March 9, 2010
I’m always eager to dive into a project that presents a new, or otherwise unique, challenge. In this case, Mark Reeves at Reeves Design House created a visual design based on a grid of ten rectangular boxes — consistent across the whole site. This might seem fairly simple, but from a coding standpoint it can be tricky. It’s a balancing act between absolutely positioning multiple content boxes and ensuring that the content can grow vertically without disrupting the grid system. One more tricky requirement from the client: Can it be built in such a way that “non-techies” can maintain the content? Sure, why not! So, this site is another fine example of using WordPress as a CMS. I’m continually amazed how far we can stretch a simple blogging system to the limit in order to provide a client-friendly solution to a common problem in an extremely short amount of time. Take a look at the Linde Lee, Inc. site and have a look around. The site includes some great photos of their showroom at the historic Dallas Market Center just north of downtown Dallas.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards, WordPress
February 3, 2010
I’m excited to announce the launch of a site for Dr. Karsan, a facial plastic surgeon in the Dallas area. It’s a pretty straightforward site built with PHP, XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It’s clean, functional, usable, and accessible. Yet another beautiful design by Mark Reeves at Reeves Design House. Take a look at the Dr. Karsan site and see what you think.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards
September 29, 2009
Over the past several months I’ve been working with Glide Design — an Austin-based web site design firm — on a number of interesting projects. We’ve been building the sites with WordPress which is a great solution for a lightweight CMS. I’ve had a lot of fun working on these projects and learning as much as I can about how to extend WordPress into more than just a simple blogging system. They’re not only easy to build but clients also appreciate the simplicity of the admin interface which allows them to maintain their own site content. The following three sites are a sample of the projects I’ve been working on recently. Each one had its own fun challenges and rewarding learning opportunities. Check out Triton Custom Homes, Urban Moto Shop, and Water to Thrive.
Categories: Accessibility, Ajax/Scripting, News, Web Standards, WordPress
July 23, 2009
Once in a while a project comes along that makes you stop and think about how you’ve been doing things for a while. This project is like that. There’s nothing really revolutionary about it – a typical webzine created with WordPress and a few plugins – but it did provide some interesting opportunities to dive deeper into the inner workings of using WordPress as a CMS. The fantastic (and incredibly flexible) visual design was created by Mark at Reeves Design House. This was a truly collaborative effort where we both explored that fun question “what if we did it like this” from start to finish. I should also give thanks for a receptive client who was willing to let us explore a bit while we tried to figure things out as we went along. Such a rare and exciting environment for any designer/developer.
Here are a few of the WordPress plugins we’re using: Ad-minister, Advanced Search, Category Icons, and cforms II.
Take a look at the Life Content site. It’s in its infancy, as far as content goes, so be sure to check back often to see how it grows in the next few months. Subscribe to the RSS feed to track its progress in your favorite feed reader.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards, WordPress
June 8, 2009
For the past year or so I’ve had the pleasure of working with the great folks at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), based in Fort Worth, Texas. They’ve been building an online system to encourage sharing, collaboration, and publication in the biodiversity research community. In their own words, “Atrium is a technology platform for revolutionizing biodiversity information management by enabling researchers and organizations to share, synthesize, manage and publish biodiversity data in a collaborative, online environment. Atrium provides a broad range of tools for research organizations as well as an unparalleled, open-source framework based on industry standards which facilitates the development of powerful applications and tools for the biodiversity community.”
I worked with BRIT to improve the front-end code integrity, usability, and accessibility of the system. It’s an extremely complex system with over 325 PHP-based templates. It was a wonderful opportunity and I enjoyed every minute of my small contribution to the huge project. The majority of the site requires registration, but several sections are available to the general public. Take a look at the Atrium Biodiversity Information System.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards
May 4, 2009
A few months ago I worked on a project with a former co-worker who now works at a design firm in Laguna Beach, California. We launched the site without delay, but I mistakenly delayed in writing a post for my own site. John Wooden Interiors (JWI) is a full service design firm specializing in high-end residential and commercial interiors. The website features a collection of photographs from their stunningly beautiful portfolio of design projects in California and Idaho. So, without further delay, check out the John Wooden Interiors site. While you’re at it, be sure to take a look at Dustin Dorr’s personal site which includes animated galleries of his photographs and artistic creations.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards
November 22, 2008
Sometimes the small, fast-paced projects can present the most rewarding sense of accomplishment. My latest freelance project, the second of a pair of quick projects, is another fun collaboration with Mark Reeves of Reeves Design House. As the site explains, Sparkabilities is a series of DVDs for babies and toddlers designed to develop essential learning skills by building cognitive skills. There are a number of Flash video samples as well as a shopping cart system built by another developer. I must admit, after a long and stressful day at the office, it’s nice to come home and work on a project with playfully creative photos and imagery. And yes, I watched the animation of the “big and small” dogs several times with a smile on my face! Take a look at the Sparkabilities site.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards
November 22, 2008
I’ve been busy working on a couple freelance projects with Reeves Design House. The first one is for R. Harper + Associates, a management consulting firm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It’s a simple site with a small number of pages, but I still had a good time building it since the visual design is so strong. Regardless of the size of the client or project, I enjoy the challenge of creating code that is as clean, accessible, and maintainable as possible. It’s also a nice change of pace to work on a small project with a quick schedule. Take a look at the R. Harper + Associates site.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards
September 22, 2008
I’m happy to announce the launch of another project with the ever talented Mark Reeves of Reeves Design House. Mark always does a great job and this project is no exception. The site is for a new Italian restaurant in Uptown Dallas, in the Travis Walk area. There are several printable menus on the site, including drinks, brunch, lunch, and dinner. Everything sounds great. There’s also a photo gallery with some great interior and exterior pics. It looks like a really great restaurant – I can’t wait to go check it out! Take a look at the Villa-O Restaurant site.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards
August 30, 2008
I’ve been working closely with Reeves Design House over the past year or so on a variety of freelance projects. They’ve been landing some great projects and I’ve really enjoyed being a part of as much of them as time permits. The latest set of projects has offered me some wonderful learning opportunities. We’ve been exploring mobile web design by building a mobile site for Kennington Capital, a real estate investment and development company in the Dallas area. I finally had the opportunity to dive into XHTML-MP coding and some careful testing on a seemingly endless array of handheld devices. I soon discovered that it just wasn’t practical to bug all of my friends to borrow their phones. Thanks to Klaus Komenda’s article called Testing on Mobile Devices Using Emulators, I had a much better approach for testing and tweaking the code. As well, I’ve compiled a bunch of handy links on Delicious related to mobile web design from a variety of sources. The best resource, without a doubt, was Cameron Moll’s short but concise book called Mobile Web Design, A web standards approach for delivering content to mobile devices. Cameron’s original set of articles is a great start as well. So, please take a look at the Kennington Capital mobile web site (m.kenningtoncapital.com) on your handheld device and let me know what you think.
Categories: Mobile, News, Web Standards
