↓Skip to main content

Accelerating Frontend Development: Building a Widget Platform for 99Acres

7 mins

In the fast-paced world of online real estate, the ability to quickly adapt and improve user interfaces can make a significant difference in user engagement and conversion rates. As a consultant for 99Acres, India’s largest property portal and a part of the Info Edge group, I was tasked with developing a widget platform that would accelerate frontend development and enhance the flexibility of their legacy website. This article delves into the challenges we faced, the solutions we implemented, and the impact of this innovative approach on 99Acres’ web presence.

The Challenge: Modernizing a Legacy System #

99Acres, being an established player in the online real estate market, had a robust but aging web infrastructure. The main challenges we needed to address were:

  1. Slow frontend development cycles due to the monolithic nature of the legacy codebase
  2. Difficulty in implementing and testing new features without affecting the entire site
  3. Limited flexibility in creating and deploying dynamic content and advertisements
  4. Need for improved performance and load times across the website

Our goal was to create a widget platform that would allow for rapid development and deployment of new features while maintaining compatibility with the existing system.

The Solution: A Flexible Widget Platform #

After careful consideration of 99Acres’ needs and the constraints of their legacy system, we decided to build a widget platform with the following key features:

  1. jQuery-based frontend for compatibility and ease of integration
  2. Server-side rendering capabilities for improved performance
  3. Flexible widget creation system to accommodate various content types
  4. Integration with existing backend systems and data sources

Widget Platform Architecture #

The widget platform was designed with a modular architecture to ensure flexibility and scalability:

  1. Widget Core: A lightweight jQuery-based core library that handled widget initialization, data fetching, and rendering.

  2. Widget Types: A collection of pre-defined widget types (e.g., property listings, search forms, advertisements) that could be easily customized and extended.

  3. Server-Side Renderer: A Node.js-based renderer that could generate widget HTML on the server for improved initial load times and SEO.

  4. Widget Configuration System: A JSON-based configuration system that allowed for easy customization of widget appearance and behavior.

  5. Asset Pipeline: An optimized asset delivery system to ensure fast loading of widget resources.

Implementation Process #

The development and implementation of the widget platform were carried out in several phases:

Phase 1: Planning and Design #

  1. Conducted a thorough analysis of 99Acres’ existing frontend architecture
  2. Identified key areas where widgets could provide the most value
  3. Designed the core architecture of the widget platform
  4. Created a roadmap for development and integration

Phase 2: Core Development #

  1. Developed the widget core library using jQuery
  2. Implemented the server-side rendering system using Node.js
  3. Created a set of basic widget types to serve as examples and starting points
  4. Developed the widget configuration system

Phase 3: Integration and Testing #

  1. Integrated the widget platform with 99Acres’ existing backend systems
  2. Developed APIs to fetch real-time data for widgets
  3. Implemented caching mechanisms to optimize performance
  4. Conducted extensive testing to ensure compatibility with various browsers and devices

Phase 4: Pilot Implementation #

  1. Selected a few key pages on 99Acres for initial widget implementation
  2. Developed custom widgets for property listings, featured properties, and advertisements
  3. A/B tested the widget-based pages against the existing pages to measure performance improvements

Phase 5: Full Rollout and Knowledge Transfer #

  1. Gradually replaced existing page elements with widgets across the site
  2. Developed documentation and style guides for creating new widgets
  3. Conducted training sessions for 99Acres’ development team
  4. Established best practices for widget development and deployment

Key Features of the Widget Platform #

The widget platform we developed for 99Acres came with several innovative features:

1. Dynamic Content Loading #

Widgets could load content dynamically based on user interactions or predefined triggers, reducing initial page load times and improving overall performance.

2. Customizable Theming #

A flexible theming system allowed for easy customization of widget appearances to match different sections of the website or to support seasonal campaigns.

3. A/B Testing Support #

Built-in support for A/B testing allowed the 99Acres team to easily experiment with different widget designs and content strategies.

4. Analytics Integration #

Widgets were designed with built-in event tracking, making it easy to monitor user interactions and gather valuable insights.

5. Lazy Loading #

An intelligent lazy loading system ensured that widget resources were only loaded when needed, further improving page load times.

6. Cross-Platform Compatibility #

The platform was designed to work seamlessly across desktop and mobile devices, ensuring a consistent user experience.

Results and Impact #

The implementation of the widget platform had a significant positive impact on 99Acres’ website:

  1. Accelerated Development: Frontend development cycles were reduced by up to 50%, allowing for faster feature rollouts.

  2. Improved Performance: Page load times improved by an average of 30% due to optimized asset loading and server-side rendering.

  3. Increased Flexibility: The marketing team could now easily create and deploy custom content widgets without requiring extensive developer involvement.

  4. Enhanced User Engagement: A/B tests showed a 15% increase in user engagement on pages implemented with the new widget system.

  5. Better Ad Performance: The flexibility of the widget platform allowed for more strategic ad placements, resulting in a 20% increase in click-through rates.

Challenges Faced and Lessons Learned #

While the project was ultimately successful, we encountered several challenges along the way:

  1. Legacy System Integration: Ensuring seamless integration with 99Acres’ existing backend systems required careful planning and coordination.

  2. Performance Optimization: Balancing the flexibility of the widget system with performance requirements was an ongoing challenge.

  3. Browser Compatibility: Ensuring consistent behavior across various browsers and devices required extensive testing and refinement.

  4. Team Adoption: Encouraging the development team to adopt the new widget-based approach required comprehensive training and support.

These challenges provided valuable lessons for future frontend optimization projects:

  1. Gradual Implementation: A phased approach to implementation allows for easier troubleshooting and adaptation.

  2. Performance Monitoring: Continuous performance monitoring is crucial when introducing new frontend technologies.

  3. Documentation and Training: Investing in comprehensive documentation and team training is essential for the long-term success of new development approaches.

  4. Flexibility vs. Standardization: Striking the right balance between flexibility and standardization is key to creating a sustainable development ecosystem.

Future Directions #

The success of the widget platform opened up new possibilities for further improvements to 99Acres’ frontend development process:

  1. Machine Learning Integration: Exploring the use of ML models to dynamically optimize widget content and placement based on user behavior.

  2. Micro-Frontend Architecture: Investigating the potential of evolving the widget platform into a full micro-frontend architecture for even greater flexibility and scalability.

  3. WebComponents Integration: Exploring the integration of WebComponents for creating more standardized and reusable widget elements.

  4. Real-Time Collaboration: Developing tools to allow multiple teams to work on different widgets simultaneously, further accelerating development cycles.

Conclusion #

The development of the widget platform for 99Acres demonstrates the transformative power of innovative frontend architectures in modernizing legacy web applications. By creating a flexible, performance-oriented system, we were able to significantly accelerate frontend development, improve website performance, and enhance the overall user experience.

This project underscores the importance of adaptability in web development, especially for established platforms with large, complex codebases. The widget-based approach provided 99Acres with a pathway to gradually modernize their frontend while maintaining the stability of their core systems.

Moreover, the success of this initiative highlights the value of a holistic approach to web development. By considering not just the technical aspects, but also the needs of different stakeholders – from developers and designers to marketing teams and end-users – we were able to create a solution that delivered benefits across the entire organization.

As we look to the future, the lessons learned and technologies implemented in this project will continue to guide 99Acres’ technical evolution, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of the online real estate market. The widget platform serves as a foundation for ongoing innovation, enabling 99Acres to rapidly adapt to changing market needs and user expectations in the dynamic world of digital real estate.

↑