KABAR.ID

Inspiration

Inspiration

I often found myself opening multiple news just to keep up with what was happening. Every site had its own layout, ads, and navigation, which made the experience feel fragmented. I wanted a simpler way to access trusted news without constantly switching between tabs.

That's where the idea for KABAR.ID came from: one place to discover news from verified Indonesian publishers while keeping the reading experience clean, fast, and lightweight.

What it does

KABAR.ID is a real-time news aggregation platform that collects headlines from multiple trusted Indonesian news sources and presents them in a single interface.

Users can search for articles, browse by category or region, switch between grid and list layouts, use Reader Mode for distraction-free reading, and install the website as a Progressive Web App (PWA). The platform also includes features such as dark mode, trending topics, breaking news, search history, and an admin dashboard for monitoring the scraping system.

How we built it

The backend was built with Python and FastAPI, using asynchronous requests to fetch news from multiple publishers at the same time. To improve performance, I implemented a caching system that reduces unnecessary requests while keeping the news fresh.

On the frontend, I chose HTML, CSS, and Vanilla JavaScript instead of a large framework. This helped keep the application lightweight, responsive, and easy to use across both desktop and mobile devices.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was that every news website has a different HTML structure. A scraper that works perfectly today might stop working tomorrow if a publisher updates its website.

Another challenge was finding the right balance between speed and freshness. I wanted users to receive up-to-date news without forcing the server to scrape every source on every request. Implementing caching solved that problem while significantly improving response times.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud that KABAR.ID grew beyond a simple scraper into a complete full-stack application.

It successfully aggregates news from multiple trusted publishers, provides a smooth reading experience with Reader Mode and PWA support, includes an admin dashboard for monitoring the system, and remains lightweight despite handling multiple data sources in real time

What we learned

This project taught me a lot about building production-ready software.

I learned how to develop asynchronous APIs with FastAPI, build and maintain web scrapers, optimize performance through caching, design responsive interfaces, and structure a full-stack application that is easy to deploy and maintain.

Perhaps the biggest lesson was that creating a good user experience isn't only about adding more features—it's about making complex systems feel simple for the people using them.

What's next for KABAR.ID

KABAR.ID is still evolving. The next steps include supporting more verified news publishers, improving personalization, expanding offline capabilities, and making the platform even faster and more reliable.

he long-term goal is to make KABAR.ID a trusted gateway for discovering Indonesian news while continuing to respect and direct readers to the original publishers.

Built With

• css3
• fastapi
• github
• html5
• javascript
• pwa
• python
• railway
• restapi