What We Build
Capabilities.
Senior-led expertise across every layer of institutional web — CMS, accessibility, engineering, performance, security, and AI-ready content architecture.
01
CMS &
Managed
Platforms
Sites maintained by content teams live or die by how safely editors can work. We design CMS implementations that let content teams do their jobs without breaking the site — and without needing a developer for every change.
Deep expertise in WordPress (custom themes, editor-safe Gutenberg blocks, plugin engineering), Drupal, Sitecore, and Contentful. Git-based CI/CD on managed platforms (Pantheon-class) means every change goes through staging before it goes live.
02
Accessibility
& WCAG
Accessibility is a product we build, not a service we resell. WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA is a standing discipline on every engagement — not a checkbox at the end of a project. We write real semantic HTML, maintain correct heading order, label every form, and build keyboard navigation that actually works.
VPAT authorship, remediation delivered under ADA litigation deadlines, and governance programs so conformance holds as sites grow and content changes. We've done this for institutions where getting it wrong has legal and regulatory consequences.
Our KS Labs A11y Audit platform monitors WCAG conformance continuously — not just at build time.
03
Full-Stack
Engineering
Full-stack engineering delivered by senior engineers — not outsourced, not handed to a junior. Ruby on Rails, React, TypeScript, PHP, SQL, and APIs. One principal spent years running production database infrastructure at Compose (→ IBM): uptime monitoring, incident response, disaster recovery, root-cause analysis — that operational depth now applies to client web properties.
We build applications that are maintainable by the teams who inherit them — not opaque black boxes that require the original developer to touch anything.
04
Performance
& Core Web
Vitals
We target Lighthouse 95–100 and green field Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) on every build. Minimal JavaScript, no layout shift, optimized and responsive images, system or self-hosted fonts, static or edge delivery. This isn't aspirational — it's how we build.
KS Labs A11y Audit monitors Core Web Vitals with real-user field data continuously — so you know when something degrades, not just when it was last measured.
Performance matters for AI discoverability too: fast, well-structured pages are crawled more thoroughly and cited more accurately by AI answer engines.
05
Security
& Operations
Operational depth unusual for a web shop. One principal spent years running production database infrastructure at Compose (→ IBM) — uptime monitoring, incident response, disaster recovery, root-cause analysis. That discipline now applies to client web properties.
We define SLAs, maintain monitoring, respond to incidents without billing a premium, and document every root-cause analysis so patterns don't repeat. When something goes wrong at 7pm, the person who answers is the person who can fix it.
KS Labs
A11y Audit.
Our own accessibility and performance monitoring platform — not a third-party tool, not a report we buy and resell. Built and run by us, in production for clients today.
- Automated axe-core WCAG scanning with issue deduplication and WCAG 2.1/2.2 criteria mapping
- Per-page Core Web Vitals monitoring with real-user field data (not just synthetic lab tests)
- 24/7 monitoring across entire site — alerts when conformance breaks, not just at the next scheduled audit
- Often included at no additional cost with an engagement
How We Engage
Project Or
Retainer.
Project Work
Fixed fee, billed by milestone. Scoped precisely after an audit of your current state. No surprise invoices. Deliverables defined, agreed, and signed off before work begins.
- Audit-first scoping
- Fixed-fee milestones
- Staged deployments with acceptance testing
- Documented handoff
Ongoing Retainer
Time-and-materials at a blended senior rate. Monthly hours-by-category reporting. Defined SLAs and emergency response with no premium. The model our long-term clients use.
- Monthly hours-by-category reporting
- Defined SLAs with emergency response
- No premium for after-hours incidents
- KS Labs monitoring often included
Start With An Audit.
We'll run accessibility, Core Web Vitals, and SEO checks before the first meeting.