// Projects

Performed SEO Site Analysis

2010-08-19

Performed a search engine optimization analysis of a website for a client.  Reviewed fundamentals such as page titles, header text, and keyword usage.  Prepared and delivered a 5 page memo with an explanation of SEO, the analysis, and a series of recommendations to improve their site's performance. Where appropriate, I also provided recommendations to help improve the usability of their site.


Conducted Google Analytics Training Session

2010-08-06

Developed and led a 1 hour training session on Google Analytics for the content staff of a state government website.  The session included some basics of Google Analytics, but also some more advanced path (navigation summary) and multidimensional (segments and filters) analysis.  It was designed to help the staff members begin to assess the effectiveness of some cross-site marketing work they've started.  The training agenda was entirely customized to the client's needs--it was based upon a set of research questions that the client provided in advance of the meeting.


Passed Government 508-Compliance Review

2010-08-04

A government website for which I serve as the lead developer and designer, just passed a rigorous 508 compliance review.  The review was conducted after we did a number of enhancements and a significant content build out.


Implemented 508-Compliant Version of AddThis

2010-08-03

The AddThis bookmark and sharing widget isn't 508 compliant out of the box, and using their suggested solutions provides a very reduced service.  To address the issue, I implemeted a fully 508 compliant version of their widget by working with some customized CSS and javascript code.  Just got the repot back from the government compliance review and they found no issues. 


Coded a new RSS feed for a government website

2010-08-03

Developed the XML template that will be used for a new government RSS feed.


New website with jQuery-powered Historical Timeline

2010-07-21

NCLD-Youth's website (http://www.ncld-youth.info), a site I designed and developed, was recently launched.  The site is managed via my custom content management system.

One compontent of the site is an interactive timeline about disability history.  The timeline was developed completely without the use of Flash, so it fully accessible, diplays on non-Flash supported devices like the iPhone, and prints nicely.  It uses plain old XHTML, CSS, and javascript (jQuery).


New Design Comps for Federal Website

2010-05-19

Just produced a series of new design comps for a section of a Federal website that is going to be revamped.  The task included selecting the artwork, developing a new page layout, and required consideration for the site's information architecture as a whole.


Email Newsletter Design for Federal Project

2010-05-17

Oversaw the design work for a new HTML email newsletter for a federal government project.  A junior designer developed the first set of comps.  I revised those comps for final delivery to the client.  I also developed the email marketing strategy including the mailing schedule and content. 


Custom Media Console for Video, Audio, and Photos

2010-05-15

Designed and developed a custom media console to match the branding of a client's site.  The conosole launches using ColorBox, a jQuery plugin.  Video (mp4, mov etc) and audio (mp3) are played using a custom branded FlowPlayer plugin.  The console provides a photo gallery effect for images.  The console also features AddThis functionality that allows users to easily share individual video and audio clips, as well as photos.


AddThis + Monthly Analytics Reports

2010-05-01

Integrated AddThis metrics to the custom website analytics reports that I provide to clients each month. 


Resolved Google Custom Search Engine indexing problems

2010-04-30

A client recently had a third party vendor upgrade a portion of their website with a custom database.  As a result, many of the site's URLs were changed.  However, after launch, the old URLs were still appearing in their Google site search (Google Custom Search Engine (CSE)) and none of the new pages were appearing.  I provided a series of actions to resolve the issue including updates to their XML sitemap, Google Webmaster Toosl configuration, Google CSE configuration, robots.txt revisions, and the creation of new content pages to make portions of their site easier to index by Google and other search engines. 


Improved file uploader

2010-04-28

Modified the file uploader used in my custom content management system so that it can work with websites that do not allow storage of user uploaded files on the same server as the actual website.  The new uploader allows specification of a secondary server for storage of files.  I also developed a "reader" script that improves security by masking the actual location of uploaded files.


Developed/contributed a new function to the open source editor CKeditor

2010-04-19

I wanted a way to insert small snippets of executable PHP code into instances of the open source WYSIWYG editor CKeditor.  The only solution I found on the web was a function that allowed you to insert one such snippet per page and field in your database.  I needed more than one snippet per page though, so I modified the script and posted a more robust, scalable version on the project's development forum.  My full post is available at http://bit.ly/arIi1o (dated 4/19 as post #19).

