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 Beautiful Photo Albums under CSS Navbar: Photographer Mark McGilvray had beautiful photos and had arranged them into Adobe Web Gallery albums himself, but he wanted a makeover for his website in which to display the albums. Besides arranging Mark's photos and narratives into pages for his new website, I customized the Chrome CSS Drop-Down Menu from Dynamic Drive and used SimpleViewer-Pro to arrange his best photos into attractive albums. McGilvray.net |
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Recent Joomla CMS Websites
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 Customize Template to Match Author's Preferences Author Debbie Duncan has had a website since 1997, listing her book reviews and KQED Radio Perspectives. However she'd lost track of how to update her website and needed a fresh look to promote her new eBook. Together we picked a likely looking template from JoomlaShack, she had graphic designer Christy Hale create a header for the template, and I changed the template colors to match. DebbieDuncan.com
New for 2011 - Debbie Duncan had me create her Blog. |
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 Modernize Website & Connect to Training: The consulting firm of Automated Machine Vision was an early adopter to using the Internet to advertise their business, since their website first went online in 1998. However after ten years the owner was ready for a new look. He wanted to edit the website himself so I created a Content Management System (CMS) website for him. I modified his existing logo to match his new website template, and also installed this new logo into his customized courseware setup. autovis.com |
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 Native Plants and Wildlife Photos: After creating her dream California native plant garden, a homeowner wanted a website that would inspire other native plant gardeners. An avid birdwatcher and photographer, she also wanted to create new photo albums on her own.I organized her photos and stories into a Content Management System (CMS) website. After one-on-one training with me, the homeowner can edit her own website including creating her own photo albums. CasaDosRios.org |
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 Product Portfolio Editable on the Road: When the owners of HGC Imports, Inc. decided it was time to create a website for the business, they wanted a Content Management System (CMS) website so they could add new products to the website when they were on the road. They wanted an elegant look too, so I combined their ideas, product pictures and information, and an attractive template to create a website just right for their business. I trained one of the owners on editing the website, and now he's able to make website updates on his own. hgcImports.com |
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 Luxury Vacations in Croatia: Some time after I created the Dreamweaver Template website AlmaVacation.com, the website owner referred me to another travel agent who was also ready for her first website. Since FinestOfCroatia.com needed much more content, I created the website using the Joomla Content Management System. The travel agent had many stunning photographs of Croatia along with detailed descriptions of her trips, which I organized into an appealing website that showcases the wide experience this travel agent has to offer. |
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E-Commerce Projects
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 Smooth Transition Between Shopping Carts: My imaging specialist's Miva Merchant store was working well, especially once I replaced the default shipping cost calculator with USPS Advanced from Viking Coders. However client wanted better order processing and discount coupon codes as well as other features offered by the Network Solutions Pro Ecommerce store, so he had me configure a new store for him. By my having both old and new stores in place and simply changing a link on client's main website, the transition between stores was almost instantaneous. Imaging specialist's sales continue at store.rmimaging.com. |
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 Add Ecommerce to Existing Website: Imaging specialist wanted to automate sales by allowing customers
to order products online. I configured the Miva
Merchant shopping cart with client's products, shipping methods, and
payment gateway. I configured the store Look and Feel based on the existing
website's design. I advised client on compatible payment gateways and showed
him how to manage orders using the store and merchant control panels. I also helped client write store policies pages and
Worked with client to integrate online store with existing website. I've since converted the store to a Network Solutions Pro E-Commerce store but you can view screenshots. Testimonial |
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Photography Class Payments via PayPal: Photographer Tom Upton needed a way for students to enroll and pay online for the classes he teaches. However as part of signing up for a class, he needed students to tell him about their cameras and photography skills. I helped him to design a scheme where pressing on a button next to the desired class on the class schedule page, would lead to a questionnaire. Completing the questionnaire would lead to a secure page on PayPal to pay for that exact class. I added the buttons you can see on the class schedule page to the right, created the questionnaire, and hundreds of students have paid him for their classes this way.
Image Verification (CAPTCHA): Eventually spammers also found it convenient to use my client's signup form. I added an image verification test to the form (available at Tectite.com) and the spurious signups have stopped.
Note July 2011: Though the online class signups and payments improved the class signup process, as Tom's classes became more popular, he needed a more automated method to keep the class schedule up to date. He's since switched his website to presenting classes and accepting payments via OSCOmmerce, and this way he can even show visitors when a class fills up.
