nwsnwsnws
A web home for a social-first news brand
I helped bring nwsnwsnws to the web with a searchable archive, dedicated formats and projects including Tienerwoord van het Jaar.
01 / VRT NWS
Technical direction for VRT NWS
I help lead the web platform behind VRT NWS, part of a public news service used by around one million Flemish people each day.
- Period
- 2022 - present
- Role
- Web Lead (freelance)
- Status
- Live
I work with editorial, product, design and engineering teams on the technical direction of vrtnws.be. The platform has to perform on ordinary news days and absorb sharp peaks during breaking news and elections. My remit spans Next.js architecture, security, infrastructure, SEO and accessibility, with reliability and cost treated as product decisions.
Scope and contribution
- Set technical direction for the Next.js platform and interactive news formats
- Plan infrastructure for large traffic peaks without losing sight of cost
- Introduce a WAF and additional DDoS protection for a public news service
- Embed SEO in platform performance, metadata and editorial workflows
- Coordinate platform decisions across web, app, design, product and editorial
Related work
KIES24
Election results for all of Flanders
I helped deliver the digital results experience for the 2024 elections. On 13 October, the app and website recorded 5.3 million visitors and 42.6 million page views, alongside a television broadcast watched by 2.15 million people.
Technology
- React
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Architecture
- SEO
- Accessibility
- Performance