Custom Development Important Information and Terms
Please note the the following terms and conditions are current as of 28/05/2020.
What is Custom Development?
Custom Development is the process of developing bespoke software to meet specific requirements.
Why is Custom Development needed?
Custom Development is required when the specific requirements don’t exist in any commercially available WordPress Plugins or Themes. From a cost and reliability perspective, our preference is to avoid custom development where possible and use ‘best in show’ WordPress Plugins or Themes.
However, in situations where this is not possible, we engage skilled, reliable and experienced PHP WordPress Developers to typically perform the following:
1) Build a custom plugin
2) Customise an existing plugin
3) Create a connection to a 3rd party via API
What are the PROS of Custom Development?
If the specific requirements are mission-critical and core to the website’s operational success, Custom Development provides a solution rather than compromising on your desired functionality.
What are the CONS of Custom Development?
Unlike existing WordPress Plugins or Themes, where the developers support and release regular updates, Custom Development is performed as a one-off project. These projects are costly and take time.
Custom Developers guarantee their work at that launch, however they do not guarantee their work into the future.
Over time you may discover the Custom Development that was built stops working as intended or the website itself may start to experience performance issues. This is typically due to software updates being applied to Browsers, Devices, WordPress, Themes & Plugins and the Custom Development code being depreciated (aged). Unfortunately this is just part and parcel of any Custom Development project.
Recommendations for Custom Development
We strongly recommend the following for businesses that desire to go down the Custom Development path.
1. Break/Fix > Putting aside an allowance for future updates.
Pixel Fish strongly recommends businesses set aside a financial allowance each year to accommodate for any future updates. This amount can vary depending on how much custom functionality is at play. When issues with Custom Development arise, a developer will need to be re-engaged to investigate the issues. As a guide, this usually consists of:
a) An initial block of time to investigate
b) Additional blocks of time to investigate further (only if required)
c) If an issue is identified, a cost will be provided for a fix (if the time required is greater than the time allocated in the review)
2. Preventative Maintenance > Investing in a plan to prevent unforeseen issues
For mission-critical Custom Development work, Pixel Fish strongly recommends a preventative measure involving a Custom Development maintenance plan. Our recommendation involves deploying custom developers to perform a 2 hour review of your Custom Development work 4 times per year to try find any issues before they arise. This is performed on development environments and timed strategically around updates to WordPress, Plugins & Themes.
Total time per year: 8hrs per year
Please note: If an issue is identified, a cost will be provided for a fix (if the time required is greater than the time allocated in the review)
Custom Development Terms
Pixel Fish guarantees Custom Development work upon launch. Pixel Fish cannot guarantee or be held responsible if any Custom Development work that breaks or stops working as a result of software updates to Browsers, Devices, WordPress, Themes & Plugins. Pixel Fish is not responsible for any disruption, loss of data or inconvenience caused as a result nor any additional costs involved with fixing the Custom Development work.