Why Hop?

Newspack Support and Development (WordPress)

Little-known fact: The founders of Hop Studios started their careers in journalism. We love to work with publishers and understand the unique challenges and opportunities in the publishing landscape from the inside. We’re pleased to offer top-notch support for news orgs that have opted for the Newspack platform.

Newspack is a powerful (and complex) platform that is part of Automattic and runs on the WordPress content management system. Newspack is funded by the Google News Initiative and others with a mandate to provide publishers with a fast, flexible, and scalable solution.

Here’s why we’re trusted by Newspack publishers:

• Deep Newspack Expertise: We know the ins and outs of Newspack, from initial setup and customization to ongoing support and updates.
• Tailored Solutions: We adapt Newspack’s features to your publication’s unique workflows and goals.
• Fast Turnaround: Our team works efficiently to identify solutions and implement functionality, with sensitivity to the news publishing environment and process.
• Comprehensive Support: From troubleshooting to training, we’re with you every step of the way. We know WordPress, we know Newspack, and we know news.

At Hop Studios, we specialize in migrations to Newspack from other content management systems and in partnering with publishers to meet the specific needs of their newsroom. Our expertise is built on a foundation of innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to helping our clients thrive.

Our standout Newspack publisher is Noozhawk, a leading news organization in Santa Barbara, California. Noozhawk worked with Hop Studios for a decade before migrating to Newspack – a migration they asked us to lead. We worked closely with the Noozhawk team to implement Newspack features that aligned with their mission to deliver trustworthy local news. This included:

• CMS “translation”: Classic problem: The old CMS and the new one were not an exact match. During the migration, we mapped functionality in the previous CMS to Newspack’s offerings, ensuring that the site didn’t lose features it had previously while taking advantage of new functionality.
• Strategic consulting and planning: Not all journalists are developers or have one on their team, and that’s OK. We serve as Noozhawk’s technical advisor when they experience issues or plan new efforts; we troubleshoot and handle customer support conversations with Newspack; and, we surface opportunities as the platform evolves.
• Custom documentation: Newspack provides great documentation, but we took things a step further with an evolving documentation wiki specific to Noozhawk.

Newspack is a robust platform, but it requires attentive care and occasional deep dives to debug edge-case issues. Do you need a developer if you’re working with Newspack? That depends on the makeup of your publishing team and your needs, but if the answer is “yes,” or even “yes, but not all the time,” we’re here to help.

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