In order to cope with the future evolutions of Drupal, the architecture of the new vdab.be has been set up in such a way that the system is ready for the latest version of Drupal. REST principles and a separate data layer were also used. This architecture is being used more and more by Calibrate for new websites. This allows us to guide our clients in the smooth transition to Drupal 8. To make the entire website responsive, the solution is based on Angular.js, Drupal 7 and Sass (Compass). Of course, an implementation with VDAB's existing Java back-end was also required.
Mobile-friendly Drupal website for VDAB
GETTING YOUNG PEOPLE INTO WORK
At the beginning of 2014, VDAB's main task was to get Belgian young people into work.
When you say young people, you say mobile. This is how Calibrate started the challenge to build a new mobile vdab.be that was fully responsive without touching the existing Java back end or the existing website.
This is how the first version of the mobile site came about, with the main functionality "Find a job". Soon it became clear that the existing website could grow along with the evolutions of the mobile site. Thus, in March 2015, the completely renewed website was created.
Technical solution
Responsive design
Desktop, tablet or smartphone: the new VDAB website is displayed beautifully and conveniently on all your screens in a custom layout.
This well-considered rearrangement of the page elements came after extensive usability research and several user tests.
Security Performance
The site is loaded with an average of 100,000 (and peaks of up to 160,000) sessions per day. This is something to take into account.
Varnish caching was therefore implemented. A major advantage of the applied setup is that both caching and security can already be provided from the VDAB back-end. As a result, Drupal itself is hardly burdened and the CMS does not form a delay in the whole. In this way, all pages can be shown to website visitors at maximum speed.
Also for the Angular.js application, all CSS and extra Javascript, an optimal performing website was taken into account.
