Before — the site at risk
After — new theme, same content, still live
When a required server upgrade threatened to take NMHU's website offline, the answer wasn't a patch — it was a rebuild. A new WordPress theme and server migration kept the institution live while laying the groundwork for a full redesign.
Before — the site at risk
After — new theme, same content, still live
NMHU's web server needed to be upgraded from PHP 7.4 to PHP 8.2. It was a necessary infrastructure update — but there was a problem. The WordPress theme running the university's website wasn't compatible with PHP 8.2. Upgrading the server would crash the site entirely.
The options were limited: delay the server upgrade indefinitely and accept growing security risk, patch an aging theme that wasn't designed to be patched, or use the moment as a forcing function to build something better.
We chose the third option.
PHP 8.2
required server upgrade — incompatible with existing theme
0
days of downtime — site stayed live throughout
2024
completed — foundation for full redesign that followed
Rather than treating this as a pure technical fix, we treated it as an early design investment. Working with a small agency already on retainer, we moved the site to a new server and built a new WordPress theme using Divi — one that was PHP 8.2 compatible and meaningfully more modern than what it replaced.
The content stayed largely intact. The navigation structure was preserved. But the visual design was refreshed and the technical foundation was rebuilt on a solid base — which mattered not just for surviving the server upgrade, but for what came next.
This migration became the bridge between the old site and the full redesign currently in progress. Without it, the institution either faced an extended security risk or an unexpected emergency shutdown. Instead, it bought time — and built momentum.
Tuition page — before
Tuition page — after
A crisis averted isn't just a problem solved — it's time bought. The 2024 migration kept NMHU's digital presence stable and secure, and it gave the institution the breathing room to approach the next phase thoughtfully rather than reactively.
That next phase is the full redesign currently underway — a multi-year effort to rebuild NMHU's web presence from the ground up with proper information architecture, modern content discovery tools, and templates that scale across departments and programs.
The migration wasn't the destination. It was the decision that made the destination possible.