Olsztyn.com.pl – City Portal for the Residents of Olsztyn
Olsztyn.com.pl is one of the key projects in my WordPress developer portfolio, serving as a comprehensive city portal dedicated to the residents of Olsztyn. This platform, active between 2010 and 2015, aimed to provide up-to-date local information, cultural and social events, and interactive features. My task was to design and implement a modern website based on WordPress, optimised for performance, usability, and search engine visibility using the technologies available at that time. This project allowed me to demonstrate my skills in creating scalable and functional online portals.
The Purpose of the Site and Its Audience
The main goal of Olsztyn.com.pl was to create a central source of information for residents of Olsztyn and the surrounding area, including local news, an events calendar, a guide to services, and a space for social interaction. The portal was aimed at a wide audience – residents, entrepreneurs, tourists, and local institutions – seeking reliable and current content about city life.
Site Functionalities
- News and Articles: A publication system for news with categories (e.g. culture, sports, politics) based on native WordPress functions and custom post types.
- Events Calendar: An interactive calendar of local events implemented using the Events Calendar plugin (available since 2011), with filtering and search options.
- Social Interactions: A comments section optimised with Disqus and a content rating system via the WP-PostRatings plugin.
- Business and Services Directory: A database of local businesses with contact details, built using custom post types and the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin.
- Responsiveness: Full mobile compatibility thanks to a theme based on Bootstrap 3 (released in 2013).
- Local SEO: Search engine optimisation using All in One SEO Pack, with meta descriptions and an XML sitemap targeting phrases such as “Olsztyn events” or “Olsztyn news”.
Challenges and Solutions
The implementation of Olsztyn.com.pl required solving several technical challenges using technologies available in 2015:
- Performance with Large Volumes of Content: Regular publications and multimedia were taxing the server – I implemented Cloudflare CDN for faster resource loading and caching via W3 Total Cache, reducing the site’s response time.
- Data Freshness: Managing the events calendar required a reliable system – I adapted the Events Calendar with custom PHP scripts to automatically mark outdated events.
- Security and Stability: I ensured the site’s protection by updating WordPress to version 4.3 (2015), configuring caching on the Apache server, and implementing daily backups using BackupBuddy.
- Local SEO: I optimised the site structure for local queries by using All in One SEO Pack and creating unique content for each category, which improved search engine rankings.
Tools Used
WordPress 4.3, All in One SEO Pack, W3 Total Cache, WP Smush, Events Calendar, Disqus, WP-PostRatings, Advanced Custom Fields, BackupBuddy, Cloudflare, Bootstrap 3, Sublime Text, Git, FileZilla, Google Analytics.
Site Maintenance
After deployment, I provided comprehensive technical support, including updates of WordPress and plugins to versions compatible with 2015, performance optimisation using W3 Total Cache and Cloudflare, daily backups with BackupBuddy, and ongoing modifications to content and functionalities as needed by the editorial team and users.
