Expert with web technologies
I design and build web sites that help people find what they're looking for with functionality, structure and content to make people click.
Sithengi Market and Cape Town World Cinema Festival
www.sithengi.co.za
Sithengi is the "Southern African International Film & Television Market Initiative". I developed this site with a custom Content Management System in collaboration with sploosh.
UCT Teaching with Technology website
http://teaching.cet.uct.ac.za
A site to help the Centre for Educational Technology at the University of Cape Town promote workshops and seminars online.
Airwick Millions
www.airwickmillions.com
This minisite for Conceptualise supported a point-of-sale campaign and TV competition.
WildLife Adventures
www.wildlifeadventures.co.za
I developed a new online presence for this overland safari tours company based in Cape Town, with a new look at site strategy, content structure and online branding and design.
Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate
www.diemersfontein.co.za
Design, strategy and build... I have a long association with Diemersfontein, this is the 3rd version of their site (the first was launched in 1997). Since the relaunch and standardisation of the web technologies used, (XHTML and CSS), unique visits and enquiries from the site have increased dramatically.
Rick Alexander
www.rickalexander.net
A simple photo-gallery site with a touch of admataz magic: The fab photo zoom tool made with Flash.
Conceptualise
www.conceptualise.co.za
Site-building job for this promotions company from supplied Photoshop designs.
Cable and Wireless Pensions modeller
Company:The Team (Putney, London)
Brief: develop and launch a site with a JavaScript-driven "pension modeller" that would allow staff members to calculate their annual pension payments online.
My role: I took over this project from another contractor, and managed its development until launch. My tasks included the management of graphic and text assets, liaison with the client for feedback, coordination with third party specialists, JavaScript and HTML interface engineering, graphic design and production, upload, testing and development process documentation.
Child Care website
Company: The Team (Putney, London)
Brief: develop the HTML and build the site from designs provided by a graphic designer.
My role: HTML sitebuilding; image optimisation; making sure the site met certain accessibility guidelines.
Site: No longer live
Daimler Chrysler local European market sites
Company:Organic (Queens Park, London)
Brief:Content Engineer for the development and launch of different sites in different European languages with localised content for each specific market.
My role: I worked as part of a team with a designer, another engineer, a production artist and the producer. We developed a system of populating the language-specific HTML templates with images and content from XML files. I managed the client-side coding and development of the templates and the preparation of XML content with two junior staff. As the project progressed I took responibility for the coordination of content for client feedback, quality assurance and testing, and eventually the launch to a staging server.
Site: www.chrysler.de www.chryslerjeep.ch www.chrysler.fr
(all have been redesigned since I worked on them)
(all have been redesigned since I worked on them)
Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate website v.1
Brief: Develop web site for this Estate in the Western Cape winelands near Cape Town that will reflect the Estate's character, and allow potential customers to make enquiries online.
My Role: All aspects of site development, from concept and design through to hosting and management.
Site: www.diemersfontein.co.za
Diemersfontein Wine and Country Estate Property Sales
Company:Deimersfontein Wine & Country Estate (Wellington, South Africa)
Brief: develop an online promotion of the property developments at this Wine Estate. This would serve as a place to refer interested buyers, as well as attract new buyers.
My role: I worked on all aspects of this site, from client liaison to concept, graphic design, development, production, and eventual launch.
Site:No longer live.
Durban July website
Company: Maverick Interface Design (Cape Town)
Brief: Create a website for the Durban July - a popular horse-race event in South Africa
My role: Develop optimised HTML pages from designs which also entailed some simple integration with an existing PHP content-management tool.
Site: No longer live
edith stephens wetland website
Company: National Botanical Institute (Kirstenbosch, Cape Town)
Brief: Design and build a small website that would be a start on the web for this community-based education and ecological social upliftment project. The target audience is the project's stakeholders, particularly funders.
My role: I developed a design for the site while consulting with the project coordinator, and built the site, producing a set of templates from which in-house developers could extend it.
Site: www.capeflatsnature.org/
Website for European Tour (Golf)
Company: Trans World International (Chiswick, London)
Brief: HTML coding of Active Server Page templates.
My role: I worked with a designer, preparing HTML files and optimised graphics from Adobe Photoshop image files. I then divided the HTML code into modular chunks for use by the ASP engineer.
