Reformatorisch Dagblad

Digital house for 50 year old newspaper

RD Website op een tablet

Website

Starting out as a publisher of Christian newspapers and magazines, Erdee Media Groep is now a multimedia publishing concern that reaches its audience through multiple channels.

Having started the development of a new digital platform for the Reformatorisch Dagblad, which celebrated its 50th year in 2021, Erdee Media Groep was looking for an external adviser. Are we moving in the right direction? Is our choice of CMS the right one?

Strategy

Complex framework

A digital platform for a newspaper is highly complex. Of course, the editorial staff have to be able to do their work as well as possible.

In addition, various technical solutions are needed: for advertisements, linkage to the editing system for the paper edition, paywalls, log-in options for subscribers, analytics software. An extremely complex
combination.

Approach

Changing direction completely

Thanks to the editorial experience, the expertise and knowledge of the developers at Erdee Media Groep, a Smartshore Ability development team was able to get off to a flying start, taking a thorough look
at everything: the plans, the requirements, the designs, the intended architecture, code that had already been written.
The ensuing recommendation was clear: the plans and strategy were sound, but the solution chosen was not. A change of direction was needed.

Result

Digital platform based on headless CMS

After that first advice, Erdee Media Groep asked Smartshore Ability to help realize the new platform. Within a year, a new platform based on the headless CMS Strapi, created by a mixed team from Smartshore | Ability and developers of Erdee Media Groep.
  • Hosting and monitoring by Smartshore Ability;
  • Backend based on Strapi, frontend based on Vue.js and Nuxt
  • Search functionality based on Elasticsearch;
  • Link with KSApi for user management;
  • Grain link for statistics
  • Piano link for handling paid content
  • Link ANP;
  • Mobile app API;
  • Link Prestige, editorial system of the physical newspaper.
We worked on this case
Tools
Diensten
Seetpal - developer - Smartshore

Seetpal

Developer
Sunil - Developer - Smartshore

Sunil

Developer
Ernst Jan - Project Manager - Ability
Ernst Jan - Project Manager - Ability

Ernst Jan

Project Manager
Mitchell - Developer - Smartshore
Mitchell - Developer - Smartshore

Mitchell

Developer
Thomas - Manager Hosting & Services - Smartshore

Thomas

Manager Hosting & Services
Julia - Developer - Ability
Julia - Developer - Ability

Julia

Developer
Bart - Lead Software Architect - Smartshore
Bart - Lead Software Architect - Smartshore

Bart

Lead software architect
Remko - Commercieel Manager - Smartshore
Remko - Commercieel Manager - Smartshore

Remko

Commercieel Manager
Ginish - developer - Smartshore

Ginish

Developer