I will be using this function so that I can insert PHP includes and other PHP functions into WYSIWYG based content (e.g., to serve up Google AdSense ads).  The PHP code will be completely hidden to non-source code editors using CKeditor's native ProtectedSource configuration option.  I will be rolling out this feature to all installations of my custom CMS shortly.


Interviewing Web Producers and Webmasters

2010-04-12

Serving as the senior technical reviewer/interviewer for a client's Web Producer/Webmaster search.  Reviewed resumes, selected interview candidates, developed interview protocol and technical exam, and completed the interviews.


Live Usability Testing

2010-03-24

Served as the technical advisor during a usability session with real world users for a new online data collection system.


Google Analytics vs WebTrends

2010-03-24

Prepared a client memo explaining the pageview and visitor differences between their Google Analytics and WebTrends statistics.


Federal website launched

2010-02-01

Launched a new Federal website. I was responsible for many components including requirements gathering, information architecture, design oversight, and co-development. 


Online Advocacy: Email-A-Friend Function

2010-01-26

Built an Email-A-Friend function into a client's site to help support their online advocacy efforts.  Users can specify multiple recipients and customize their message.  Email is handled by PEAR::mail using my CMS' mail processor.  SPAM is protected against with re-CAPTCHA.


Solution for Client's Adobe Contribute Problem

2009-12-18

Provided a solution for an Adobe Contribute security issue that supposedly neither the client's IT department nor Adobe could figure out.  (BTW, if you can avoid it, don't use Adobe Contribute.  There are better options out there...)


Launched Redesigned Website for Foundation Client

2009-12-17

Finished design and coding implementation for a site that I originally developed in 2007. The site is for a project of a large U.S. foundation.  Sample and reference available upon request.  The site is built on my custom content management system.


Finished Front-End HTML and CSS for Government Website

2009-12-15

Serving as lead developer and project manager for project to overhaul a U.S. government website.  The design and initial coding work was outsourced, but the outside vendor solicited my help in fixing problems with the site's homepage carousel.  I successfully fixed the HTML/CSS problems, converted the delivered files into templates, and initiated the content-loading phase of the project.  i'm now overseeing coders prepraing the content and ensuring that all final pages are 100% valid and section 508 compliant.


Three Conceptual Designs for Federal Website

2009-11-10

Developed a total of three wireframes based on different concepts for a Federal website.  Oversaw development of associated design work and then created annotated versions of each design concept.  Finally, presented the three conceptual designs to the client.  Success.  Onto the development...


Event Registration Form with Custom Skip Sequences and Validation

2009-10-28

Developed a conference registration form for a client that has custom skip patterns and validation. Registrant data all stored and managed through CMS.


Wireframe for Redesign of Government Webiste

2009-10-28

Took the information from a recent requirements gathering meeting and developed a homepage wireframe for the redesign of a government website.


Website Launched: www.worryfreelawns.com

2009-09-23

Launched newly designed and developed www.worryfreelawns.com.  Looking forward to Phase II, when I'll work with the client to build in features to help them communicate and interact with their customers.


Added Twitter API functionality to CMS via PHP's Twitter Class

2009-09-15

Added Twitter API functionality to my website via PHP's Twitter class. My project updates are now automatically tweeted via my custom content management system.


Techincal Reviewer for Proposals to Develop a Data Collection and Reporting System

2009-09-02

Served as the technical reviewer for a second round of proposals to develop a new web-based data collection and reporting system. Prepared commentary on pros and cons, outstanding issues, and conclusion for each proposal.


Website Design for DC Nonprofit

2009-09-01

Finished and delivered my first round of design mockups to a customer. The site's main audience is youth with disabilities so I used a fresh and vibrant color palette and a clean, text-light layout. The design uses custom photography supplied by the customer as well as stock photography. It was produced in Photoshop CS4.


Custom Website Analytics Reports

2009-08-26

Produced custom website analytics (statistics) reports for two customer websites that they are going to submit to their Federal agency funders. The reports featured data from Google Analytics and iContact's email application.


Customized Website Content Using Search Engine Referral and Query Term Data

2009-08-25

Developed a module for my website that will display a set of links to related posts based on the search terms the visitor used to find my site. It works with Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The module relies upon a PHP-based URL referral script, some URL parsing, and dynamic MySQL queries. My script is available upon request.


