Evropa 2 is undergoing the biggest modernisation of its web player since its launch. The new version is built from the ground up, runs faster, allows more flexible deployment and is ready for features that users have asked for, including listener login.
Why start again? The decision to pursue a new version was made roughly a year ago. The original technology, which was among the best of its time, was already slowing down development. That is why we decided on a clean start. No patches, but a new architecture without compromises, which opens up space for faster rollout of new features and a better response to listener feedback.
Team and technology
Development is led by Lukáš Kocourek, who is responsible for everything from streams and connectors to the radio, through the front end to the player engine. Product oversight is provided by Lubor Zoufal, and Tereza Tiller oversees consistency with the mobile apps. Design for the website and the mobile apps used to be handled separately. Today the goal is to align features and appearance so that it is obvious at first glance that they belong together, even though they do not share the same codebase. The project is being worked on by the Slovak agency FatChilli, specialists in web players with modular architecture and experience from open-source projects for Google. The modular architecture includes, for example, a ready-made module for user login, which can integrate various identity providers and connect to our applications via a unified backend.
And React again…
At the beginning we considered going a different way than React this time. But after testing several options, it won out anyway. Its speed and flexibility make it possible to build a modern single-page application that runs purely on the client side, without an application server. The logic is entirely in JavaScript, and loading works as it does for a static page. Moreover, the whole player is encapsulated in a Docker container, which allows us to deploy new versions without outages.
Features that are already running
One of the main reasons for the new player was user login. For these users we launched the option to skip songs that did not hit the right note for them. After a while, the player automatically returns to the main stream, so that the listener remains part of the live broadcast. And even though the web player and the mobile app are built on different code, we are working on unifying their features and design so that listeners get the same experience everywhere.
First results
Within two months of launch, and without any promotion, hundreds of listeners registered. This shows the new direction works. This is not just a cosmetic update but an entirely new technology that is fast, modular and ready for years of operation to come. A clean start can sometimes be a faster route to innovation than endless patches to an old solution.
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