Web Development
Foundations Early Learning Center partnered with Marcel Digital to modernize its website through a migration from WordPress to Umbraco CMS.
The project focused on creating a more engaging, scalable, and user-friendly digital experience while improving site performance, accessibility, and content management capabilities.
The Challenge
Foundations Early Learning Center had outgrown its existing website and needed a modern platform that better reflected its brand while supporting future growth. The organization wanted to improve the user experience for prospective families, streamline content management for internal teams, and ensure the site remained fast, accessible, and easy to maintain.
At the same time, the migration presented several technical challenges that needed to be addressed without disrupting business operations.
Key challenges included:
Migrating the website from WordPress to Umbraco while preserving existing functionality
Maintaining a critical LineLeader CRM integration that supports enrollment efforts
Addressing accessibility concerns across a large image library that lacked alternative text
Improving website performance by optimizing thousands of image assets
Preserving SEO equity and analytics tracking throughout the migration
Executing large-scale content and asset updates efficiently and accurately
The Solution
Marcel Digital approached the project with a strategy centered on modernization, scalability, accessibility, and performance. By combining Umbraco expertise with AI-assisted workflows, the team was able to streamline complex migration tasks, improve quality, and accelerate delivery timelines.
Building a Better Digital Experience
The engagement began with discovery, information architecture, and UX planning to better understand user needs and create a more intuitive experience. The new website was designed to make it easier for families to find information, explore programs, and take action while providing internal teams with a more streamlined content management experience.
By leveraging Umbraco's flexibility and scalability, Marcel created a foundation that can evolve alongside the organization's future needs.
Preserving Critical Integrations
A key requirement of the project was maintaining the organization's LineLeader integration. Marcel carefully analyzed the existing implementation, mapped all necessary functionality, and rebuilt the integration within the new Umbraco environment to ensure a seamless transition.
Extensive testing validated that enrollment workflows and CRM connectivity remained fully operational after launch.
AI-Powered Accessibility at Scale
The website's extensive image library presented a significant accessibility challenge. Thousands of images lacked descriptive alternative text, making manual remediation both time-consuming and difficult to maintain consistently.
To solve this challenge, Marcel implemented an AI-powered workflow that leveraged large language models to analyze image content and generate accurate, contextually relevant alternative text at scale. This approach dramatically accelerated accessibility improvements while maintaining consistency across the site's media assets.
Intelligent Image Optimization
In addition to accessibility concerns, many of the site's images were negatively impacting page performance due to large file sizes and inconsistent optimization practices.
Marcel developed an AI-assisted image optimization process that combined automated workflows with image compression technologies to reduce file sizes across the website while preserving visual quality. This allowed the team to improve site speed and overall user experience without requiring extensive manual intervention.
The Results
Marcel Digital successfully delivered a modern Umbraco website that improved the experience for both users and internal stakeholders while preserving critical functionality and search visibility.
Key outcomes included:
Successful migration from WordPress to Umbraco with all critical functionality preserved
Seamless reconstruction of the LineLeader CRM integration with no disruption to enrollment workflows
Large-scale accessibility improvements through AI-generated alternative text across the image library
Enhanced website performance through automated image optimization and compression
Preservation of SEO rankings, search visibility, and analytics tracking throughout the migration
Foundations Early Learning Center now has a modern digital platform that better represents its brand, delivers a stronger experience for families, and provides a scalable foundation for future growth. By combining strategic planning, technical expertise, and AI-powered efficiencies, Marcel Digital was able to modernize the website while solving complex accessibility, performance, and integration challenges at scale.
