Website Developer for the Netherlands: The Hylix Build

Not every project is an awards submission, and pretending otherwise is how developers lose trust. Some work is simply this: a company needs a solid, fast website, built and put live properly, by someone who owns it end to end. That's the honest description of the Hylix build — I was the website developer for a Netherlands company, handling the front-end and the deployment. This post is a plain-spoken look at that kind of engagement: what a straightforward "built and deployed" project involves, and how I work with European companies remotely.

What this was — stated plainly

Hylix is a Netherlands-based company. I built and deployed their website — front-end development and deployment. There are no awards to claim here, and I won't dress it up as anything more than it is. I lead with proof on the projects that earned it — the award-winning builds speak for themselves — but I also take on clean, well-scoped company sites, and I hold those to the same engineering standard even when there's no trophy at the end. A fast, correctly deployed site is its own kind of proof.

That honesty matters for a buyer. A developer who calls every project "award-winning" is telling you they can't tell the difference — and you should worry about what else they'll overstate. The Hoàng Moe build is another site I'm plain about: excellent work, no award, and I say so.

The bar for a company site is "correct," and that's harder than it sounds

A marketing or company site sounds simple until you list what "correct" actually means. Most sites that feel cheap fail on exactly these unglamorous fundamentals, not on visual flair:

• It loads fast on a real connection. Not on a developer's fibre — on a phone on mobile data.
• It's deployed properly. HTTPS, the apex-to-www redirect, sensible cache headers, and a build pipeline so an update is a push, not a manual ritual that breaks.
• It stays up. A company site that 404s while a prospect is on it costs a real lead.
• It's accessible and semantic. Real headings, alt text, keyboard focus — the things that also happen to help SEO.

None of that shows up in a screenshot, which is exactly why it gets skipped. Owning it is the difference between a site that merely looks fine and one that actually works.

The build: fast by default

For a company site, I default to Next.js because it makes the fast path the easy path — static generation for content that rarely changes, so pages serve from the CDN instantly, with Incremental Static Regeneration where content needs to update without a full rebuild.

// A content page that serves static-fast but stays current — revalidated in the background.
export const revalidate = 3600 // re-generate at most once an hour

export default async function Page() {
  const data = await getContent()
  return <Content {...data} />
}

Images are the single biggest weight on most company sites, so they go through the framework's optimiser — correct sizing, modern formats, and lazy-loading below the fold — instead of shipping a 4MB hero straight from a designer's export.

import Image from 'next/image'

<Image
  src="/hero.jpg"
  alt="Hylix — company hero"
  width={1600}
  height={900}
  priority          // the one above-the-fold image; everything else lazy-loads
/>

None of this is exotic. It's the boring, documented path done properly — and done properly it means a site that scores well on Core Web Vitals without any heroics. If you want the deeper version of that discipline, it's in Core Web Vitals for animation-heavy sites (the same rules apply, minus the animation weight).

The other half: deployment I actually own

The part clients most often get burned on is the handoff — a developer delivers a codebase and disappears, leaving the company to figure out DNS, TLS and hosting. On Hylix I owned the path to production so that wasn't their problem: a production build pipeline, HTTPS with the correct redirects, cache headers so the CDN actually caches, and a deploy that's a git push rather than a midnight ritual. Owning deployment as well as the front-end is a recurring theme in how I work — the same end-to-end ownership is in the Mark Woodland build.

Working with European companies remotely

Hylix is one of several European engagements — I've shipped work across Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Malta, Germany and the Netherlands. Remote work across timezones is normal now, and for a Central European company the overlap with my hours is comfortable enough for real-time calls when they're needed. The model is simple: clear scope up front, regular preview links so there are no surprises, and end-to-end ownership so the company gets a working site, not a handoff of loose ends.

The takeaway is deliberately unglamorous: a good company website is correct, fast and properly deployed — and a developer who owns all three is worth more than one who hands you a pretty codebase and walks away. That's true whether or not the project ever sees an award.

FAQ

What did Hon Tran do for Hylix?

Front-end development and deployment for Hylix, a Netherlands-based company — building the website and putting it live properly (build pipeline, HTTPS, redirects, caching, and uptime).

Is the Hylix site an award-winning project?

No, and I won't claim it is. It's a solid, fast, correctly deployed company site. I keep my proof honest — the award-winning work is separate and clearly labelled.

Do you work with companies in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe remotely?

Yes. I've shipped work across the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Malta. Remote delivery with clear scope, preview links, and end-to-end ownership including deployment.

Can you build a fast company website without heavy animation?

Absolutely — most company sites don't need heavy motion. The value there is a correct, fast, well-deployed site with strong Core Web Vitals, and that's exactly what a straightforward build like Hylix is.

Need a site built and deployed properly?

If you're a company in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe that needs a website developer to build and deploy a fast, correct site end to end — that's exactly what I do.

• See how I work and start a project on the hire page.
• Browse more shipped work in the projects archive.
• Ready to talk? Let's talk →

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Written by Hon Tran — creative developer, founder of hontran.dev, and Awwwards jury member. 11+ years building performance-first web experiences (Next.js, GSAP, WebGL) for clients across Europe and worldwide. Twice named Awwwards "Independent of the Year" and the first Vietnamese developer to win an international web award. hontran.dev · Behance.