TECH PROPOSAL — johnsammut.com rebuild

Date: 2026-05-22 Status: Draft v2

ЗАДАЧА

Rework the existing custom WordPress theme for John Sammut. Reference: rupertspira.com. Target level: premium personal brand. Hosting: France / EU. Budget is limited.

Key finding: the existing theme is already built from scratch with solid architecture:

• ACF Flexible Content — block-based page system
• EN/FR/RU multilingual (Polylang or cookie)
• Contact form → Telegram
• Inter font, responsive, mobile menu

The task is not to rebuild from scratch, but to reorient: change content, colour palette, product structure. Significantly faster.

Content already exists and is professionally written (biography, retreat description from PDF documents). Developer's job: structure, design, technology.

WHAT POWERS THE REFERENCE SITE (rupertspira.com)

Confirmed: Umbraco CMS — found directly in the HTML source:

action="/umbraco/surface/authSurface/resetpassword/"

Umbraco is a .NET CMS (ASP.NET Core), open source under the MIT licence. Danish company, founded in 2000, one of the largest .NET CMS platforms in Europe. Widely used in the UK, France, and Scandinavia.

STACK OPTIONS

Option A: Umbraco CMS ⭐ RECOMMENDED

Stack: .NET 8, Razor templates, SQL Server / SQLite Hosting: Umbraco Cloud (managed, EU data centres) or any VPS with .NET runtime

Client benefits:

• Exact same stack as Rupert Spira — proven solution for this type of site
• Umbraco Cloud Starter — €45/month — managed hosting, auto-updates, SSL, CDN, EU data centre
• Clean, modern back-office — client can learn it without training
• Members / gated content — built in natively
• EN/FR multilingual — native support
• Large community in Europe, Umbraco agencies available in France if local support is ever needed
• CMS itself is free (MIT licence) — you only pay for hosting

Downsides:

• €45/month is more than a bare VPS
• E-commerce (selling books, courses) requires Umbraco Commerce — additional licence

Verdict: the most honest choice — same stack as the reference, EU hosting out of the box, price is reasonable for a professional personal brand site

Option B: Craft CMS (PHP)

Stack: PHP 8.3, Twig templates, MySQL/PostgreSQL Hosting: any managed PHP host in France (OVH, Infomaniak, PlanetHoster) — from €10–20/month

Client benefits:

• PHP hosting in France is cheaper and more widely available
• Craft CMS — excellent content model, clean back-office
• Native multilingual support
• Visual result is identical to Umbraco — client won't notice the difference

Downsides:

• Not the same stack as the reference
• Craft Solo licence — $299/year (~€275) + hosting
• Membership plugin — additional $199
• Year 1 total: ~€500+ in licences alone

Verdict: cheaper hosting, more expensive licences, visually the same result

Option D: Astro + Decap CMS ⚡ BUDGET OPTION

Stack: Astro (static site generator), Decap CMS (Git-based editor), Cloudflare Pages / Netlify Hosting: free (Cloudflare Pages or Netlify free tier)

Client benefits:

• Zero licence costs — fully open source, hosting is free
• Maximum page speed — static output, no PHP or database
• Browser-based content editor — client adds articles, events, pages without developer help
• SSL, CDN, deployment — all included on Cloudflare Pages
• EN/FR multilingual — supported

Downsides:

• No built-in membership / gated content (solvable via Stripe + custom logic, but extra work)
• Online payments require integration (Stripe, Lemon Squeezy)
• Editor is slightly less polished than Umbraco/Craft — but sufficient for blog, events, pages

Verdict: if the priority is launching quickly with no licence spend, this is the best choice. Visually can match any reference. Scales up later as needed.

Option C: WordPress (current)

The existing site already runs on WP. The theme could be rebuilt.

Pros: client is familiar with it, huge ecosystem Cons: reaching rupertspira.com quality requires ACF Pro + custom theme + membership plugin + WPML — that's as much work as building on Umbraco from scratch, but the result is heavier and harder to maintain.

Verdict: no

COMPARISON TABLE

RECOMMENDATION

WordPress — existing theme — optimal for this situation:

1. Theme already built: block architecture, multilingual, contact form, responsive
2. Need to reorient content and style, not build from scratch
3. Zero licence costs — WP is free, theme is custom
4. Hosting — any managed PHP in France: OVH, Infomaniak, o2switch (~€5–15/month)
5. Client gets a familiar WP editor

What needs to change in the theme:

• Colour palette: saffron #FF9933 → neutral meditative tones (cream, dark grey, muted accent)
• All texts and translations → rewritten for John Sammut (EN/FR, RU optional)
• Product structure: remove courses/graduates → John's 4 products
• Remove Russian business entity details from footer
• Telegram bot → update to current contact

Alternatives if a different stack is preferred:

→ Umbraco Cloud (€45/month) — same stack as Rupert Spira, managed EU hosting, but requires building from scratch

→ Astro + Cloudflare Pages (free) — maximum speed, zero costs, but simpler editor than WP

On SEO and geo-targeting: for a French audience, French hosting + correct hreflang is sufficient. Cloudflare Pages also works (Paris edge node), but for WP it's simpler to use French hosting directly.

WORK PLAN (WordPress option)

CONTENT ARCHITECTURE

Site sections:
├── Home (hero, brief about, 4 products overview, contact CTA)
├── About (biography, path, achievements — text from PDF ready)
├── Work / Offerings
│   ├── Single online class (introduction to the state)
│   ├── Online programme (series, several months)
│   ├── Personal sessions (healing / individual work)
│   └── Retreat (4 days, max 10 people, €4,000)
└── Contact

Multilingual: EN primary, FR secondary — built into the architecture from day one.

OPEN QUESTIONS (to clarify with Tina / John)

1. Online classes (products 1 & 2) — descriptions and prices available?
2. Personal sessions — format, price, how to book?
3. French translations — already exist or need to be created?
4. Domain stays johnsammut.com or new one?
5. Russian market — moves to new site or stays with current partner?