited sections after the homepage are the ‘New Arrivals’ and ‘Best Sellers’ pages.
3. Demographics: The majority of our users are aged between 25 and 34, predominantly female.
4. Device Usage: About 60% of our customers use mobile devices to access our site, while 40% use desktops.
5. Bounce Rate: The current bounce rate is around 45%, something we’d like to reduce with the new design.
6. Average Session Duration: Users typically spend about 3 minutes on our site per visit.
We want to leverage this data to improve user experience, engagement, and ultimately, sales conversions on the new site. We believe these insights will help us to better understand our customers’ behavior and preferences, allowing us to create a website that meets their needs more effectively.
Applications and Integrations
Third-party integrations have a considerable impact on the project scope and budget. They also affect QA approaches, security, and timeline. That’s why a proper project brief must specify integrations to prevent major late-stage project changes. If you don’t mention CRM, payments, email tools, live chat, analytics, search, and other additional tools early, the engineering team may face interoperability issues later.
EXAMPLE
APPLICATIONS AND INTEGRATIONS
In the website we envision, we plan to integrate a variety of third-party applications to enhance user experience and streamline our business operations.
1. Social Media Plugins: We would like to integrate social media plugins for platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. These plugins should allow visitors to share our content on their social network accounts easily.
2. Payment Gateways: To facilitate online transactions, we need to incorporate secure and reliable payment gateways. Our preferred options are PayPal, Stripe, and Square due to their widespread acceptance and robust security measures.
3. Email Marketing Services: We plan to use MailChimp for our email marketing campaigns. The website should be capable of integrating with this service to collect email addresses from subscribers and send automated emails.
4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Integration with Salesforce CRM is essential for us to manage customer interactions effectively.
5. Live Chat: We want to provide real-time support to our visitors through a live chat option. Therefore, integration with a service like Zendesk Chat or LiveChat is required.
6. Google Analytics: To track and analyze website traffic, we need to integrate Google Analytics.
Please ensure these integrations are seamless and don’t interfere with the overall user experience on our website.
Additional Components of a WordPress Development Brief
Apart from the key components we’ve just discussed, there are some additional (optional) components you might want to include in your brief.
Design Files
Missing source files, incomplete prototypes, or unclear responsive behavior complicate the project handoff process and create guesswork during development.
If you’re using a pre-made WordPress theme, this could be a ZIP file containing the theme files. For custom designs, design files created by your web designer, such as PSD or Sketch files, are a common format.
EXAMPLE
DESIGN FILES
For our website, we have chosen a custom design route to ensure it aligns perfectly with our brand’s aesthetic and ethos. We have enlisted the services of a professional web designer who has created comprehensive design files for us.
1. The Primary Design Files: These are in Adobe Photoshop (PSD) format. They provide a detailed visual representation of what each web page should look like, including the layout, color scheme, typography, imagery, and other design elements.
2. Wireframes: We also have wireframe sketches that outline the structure and functionality of each webpage. These are in Sketch format.
3. Logo Files: Our company logo files are available in both PNG and SVG formats. We want this to be prominently displayed on all pages of the website.
4. Style Guide: We’ve put together a style guide that dictates the specific brand colors, fonts, and other visual elements that should be used throughout the website.
5. Prototype: We have a clickable prototype created using InVision. This will give you a better understanding of the user flow and interactive elements.
All these files will be shared via Dropbox.
Customization Requirements
Every business is unique, and your website should reflect that. Include detailed information about any customization or modifications that you want to be made to the design or theme. These can range from changing the color scheme to altering the layout.
EXAMPLE
CUSTOMIZATION REQUIREMENTS
As LimitlessLeaf Books, we’re looking to customize our current website to better reflect our brand and improve customer experience. Here are the specific modifications we’d like:
1. Color Scheme Modification: Our existing site doesn’t fully utilize our brand colors – maroon (Hex #800000) and cream (Hex #FFFDD0). We’d like these colors to be more prominent throughout the site to create a warm and inviting feel that aligns with our brand identity.
2. Font Change: At present, the font used on our site doesn’t quite capture the classic bookstore vibe we’re known for. We’d like to switch to “Times New Roman” for body text and “Georgia” for headings to create a more nostalgic and comfortable reading experience.
3. Layout Adjustment: We want to modify the homepage layout to include a “Staff Picks” section. This will allow us to showcase our team’s favorite reads and provide personalized recommendations to our customers.
4. Product Page Enhancement: On our product pages, we’d like to add a feature that displays “Customers who bought this also bought…”. This will encourage further exploration and purchases by showing relevant book suggestions.
Plugin Requirements
List any specific plugins to be installed on your website. If there are any custom plugin development requirements, make sure to include them as well.
You should also specify why the specified plugins are required, what licenses exist, and whether alternatives are acceptable. Without these details, the development team ends up with technical constraints and cannot evaluate whether they are sensible.
EXAMPLE
PLUGIN REQUIREMENTS
For our WordPress site, we require the following plugins to be installed and properly configured:
1. Yoast SEO: This plugin is essential for managing our website’s SEO. We want to ensure our content is optimized to reach our target audience effectively.
2. WooCommerce: As an e-commerce business, we need this plugin to manage our online store. It should be set up to handle inventory management, sales tracking, and customer service.
3. Akismet Anti-Spam: To protect our blog and site comments from spam, we need the Akismet Anti-Spam plugin installed and configured.
