University of Rijeka - WordPress Framework Development

The University of Rijeka was running on an outdated Joomla system that had become impossible to maintain. The platform couldn't be updated, creating security vulnerabilities and leaving faculties stuck with dated designs. Content updates were difficult, requiring IT support for even simple changes. With 20+ faculties needing their own web presence, the university needed a unified solution that would provide a consistent look and feel while being manageable by non-technical staff.

I developed a custom WordPress framework for the university, working from designs that followed their brand guidelines. The framework wasn't a multisite setup, but rather a reusable system deployed across 20+ separate faculty websites.

Built page layouts and custom post types specifically for faculty needs, including staff profiles, events, and media coverage sections. Each site uses the same underlying structure but is customized with faculty-specific colors and logos, maintaining university branding while giving each faculty its distinct identity.

Leveraged Gutenberg block editor with custom blocks designed for non-technical users. This empowers professors and administrative staff to update content themselves without needing IT support.

Worked with faculties to structure their content in Google Sheets, then transformed that data into properly formatted page content using the block editor.

Managed communication with dozens of faculty staff throughout the project, with team sizes ranging from 1-5 people to 10+ for larger faculties. Provided workshops training editorial staff on using the new system, with ongoing support continuing to this day.

Built on WordPress with Elementor's Hello theme as a base, customized for university requirements. Implemented multilingual capabilities and accessibility features across all sites.

The university successfully replaced an unmaintainable system with a modern, secure platform. Security updates are now possible and regularly applied. The modern design aligns with university branding across all faculties. Most significantly, IT dependency dropped dramatically as faculty staff can now update their own content independently.

This became a 5-year ongoing partnership where I continue to provide support and improvements to the platform. All 20+ faculty sites remain live and actively maintained by their respective teams.