Federal Government Agency Website Proposal

2009-08-17

I spent the last 5 days helping one of my customers write a proposal for an agency of the Federal government. I was the lead writer for one of the proposal's largest sections on Website Development and Marketing. I also drew up the budget for the website and related tasks, and put together a set of work samples that will be featured in an appendix.


Website Meetings and Events Page Overhaul

2009-08-12

Completed a major "renovation" of the Meeting & Events section of a client's website. The visually redesigned section dynamically displays upcoming events in several different event categories and highlights quotes and photos from past events. The event data is fully integrated with my custom content management system (CMS) and is easily updated by my client's staff.


Tech Support (or being a good son)

2009-08-07

Spent the better part of a day fixing/cleaning/optimizing my father's laptop and mother's desktop (both windows xp). Removed a bunch of garbage software, redid their wireless network, and installed better virus software (AVG).


Joomla Fireboard Installation

2009-08-06

Installed Joomla Fireboard (discussion board) component on a client's website. Worked with server administrators to conduct pre-install backups and set proper permissions.


Improving Search Engine Results through Inbound Links

2009-08-05

I recently presented a client with a set of strategies that could be used to garner links from other websites. "Inbound links" (high quality inbound links, that is) are a key ingredient in improving a site's results on the major search engines. My analysis showed that the client had a lot of low hanging fruit opportunities that weren't being taken advantage of, as well as some more advanced opportunities.


Email Newsletter Design

2009-08-05

Designing an email newsletter template for a client. I'm building off the branding work that I did for their website. The newsletters will be distributed using iContact, which I set up for the client.


Added Page Search to CMS

2009-08-01

My custom CMS now includes a page search that allows website managers the ability to quickly find the page they need to edit.


Cleaning Up Google Search Results

2009-07-22

Troubleshot and resolved an issue where pages and files from the old version of a client's website were still appearing in Google's search results. Reviewed the XML sitemap, data in Google Webmaster Tools, robots.txt, and 301 redirects.


CMS Architecture Day

2009-07-21

Conducting a large-scale reworking of my CMS' architecture, especially the PHP and MySQL stuff. Foreign keys, arrays, joins and unions, etc etc.


RSS

2009-07-19

Added an RSS feed to the Projects section of my site using PHP and XML.


PHP Website Conversion

2009-07-08

Converting a client's site previously developed using SHTML server-side includes into a PHP-based site.


Joomla Media Player

2009-07-08

Identified and helped to install the FlowPlayer media player onto a client's Joomla site.


New Branding = New CSS

2009-07-08

Updating the CSS and imagery on a client's site to reflect their organization's new branding.


More IE6 Fixing

2009-07-07

Troubleshot and fixed an Internet Explorer 6 CSS design problem on www.rti4success.org. I relied heavily on the IE Developer Toolbar. (The site was originally developed by a third-party firm.)


Site Wireframe for Complex Data Collection and Reporting System

2009-06-29

Developed a detailed set of website wireframes that will be included in a forthcoming request for proposals from one of my clients. Also providing the technical portions of the website's requirements document. When released, the site will be used by participants and researchers for a randomized controlled trial/experiment on a education intervention known as the Good Behavior Game.


Joomla Development Site

2009-06-26

Set up a development instance of a Joomla-based website.


Fluid Images

2009-06-23

Provided a solution for a fluid page design that needed several images to resize with the design. Provided new CSS markup that worked in IE6, as well as all other current browsers.


Google and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

2009-06-22

Provided a brief tutorial to a client to answer their question "how can I get my website to come up first on Google?" Covered the basics of "importance" (inbound links and page rank) and "relevance" (keywords in page titles, headers, and content), plus the intersection of these two factors in driving SEO.


E-Mail Newsletter Design

2009-06-20

Designed and implemented a new email newsletter for a client looking to improve marketing of their research publications. The new design features eye catching typography, images, and a modest amount of text to help improve open and click-through rates. It renders well in Outlook and Gmail with only minimal design loss (fixoutlook.org and www.email-standards.org).


Site Concept and Wireframe

2009-06-16

Developed, presented, and received approval for a new site concept and wireframe for www.charles-lewis.com.


Internet Communications Strategy

2009-06-15

Provided a new communications strategy, helped execute it, and established an analytics framework to monitor the success for the members-only section of a client's website.


Drupal Google Analytics Module

2009-06-01

Installed a Google Analytics module onto a client's website to expand their data collection efforts and add consistency across the several sites that they manage.


