New web solution for the Westfalen Group

Punkt.de had already carried out a comprehensive web relaunch for the Westfalen Group in 2013. As the collaboration continued in 2016, the focus was on implementing the new corporate design, improving performance and usability and, in particular, optimizing the website for mobile devices. The result not only impresses with its appealing look and high level of user-friendliness, but also with very short loading times.

The initial situation

Gases, energy supply and filling stations are the main business areas of the Westfalen Group, based in Münster, Westphalia. During the relaunch, which punkt.de implemented for the family-owned company in 2013, the focus was on the clear presentation of the extensive product range and the optimization of the search function. As almost 30 percent of users now access the website via mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, the website now also needed to be optimized for mobile use. In addition, the Westfalen Group commissioned punkt.de to significantly improve performance and implement a layout in line with the new corporate design specifications.

The challenge

An extensive product range also means: large amounts of data that previously had to be preloaded. In addition to the product and safety data sheets that are offered for download on the website, this particularly affected the information stored in the TYPO3 database table, which is used to display different properties of gases in context. In addition, the servers and CMS were outdated. To improve performance, it was therefore necessary to update the software and hardware. Mobile optimization in the new layout also posed a number of challenges due to the many large images, the product databases and the individual wishes of our customer. "Challenges that punkt.de mastered with flying colors," says Katharina Kämper, Internet and Social Media Project Manager at the Westfalen Group.

The solution

In order to improve performance, punkt.de not only cooperated closely with the provider of the new, faster servers, but above all updated the CMS from TYPO3 6.2 to TYPO3 7.6 and in the course of this also introduced the faster PHP 7. In addition, caching has been significantly improved with the help of Redis Cache. In this key-value database, data can be stored under certain keys and retrieved with incredible speed, which significantly reduces the loading time of the website.

The open source framework Bootstrap was used for the layout, which was adapted to the corporate design and optimized for mobile use. Bootstrap provides standards for structuring source code and includes an adaptable grid system for responsive design. The layout developed by the Westfalen Group agency is even more appealing to visitors thanks to the new division of the tabs, the thematically sorted subpages and the context-sensitive sidebar, which displays the appropriate content and downloads for each subpage - both on the desktop and on the smartphone or tablet.

The website also boasts a number of new features such as automatic route calculation: the Google Maps connection allows users to navigate directly to the nearest petrol station. "A decisive plus for private customers who visit our site with a mobile device," explains Katharina Kämper. In general, the project manager is very satisfied with the result.