Glossary

Plain-English answers to the questions we get most about mission-driven WordPress, fractional CXO engagements, B Corp software work, and the way Hello World partners with teams.

A

  • API-first WordPress is an architectural pattern in which content is created and managed in WordPress but consumed primarily through its REST API or WPGraphQL by other systems — mobile apps, JavaScript front-ends, third-party platforms — rather than by the WordPress theme alone.

B

  • A B Corp Certified software agency is a development firm that has met B Lab's third-party standards for verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability — committing to balance profit with purpose across governance, workers, community,

C

  • A Custom Post Type (CPT) is a WordPress content structure beyond the built-in posts and pages — used to model distinct entities like case studies, team members, glossary entries, or events with their own admin UI, URL structure, and editorial workflow.

D

  • A Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is a contract between an organization (the data controller) and a vendor (the data processor) that specifies how the vendor handles personal data on the organization's behalf — covering scope, security, sub-processors, retention, breach notificat

  • The Define Phase is a fixed-price scoping engagement following Discovery in which Hello World produces a detailed implementation plan, technical architecture, and confirmed build budget — converting strategic direction into an executable build.

  • A Discovery Session is a focused, paid working session — typically 4 hours — in which Hello World maps a project's goals, constraints, audience, and technical landscape so the resulting scope and pricing are grounded in evidence rather than guesses.

F

  • A Fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO) is a senior AI executive engaged part-time to identify high-ROI AI use cases, run pilots, choose models and vendors, put governance in place, and ship production AI systems an organization can maintain.

  • A Fractional CTO is a senior technology executive engaged part-time on a monthly retainer to set engineering direction, make architecture and vendor decisions, and lead an organization's technical team without the cost of a full-time hire.

H

  • Headless WordPress is an architecture in which WordPress is used only as a content management backend, while the public-facing site is rendered by a separate front-end (often React, Next.js, Astro, or SvelteKit) that consumes WordPress content through its REST or GraphQL API.

M

  • A mission-driven technology partner is a software firm that explicitly aligns its commercial work with social or environmental outcomes — choosing clients, pricing, and engagement models that protect the client's mission rather than maximize agency margin.

P

  • Pantheon is a managed cloud hosting platform purpose-built for WordPress and Drupal that runs containerized environments with a Dev / Test / Live workflow, automatic backups, edge caching, and integrated git deployment.

S

  • A static site generator is a tool that builds an entire website into pre-rendered HTML files at build time — eliminating the server-side database query on every page request and producing a fast, cacheable, low-attack-surface site. Common SSGs include Next.js (static export), Ast

W

  • WCAG 2.1 AA (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the global baseline standard for accessible web content, covering perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust criteria that ensure people with disabilities can use a website — and that mission-driven sites in particular

  • WordPress block patterns are reusable, pre-designed layouts assembled from core or custom blocks that editors can drop into pages and customize — turning a marketing site's design system into editor-friendly Lego pieces.

  • WordPress Multisite is a built-in WordPress feature that runs many sites from a single WordPress installation and shared database — useful for chapter networks, multilingual sites, university departments, or multi-brand portfolios where editorial autonomy matters but technical ma