Case Study
Naropa University
Naropa University is a private Buddhist-inspired university in Boulder, Colorado, founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa. The university wanted a fully editable WordPress site with a complex, picture-perfect design that the editorial team could manage without technical support. eWay translated the client-provided design into reusable Beaver Builder elements with custom CSS and JavaScript.
- Industry
- Higher Education
- Platform
- WordPress
- Services
- WordPress Development + Beaver Builder Theme
- Engagement
- Project-based
Client Snapshot
About Naropa University
- Founded
- 1974
- Scale
- Private Buddhist-inspired university in Boulder, Colorado
- Website
- www.naropa.edu
Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado, founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa. The university is named after the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda.
The university describes itself as Buddhist-inspired, ecumenical, and non-sectarian rather than Buddhist. Naropa promotes non-traditional educational activities like meditation alongside traditional academic learning, creating an institution where contemplative practice and scholarly work reinforce each other.
The Naropa website is the primary recruiting and information channel for prospective students drawn to the university's contemplative pedagogy, current students, faculty, and the broader community connected to the university's Buddhist-inspired liberal arts mission.
The Challenge
A complex design that needed to be picture-perfect across the site.
Naropa's website serves a community of prospective students, current students, faculty, alumni, and others connected to the university's distinctive contemplative pedagogy. The site's visual identity carries the institution's character through every page.
Naropa wanted a fully editable WordPress frontend so the editorial team could update content without depending on technical support for routine changes. They had a complex visual design they wanted implemented picture-perfect across the site, with the design language carried consistently from the home page through every interior section.
The challenge was translating the design's visual complexity into a system editors could work with day-to-day without breaking the design. Editors needed flexibility; the design needed integrity.
What the university needed
A WordPress site with a fully editable frontend
Complex client-provided design implemented picture-perfect
Design language carried consistently across every page
Beaver Builder elements editors can use to build new pages
Editor-driven content management without technical dependence
The Solution
WordPress with Beaver Builder, design translated into reusable elements.
eWay built the Naropa website on WordPress using Beaver Builder as the page editor. The university provided the complex visual design, which eWay translated into reusable Beaver Builder elements using custom CSS and JavaScript. Editors can now build and update pages through Beaver Builder's visual interface without writing code or depending on developer support.
WordPress site with Beaver Builder as the page editing experience for editors
Client design translated into reusable Beaver Builder elements using custom CSS and JavaScript
Editor-driven content management: the university's content team can add and modify pages without developer involvement
Design language carried consistently across every page through the shared Beaver Builder element library
Mobile-responsive design across the public-facing site
Architecture
A glimpse of the stack
Platform
WordPress
Page Builder
Beaver Builder with custom modules
Frontend
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery
Backend
Custom PHP
The Outcome
Editorial independence on a WordPress platform built around a complex design.
Editorial independence
Beaver Builder gives the university's content team a fully editable frontend. Editors update pages, layouts, and components without developer involvement. Content stays current as the university's communications evolve.
Design carried through, not approximated
The university's complex visual design was translated into Beaver Builder elements with custom CSS and JavaScript. Pages built from those elements carry the design language consistently rather than approximating it through a generic theme.
Pages built from a kit, not from scratch
The Beaver Builder elements form a kit the content team uses to assemble new pages. New pages slot into the same design system rather than starting over each time.
Naropa's website now runs on a WordPress platform with Beaver Builder elements that carry the university's distinctive design language consistently across every page. The editorial team can update content directly without developer involvement.
Common questions about this engagement
What buyers ask before engaging us on a project like Naropa University
What is Beaver Builder and why use it here?
Beaver Builder is a WordPress page builder that lets editors construct pages from a library of pre-made modules. Naropa's complex visual design was translated into custom Beaver Builder elements, so the editorial team can build new pages from those design-system elements without writing HTML or CSS. The approach keeps the design language consistent across every page while giving editors the flexibility to assemble new pages on their own.
What does 'fully editable frontend' mean in practice?
Every page on the site is updateable through Beaver Builder's visual interface. Editors drag, edit, and rearrange the elements that make up each page. Content changes do not require WordPress template editing, theme modification, or developer involvement. The site stays current with how the university actually communicates rather than waiting on a release cycle.
Did the editorial team need to learn how to write code?
No. Beaver Builder's visual editor is the authoring experience. The custom elements eWay built handle the visual design and layout. Editors choose elements, add content, and publish without touching code. The custom CSS and JavaScript live underneath the elements so editors do not encounter them in their daily work.
What does eWay own day-to-day after delivery?
The site was delivered as a working WordPress installation that the university's team operates day to day. The Beaver Builder elements, the custom CSS and JavaScript, and the supporting WordPress configuration are part of the site itself. eWay built and delivered the platform; the university's team owns content and routine operations from delivery forward.
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