Why I build this way

Accessible to everyone

I build to WCAG 2.2 level AA, the standard behind the European rules: clear headings, everything usable with a keyboard, enough contrast, text for images and forms with clear error messages. On top of that, every site gets a Reading comfort button, like the one at the top of this page. With it your visitor picks larger text, more contrast, a readable font, read-aloud or less motion in one tap.

Read this site’s accessibility statement

What it does for you

Some of your customers see poorly, are colour-blind or find reading hard. If your site works for them, they book and order from you rather than from the shop next door. On top of that, since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act applies to many webshops and online services for consumers. Whether it applies to your business depends on what you sell and how big you are; this isn’t legal advice, so check it with your accountant or a lawyer. I build to the standard behind it.

To be honest

The Reading comfort button is an extra and replaces nothing: the real work is in the code. That’s why I don’t use a third-party ‘accessibility overlay’, which often gets in the way of screen readers. What others supply, such as a spam check or an embedded map, isn’t fully in my hands.

Light and dark

Every site has a light and a dark version. It follows your visitor’s device setting, and anyone can switch with one button; the choice is remembered. On this site you can also pick one of seven colour palettes. Want a different look for the holidays? A holiday theme switches itself on and off.

What it does for you

People read your site on the sofa in the evening and outside in the sun during the day. Dark is easier on the eyes in a dark room, light reads better in bright light. On devices with an OLED screen, like many recent smartphones, a dark page also uses less power. Anyone who sets their device to dark expects your site to follow; a bright white page comes as a shock.

To be honest

Two versions means designing and checking everything twice: every colour, logo and photo has to work in both, with enough contrast. That work is in my price. It’s also why your brand colour is sometimes a shade lighter in dark mode: otherwise it wouldn’t read well.

In your customer’s language

My sites can be in Dutch, French, German and English: Belgium’s three national languages and the language of those who come from elsewhere. Each language gets its own addresses, so Google finds them separately, and a language switch is always within reach.

An extra language for your site

What it does for you

In Brussels and along the language border, your customer doesn’t always speak your language. People who read in their own language understand faster what you do and are quicker to call. Each language is also another chance to be found: someone searching in French finds a French page.

To be honest

I speak Dutch, French and English myself; those texts I write or translate. For German or another language, you supply the text or I work with a translator. A language also needs looking after: when your offer changes, you update it in every language.

Fast, even on a slow phone

Pages are prepared in advance instead of being rebuilt on every visit, and they’re served from servers close to your visitor. Fonts live on the site itself, and images come in the size the screen needs. What you change in your admin area is still online straight away.

What it does for you

Anyone kept waiting on a phone with weak signal moves on to the next result in Google. Google takes speed into account too. And a fast site feels trustworthy, like a shop where you’re helped right away.

To be honest

Staying fast sometimes means saying no. A heavy slider, an embedded Instagram feed or a third-party chat window slows down every page. The home page of this site first had a 3D globe; it cost too much on mobile, so it had to go. A Google map only loads on my sites when the visitor asks for it.

Privacy without a cookie banner

The sites I build don’t set cookies to track visitors, so they don’t need a cookie banner either. What gets stored is what the visitor chooses, like the language or dark mode, and only on their own device. On this site I count visits with Vercel Web Analytics, without cookies and without following anyone across other sites.

Read this site’s privacy policy

What it does for you

A cookie banner is often the first thing a visitor sees, before your business. Without one, they see right away what you do. You also don’t collect data you have to protect or account for, and your customers notice that you take their privacy seriously.

To be honest

You get fewer numbers than with Google Analytics: no visitor profiles and no audiences to advertise to. If you want to know which pages are read, that works without cookies, as it does here. If you do want to advertise with tracking, we’ll talk it through, and then an honest request for consent comes with it.

Secure, behind the scenes too

Your site’s admin area lives on its own subdomain or at a secret address; anyone trying /admin or /wp-admin gets an ordinary error page. You sign in with a password and a code from your phone (two-step verification). After too many wrong attempts the door closes for a quarter of an hour, and your sessions are kept on the server, so you can sign out a lost device remotely. Security headers tell the browser what the site may load, and forms stop spam with a hidden field and limits. This site goes further still: the browser only runs code that was approved in advance.

Website security for an existing site

What it does for you

A hacked site costs more than money: your customers get spam in your name, Google puts a warning next to your business and you’re offline for days. For small businesses it’s rarely targeted; it’s robots combing the whole internet for known addresses and weak passwords. On my sites they run into an ordinary error page.

To be honest

One hundred percent secure doesn’t exist. Two-step verification is one more step when you sign in, and a secret address needs keeping safe. I choose it anyway, as I do daily backups in maintenance: if something does go wrong, your site is back quickly.

Your own admin area instead of plugins

I don’t build on WordPress with a stack of plugins. If you want to change things yourself, you get an admin area made for your business: your opening hours, your calendar, your products or the messages from your forms, with only the buttons you need. It speaks your site’s languages and has a light and a dark version too.

More about the admin area

What it does for you

With WordPress, most security holes are in plugins, and every update can break something else. An admin area made for your business is quick to learn; I explain it in the hour-and-a-half training that comes with every package. And nobody sends you a bill for a plugin licence.

To be honest

There’s no store with thousands of plugins to click something on yourself. If you want a new feature, I build it, at a fixed price agreed up front. On the other hand, I reuse building blocks that already run on other sites, so it costs less than you might think.

Email in your own name

I set up an address on your own domain, like info@yourbusiness.be: with Proton (my pick, encrypted and European), Gmail or Outlook, set up on your phone and computer. I configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC, the settings that prove an email really comes from you. With a site I built, the messages from your forms also land in your admin area, and you reply from there.

Email on your own domain

What it does for you

A quote from info@yourbusiness.be inspires more trust than one from a free address. Without those three settings your emails end up in spam more often, and someone else can more easily send mail pretending to be you.

To be honest

A mailbox on your own domain is a small monthly subscription with Proton, Google or Microsoft. I recommend it’s in your name: that way your email stays yours, even if one day you move on to someone else.

Maintenance and hosting

After launch I can host and maintain your site: daily backups, updates, monitoring and sending the emails from your forms. The larger plans also include time for changes. After delivery you have a 30-day warranty either way.

See the plans

What it does for you

A site is never quite finished. Browsers change, updates come out, your offer changes. With maintenance it stays fast and secure, and you don’t need to know what a DNS record is.

To be honest

It costs something every month, from € 49. It isn’t compulsory: without a plan you only pay for hosting and I work on request at my hourly rate. The design, content and domain name stay yours either way.

One point of contact

You always talk to me: at the first conversation, during the build and for maintenance years later. I know your site, because I built it myself.

What it does for you

You never explain anything twice or hunt for who knows what. A question goes straight to the person who can solve it.

To be honest

I’m one person, and by day I work as a mainframe developer. I reply myself and personally, just not within the hour. If you’re looking for a team on call day and night, I’m not the right choice. If you’re self-employed or a small business and want one steady partner who knows your business, I am.

What does this mean for your business?

Accessibility, light and dark, speed, privacy and security come with every site I build. An admin area, extra languages, email and maintenance you add as you need them, at a fixed price agreed up front. Tell me briefly about your business and I’ll tell you honestly what you need and what you don’t.

Book a free intro call See the prices