Web development in Cambridge

Choosing the right stack

There is no single right tool. A content-heavy site for a research institute may suit a headless CMS feeding a static front end. A small professional services firm might be best on WordPress so staff can edit pages they already understand. A product site for a deep-tech start-up might need a framework that handles interactive demos. We explain the trade-offs in plain terms, including running costs, and recommend one.

Integrations

Cambridge organisations often need their site to talk to other systems: applicant tracking for hiring, CRM tools for investor and partner enquiries, event booking for conferences, or publication feeds from repositories. We build those integrations carefully, with sensible error handling, so a failed API call never breaks a page.

Performance as a requirement

We set performance budgets at the start: how heavy a page may be, how quickly the main content should appear. Then we test against them on a mid-range phone over a throttled connection, not just on a fast office laptop. Visitors on the train out of Cambridge North or walking between buildings on campus get the same experience as everyone else.

Who needs bespoke web development

Many Cambridge organisations reach a point where a website builder or off-the-shelf theme no longer fits. A deep-tech company wants an interactive explanation of its technology. A contract research organisation needs a searchable services catalogue. A science park tenant needs its careers pages to pull jobs from an applicant tracking system. A college events office needs room capacities and availability on the site rather than in PDFs. These are development problems, not just design problems.

Our development team builds websites in clean, standards-based code. For most marketing sites that means a static or hybrid build serving plain HTML from a global network, with a content management system where editors need one. Fewer moving parts means fewer security updates, faster pages and lower running costs.

Choosing the technical approach

We explain the options in plain terms, including what each will cost to run over three years, and recommend one. If your IT team has requirements around single sign-on, data location or security questionnaires, we bring them in early.

What is included

1. Technical specificationA short document covering stack, hosting, content model, integrations, performance budget and how releases will work. Signed off by marketing and IT.
2. Content model and CMS set-upStructured content types such as service, person, publication, vacancy and news, with fields that match how your team thinks. Editors get exactly the fields they need and no more.
3. Front-end buildTemplates and components built from the approved design, responsive and accessible, with no heavy runtime frameworks unless a feature needs one.
4. IntegrationsCRM, email marketing, applicant tracking, booking or publication feeds, built with error handling so a failed API call never breaks a page.
5. Testing and launchCross-browser and device checks, accessibility testing, performance testing on a throttled mobile connection, redirects and a planned release.
6. Documentation and handoverA repository you own, a README your next developer can follow, and editor guidance for your team.

Timescales

A marketing site built from an approved design typically takes three to six weeks of development time. Integrations add time depending on how well documented the other system is, and data migrations depend heavily on the state of the old content. We give a schedule after the technical specification, with milestones you can check on a staging site.

What drives the cost

• Number of templates and components, more than number of pages.
• Integrations, especially with systems that have limited or poorly documented APIs.
• Content modelling and migration, for example moving hundreds of publications or news items.
• Interactive features such as calculators, filters and data visualisations.
• Compliance requirements, including security reviews, accessibility statements and data processing documentation.

Common development mistakes

• Choosing a stack for the developer's convenience. The right tool is the one your team can run for years, not the newest framework.
• Too many third-party scripts. Chat widgets, trackers and embeds add weight and privacy risk. We ask for a reason for each one.
• No staging environment. Changes tested directly on the live site eventually break it.
• Accounts in the agency's name. Your domain, hosting, repository and CMS should belong to you.
• Performance treated as a late fix. It is much cheaper to build a fast site than to speed up a slow one.

How we measure a good build

We set targets at the start and test against them before launch: Core Web Vitals on a mid-range phone, page weight, accessibility results, zero broken links and successful form and integration tests. After launch we monitor uptime and errors. For you, the practical measure is simpler: can your team publish what they need, when they need to, without calling a developer?

Development for Cambridge organisations

Technical buyers in Cambridge are often technical themselves. Founders and IT leads at science and software companies ask sharp questions about security, data and architecture, and expect straight answers. We are comfortable with that conversation, and equally comfortable explaining the same choices to a small business owner who just wants a site that works. Either way you get a web agency that writes down what it is building and why.

Security and hosting

Most website security problems are not sophisticated attacks. They come from outdated software, weak passwords, abandoned plugins and admin accounts nobody remembers creating. Our builds reduce that exposure by design. Static and hybrid sites have no database or admin login on the public server at all. Where a CMS is needed, we use hosted platforms or managed WordPress hosting with multi-factor authentication, role-based permissions and automatic backups.

We also set security headers, keep third-party scripts to a short approved list and document where form submissions go and how long they are kept. That documentation is often exactly what a customer's security questionnaire or your own IT team asks for, so it saves time later.

After launch

A website is never finished. Once real visitors arrive, analytics and feedback show what needs adjusting, and your business will change. We offer care plans for updates, monitoring and small changes, or we hand everything over to your team with documentation and a walkthrough of the codebase. Either way, you are not dependent on us to keep the site running, and changing supplier later is straightforward because the code, accounts and documentation are yours.

Working together

Development work is visible throughout. You get a staging link from the first week, short written updates at agreed points and a clear list of what is done and what is next. Feedback goes into one shared list, so nothing gets lost in email threads.