Website development and SEO for Fiatalok Konferenciája

Fiatalok Konferenciája and its activities

The Fiatalok Konferenciája (FiKon) is an annually organized conference for young researchers in Hungarian literary studies, providing BA, MA, and PhD students with the opportunity to present their work at the conference and publish their research in a conference volume. For more than a decade, the conference has been organized annually across universities, actively encouraging collaboration and knowledge exchange between institutions.

Problems of the outdated website and shortcomings in their online presence

Although the conference plays an important role within the academic community, its online presence did not reflect its professional quality nor support its further development. The previous website, built on a free blogging platform, suffered from an inconsistent structure and incomplete, poorly organized content. This outdated solution made it difficult for visitors to find relevant information and placed an additional administrative burden on the organizers, who often had to clarify details via email. As a result, FiKon required a professional, modern website that provides reliable information, can be flexibly expanded alongside the growth of the conference, and reduces unnecessary communication overhead. The redesign and rebuild of the website were also closely connected to a comprehensive rethinking of FiKon’s visual identity.

User experience (UX) and research-based design

The design process was grounded in comprehensive user experience research. We applied a wide range of UX methods, including personas, empathy maps, user stories, journey mapping, Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, the Value Proposition Canvas, the Business Model Canvas, and a MoSCoW analysis to prioritize functional requirements within existing time and resource constraints. These methodological tools enabled a deeper understanding of user needs and motivations, and directly informed the development of the overall design strategy.

Information architecture and content structure

One of the main issues with the previous website was that content appeared visually cluttered and lacked a clear hierarchy, making the platform hard to navigate. The new website was therefore designed around a clear information architecture that consciously reduces visual noise while establishing a logical content hierarchy. Transparency was not treated merely as an aesthetic goal: it allows visitors to immediately understand the core message of the site and associate its usability with FiKon’s unified brand identity.

An example of this approach is the bento grid layout applied in the hero section, a recent web design trend that directs users’ attention to the most important content areas through clearly structured cards. A similar principle was applied in the programme section, adopting a user-centric approach with a dual-format presentation: it offers the flexibility to choose the preferred browsing method, a timeline layout for online exploration or a downloadable PDF for offline access.

Modern web design and interactive user experience

The design of the website aims to create a sleek and minimalist aesthetic with a fresh, energetic feel, ensuring an engaging and intuitive user experience. As part of this approach, a full-screen overlay menu opening from a modernized hamburger icon was implemented, resulting in a more streamlined and contemporary interface compared to traditional horizontal navigation bars.

Important elements like calls to action are visually emphasized to ensure users don’t miss crucial details. A well-structured layout allows help users find relevant information with minimal effort. Unique hover effects on cards and buttons significantly enhance the user experience by adding a layer of interactivity. By providing visual feedback, hover effects help indicate clickable areas to users, improving overall usability.

Responsive experience optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile

We focused heavily on responsiveness to accomplish a consistent experience regardless of device. The programme section for example, switches to a tab interface on tablets and mobiles, providing easy navigation and reducing the need for users to scroll to read about the second day.

Technical implementation using WordPress and a custom theme

The development of the website involved a blend of modern web development technologies to deliver a seamless, high-performance experience. While the site is built on the WordPress platform, primarily chosen for its user-friendly content management capabilities, we custom-coded a fully unique theme tailored to FiKon’s specific needs. This allows conference organizers to manage and update content easily without requiring technical expertise, while ensuring flexibility and scalability.

As a result of the custom theme development, a cleaner and more efficient codebase was created, contributing to improved performance. Tailwind CSS was used to implement the design and responsive behavior, while textual and visual content is populated dynamically through custom post types using PHP-based WordPress functions.

SEO and search-optimized content

As part of our SEO strategy, the consistent application of search engine optimization principles – semantic HTML structure, meta data, structured headings, and optimized textual and visual content – supports better interpretation by search engines while contributing to improved long-term search visibility. Ultimately, SEO plays a key role in ensuring that relevant content can be discovered by the intended audience.

The role of the website in FiKon’s growth

The new website was published in 2024, shortly before the release of the conference call for papers, making the 2024 FiKon the first event to rely fully on the renewed online platform. Since then, application numbers have shown a clear upward trend: while only 12 speakers participated in the 2023 conference, this number increased to 30 in 2024 and to 36 in 2025 – representing a significant improvement compared to participation figures from previous years, which typically ranged between 12 and 16 speakers.

According to feedback from the organizers, the renewed website not only improved access to information for prospective participants but also significantly reduced uncertainties around the application process and the volume of unnecessary email communication. The combination of information architecture, logical structure, and consistent design has helped FiKon present the conference in a more credible, organized, and engaging way to its target audience. Overall, the project resulted not only in a visual and technical renewal, but also measurably supported the conference’s growth and long-term sustainability, reinforcing the strategic importance of a well-designed digital presence within the academic community.