Portfolio Skills

Delve into our background: Browse through a selection of our projects based on our skills and see some of the innovative software, applications and web services we have created for and with our clients. We develop for many platforms and work with Windows, UNIX, Linux and OS X servers.

BoekWijzer App – literature at your fingertips

BoekWijzer App – literature at your fingertips

boekwijzer app

BoekWijzer app

Literature at your fingertips

BoekWijzer app – our guide to Dutch literature

Books, books and more books. Our BoekWijzer app is the Dutch literary app delivering up-to-date information about every title available in the Netherlands to your mobile or tablet. So with BoekWijzer, you have a wealth of literary information at your fingertips and direct access to the entire catalogue of Dutch literature. In addition, you can order books directly from the app. Boekwijzer also brings you the latest news and articles from the Dutch newspaper ‘De Volkskrant‘ and the literary website ‘Literary Nederland‘. And we publish interesting literary articles in the Boekwijzer blogs almost every week!

A mobile bookshop

Our Boekwijzer app gives you access to a database of more than 630,000 books! But with so much content, users can sometimes find it tricky to find what interests them. For this reason, we present several selections of interesting titles to make the app as user-friendly as possible. Using information gathered from Bol.com, we provide overviews of their ‘Best sellers’, ‘Best rated’ books and ‘Recently published’ books. If you then click on an item in the list, you will see more information about that title. And if you want to order a book directly via the app, that’s easy to do with a single click.

BoekWijzer app
BoekWijzer app

Search and find

You can use the search function to search through the entire assortment of available titles. And it doesn’t matter if you are unsure how to write an author’s name (for example, Mullisch or Mulish?). That is to say we have designed BoekWijzer to handle common spelling mistakes.

Furthermore, you can use a wildcard “*” (star) when searching:

– pari* will find “paris” as well as “parijs”
– colo*r will find “color” as well as “colour”

Search and find

You can use the search function to search through the entire assortment of available titles. And it doesn’t matter if you are unsure how to write an author’s name (for example, Mullisch or Mulish?). That is to say we have designed BoekWijzer to handle common spelling mistakes.

Furthermore, you can use a wildcard “*” (star) when searching:

– pari* will find “paris” as well as “parijs”
– colo*r will find “color” as well as “colour”

BoekWijzer app

Privacy  

BSL respects your privacy – the only information we gather is that needed for using the app. This means that we share no personal information, the app has no In-App-Purchases, and it’s advert-free.

BSL first developed the Boekwijzer app in 2014. There have been regular updates since then, with the latest release in July 2022.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

The BoekWijzer App is a great example of what we do best. Building apps for iOS and Android that access online databases, placing information in the palm of your hand. We develop native apps using Swift and Java, but also cross-platform hybrid apps based on Phonegap/Cordova. If you want your data made accessible via mobile apps, get in touch.

Martyn Simpson

Director, Bright Side of Life

1888 Information – Digital Senior Citizens Phone app

1888 Information – Digital Senior Citizens Phone app

1888 Information Line

Senior Citizens Phone app for Android and iOS

Senior Citizens Phone app

Because of its extensive experience in the Telecom sector, 1850 B.V. now also manages the 1888 Number Information service. The company operates in the customer service market (e-mail, chat, telephone)  too, on behalf of third parties such as local authorities, webshops, and answering services. In essence, 1888 helps you find the number you need and then connects you directly. Both in the Netherlands and abroad!

1850 B.V. asked us to design and develop a new Senior Citizens Phone app for Android and iOS. That is to say, made for people who have difficulty using modern smartphones. Therefore they asked us to keep the app as simple as possible. This request is a challenge for our enthusiastic designers and developers, who naturally keep up-to-date with the latest gadgets. However, we managed to build a simple interface with which everyone is happy.

Senior Citizens Phone app Senior Citizens Phone app.
Senior Citizens Phone app Senior Citizens Phone app.
Senior Citizens Phone app
Senior Citizens Phone app

The trick is keeping it simple!

There are already phones available for technophobes. But ironically, these ‘simple’ devices are often more expensive than the latest high-tech smartphones. So what 1850 BV wanted was a Senior Citizens phone app for iOS and Android, which makes making phone calls easier. We worked with them to design a simple app designed specifically for the elderly or technically challenged.

Called the “1888 Digitale Seniorentelefoon, this new app:

  • Connects to your contacts so that you can populate a simple phonebook with significant numbers (doctor, close family, neighbours) in just a few minutes
  • Lets you drag and drop contacts for ease-of-use
  • Uses icons and images for each chosen contact
  • Secures the phone set up so that users can’t accidentally delete or lose numbers
  • Offers quick and easy access to the 1888 number information service

The trick is keeping it simple!

There are already phones available for technophobes. But ironically, these ‘simple’ devices are often more expensive than the latest high-tech smartphones. So what 1850 BV wanted was a Senior Citizens phone app for iOS and Android, designed to make phone calls easier. We worked with them to design a simple app designed specifically for the elderly or technically challenged.

