I am a professional web designer. I have been a web professional since 1998. My skills include:
I work hard to keep my skills current and to adapt to new technology and incorporate it into my client's pages while, at the same time, keeping pages simple and functional.
Back to TopI specialize in custom-built, hand-coded pages that are
Cross-platform compatibility and standards compliance are two of the most important, and most often overlooked aspects of web design. Many designers write their pages to be visually appealing, but standards-noncompliant. This leads to trouble when a user tries to view their page on a browser or operating system that the designer didn't plan for. This page, for example, is visually striking and yet it meets the requirements for the XHTML 1.0 Strict standard, and it also "degrades" gracefully. If you were to look at this page on a cell phone, or other CSS-incapable device, you'd still be able to read it.
I also do custom implementation and theme design for some content management systems, such as WordPress, Gallery and phpBB.
Back to TopThe Seanachai is a short fiction podcast by author Patrick McLean which has been featured on the iTunes Music Store, on Odeo, and in Apple's e-newsletter.
The website is run using WordPress and a heavily modified custom theme. Using this software, I was able to create a website that looked and functioned well, while giving the author a simple, Blog-like back-end to enter his stories and posts into.
How to Succeed in Evil is a spinoff of The Seanachai. Once again I was lucky enough to work with author Patrick McLean on this site.
Like The Seanachai, How to Succeed in Evil is an implementation of WordPress, with a custom theme. The theme currently on the site is the third custom theme I've done for How to Succeed in Evil.
Swingmonkey is a community website for Lindy Hop (swing dancing) in the Northeast. It features a message board, a full-featured calendar, photo gallery, regularly posted news, and many more community-oriented features. I both design and administer this site in my free time.
Swingmonkey is an implementation of the PostNuke content management system, Gallery and phpBB, all tied together with a custom theme for each piece of software.
This site finally got the face-lift it has needed. I'm very proud of the new look.
The Connecticut Lindy Exchange, 2007, hired me to design and implement their website. The work is a collaboration between me and a colleague, Adam LaMontagne.
CTLX 2007 is a custom implementation of Wordpress which presented some interesting challenges; creating trackable feedback forms and PayPal buttons while remaining editable so that the CTLX staff could update its content without needing to contact me
The Connecticut Swing Dance Society hired me to create a logo for them. This logo is featured on their website, flyers, mailings and promotional material.
The logo was created in Photoshop and Illustrator.
A site of a more personal nature. I got married last summer and took the opportunity to design a site for information about the wedding, photos, etc.
Another custom implementation of WordPress. Being a personal site, I use michael-and-joy.com to test ideas and design elements for my other projects, hence the similarities between this and some of the other sites in my portfolio.