Frontend Dev

Like any field that becomes sufficiently complex, there’s a need to specialise - a drive that gave us molecular biologists, quantum physicists, latte artists and the split between front and back end developers.

While each of our developers has a broad knowledge of the many languages that power the internet, we allow our developers to mature in their passions and specialisms to make sure our clients get the best available.

What is front end development?

Focused on the parts of your site that your customers will interact with the most - the UX and UI - front end development is the process of bringing a website to life in a way that best satisfies the needs of a brand and its customers. All of this while also making sure that it lives up to the look and feel of the initial designs, and remains accessible, quick and easy to use.

Our front end development service

The hard work and commitment to continuous learning of our front end development specialists allows us to offer a fantastic level of service for our clients - if your customers need your site to do something, the chances are, we can make it possible.

What can front end development do for your brand?

Front end development offers enormous potential gains for any commerce brand, but our unique commitment to Shopify puts Velstar at the forefront of development for the platform. Migration to Shopify allows us to help you make the most of Shopify’s industry leading checkout conversion, we can improve your existing Shopify store’s performance or conversion, upgrade it for 2.0 functionality or help you to in-house the functionality of apps that are no longer meeting your needs.

Front end development is about making your website work for your brand and for your customers - and that can be an incredibly profitable exercise for brands of any size.

Our development team

With decades of experience and a mastery of what it takes to succeed with Shopify, our front end development team are uniquely positioned to help brands capitalise on the many benefits of the platform - but also to help you extend its functionality to meet the needs of your brand.

Vince Hollywood Head of Engineering

Barry Goffett Head of Development

Liam McKenna Senior Front End Developer

Matt Bevan Senior Front End Developer

Josh Oakes Front End Developer

Steven Henderson Front End Developer

Matty Johnson Front End Developer

Jamie Baker Front End Developer

Michael Gainford Front End Developer

Richard Parnaby-King Back End Developer

Nathan Hogan Project Executive

Front End Development Services

With FED touching almost every nook and cranny of your website (we’ve asked them to stop, but they don’t listen), the number and reach of services is extensive - but all of them contribute directly to the functionality and usefulness of your site, and by extension it’s visibility in search.

→ Theme Development

Whether you’re looking for a custom Shopify Plus build from the ground up which properly reflects your brand and the lifestyle of your customers, or to take your next steps in commerce by customising a premade theme to better suit your needs, our Shopify accredited team can make sure the platform delivers what you need to succeed.

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→ Site Speed Development

Over the last few years, Google has been nudging webmasters to improve site speed - and so far they’ve done that with the carrot of a minor boost to rankings (though they won’t say much - thanks Google - it is likely to be a ‘deciding factor if all other things are equal’), but while a ranking bump is all well and good - the positive impact it has on conversion rates is far more important.

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→ Shopify 2.0 Upgrades

Shopify 2.0 (or Online Store 2.0) offers more opportunity for customisation, better app integrations and more besides. While the process of upgrading can be performed by most Shopify store owners, if you have a custom theme or unique integrations, our experts can help you make the transition seamlessly.

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→ Development Retainer

Whether it’s the result of a CRO experiment, a UX or UI review, your site has just hit the limits of its functionality and you need more, or any of a host of other reasons, it often pays to have development talent that you can access quickly to make the changes necessary to continue the growth of your brand.

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→ Shopify Checkout Customisation

While Shopify sites have always been customisable to an extent, there was a time in the pretty recent past when a Shopify site was more recognisably Shopify than any particular brand. The last area where that was the case was the checkout - but, for Shopify Plus customers, it doesn’t have to be anymore! Brands can now customise their checkout to better represent their brand and better suit their needs.

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→ Shopify App Development

Need to create Shopify functionality which can be implemented on your own, or multiple branded sites? Our experts can make sure there’s an app for that. Shopify's APIs allow the freedom and flexibility to create truly bespoke functionality outside the "standard" Shopify offering - that’s where Shopify App development comes in.

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→ Migration & Replatforming

Migration and replatforming is a lot like upgrading the location of your flagship store - you could be looking for more footfall, a location with a little more prestige, or a better return on your business rates - our team makes sure that everything moved to your new store, ready, gleaming and welcoming for the grand opening.

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→ Bespoke Tracking

Our commitment to the Shopify platform has many benefits for our clients - not least of which is our ability to wrestle the platform, and your analytics platform of choice, into submission to provide you with the data you need to make smart choices and grow your business.

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→ Inhousing Functionality

During the lifespan of a Shopify site, there’ll be times when growing and scaling a brand leads to you outgrowing some of the apps that were essential during your formative years. Whether that’s because it isn’t capable of scaling with you, or the need for other, more important features are beginning to cause performance issues, inhousing functionality can be the answer.

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→ UX & UI Development

From site navigation to all the fun things you can do with buttons, user experience and user interface development plays a vital role in how every single customer experiences your website (and interacts with it, to be fair). Providing the best customer experience isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’, it can be the difference between a sale and an abandoned basket.

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