Custom themes
Themes built from the design rather than bought and fought with, block themes with theme.json, or classic themes where the editing workflow calls for it.
Web & Application Development
WordPress development
WordPress runs a large share of the web because it lets non-technical people publish without asking a developer. That strength is also where the trouble starts. A site accumulates plugins, each one loading its own scripts on every page, until the homepage takes nine seconds and nobody can say why.
My WordPress work is mostly two things: building the custom pieces properly so they do not need a plugin at all, and unpicking sites that already went the other way.
How I work on it
Process
Adjusted to the job, but this is the shape it usually takes.
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Stage a copy
Nothing is tested on production. A staging clone comes first, every time.
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Audit what is there
Plugin inventory, theme modifications, PHP version, database size and the actual load waterfall.
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Fix in priority order
Security and broken functionality before speed, speed before polish.
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Make it updatable
Custom code in a child theme or a plugin so the next core update does not wipe it.
Questions
Things people ask
If the people editing the site are not developers, a builder is often the honest answer. The alternative is them being blocked on you. I would rather set up a builder carefully with locked-down templates than deliver something they cannot touch.
Caching hides slow page generation from repeat visitors; it does not fix the cause. Usually it is unoptimised images, a bloated autoloaded options table, plugins queueing assets site-wide, or an under-resourced server. The fix depends on which, and that needs measuring.
Yes, including the DNS cutover and SSL. That is covered under server and website migration.