Taking a website that’s been live for years – updated countless times, with layers of legacy code – and giving it a completely fresh look is no small task. As a developer, it can feel like an uphill battle. But over the last 60 days working on the Glenlivet reskin project, I learned that it’s a battle that can absolutely be won.
Here’s what the journey looked like.
Where Do You Even Begin?
The first step was figuring out what to keep, what to change, and what to remove completely. Legacy code can feel like a maze, but it also holds opportunities. For example, our product rating modal was substantial enough to become a foundation.
We started by stripping out what wasn’t required, then carefully modifying and refactoring what remained. With every pass, the code evolved to match the sleek new designs we’d been given.
Keeping the Brand in the Loop
No brand wants to wait until launch day to see their site transformation. We made sure the client was part of the journey from the very beginning.
By continuously pushing our latest work to a development site, the Glenlivet team could see their designs coming to life, piece by piece. Their feedback was vital, allowing us to refine and adjust before anything was set in stone.
Merging with the Live Site
This was, without doubt, the scariest part.
Once our code was QA-approved and the client confirmed we’d matched their vision, it was time to go live. We had already run tests on staging environments, so when we pushed the reskin to production (a couple of weeks before the official launch date), we were prepared.
During those final weeks, we tested obsessively – on different operating systems, browsers, and devices. The goal: make sure the new design worked seamlessly with the old content and iron out any lingering bugs.
The day it all went live was a beautiful one: hard work realized, a happy client, and a reskinned site ready for the world.
