The build decides everything that comes after it.
A website is engineered once and paid for every day after. Speed, editability, search and the cost of the next change are all fixed in the build. I write the code myself, which means the design survives contact with it and the search plan is in the markup, not in a ticket.
Photograph Malik Shibly · Unsplash
What is different about web development in Dubai
Most Dubai development is outsourced twice. An agency sells the project, a studio designs it, and a development shop somewhere else builds it against a PDF. Every seam costs time, fidelity and someone to blame. I run design and engineering as one loop, and the handoff that usually breaks things does not exist.
Mobile networks and devices vary more than a Dubai office suggests. The buyer on a fast fibre connection in DIFC and the customer on a mid-range phone on a congested network are the same audience. I build to Google’s published Core Web Vitals thresholds and measure them on throttled devices, not on the developer’s laptop.
The team has to be able to run it. A site the marketing team cannot change without a developer is a site that stops changing. I build on a content model the team can operate — and I train them on it as part of the handover.
- Languages
- Arabic · English
- Currency
- AED
- Domain
- .ae
- Working week
- Mon – Fri
- Privacy law
- UAE PDPL (2021)
How I engineer a site in Dubai
Modern, boring stack
React or a static framework, a headless CMS, Shopify where commerce needs it. Chosen for the team that will run it, not for novelty.
Performance as a requirement
Pre-rendered HTML, budgeted JavaScript, self-hosted fonts, responsive images — measured against Core Web Vitals on real devices before launch.
Integrations that hold
CRM, payments, booking, ERP and marketing tools wired in with error handling and monitoring, documented for whoever comes next.
Handover, not hostage
Source, documentation and training belong to you. You can leave, which is the strongest reason to stay.
Platform build
12 – 20 weeks
Rebuild the site as a system the team can run — designed, engineered and search-architected together.
Engineering is bought as a platform build, alongside the design it implements. If the design already exists, I will tell you honestly whether it should be built as drawn.
Questions
- Which technologies do you build with?
- React and static-generation frameworks for marketing sites, headless CMS for content, Shopify for commerce, and plain HTML where that is genuinely all a page needs. This site is React, pre-rendered, and scores well on Core Web Vitals on a throttled phone.
- Do you build on WordPress?
- When the team already runs WordPress well and the site is content-led, yes, engineered properly. I will not recommend it for commerce or for teams without someone to maintain it.
- Can you take over an existing site?
- Sometimes. I start with an audit of the code, the content model and the search position. If the foundation is sound I will build on it; if not, I will say so and show the cost of both routes.
- Who owns the code?
- You do, from the first commit. Repositories, hosting accounts and domains are in your name.