Magvault is a portal that allows users to search over 10,000 digital magazine apps across multiple app stores and devices. It was created using a custom web crawler to index app store pages and populate the website. A responsive design and search functionality allows users to easily find apps. An admin portal with a SQL database was also developed to manage app information from Excel files. Geolocation filtering and a fast search engine enhance the user experience.

1. SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, SELF-SERVICE
MAGVAULT CASE STUDY
PUBLIC AND ADMIN PORTAL TO SEARCH OVER
10,000 MOBILE & TABLET MAGAZINE APPS

2. Magvault is an online
portal created to help
people with tablets and
smartphones find digital
magazine apps
WHO IS MAGVAULT

3. There was no immediately
available way for
Magvault’s search engine
to simultaneously access
all relevant app stores and
locate products.
MAGVAULT’S CHALLENGE AND OUR SOLUTION
We created an admin
portal that included a
custom-built web-bot
to index Apple Store and
GooglePlay pages. To further
enhance searching accuracy we
added geolocation filtering to the
website’s product search engine.

4. WHAT WE DELIVERED
A responsive website and an admin portal

5. Our biggest challenge with the
website’s user experience was getting
the user to the desired product easily,
across all devices. First, we gave the
search box the prime spot on all pages
regardless of the size of the screen.
Second, for users prefering to browse
their way to products, we created an
extensive menu combining two levels
of navigation. Testing a prototype on
small screens proved the size of menu
to be overwelming so we replaced it
with an index of all product categories
on the homepage.
»» Information Architecture
»» Interactive prototyping
»» Interface design
»» Testing
HOW WE DID IT - THE USER EXPERIENCE ANGLE
SKILLS USED

6. The bespoke admin portal is built using our
standard DevExpress template which facilitates
rapid construction of stable, multi-browser
compatible systems. The database is built
using Microsoft SQL Server and cloud-hosted
Excel spreadsheets are used for the ongoing
management of publication information.
We created a custom web crawler to visit each
of the links and automatically retrieve icons,
magazine covers, preview pages, description
content and ratings on a scheduled basis. This data
is used for presentation on the website but it is also
stored in a SQL Server full-text index to power the
website’s built in search results.
The responsive, SEO-optmised website is a custom
Microsoft ASP.NET build and it uses browser
location detection features to tailor the home,
category and app store listings by automatically
filtering on country of magazine origin.
»» Bootstrap
»» .NET framework
»» DevExpress
»» Microsoft SQL Server
HOW WE DID IT - THE TECHNOLOGY ANGLE
TECHNOLOGIES USED

7. THE OUTCOME
12,400 < 1 sec
We created a unique website that allows the user to search
across all major app stores to find a magazine title.
app links on the website,
for 6,400 titles, across 3,000
publishers, in 8 app stores,
in 4 countries
needed for the website
to return a query