Want To Build A Site Like WIRED? Use Umbraco CMS

When planning a website, it’s crucial that it has a clean, professional-looking design which is easy to navigate and most importantly is built using a robust system.

Speed and Security Are Key

Website speed is also central to the success of a company’s online business. Not only will a slow web page be a turnoff to online customers, but Google can also penalise your ranking positions if you have a sluggish page load speed.

Another factor to consider when building a website is security. Even if you don’t handle card payments or hold any customer details on your site, you still need to ensure that your website is impenetrable by hackers who might erase your content or upload viruses or inappropriate material to your homepage.

One of the most impressive sites gaining attention on the Internet at present is WIRED – the accompanying website to Conde Nast’s WIRED monthly magazine which reports on technology and science news.

Introducing Umbraco

Website owners who wish to replicate the modern clean look of WIRED.co.uk will be thrilled to hear that its foundations are actually built using a free open source CMS called Umbraco.

Umbraco has actually been around since 2004, when it was originally released by a Danish programmer called Neil Hartvig. Since that time it has become extremely popular amongst web developers and has accumulated a loyal forum of users who are dedicated to guiding others with the implementation of the product.

Flexibility

Umbraco can be as simple or as complex as you’d like it to be. You can be up and running within minutes after downloading the Umbraco installer files. After that it’s up to you how many features such as plug-ins, third-party widgets, APIs, blogs and images you want to add onto it.

In short it is an incredibly flexible CMS which also includes the integration of Microsoft Word if you prefer to use it to the standard WYSIWYG editor.

The Make-Up of WIRED.co.uk

WIRED.co.uk, which is hosted on an Amazon platform, uses a large number of add-ons to the basic open source software.

• Fonts and Images

Their widgets include some font add-ons such as Typekit which is a subscription-based method of linking to top quality Open Type fonts on the web. WIRED also uses Google Font for this. They appear to use free stock images from sites such as Shuttershock and Getty Images in their articles.

• Advertising

WIRED displays advertising on the site, which generates revenue. They use systems such as Flashtalking, Google AdSense, Atlas, Openads and DoubleClick.net to both display ads and track their conversion statistics.

• Javascript

This computer language enables the add-in of third-party gimmicks on WIRED, such as their use of Facebook for Websites. This integrates WIRED with the popular social media platform, making the site a more sociable and current experience for visitors. WIRED also uses IE Pinning Javascript which allows users to add WIRED to their computer start menu, ensuring repeat visitors.

• Analytics and Tracking

A site such as WIRED will want to keep informed about their web traffic in order to analyse the performance of their site. Analytics software that is integrated with Umbraco on their site includes the use of Google Analytics, Google Conversion Tracking, Facebook Domain Insights and Inspectlet.

Although Umbraco is a wonderful free open source software product that is ideal for any sized website, it is still important that business owners invest some time and money into hiring a .NET development team to work with their site to ensure that it remains as secure and stylish as it needs to be.

Karen Harding is the marketing manager at Objective IT, one of the South East’s leading web and software development companies.