A web development studio in Montreal
Digilia is a studio founded in Montreal. You talk directly to the person who develops your site, from the first exchange to the follow-up.
Who is behind Digilia?
I am Damien Gorin, the founder of Digilia, and I have been building websites since 2008. A full-stack developer, I specialize in WordPress and PHP, and I also work with Shopify, HubSpot and Laravel. I am at home with everything around the code: hosting, domain names, analytics and visibility on Google. My clients are businesses, non-profits and agencies in Quebec, across Canada and around the world, in French as well as in English.
An agency sells a team, a process and often other services around the site. A studio sells the site, and the expertise of the person who builds it. The size of the studio is not a stage before a bigger team: it is the model, and development is not handed to a junior after the contract is signed.
When a need falls outside my field, I say so and point you to experts I know, rather than adding it to the invoice.
What I refuse to sell as an option
These standards are part of every site I deliver, the way a seatbelt is part of a car: nobody offers it to you as an option. I don’t remove them to bring a price down.
Performance
Core Web Vitals targeted from the design stage. The weight of images, fonts and scripts is decided early.
Technical SEO
Semantic structure, metadata, structured data, planned redirects. I lay the technical foundations.
Accessibility
Target: WCAG 2.2 level AA. Contrast, keyboard and alternative text built into the design.
Security
Controlled updates, protected forms, reduced attack surface. I install as few plugins as possible: each one is one more way in and more code to monitor.
Privacy and consent
Consent banner, cookies set only after the visitor agrees, forms that collect only what is needed. The site is configured for Quebec’s Law 25 and, if you have European customers, for the GDPR.
Your independence
You edit your content yourself, with sections designed for your pages. When needed, I do it with you or for you. The domain name, hosting and accounts are in your name: you can leave with your site whenever you want.
The method, step by step
Six steps shared by every website and application project. Each service page explains what changes from one service to another: setting up a store, the redirect plan for a redesign, the specification for an integration.
Scoping
I start from your goals, your constraints and what already exists, then I describe precisely what will be delivered. You receive a detailed quote, not a range.
Design
Site map, content structure and mockups. I design them, or I start from those of your designer or an expert I work with. You approve everything before development: it is the moment when a change is simplest to make.
Development
Custom development, with as few dependencies as possible. The code is version-controlled with Git, and you follow progress on a staging environment.
Quality assurance
Testing on your visitors’ browsers and devices. Accessibility, performance, forms, redirects. The checklist is part of the delivery.
Launch
Training, with a video you keep. Then deployment, checks of the redirects and measurement tools, and monitoring in Search Console over the following days.
Follow-up
Monthly maintenance is a fixed plan: updates, backups, monitoring. Changes come from a block of hours. The rest of the time, the site doesn’t need me. That is the goal.
The comparison
Studio, freelancer, employee or agency?
| Freelance platform | In-house employee | Web agency |
Digilia
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 1 out of 3 | 3 out of 3 | 3 out of 3 | 2 out of 3 |
| You talk to the person who develops | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Senior experience | Not guaranteed | Expensive | Not guaranteed | Yes |
| Performance, accessibility, security | No | Partial | Extra | Included |
| Predictable cost | No | Hidden costs | Frequent extras | Yes |
| Risk of failure | High | Medium | Medium | Low |
| Marketing services | No | No | Full range | Technical expertise Referrals for the rest |
| Follow-up after launch | No | Yes | Expensive | Monthly plan |
-
Cost
- Freelance platform
- 1 out of 3
- In-house employee
- 3 out of 3
- Web agency
- 3 out of 3
- Digilia
- 2 out of 3
-
You talk to the person who develops
- Freelance platform
- Yes
- In-house employee
- Yes
- Web agency
- No
- Digilia
- Yes
-
Senior experience
- Freelance platform
- Not guaranteed
- In-house employee
- Expensive
- Web agency
- Not guaranteed
- Digilia
- Yes
-
Performance, accessibility, security
- Freelance platform
- No
- In-house employee
- Partial
- Web agency
- Extra
- Digilia
- Included
-
Predictable cost
- Freelance platform
- No
- In-house employee
- Hidden costs
- Web agency
- Frequent extras
- Digilia
- Yes
-
Risk of failure
- Freelance platform
- High
- In-house employee
- Medium
- Web agency
- Medium
- Digilia
- Low
-
Marketing services
- Freelance platform
- No
- In-house employee
- No
- Web agency
- Full range
- Digilia
- Technical expertise Referrals for the rest
-
Follow-up after launch
- Freelance platform
- No
- In-house employee
- Yes
- Web agency
- Expensive
- Digilia
- Monthly plan
General comparison. Every freelancer and every agency has its strengths.
Questions about the studio
I develop every project myself: nobody takes over the code after the contract is signed. When a project calls for another skill, I bring in the experts I work with. When an expert designs the mockups for your site, their work is part of my quote, and you know who does it. For a logo or a visual identity, you deal directly with the expert: I would add nothing by acting as a go-between.
Because a site without them is not finished. It is like the wiring in a house: you run it before closing the walls. These standards are decided from the design stage: page weight, the choice of plugins, contrast, keyboard navigation. Adding them once the site is built means opening everything up again, and always costs more than planning for them. The price on the quote is therefore that of a complete site.
I aim for level AA and apply good practice on every project. Some constraints can prevent it: brand colours without enough contrast or an element you want to keep.
Yes, as a tool, to move faster on repetitive work. The architecture, the technical choices and the code review remain mine, and everything goes through the same quality assurance before launch. The time saved shows on the quote.
I take care of it, including when I am on vacation. And your site does not depend on me to run: the domain name, hosting and accounts are in your name.
With Digilia Inc., a company incorporated in Quebec. Every project starts with a written quote: scope, steps, assumptions and exclusions. You know what is included before work begins.
From a block of hours, at $125 an hour. The hours are tied to named tasks: you see where your budget goes. Maintenance is a separate monthly plan, from $125 to $375 a month, with no time for changes included.
Yes, as a subcontractor: white label, as extra hands on a project or for all of the development. I do not solicit the agency’s clients during the collaboration.