Called the “1888 Digitale Seniorentelefoon, this new app:

  • Connects to your contacts so that you can populate a simple phonebook with significant numbers (doctor, close family, neighbours) in just a few minutes
  • Lets you drag and drop contacts for ease-of-use
  • Uses icons and images for each chosen contact
  • Secures the phone set up so that users can’t accidentally delete or lose numbers
  • Offers quick and easy access to the 1888 number information service
Senior Citizens Phone app

At BSL, you have come to the right place for…

Fast, agile development - Involving the client at every step

We moved quickly on the Senior Citizens Phone app, using Agile development methods. We initially produced designs and animations demonstrating the app interface and navigation, inviting feedback from 1850 BV. We completed the app design, and after a single sprint, delivered the first Android release. The Android app underwent a series of test cycles, making new releases available at the end of each week. As the Android app neared completion, we quickly created the iOS version from the same codebase. Once we completed the test process, we prepared the Google Playstore and Apple app store pages for the first public release.

Minimum Viable Product - Early to market

An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the minimum version of your app that provides value to your users. You can satisfy them and win their loyalty. Building a well-functioning MVP ensures that you can go live and do business as soon as possible. And you can start gathering feedback and learning from your users right away. Both BSL and 1850 BV see this first release of the Senior Citizens Phone app as a Minimum Viable Product. Once we’ve released the app, we’ll work with 1850 BV to design new features. No shortage of ideas!

React Native – Fast, easy cross-platform app development

We chose to develop the app with React Native. React Native is an open-source mobile application framework that makes it easy for developers to build mobile apps that can fully use native platform capabilities. And if you need to extend the capabilities of your app, you can easily add your own code, using other languages.

React Native uses a single JavaScript codebase to deploy the app on Android and iOS with minimal changes. So React Native saves us a lot of development time – and reduces costs for our clients. Supported by a global community of developers, it’s one of the most popular open-source platforms. No matter how complex your application is, React Native makes your application lightning fast. And React Native is future-proof. The standardised components and structure mean that applications are easy to maintain and extend with new features.

“For 1888, we built a relatively simple basic app that offers room to expand later with more functionality. We chose one codebase for iOS and Android app. In terms of design, it was important that it all makes sense for older, less tech-savvy users and that everything looks good at different (accessibility) zoom levels and text sizes.”

Roderick

Front-end Developer, Bright Side of Life

EnToen Nu App – Learn more about Dutch history

EnToen Nu App – Learn more about Dutch history

EnToen Nu app

An introduction to Dutch History

EnToen Nu app – The Canon of the Netherlands

The EnToen app is a BSL development, created together with the foundation “entoen.nu” and pedagogical consultancy firm Mediant. Most importantly, the app focuses on the Canon of the Netherlands. This comprises 50 carefully selected snapshots that tell the story of the Netherlands throughout history. Each describes one of the key historical figures, objects or events that contribute to the Netherlands in which we now live.  So it’s easy to understand why the Canon is one of the core objectives of Dutch primary and secondary education.

Using the app, children can learn about the history of the Netherlands in a playful way. As a result, the EnToen Nu App is one of the first  apps that fully meets core educational objectives. We designed the EnToen app for children in group 5 up to and including 8. Consequently we have developed the app so that the age of the user can be used to influence the contents we show.

EnToen Nu app - An introduction to Dutch History
EnToen Nu app - An introduction to Dutch History

Interactive possibilities

First of all, children scroll through a timeline containing many historical events and figures. They can then choose individual topics like ‘Anne Frank’ or ‘Slavery’. Once they choose a subject, a new window opens. Usually this contains a more detailed description, along with an image or video. Most noteworthy, these basic details are supplemented by illustrations, online videos, links to books, museum exhibitions and more! Also, some subjects contain illustrations with hidden information. So by clicking within these pictures, users can interactively discover more details.

Furthermore, we have assigned a number of small projects or tasks to each of the chosen subjects. So by means of a “wheel of fortune”, users spin the wheel, and receive assignments. They can work on these individually, or sometimes in small groups. However, users can spin the wheel again if they want a different assignment. There are three chances to select an assignment, and choose in which size of group to work.

EnToen Nu app - An introduction to Dutch History

Intelligent app management

We manage the contents of the Entoen app using a web-based CMS. Furthermore, the contents are automatically updated from the main entoen.nu website. So any changes are immediately visible to app users. In other words, there is no need to release an app update for each change. The Entoen Nu app was first launched in late 2013. We have since released regular updates between 2014 and 2016. Followed by version 1.4.0 in November 2017.

Download in de App Store Ontdek het op Google Play.

Download in de App Store Ontdek het op Google Play.

The EnToen Nu app is a great example of what we do best. Building apps for iOS and Android that access online databases. In this case, the Canon contents can be maintained on our server. What’s more, any changes are pushed to app users instantly. And of course, we develop native apps using Swift and Java. But also cross-platform hybrid apps based on Phonegap/Cordova. In other words, if you want your data made accessible via mobile apps, get in touch.

Martyn Simpson

Director, Bright Side of Life

Contact BSL
Contact BSL