Home Comfort Furniture
Home Comfort Furniture is a leading furniture store with multiple locations in the Raleigh, NC area. They approached me because their old Magento storefront had become dated and difficult to maintain, and they needed more flexibility with content to accompany their e-commerce capabilities.
Based on their content-specific needs, I built out the client-provided design as a custom WordPress theme using WooCommerce. Their catalogue is reasonably large, and required specific views for specific use cases, which in turn required careful optimization for both page and search performance. There are also several custom data types used for special offers and discounts.
If you’re in the market for furniture, make certain to peruse Home Comfort Furniture’s extensive collection, or drop by if you’re in the area!
AutoSpec
AutoSpec contacted me because their site needed a re-design and the custom content management system that they were using was no longer flexible enough to fit their needs. The request was for a simple, functional design, cleaner than what they had but without a lot of bells and whistles.
My design for this project centered around the imagery that seemed to bring together visually what AutoSpec offers: custom vehicle inspections to give the customer peace of mind. We wanted to present what makes AutoSpec different, a visual reference to the owner’s qualifications, and an easy access point for a customer to select and purchase an inspection for their vehicle.
This project is a custom WordPress theme, with basic e-commerce functionality in which a customer can select and pay for an inspection of their choice, using Stripe as a payment gateway. The reports that are generated for the customer are then handled directly from within the site, providing a private URL for the customer to review the findings of each inspection.
AutoSpec has been a great client to work with and, I know from experience, their inspections provide a lot of insight into the health of your vehicle!
Lifetime Asset Management
Lifetime Asset Management is a wealth management firm in Raleigh, NC. I had the pleasure of building their new site after a spectacular re-design by Reify Media. Their original site was using a small content management system from a third-party vendor. I built their new design as a custom WordPress theme, complete with events and blog. The challenge to this site was multiple modular components that needed to be included on different page layouts. This was accomplished by utilizing a compartmentalized design of multiple custom field groups that can be added to various page templates.
I like this project because it has a sleek, modern feel to the design, classier than a lot of designs I see for this industry, as well as complexity in the backend data organization. Lifetime Asset Management was a lot of fun to build.
Reify Media
I work periodically with Reify Media on various development projects, and so I was excited when they asked me to handle the development of their new site. Reify is based in Raleigh, NC, and works with e-learning, media, design and development, among other specialty projects. The design for their new site is absolutely stunning, and one of the most fun projects that I’ve had the pleasure of building for a while.
This is a custom WordPress theme, with various custom taxonomies and post types interconnecting on the backend to make the magic happen. The backend development was extensive because of how the data is handled, with a lot of MySQL fine-tuning. In addition, the front end of this site was a great deal of fun to build, because of all of the cool angles and shapes separating content areas.
Reify is a great company to work with. I’m very happy to have been able to give life to their face on the web!
Raleigh-Durham International Airport
RDU had an extremely high-traffic site that was over five years old. Their mobile solution was a separate site, requiring duplicated content for passenger-facing, critical information. They needed a responsive site with a clean, modern look that could be easily updated, especially with important alerts. They wanted to keep their existing branding.
I designed and developed a responsive site for RDU, and built it as a custom WordPress theme. One of the challenges of this site was the amount of content and the dual purpose of the site: providing easy-to-find information to passengers, and serving an archival function for historians and public records. I leveraged custom post types and taxonomies a great deal to handle these needs. I utilized Skeleton as a responsive framework, and Underscores to speed development time. I also handled new graphics for the site. As I was the only developer on the project, I was serving as project manager, as well, advising and consulting with RDU as to best practices. I also worked with the client to optimize their server environment for their specific needs and traffic volume.
Vision 2040 – Raleigh-Durham International Airport
Another project for Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Vision 2040 is a micro-site for the airport’s upcoming initiatives and planning leading into…you guessed it…the year 2040. The site is meant as a singular point of information to involve and inform the community in the planning process.
Of course, I was thrilled to be asked by RDU to build this site. Working with their in-house designer, I developed the new site on a very tight timetable. I developed the front-end in Twitter Bootstrap because the project had to happen fast, and I used Underscores to hasten the development of the custom WordPress theme. Nothing overly complex here, just a solid micro-site built on a very nice design by Matt Stevens, this was a great project on which to collaborate.
