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online newspaper

Wodociągowiec.pl – online newspaper for the water and sewage industry

We have developed dedicated software that enables the editorial team to publish an online newspaper and manage accompanying processes (advertising, subscriptions, SEO).

CLIENT

Wodociągowiec.pl is a startup founded by Damian Simiński and Szymon Różański, experts in the water and sewage industry.

The founders aimed to publish an online newspaper (daily) to share professional publications, opinions, and news from the world of water companies, associations, public institutions, and scientific organizations. Their goal was to bring people from the industry together, foster integration, and initiate valuable projects in the future.

Logo wodociagowiec.pl

BEGINNING OF COOPERATION

From time to time, CodiFive encounters clients who have experienced various challenges during the development of their applications. Often, after being backed into a corner, taking multiple steps backward, and spending a significant amount of money, they ultimately decide to make a radical move—changing their contractor.

“This is our Trello board with a list of tasks to be done. Nothing has been accomplished for weeks, we’ve paid the invoices, and now communication has completely stopped. We also lost a week’s worth of work once,” said Szymon during the kickoff meeting as we reviewed the project’s situation.

Trusting a new software provider after such a traumatic experience is a real challenge!

Our initial interaction with the client helped to build trust. At that time, Wodociągowiec was just starting to operate, in an early alpha stage. Readers could access the first articles, but they were often met with system error messages that exposed sensitive data from a security perspective. Fixing this vulnerability was the first test we successfully passed.

What Made an Impression on the Portal’s Owners?

It turned out to be exactly what they desired most—speed of action! This was an “emergency programming” situation. We treated them like our regular maintenance clients reporting a critical issue, without contracts or long-term collaboration guarantees.

And that’s how our partnership began…

Rysunek przedstawiający współpracę dwóch osób

Image created using AI – Image Creator from Microsoft Bing

CHALLENGE

When taking over a project, the biggest challenge is diving into someone else’s code, especially when there’s a lot of it and it was written hastily. Entering such an “unknown garden,” unaware of what surprises might lurk within, we work with clients in a Time & Material model while ensuring cost control through regular work reports and decision-making meetings.

As a potential client, you might wonder: Won’t these frequent meetings and discussions drive me crazy? Don’t worry, we’ve thought about that! This concern was raised before starting our collaboration with Wodociągowiec.

Szymon:
“I’m tired of having to discuss the technical details of the newspaper’s portal software. I’m not interested in it at all and I don’t understand it. 😑”

The truth is, we need to know what general outcomes you want to achieve or what your business processes look like. From there, we’ll propose solutions ourselves, based on over a decade of experience in developing various types of software. We handle the logic, UI/UX, security, and all the “Lego blocks” that will make up the system.

Challenges in the Wodociągowiec Project

The portal application was not only meant to provide content access but also to:

  1. Streamline content preparation
    Allowing a small editorial team to publish the newspaper several times a week. This involved managing the homepage content, where dozens of articles needed to be arranged effectively. Every detail and automation mattered!
  2. Achieve SEO Optimization
    Google Search Console revealed a lot of “red flags,” indicating numerous search engine issues that hurt the site’s visibility and popularity.
  3. Support Reach Expansion
    By integrating with newsletters and social media to broaden the audience.
  4. Enable Ad Publishing
    So the portal could start generating revenue.
  5. Ensure an Attractive Design
    Making the portal visually appealing and engaging for users.

Read on to discover how we tackled these challenges!

Mem challange accepted

SOLUTION

Managing the complexity of software development requires proper project organization, task tracking, prioritization, progress monitoring, time tracking, and seamless communication—both internally and with the client. For this project, we used GitHub and Clockify.

Additionally, we applied a tailored version of Agile management, balancing cost control with the flexibility to adjust assumptions and tactics. Each project is unique and demands a different approach. Overseeing the correctness of our processes was our certified Scrum Mistress, Agnieszka Nowacka 😊.

Key Elements of Our Approach:

  1. Frequent Deliverables and Feedback Loops
    Frequent demonstrations of progress allowed the client to see results regularly and discuss them, eliminating potential dead ends.
  2. CI/CD Implementation
    Full Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment was implemented, automating tasks like collaborative coding, version control, application builds, and hosting deployment.

    • Saves time and costs by reducing manual work to just one click.
    • Prevents errors during production releases.
    • Maintains detailed documentation of every action.

Functional Enhancements

Here’s a concise list of what we delivered to Wodociągowiec:

  • Newspaper Planning: Enabled planning of multiple issues days in advance, allowing the team to take vacations without disruptions.
  • Performance Boost: Pages now load 6–11 times faster. We also implemented frequent sitemap updates and other optimizations to improve search engine rankings.
  • Visual Overhaul: Modernized all public pages, added responsiveness, and optimized content display for mobile devices.
  • Ad Management: Created an ad set mechanism with dynamic display based on portal location and device type (desktop/mobile).
  • Content Rotation Automation: Automated homepage article rotation based on predefined rules, requiring only the addition of new articles.
  • Regional Editions: Integrated regional editions by province, using IP geolocation or manual user selection.
  • Image Cropping: Automated image cropping for consistent visuals based on publication location.
  • Newsletter Integration: Linked the system with newsletter management tools.
  • Cloud Backups: Automated daily backups stored in the cloud for the past seven days.
  • Social Media Integration: Enabled Facebook sharing and content tracking
  • Google Analytics Integration: Provided in-depth website traffic insights.
  • Client Support: support for paid Facebook ads (czy along with support for paid Facebook ads.)
  • Editorial Interface Improvements: Enhanced the editorial interface for smoother content management.
  • Bug Fixes: Resolved operational issues and bugs.
  • Spam Protection: Secured public forms against bots.
  • Security Enhancements: Strengthened system security to prevent unauthorized access.

Each feature delivered tangible value to Wodociągowiec, ensuring the portal’s functionality, efficiency, and growth.

RESULTS

The Project Was a Complete Success

After three months of development, the founders of Wodociągowiec were able to begin achieving their business goals, strengthen their market position by publishing an online newspaper, attract sponsors, and increase ad revenue.

CodiFive continues to support the newspaper’s operations, which has now been active for two years, significantly impacting the industry. Joint initiatives have also emerged, such as the “Coffee with an Expert” series, where we participate as a technical partner. More initiatives are planned for the future.

1800+

Articles published

350+

Newspaper issues released

25+

Industry experts engaged in collaboration through the newspaper's activities

Technologies

  • Python/Diango
  • Vue 2
  • Docker

Duration

2 months

Team

2 persons

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