Web & Platforms · 2025
Online Magazine Platform Relaunch
A well-known publishing platform was falling behind: slow pages, weak search visibility, clunky editing. Time for a rebuild, without a big-bang rewrite.
→Rebuilt on Next.js with a drag-and-drop visual editor, on top of the existing API.
Highlights
- ✦Visual drag-and-drop editor with live preview
- ✦Faster, search-friendly magazine pages
- ✦Built on the existing API, so no risky backend rewrite
- ✦The core team later adopted Next.js for the backend too
The situation
novamag was an established platform for creating and publishing online magazines.
But the market moved. New players had slicker editors. The existing magazines were slow and not built for search.
Staying the same meant losing relevance.
What I did
As lead developer, I rebuilt the frontend and editing experience from the ground up:
- Next.js for fast pages with clean, crawlable HTML
- Puck Editor for real-time drag-and-drop editing
- Connected to the existing API, so the migration stayed incremental and low-risk
- Small, shippable steps, in close collaboration with novamag’s team
The result
A powerful visual editor. Significantly faster pages, built for discoverability. Users loved the ease of use.
And my favourite part: the core team liked the approach so much, they adopted Next.js for the backend too. 🙌