Let’s Connect – Raleigh-Durham International Airport
Let’s Connect is a microsite for RDU that focuses on a specific B2B audience. I developed this while working on RDU’s primary external site. RDU provided a basic design, and I developed the site in Twitter Bootstrap. This is a custom WordPress theme, using Underscores to speed the development time, as the site had to be completely built in just three days. I made extensive use of widget areas and custom fields for this site in order accommodate the client’s need to quickly add, remove, and re-arrange sidebar and footer content. This site was another great experience working with RDU.
Reasonable and Caring Dental
Reasonable and Caring Dental is a small dental practice located near Virginia Beach. They approached me with no online presence at all except for an unclaimed Google Plus page. Their requests were concise: they wanted a simple, minimal website that would provide new and existing patients with the information that was most often requested, and help new patients searching for a dentist to locate their practice.
It’s been said that dentists can only have websites in blue and white. I decided to test that theory by using fall colors in my design, accented by deeper blues. The design process began with a new logo, and moved forward to a single-page site design that most adeptly fit the basic content that the client wanted to present. I use Twitter Bootstrap as a front-end framework, and developed the site from scratch as a custom WordPress theme. I continue to assist the client in establishing a solid SEO presence.
If you find yourself looking for a dentist near Virginia Beach, definitely check them out!
Orchard Christian Fellowship
The Orchard was using a theme that had been purchased some time ago, and that had stopped suiting their needs. I originally began working with them for maintenance on their existing theme before they realized that they wanted to have the flexibility of a new design and completely customized theme.
Their request was “minimalism with a splash of color.” I re-designed their site, assisted with re-vamping their information architecture and UX design, and developed a custom WordPress theme. I also worked with them to increase their security. This site includes streaming audio media, as well as various customized forms for different communication needs. The Orchard was a wonderful Boston-area client with which to work.
Neighbors Who Care
I worked with a design and development team to re-design the website for Neighbors Who Care, a non-profit agency based in Waltham, MA. I assisted with front-end development and developing the site as a custom WordPress theme. I also handled PayPal integration for the client to accept donations and make ticket sales (hand-coded), Constant Contact integration, and wrote technical support documentation for the client.
The Center for Human Development
In my role as web developer with a New Hampshire-based web development firm, I was one of the developers for CHD’s new site. This was a WordPress project. We used Underscores to implement a custom responsive theme. I built out the blog, toolbar, various other custom page elements and functionality, handled a good deal of the custom theme development, and assisted with responsive development. This was a large site, with a volume of hierarchical page structures, and it was a rewarding project of which to be a part.
SoSponsored: Boston Strong
In my role as web developer with a Boston area web agency, I was one of the primary developers for Boston Strong during their site re-design. I handled child themeing within WordPress, custom menu options, building out events submission capability, custom post types, social media integration, and blog configuration. This is a great charity that I was thrilled to work with. And, just as an added perk, I got a free t-shirt!
Wentworth Institute of Technology’s School of Construction Management
In my role as web developer with a New Hampshire-based web development firm, I handled front-end development for WIT’s School of Construction Management micro-site. I coded the front end of the site based on the designer’s PSDs. I used Skeleton as a responsive framework for rapid deployment.
Bennette Design Group
In my role as web developer with a New Hampshire-based web development firm, I was the technical lead for this e-commerce project, a family-owned small business in Massachusetts. This was a Magento project that involved customizing a purchased theme. While the product catalogue was relatively small, some complex promotional offers and shipping potentialities proved challenging. I enjoy working with small businesses, which made this project one of my favorite e-commerce endeavors.
US Squash
In my role as web developer with a New Hampshire-based web development firm, I was the technical lead for re-building the online storefront of US Squash. This was a Magento project involving a relatively large and complex product catalogue.
unobtrusive lucidity
This was really my first adventure online. This is my personal blog, where I write about topics specific to a niche readership. It’s sort of a labor of love for me, an outlet where I can express my perspective on the world. In addition to content, I also developed this as a child of the Syntax theme, adding some customizations that I really felt that it needed to have.
Some say blogging is a lost medium, at least long-form blogging. I have to beg to differ.
What is a Master’s Degree?
This is an informational article that I wrote for DegreeSearch.org on assignment.
Stickin’ It to the Man
This is a feature article that I wrote for Catapult Magazine. I’m a regular contributor to Catapult, an online magazine focusing on theological issues in popular culture.
