# ADR 000008 WordPress Website GitBook **Date:** May 2026\ **Status:** Accepted\ **Decider:** NikiDigitals\ **Version:** GitBook — Thinking Layer ## The Question A professional portfolio requires a public-facing home. The question is not whether to have a website — it is how much of the project's time and energy should go into building it, and what technology serves that purpose best at this stage. ## The Decision WordPress is the technology for the initial NikiDigitals website, using the Astra theme and Elementor Free as the page builder. All page content is written as markdown and committed to GitHub before being entered into WordPress. Design and styling are handled in a single dedicated session once all content is complete. A custom-built website using React or Next.js remains a future project — it is not abandoned, it is appropriately sequenced. ## The Sequencing Argument The NikiDigitals website is the executive layer of the portfolio. Its purpose is to communicate who this is and what is being built, and to direct visitors toward the layers that carry more depth — GitBook for the thinking, GitHub for the evidence. It is not itself the proof of capability. LES is the proof of capability. Building a custom website from scratch at Phase 0 — before the LES data architecture, before the Azure infrastructure, before a single module exists — would be a significant misallocation of effort. The hours spent on a custom frontend are hours not spent on the system that justifies the portfolio in the first place. WordPress allows the executive layer to exist immediately, with a professional standard of presentation, while the real work happens in the cloud and in the codebase. ## Content Before Design All pages are written as markdown before any WordPress work begins. This discipline serves two purposes. First, it ensures the content is clear and complete before visual decisions are made — a common trap in web design is using visual polish to mask weak content. Second, it means all website content is version-controlled in GitHub, independent of WordPress. If the platform changes, the content does not need to be reconstructed. The styling pass — applying the visual design across all pages — happens in a single dedicated session once every page has content. Styling an incomplete page wastes effort. Styling everything at once produces consistency. ## The Custom Build A React or Next.js website built from scratch is the natural evolution of the executive layer as the project matures. It demonstrates frontend capability, it integrates more tightly with the LES data layer, and it becomes a portfolio piece in its own right. That project is logged, planned, and preserved. It simply does not happen at Phase 0. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://nikidigitals.gitbook.io/les/03-architecture/decision-log/phase-0-foundation/adr-000008-wordpress-website-gitbook.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.