ADA/DASH is here to accelerate custom website development

Kelsey Anderson
Sr. Content Marketing Manager

Length

4 min read

Date

2 November 2022

Historically, custom websites have taken forever to build. So we created DASH to accelerate the process.

For decades, brands have gone to agencies for help in design and development. And for decades, agencies have been kicking off projects from scratch.

The problem here is web design and development don’t always require starting from scratch. Project setup, technology selection, and the creative process are often similar across the board.

In other words, the digital world has reached a point where tools, platforms, technology expertise, and AI are so powerful, we don’t need to start from zero every time. We can come to the table with months of work already done, which cuts project time while delivering best-of-breed, process-proven, and completely custom technology solutions.

Introducing DASH, a website accelerator from DEPT®

DASH is a headless website and e-commerce accelerator that provides the building blocks for modern marketing and e-commerce sites. A composable approach impacts both the implementation of the front end and influences the end-to-end process and methodology, from design through to deployment.

To understand it in action, consider the development of an e-commerce website. No matter your industry, size, or product offerings, every single e-commerce website will need hosting, shopping cart technology, payment processing, search capabilities, and a slew of other third-party integrations. Rather than let these necessities take up the first month of work, we have created IP that automates it.

The out-of-the-box design and development elements provided by DASH include:

Design system
Scaffolding
DevOps and infrastructure
Component library
Localization
CMS integration
Search integration
e-commerce integration
Automated testing
Performance and accessibility testing
Documentation
Monitoring

This enables you to use use the majority of your budget on impactful activities like

Discovery
UX/UI design
Custom component and page templates
CMS content modeling
Frontend implementation
Launch

Who is DASH for?

DASH is for any marketing or e-commerce team that needs a completely custom website in an unconventional timeline–typically a few months. The core technology stack consists of the Contentful CMS, Shopify cart technology, and Algolia search engine, and new integrations are being created each month.

By leveraging DASH, DEPT® strategists, designers, and developers have more time and budget to create experiences that power your digital strategy.

DASH is a starting point, not a builder tool

DASH provides what we always complete in the first month or two of a project, for both design and engineering. This allows delivery timelines to be 1-2 months faster without sacrificing design quality and customization.

Any pieces a project doesn’t require can be quickly and easily removed in full, so the project isn’t weighed down with unnecessary cruft.

DASH is a starting point, not a builder tool. Builder tools make some things easy and other things impossible, which isn’t viable for the custom projects we do. This IP covers the entire production workflow from Figma design files to Storybook design systems, full technology implementation, and automated test and deployment scripts, all integrated end-to-end and ready to spin up within minutes.

Learn more about DASH, our proprietary website accelerator.