Flying Goose Media
Media & Production · 2026
Service
Custom Web Development
Custom web development from Designer Digital is hand-coded site engineering in TypeScript, React, and Next.js. We don't use page builders, theme marketplaces, or off-the-shelf CMS templates. Every site is bespoke production code, built to last.
What it is
Custom web development is the engineering side of building a website — turning a design into actual production code that ships to a real browser. Most agencies use builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow) or themed CMS stacks (WordPress + Elementor, Shopify + a paid theme) because they're faster and don't require engineering. We don't, because the trade-off is severe: builders ship hundreds of kilobytes of generic code on every page, depend on third-party plugins that break with updates, and cap your design ceiling at whatever the builder allows.
What's included
- Hand-coded HTML, CSS, and TypeScript (React + Next.js by default)
- Performance budget: under 200 KB on the landing route
- Lighthouse 95+ on Performance and 100 on SEO/Accessibility/Best Practices
- Mobile-first responsive layouts (every screen size, not just three breakpoints)
- Animation and interaction (GSAP, Three.js, vanilla CSS as appropriate)
- Form integration (email + CRM) with retry logic and timeout handling
- Optional headless CMS integration for content editors (Sanity, Payload, Contentful)
- Deployment to Vercel or Cloudflare with preview environments
Why hand-coded
Hand-coded sites are faster, lighter, more flexible, and outrank templated builds in Google's local results. They also age better — there's no plugin marketplace to maintain compatibility with, no theme update breaking your homepage, no builder-platform pricing tier surprising you in year three. You own the code. We can hand it off, transfer it, or maintain it. Your call.
Process
- Architect. Component model, data layer, performance budget, deployment strategy. All decided up-front.
- Build. Components first, pages second. Production-ready code from commit one.
- Animate. GSAP, Three.js, or pure CSS depending on what the work calls for. Every animation respects prefers-reduced-motion.
- Test. Lighthouse on every key route. Real-device testing on iOS and Android. Cross-browser verification.
- Deploy. Vercel or Cloudflare deployment. Preview environments. Atomic deploys with instant rollback.
Recent web development work
FAQ
What stack do you use?
TypeScript, React, and Next.js by default. We use Three.js for WebGL work, GSAP for timeline animation, and vanilla CSS (not Tailwind) for styling. For static or content-heavy sites we sometimes use Astro. We do not use WordPress, Wix, Webflow, or Squarespace.
Will my site rank better than a Webflow site?
Almost always, yes — for two reasons. First, hand-coded sites typically beat Webflow on Core Web Vitals (smaller bundles, fewer render-blocking resources). Second, hand-coded sites have no constraints on schema markup, internal linking patterns, or technical SEO setups. Both contribute to higher rankings.
Can my team edit content after launch?
Yes — we'll wire up a headless CMS if editor access is required. For most marketing sites we recommend Sanity or Payload (both editor-friendly, no monthly cost overhead until you scale). For projects where the content is mostly static, we ship MDX files in a Git repo so updates flow through your developer's normal workflow.
Do you handle hosting?
We deploy to Vercel or Cloudflare by default. Both have generous free tiers and excellent performance. We can handle the account setup or hand the deployment off to your team — either works.
Related services
Want to scope a web development project?
Send the details through the contact form. We'll respond within two business days with a clear next step.
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