Web
Architecture/Design
I like simple, austere designs, nothing unnecessary — nothing that doesn't genuinely
improve the quality of the whole.
These are sites I built whole-cloth or with an excellent graphic designer.
Full eCommerce sites
This site was completely redeveloped (twice) at the behest of Cooperstown Bears. The goal was to deliver a new vastly expanded catalog with a new face and many new features. I worked long hours to deliver on this evolving spec. While the previous two incarnations were developed entirely in WebDNA, this site has been migrated to PHP and MySQL (specifically Zen Cart). The new dynamic layout is mostly XHTML compliant (there are a few deviations here and there). Flash is used for a gently cross-fading slideshow of featured products. There's a modicum of JavaScript for interface behavior, and loads of PhotoShop and database work.
Specially made for someone I call "Mom". Others
seem to call her "Bobbi". Upgraded in December 2005 to full ecommerce site using Zen Cart, this was originally designed and built as
a Christmas 1998 surprise for her, based on print elements
she designed. Her shop of the same name had withered on the western slope
of Colorado. The population of craft fans there just isn't big enough to generate a living.
But her store on the web does well for her, drawing upon a much larger, though more widely
dispersed audience. It's a perfect use of the web: a would-be
brick-and-mortar with too sparse an audience to survive
in any particular place — on the web, it's everywhere,
and open all the time.
This site was my first pet project. It's lightweight (few small graphics), and loads quickly. And even though it's made especially for "Mom",
it's the same attention to detail I give all my clients.
Or is that the other way around?
This excellent Christina Weisbard design was built from the ground up, in WebDNA*, for American Needle (the parent company of Cooperstown Bears) to deliver fine tea to tea lovers and those wondering "So what's all this about tea, then?" As with the Cooperstown Bears site we used plenty of CSS and layers, Flash, JavaScript, PhotoShop and database design work. We also went to some effort to use translucent PNGs in WinIE (thanks youngpup!). The shopping cart is a considerably modified third-party application first used on the second incarnation of the Cooperstown Bears site.
*It made sense to continue with WebDNA for this client. For now, PHP (or Ruby) migration can wait.
More to come soon!
Reverse eCommerce sites
This is a "reverse ecommerce" site devoted to compiling information on vintage Indiana artists, and for attracting sellers of works by these artists. It is a Ruby on Rails/FastCGI deployment, featuring AJAX search and contact forms for instant response without full page reloads, RSS for monitoring new content, XHTML for lean pages and simpler layout code, IE7 for PNGs in WinIE, Script.aculo.us for cinematic interface element transitions, Flash for a dynamic map of Indiana with highlighted counties.
Simple product sites
The core of this site was erected quickly for Lively Ox to showcase the catalogue of The Yolles Brothers. It's based on Lively Ox's CD packaging design (by Loraine Hara Yolles). It features a free commercial-quality downloadable retrospective (in MP3 and AAC formats), and a comprehensive collection of lower-quality MP3s so visitors can judge the quality of the writing and performances before purchasing (on CD Baby). This site was built for expansion and is growing steadily.
Brochure sites
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Oilshield
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This now-defunct site was designed and built quickly for a client who
needed to move a large quantity of a product of his own
invention. Most of the design elements were drawn from the
product packaging.
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Slam-Lam
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This now-defunct site was designed (except for the client's long-standing
logo) quickly for a service company who wished to display
their services on the web.
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