QA Testing of Events Calendar

2009-05-16

Doing QA testing on an events calendar developed by a third party developer for a client's website.


Section 508/Accessibility Audit

2009-05-14

Conducting a Section 508 / Accessibility audit for www.ncwd-youth.info.


Cross-Browser Compatability Tests and Solutions

2009-05-12

Tested a client's new (third-party) website for compatability with Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and current browsers on PC and Mac. Implemented several fixes to make the site fully IE6 compatible.


Website Display Optimization

2009-05-12

Revised a client's HTML, CSS, and graphics to optimize it for a display width of 1024px instead of the previous 960px optimization.


QA Testing of New Website and Joomla Backend

2009-05-06

Conducted QA testing on both the third party developed front-end and customized Joomla CMS back-end for http://state.rti4success.org.


Trouble-Shooting Adobe Contribute

2009-05-05

Troubleshot an array of problems an organization was facing with a pool of Adobe Contribute CS4 users (e.g, connection problems, lost drafts, publishing errors etc). At least 4 users connect using Dreamweaver CS4 and another 10 or so connect using Contribute CS4.


Westmoreland Website

2009-04-22

Launched the Westmoreland's new website: www.westmorelandcoop.com. I enjoyed coming up with a design that reflects the apartment building's character and history in Washington DC.


Printer-Friendly Page Snippets

2009-04-01

I developed a "print this section" function and added it to a series of web pages for the Members Only section of the National High School Center.


Custom Search on Google Search Appliance

2009-04-01

I integrated a custom site search run on a Google Search Appliance for the Member's Only Section of the National High School Center. The search indexes only the private section of the site and is only available to authenticated users. I also designed a simple front end interface for the search and search results.


Added HTML Email Formatting to Event Registration System

2009-03-29

I added the capacity for administrators of my event registration system to send HTML-formatted confirmation emails, in addition to the originally offered plain-text confirmation emails. The system now provides a WYSIWYG interface with advanced formatting options to compose the message. For each (automated) message sent by the system, it sends the HTML version, as well as a dynamically generated text-only version for those with text-based email clients (e.g., some Blackberries).


Conference and Event Registration System

2009-03-01

For NDTAC, I deployed an event registration and content management system (CMS) that I previously developed for another project. As part of this work, I designed and developed a custom conference registration page based on the client's mock up. NDTAC can now easily create their own registration pages for an unlimited number of events. The system builds a custom registration form for each event, collects registrant data, sends registration emails, and allows NDTAC to track, update, export registrant data.


Technical Assistance Center Events Database

2009-03-01

Providing oversight and project management for a third party vendor's development of an event registration system. Also responsible for migration of the system from the staging/development server to the final production server.


Huge Website Overhaul for Federal Technical Assistance Center

2009-03-01

Serving as technical advisor and co-project manager for the redesign and development of a very large website--about 750 unique pages. Directly managed a team of web support associates that were responsible for coding in the content.


Hosting Set Up, Configuration, and Joomla Installation

2009-03-01

Set up a client's new hosting account, configured several users and unique permissions, and installed Joomla (to be modified by third party developer).


NAEP-ESSI Newsletter

2009-02-15

Building off my recent design work for a new NAEP-ESSI website, I developed a companion newsletter design and template. I also set up an account for the organization with iContact so that staff can create and blast their newsletters every month using the new template.


Update for Federal Data Portal

2009-02-01

Updated NDTAC's Fast Facts (a web portal that I originally designed and developed several years ago) with new data collected by the federal government.

See http://www.neglected-delinquent.org/nd/data/fastfacts_SP1.asp.


Added Mail Personalization to Event Registration System

2009-01-15

My custom developed event registration system now allows administrators to include personalized information (e.g., the person's name or job title) in their confirmation messages.


New Website for NAEP-ESSI

2009-01-07

I finished the design and development of a new website for NAEP-ESSI. It was launched in mid-January, although the organization is still entering content in many parts of the site.


Monthly Analytics Reports

2009-01-01

Developed custom analytics reports that are delivered to clients on a monthly basis and combine data from Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Email Marketing Statistics (via iContact), Log Analysis (via WebTrends).


HTML/Dreamweaver Training Session

2008-12-14

Led a 3 hour HTML and Dreamweaver training session with 7 staff members.


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