Web Development

An industry first. A resource portal for the Construction Equipment industry. From free business listings, news-feeds, forums, and online tools, Fundamental Rental is a new online resource that connects equipment suppliers, companies that rent equipment, and the users of rental equipment with valuable and current information, tools and resources — and each other.

As the contracted Lead Developer on this project, I was tasked with the implementation of WordPress as the platform base, integration of the bbPress forums, and custom creation of “Map Your Biz”, the member management application that provides free business listings for equipment suppliers. Additional accomplishments include a custom rental quote process where site visitors could request quotes from Vendors for their equipment needs, a Resource Library where Members can share their collective knowledge in a variety of areas within their industry, and an integrated Google Map that conveniently lists equipment suppliers when a site visitor does a zip code search.

Additional features:

• A “quick view” home page which displays recent forum discussions, blog posts, and news feeds.
• Custom integration with bbPress, allowing for one login access to the entire site.
• A Supplier Locator Map with one-click access to the the Rental Quote process.
• Integrated polling which is completely customizable via the administrative back-end.
• Customizable weather widget in the sidebar to personalize the site experience.
Bulk upload functionality for vendors whom have multiple locations to map via the “Map Your Biz” application.
• Integrated Jobs page in partnership with Careerbuilder.

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The Junior Women’s Club of Litchfield Hills is an all‐volunteer non‐profit organization that raises money and awareness for other organizations in the Litchfield Hills area of CT.

The initial scope of the project was a simple makeover of their existing site, but as we dug in, we found more areas that needed to be addressed in terms of usability and functionality. Working within a tight time line and an even tighter budget, we were able to launch a complete redesign of the site within 1 week.

The redesign included a reorganization of the information on the site, the addition of two custom‐built registration forms for their biggest events of the year, transfer to a new hosting company, and implementation of the WordPress platform.

The redesign also included the integration of a PayPal payment gateway and implementation of a third-party shopping cart application to handle registration fees and dues. There is also a member̵s section where current members can view monthly newsletters, receive updates on club functions, and pay their annual membership dues. In addition there we also integrated a payment solution (via PayPal) to allow for donations to be processed via the website.

The tight deadline was due in large part to their first big event of the year, the annual “Girls Just Wanna Run 5K Race”. The site’s registration form for this event ended up handling 90% of entrant registrations; resulting in substantial time and financial savings for the club and its organizing committee.

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As Florida’s newest recovery house for women, Avenues 12 required a design that inspired trust, stability, and respect while appealing to its target audience, women.

Utilizing WordPress as a publishing platform, the site was developed with an emphasis on SEO and currently ranks among the top 5 results for its target search terms. In addition to SEO, all content was developed with the intent of informing visitors of the breadth of work Avenues 12 does with its residents and the need for donations to continue this work.

An e-commerce solution was also developed in order to process donations from supporters across the country.

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2009 brought the re‐design of the Choices Recovery House website. The decision was made to go with clean, smooth interface utilizing whitespace to guide the visitor’s navigation throughout the site.

Utilizing WordPress as a publishing platform, the site was designed using a primarily gender-neutral color while employing a bolder design from the original; a reflection of the expansion into operating men’s homes.

The primary focus of the Choices project was a conversion of an existing site from a table‐based layout to XHTML and CSS. During the process, additional pages were developed, including an improved Contact page and a testimonials page, as well as a section for the resident contract.

All copy was rewritten with a focus on SEO; resulting in increased site traffic and contacts. Choices now consistently ranks within the top 5 search results on all major engines for their target keywords. Additionally, Choices now receives 90% of referrals through its website and has quadrupled its operations.

Click here to view live site.

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The primary goals for composer‐instrumentalist Michael Hayes and this site was to entertain and inform fans of his about his instruments, music, and life.

Utilizing WordPress as a publishing platform, the site was designed to showcase Michael’s various live performances, document his album history, and promote the sale of his music. Key to this was promoting the site by joining, and becoming active on, various social networking sites and utilizing them as valuable marketing channels. Since this was key, the social media bookmarks enjoy a prominent position across the site’s pages.

Another feature of the site is a rotating banner at the top of the main Albums Page and each individual album page that highlights write‐ups and reviews from various publications throughout Michael’s career,

The site also features a built-in store using a third‐party application built specifically for musicians. It allows for purchasing individual tracks or an entire album, and a custom built script that I adapted allows for users to preview a minute of each song via an in‐line media player.

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The goal of this design was to create a very clean site which extended the experience of in‐store shopping at this upscale childrens boutique. The color scheme for the site is derived from elements within the kumquat logo, with shades of green being the primary focus. Because the logo is primarily orange, this color was only used (in the second design version) to draw the shopper’s attention to very specific elements on the page, so as not to tire the eye of the bright color.

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Choices contacted me in early 2008 to create a back end administrative section to process their expenditures for year‐end processing. The primary requirements were an easy‐to‐use interface and an anti‐fatigue design, given that hundreds of receipts would be entered per sitting.

The result is a PHP & MySQL database‐driven application that provides easy‐to‐follow instructions, several safeguards against user‐input errors, and a clean interface designed to combat the tedium of data entry.

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The primary focus of School On The Green’s site was to create an online presence the was child‐centric, given the subject, but not childish, given the target audience (parents).

The site features a password‐protected section for parents of enrolled students as well as an administration section for school officials to upload the school newsletters, snack calendars, and news updates (all available within the Parent’s Section).

Probably the most unique feature of this site is the rotating logo in the header that changes based on the season. (A snapshot of the various logo versions is available in the following thumbnails.)

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As the state’s oldest fire and safety equipment company, Fire Equipment Headquarters wanted a site that evoked a sense of tradition with a straightforward message of integrity, value, and service. With a color scheme derived from their uniforms, the site’s appearance is a straight-forward as they are.

All copy was created with the goal of optimizing the site for search engine ranking while delivering this message. As a result, they currently place highly (top 10) in all major search engines for their target keywords.

Click here to view live site.

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