Telegraph Football World Cup France98
Company:electonic Telegaph (Canary Wharf, London)
Brief: Manage the adaption of the Daily Telegraph Sports pages to a special online daily publication covering the France 98 tounament.
My role: I worked with the online editors and a designer to develop the electonic Telegraph coverage of this event. We researched and developed some original content for the website to compliment the daily reports that were also being published in the paper. I coded all the HTML templates for the site and was responsible for the project's launch in time for the start of the tournament.
Site: You can view a cut-down demo version of the site.
IDEAL remote learning site for Thames Valley University.
Company: Module Communications/Grey Interactive Services (Soho, London)
Brief: Sitebuilder for this remote learning site.
My role: Working closely with a database engineer I developed templates and a new architecture for this site using Active Server Pages to serve course content to registered students.
Site: no longer live
iTouch PLC corporate website
Company: Maverick Interface Design (Cape Town)
Brief:Integrate the content and the graphic designs for this corporate site
My role: In the architecture phases I was responsible for gathering content for the site from the client and 3rd party copywriters. I produced a clickable skeleton of the site that allowed the copywriters to add text content to the pages, as they were depicted in the site architecture. I then integrated the text into the designs, and developed a sliding DHTML navigation element for the Directors pages.
Site: www.itouchplc.com (Has been redesigned since my involvement)
Jamba online games site
Company: Carlton Online (Gt Titchfield St, London)
Brief: HTML coding of templates for integration with a Cold Fusion database.
My role: I was the HTML developer for this site's launch. I was part of the Jamba team, working with the designers, Cold Fusion engineers and producer. Jamba.co.uk is the recipient of both the 1999 Yell Award for Best Entertainment Website, and the 1999 BAFTA award for best entertainment website.
Site: No longer live.
Smart Car Builder
Company: Rufus Leonard (Farringdon, London)
Brief: develop a way to allow visitors to the site to configure customised combinations of accessories. This builder would be able to interface with a database and the visitor's choices would be able to be saved, printed or sent to dealers by email.
My role: I developed the core of this Web Application using JavaScript Object programming capabilities, and worked closely with the site engineer, and the graphic designer to integrate this into the final working interface.
This site has been widely praised and won some awards.... from the Rufus Leonard news pages...
This site has been widely praised and won some awards.... from the Rufus Leonard news pages...
"Marketing magazine voted the smart site winner of the 'best use of internet for consumer communications' in its Connections 2001 awards...
...adds to a number of industry accolades this year, which recognise the quality of the site. The site won the New Media Age Effectiveness award in the 'retail' sector and was a finalist in the 'consumer products and services' category. Design Week shortlisted the site in the 'interactive media retail' category for its 2001 awards, and Internet Business Awards shortlisted smart for its ‘best use of supply chain management’ and ‘best website design’ categories.
The site is currently up a finalist in the EMMA foundation awards, in the category of ‘eCommerce’. It has also been shortlisted in IVCA’s Biz-Net Awards ‘business to consumer’ category. Both awards will be announced in December.
Site: www.thesmart.co.uk
(has been redeveloped and redesigned since I worked on it)
transfusion website
Company: Solution Dynamix (Kenilworth, Cape Town)
Brief: Design and build a functional website that would service the freight and cargo industry. The site would facilitate the efficient transport of cargo by allowing trucking companies to advertise their excess space, and freight movers to advertise their cargo.
My role: I took existing branding (from a previous, non-web version of the transfusion software product) and adapted it to a new look and feel for a functional website, giving the brand a fresh and more dynamic presence. I worked closely with a server-side engineer and the product managers to create and develop the new web-based product, from its architecture, to its functionality, and its interface.
Site: No longer live.
Apemag website
My first website! I created this online version of a art and poetry magazine launched by a group of North London writers in early 1997.
Site: archived here
What makes people click?
People like most things to be relevant, attractive, credible and interesting. Web sites are no exception.
Good content
Relevant and quality text, images and functional features are the most important elements that will attract visitors.
Usability & Accessibility
Help people meet their goals effectively and cater for as many people as possible. These guiding principles of design are crucial elements of a web site's quality.
Web Standards and appropriate technologies
Sites built using valid XHTML, CSS and JavaScript are compatible with more browsers and platforms. Appropriate employment of server side technologies and databases as well as "rich" media such as Flash and video help enhance a site's content and value.
Findability
The relevance of your site to your target audience and the technologies that are used to build and deliver it affect how many people will link to your site from search engines and other places.