4. Contact Form 7: For managing customer inquiries, we need Contact Form 7. This plugin should be integrated with our customer service email.
5. WP Super Cache: This plugin is needed to improve our website loading speed and overall performance.
As for custom plugin development, we have a specific requirement: Custom Event Management Plugin.
We host various events throughout the year. We need a custom plugin developed that allows us to create event pages, manage tickets, and track attendance. This plugin should integrate with our existing CRM system. Please provide a quote for this custom development.
Theme or Plugin Licenses
If you’re using a pre-made WordPress theme or plugin, it’s crucial to provide the agency with a copy of the license for that theme or plugin. This ensures that everything is above board and legal.
Theme or Plugin Support
Different themes and plugins come with varying levels of support. If you’re using a pre-made theme or plugin, provide information about the support that is included. This will help the agency know what level of assistance they can expect from the theme or plugin developer.
EXAMPLE
THEME AND PLUGIN SUPPORT
THEME
Astra Pro is a premium WordPress theme that we’ve selected for our website. The theme comes with extensive documentation, which covers everything from basic setup to advanced customization options.
Support for Astra Pro is provided directly by the developers, Brainstorm Force. As part of our premium subscription, we have access to their dedicated support team. The support includes 24/7 email support and live chat during business hours. They typically respond within a few hours.
Brainstorm Force also offers an extensive knowledge base and community forum where users can ask questions and share tips. We’ve found this to be a valuable resource in the past.
PLUGIN
For SEO, we’re using Yoast SEO Premium. This plugin also comes with premium support, which includes 24/7 email support. They promise a response time of less than a day for premium users.
In addition to direct support, Yoast offers a comprehensive FAQ section and tutorials on their website. They also have a robust user community where we can find solutions to common issues.
We expect you to leverage these support resources as needed when working on our website. However, we would appreciate it if you could handle most issues and only escalate to theme/plugin support when necessary.
Responsive Design
When clarifying responsible design requirements in the brief, mentioning mobile-friendliness is not enough. Make sure to provide more details, including content hierarchy, menu behavior, CTA visibility, layout simplification, form usability, and performance expectations. This information will guide the development team on how to accurately recreate designs on smaller screens.
EXAMPLE
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
We would like our website to be fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices. The majority of our target audience accesses our content via smartphones and tablets, thus it is crucial that our site provides an excellent user experience on all devices.
1. Site Layout: The site should automatically adapt to the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on. This means that whether a visitor is viewing the site from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone, the layout should adjust accordingly.
2. Menus: The main navigation menu should be easy to use on all devices. On smaller screens, the menu should become a hamburger-style dropdown menu. Each option should be large enough to be easily selectable on touch screens.
3. Images and Videos: Images and videos should resize based on the screen size. They should maintain their aspect ratio and quality regardless of the device used.
4. Text Content: The text should be legible on all screen sizes. It should not be too small on mobile devices or too large on desktop screens.
5. Forms & Calls to Action: Any forms or call-to-action buttons on the site should be easily clickable on all devices. They should be prominent and simple to interact with, even on smaller screens.
6. Load Times: Considering that mobile users often have slower internet connections, it’s important that our site loads quickly on all devices. Please optimize the site to ensure fast load times without compromising on the quality of images or other elements.
7. Testing: Finally, please ensure that the responsive design is thoroughly tested on various devices and browsers for consistency and functionality.
Tips for Writing an Effective WordPress Development Brief
Crafting a clear and concise project brief is the first step towards successful WordPress development. Here are some general tips to help you write a brief that effectively communicates your needs and expectations to your development team:
Keep the Brief Concise
A good brief should be straightforward and focused. Include only the most crucial information and avoid unnecessary details. An overly complex or lengthy brief can confuse the developers and may lead to misinterpretation of your requirements.
Include Examples or References
Providing examples of websites with a similar look and feel to what you desire can be incredibly helpful. It allows the developers to understand your aesthetic preferences and functionality requirements better. If you have existing branding guidelines, make sure to include them in the brief.
Be Specific About Requirements
When it comes to outlining what you want your website to achieve and how it should look and function, the more detail, the better. Specify the desired features, layout, color scheme, typography, and any other elements that are important to you.
Communicate Budget Constraints
Be transparent about your budget right from the start. This will help the developers to plan the project accordingly and suggest solutions that fit within your budget. It’s also useful to discuss the payment schedule and any potential extra costs that might arise during the project.
Provide Clear and Realistic Timelines
Setting realistic timelines for your project is crucial. Clearly outline when you expect the project to be completed and how much time will be required for each stage. This will help the developers manage their workload effectively and keep the project on track.
To Wrap Up
A good brief reduces uncertainty before development starts and bridges the gap between the client, agency, and development team. Structured handoff and delivery are crucial for successful project completion and minimized rework.
For agencies, that matters even more because the brief often has to carry information across two handoffs: from client to agency, and from agency to build team. When the scope, integrations, ownership, and constraints are vague, it results in ambiguity and delays.
The brief must be treated as a delivery tool. A strong delivery structure helps agencies bridge expectations, changing requirements, and technical execution. Besides, it’s also important to have a reliable engineering team that can turn requirements into a live website.
We encourage you to use the information provided in this guide to create an effective brief for your next WordPress project. Remember, the time and effort invested in drafting a thorough brief will pay off with smooth project execution and a website that truly meets your needs and those of your users.
