Based in Ventura, CA, I've worked as a webmaster in various industries for over ten years. Being a creative generalist who can dive into code, design attractive sites, and organize content is a necessary balance I continue to maintain.
2009
The one page website always wants to grow beyond a single page. Location details, contact or signup forms, and other necessarily information can clutter the impact of a single, promotion focused page. Javascript can help hide a quick webform or other key information until the user is ready for it, while keeping the site crisp and refined.
not yet final
Your choice of content management system can often come down a decision between flexibility and ease of use. By limiting options, Wordpress brings content management right down to the level that anyone can do it; Drupal provides a more robust system with a much higher learning curve. But more and more Wordpress plugins are being developed to help bridge that gap, and among the best is Role Scoper.
Some custom theme work and Role Scoper helped divy up Bellini’s store pages between location employees and regional managers.
2009
Stock photos can be limiting and unnatural, but they can also liberate a site design from the confines of perfect gradients and the two dimensional layout required by most sites. An organic image of the actual client’s actual product is preferable, but on the other hand…who would’ve imagined there could be an attractive photo of a router?
2009
One huge advantage with using Drupal is the fluidness and flexibility of “blocks.” Blocks are sometime dynamic pieces of content outside of the primary information being displayed on a particular page. The ability to place this content in unique locations on specific pages is a valuable resource in skilled hands.
2009
Ad placement is proving to be more and more critical for content oriented sites. While we’d all love ads to be as unintrusive as possible, more and more users are comfortable looking past the flashing lights that surround their content. A more subtle, integrated approach is necessary to give users the information they’re looking for, and the site owner the revenue they need to keep going.
not yet final
The highlight of this chore assigning product site will be the Build-A-Board feature which allows users to customize and then order their very own Roll, Spin, or Color board. With the files for the board builder, video, and articles on the table, Drupal’s ability to support multiple content types made it the best content management system for the job.
The best CSS works great in every browser without any need for hacks. Unfortunately, not every job affords that kind of freedom and some are specifically looking for someone to make the site they’ve perfected in Firefox just work in IE.
While the introduction of IE8 takes us one step closer to being rid of IE6 and its sans-logic behavior, IE8 still contains the same idiosyncrasies when absolutely positioning content. Unfortunately, it no longer ignores CSS hacks such as html>body. Apparently we’ll still need to create additional stylesheets for years to come.
not yet final
A great number of Historic Hotels and Lodges in America are located within National Parks. Taking a cue from the parks’ iconic signage, the site invokes the rustic stature of its famous buildings. Dynamic JavaScript slide shows allow for the the quick consumption of detailed photos, while color coded fact sheets give a deeper look at hotel amenities.
2009
Creating a warm, friendly design with room to promote current events was the main directive for this church’s website. Offering informational content, podcasts, videos, blogs, and more, this site was another prime canidate for Drupal and it’s ability to deal with information uniquely based on content type. After looking at numerous slideshows for the promo area on the homepage, building one on my own proved to be simple and gave the client exactly what they wanted.
2009
Working within the context of a completely locked down CMS, I needed to create a unique, appealing site that would drive traffic to the incredibly rich content with only a CSS file and a few images. I created a new banner image for the site and gave it a more professional look and feel. Using a combination of background images and padding, I was able to direct the eye to downplayed elements on key pages and give some breadcrumbs a heightened role as navigation bars.
Lifestream