New responsive website NPO Funx.nl

After more than six years, the website of radio station FunX of the Dutch Public Broadcasting (NPO) was in dire need of a thorough overhaul. NPO FunX is the public urban radio station with a diversity of music styles, including r & b, hip hop and dance.

The challenge

The website of radio station FunX was outdated and the layout needed a major overhaul. The appearance of the website had to better reflect the radio station's target group and radiate more “radio”. An efficient workflow also required a link with the NPO radio applications Radiomanager and Radiobox. Given that more than half of the visitors visit the website via mobile and tablet, it was also necessary for the website to be responsive.

The solution

In several interactive sessions we, together with those involved from NPO FunX, mapped out wishes, requirements and the use and visit of the current website. We then translated this into clickable wireframes for the entire website. The content structure has been simplified and reduced to three clear levels, despite the fact that the new website contains more content than before. The graphics department of the NPO then made the design for the website based on the wireframes.

We converted the design into a working Joomla template with “mobile first”, accessibility and speed as starting points.

For the functional part, Joomla has been expanded with various custom extensions to further simplify the workflow and management and to link it with external systems. The most important of these is the link with Radiobox, with which information about the programming, DJs, broadcasts, fragments and playlist is continuously imported into the site. For example, cut fragments in Radio Manager are immediately visible on the website without the intervention of web editors. In Joomla, the information from Radiobox can be further supplemented and managed where necessary.

After the first set-up for the website was ready, two days were organized during which listeners of NPO FunX were invited to test the site and provide feedback. By following different scenarios, we were able to analyze whether the website worked as expected and whether the content was located in logical and findable locations. Based on this, the site has been further optimized.

The result

The completely renewed website of NPO FunX has been well received by the listeners and users of the website. The website has become much more visual, is better suited to the target group and radiates much more radio. “Now I also know what you look like” is a frequently heard comment.