Dev Partners · Brain Dump

The Brain Dump

Real talk on software, business efficiency, and the stuff that actually drives growth. No content marketing fluff. Just things we have found useful, interesting, or worth writing down.

What you will find here: Practical articles on custom software development, Shopify, Laravel, WordPress, business efficiency, ecommerce, and the occasional honest opinion piece from Rob and Jason.
Dev Partners · Brain Dump

Rebuilding Visualsoft's faceted search and filtering in Shopify

Faceted search and filtering is one of the parts of a Visualsoft store merchants worry about losing during a Shopify migration. It is also one of the parts where Shopify has invested heavily in the last few years, and where the experience on the new platform is usually as good or better than what came before, with the right setup. This post walks through how filtering tends to work on Visualsoft today, what Shopify offers natively, where apps fill the gaps, and how the SEO side of filtered URLs gets handled in the migration.
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Dev Partners · Brain Dump

Visualsoft to Shopify URL redirects: a full SEO mapping playbook

URL redirects are the single most important technical job in a Visualsoft to Shopify migration, and the easiest one to get wrong. Done properly, your search rankings stay where they are and customers with old bookmarks land where they expect to. Done as an afterthought, organic traffic can drop sharply in the weeks after launch and take months to recover. This guide walks through how Visualsoft and Shopify URLs differ, how we map them, and what to watch for on the way.
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Dev Partners · Brain Dump

Should you stay on Visualsoft? An honest checklist

Most of the merchants who come to us looking at a Visualsoft to Shopify migration should make the move. A small number genuinely shouldn't, at least not yet. This post is for the second group as much as the first. It walks through the real reasons to stay where you are for now, the much longer list of reasons to move, and a straight checklist to help you work out which side of the line you fall on.
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Dev Partners · Brain Dump

What gets migrated from Visualsoft to Shopify (and what doesn't)

When merchants ask us about moving from Visualsoft to Shopify, the first question is almost always the same. "What happens to all our data?" The honest answer is that the vast majority of it comes across cleanly. A small amount needs rebuilding in a different shape, and a handful of things stay behind by design. This guide walks through all three, so you know exactly what to expect before discovery even starts.
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Dev Partners · Brain Dump

Why Visualsoft to Shopify migrations are more complex than most agencies admit

Visualsoft to Shopify migrations involve specific technical challenges that generic migration tools can't handle. Most agencies underestimate the complexity because they haven't worked with Visualsoft's data architecture, custom functionality, and URL structures before. This guide covers what actually goes wrong and why specialist knowledge matters.
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Why Visualsoft to Shopify migrations are more complex than most agencies admit
Dev Partners · Brain Dump

Mastering Inventory Updates: The Power of GraphQL Idempotency at Shopify

If you’ve ever built an integration with Shopify, you know the "inventory anxiety." You send a request to update stock levels, the network hiccups, and you’re left wondering: *Did that go through?* If you retry, you risk doubling the adjustment. If you don't, your stock counts drift. Shopify’s introduction of **idempotency keys** in their GraphQL API is the definitive "peace of mind" feature for developers.
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Mastering Inventory Updates: The Power of GraphQL Idempotency at Shopify
Dev Partners · Brain Dump

Choosing Between DIY and Professional Migration

DIY migration can work for simple stores with strong technical skills and plenty of time. For most businesses, it becomes a slow, stressful project where small mistakes cost more than hiring an expert. Here is how to decide which route fits your store, your team, and your risk tolerance.
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Choosing Between DIY and Professional Migration
Dev Partners · Brain Dump

When Should You Migrate Your Ecommerce Platform?

Migrating too early wastes time and money. Migrating too late costs even more. The real challenge is timing it properly. Here is how to decide whether now is the right moment to move your ecommerce platform.
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When Should You Migrate Your Ecommerce Platform?
Dev Partners · Brain Dump

5 Red Flags Your Migration is Going Wrong

Most migration failures do not explode overnight. They creep in quietly through poor discovery, weak testing, and vague planning. Here are the warning signs your ecommerce migration is drifting off course — and how to fix it before launch.
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5 Red Flags Your Migration is Going Wrong
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What our clients say

20 clients. A few of their words.

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A well-rounded team, ensuring a full suite of expertise & resource is always available. CDS Global have seen the successful completion of major projects over the years where Dev Partners' ability to grasp the underlying business needs to provide a future-proof solution has been invaluable.

CDS Global
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We have worked with Jason & his team to develop our Shopify store, and the experience was outstanding from start to finish. The design is clean, modern, and perfectly aligned with our brand identity, while the build is fast, responsive, and easy to manage on the backend. They clearly understood our vision and delivered a store we're genuinely proud of. Highly recommend to any brand looking for a top-quality Shopify partner.

AX Paris
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After ongoing issues and delays with our previous developers, we brought in Rob & Jason at Dev Partners to take over all our websites and bespoke software. What a breath of fresh air, fully focused, excellent pre-launch designs and clear communication throughout. Highly recommended.

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BPC Energy
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Working with Dev Partners to redesign and modernise our WMS system: the whole process has been thoroughly professional from the outset and a delight to work with. Cannot recommend enough.

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Great agency. Have used Dev Partners for several years and they have built 20+ sites for us, in addition to taking on our legacy websites, upgrading and maintaining. Easy to work with and some great practical ideas to improve our digital offerings.

H2O Publishing
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Blackwell's Jewellers
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We have been working with Rob and the team for about 10 years now. Dev Partners helped us build a completely bespoke CRM from scratch which manages our daily business and is always well maintained. We have been able to use the system and roll it out in our new franchise branches.

Quality Pet Care
Pet supplies
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ProSales
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Nexa Solutions
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Electronic security
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OTB Concrete
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The Engineering Network
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Design Arc Brands
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Red Creative
Creative agency
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MIT Publishing
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Found Dev Partners and they were great, nothing too much trouble. They managed to help us with integrating our old existing system with Shopify.

Mish Mash Jeans
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Circ Data Fusion
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