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 Custom Shipping Cost Calculator: As part of my work helping the webmaster at FruitGuys.com, I created a custom shipping cost calculator for their order form. The shipping department "FruitGuy" gave me a spreadsheet of zip codes and corresponding costs per crate of fruit, and I created a form that let the customer put in a zip code and press a button to find out the cost per crate to ship their order. I wrote a PHP script and JavaScript/AJAX that let the lookup take place without an order form page refresh and Voila! --Customers could check their shipping costs. Fruitguys have since changed their shopping cart, so check out the image to the right to see a screenshot of my shipping calculator form. |
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New web application with e-commerce:
My client had a dream of creating his own web business centered around photography. I created a website for him, a place on the web where event photographers presented their photos for sale. To create PhotoGetaway.com I:
Testimonial |
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More Websites and Projects
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Dreamweaver Template Mini-Websites: Stanford's Center for Professional Development was about to launch their new enrollment system, but their webmaster didn't have time to complete two of three mini-websites before launch. I was called in to complete them. The webmaster had created a model Dreamweaver Template and the content provider had marked up the old websites with revisions, so it was easy for me to come in and create the two mini-websites in time for the launch, a win for everyone. StrategicDecisions.stanford.edu. |
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Enhance Content Management System: NetAcceleration.com,
hosting and web design company. See screenshots. I added blog management and issue tracking
features to a Content Management System using PHP and MySQL. For blog management,
I added blog creation and comment editing features and fixed problems with
photo upload. I added a blog display feature to the public view. For issue
tracking, I added a filter bar so site managers can filter bug reports by
category, priority, status, etc. NetAcceleration.com |
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New PHP website: NII-Landscape.com,
irrigation and landscaping service. Created new website for landscaper to
expand business by showcasing his best work. Chose from hundreds of photos
to make several stories to illustrate problems solved, interviewed landscaper
to create inviting copy to highlight details. Developed PHP template to
speed development. |
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Enhance existing web application: Monitrix, Inc.,
data-driven PHP questionnaire: Improved online patient daily diary for
pain management study. Improved questionnaire completion rate by color
coding calendar and adding progress indicator bar, populating these
features via information queried from the database. Solved problem of
excessive download time for a data-heavy page by switching to AJAX for
query of only relevant data as needed. Studied existing code to specify
best plan for changes, worked with team to specify database changes, and
modified existing PHP and JavaScript code to complete the changes. Testimonial |
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Enhance existing web application: SJSU
Sharsmith Herbarium, a non-profit web application to look up plants
in the University herbarium. The existing application put the herbarium
online, but searching was slow. My enhancements speeded up the searching
process. I updated the search form and created a new intermediate results
page, making it much faster to get to one or more herbarium details
pages. Testimonial |
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Enhance existing website: Mannikkins
Contemporary Casuals, clothing design and sales. Updated clothing designer's
website in a hurry. Client had photos of new products ready to add to website,
needed them in a week for vendor meeting, but her existing web developer
was unavailable. I added her new photos, modified a page template to contain
images for a new product line, and created a new composite image, all with
no downtime to her existing website and completed on time. Testimonial |
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Content Management System: Achievexcorp.com,
sales training. Moved trainer's website to a CMS, allowing more functionality
and easier updating. Converted and posted streaming video, configured mailing
list manager, embedded Flash movie, added stock photos and set up Amazon
affiliate page. |
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New catalog website: paeinc.us,
a niche business for electronic pulse generators. I converted my client's
product catalog to web pages. Now, his customers like to browse the product
specifications without having to call him. Testimonial |
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New website: My client started a business providing classes to improve children's communication skills.
He already advertised in local communication catalogs, but had me create his business' first website, to allow his
potential and returning students and parents have a place on the web to browse course schedules, instructor bios, and enrollment forms. Testimonial
Update in April, 2009: My client was actually the person who introduced me to Joomla. After I created his first website, another developer replaced it with the Joomla website you see at CommunicationAcademy.com. After I learned Joomla, for a couple of years my client had me post new classes, instructors, and other updates to his Joomla website. |
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Brochure website: ButcherRanch.org,
Created single page website for small ranch selling Santa Rosa plums in
Sunnyvale, CA. |
Custom Shipping Cost Calculator: As part of my work helping the webmaster at FruitGuys.com, I created a custom shipping cost calculator for their order form. The shipping department "FruitGuy" gave me a spreadsheet of zip codes and corresponding costs per crate of fruit, and I created a form that let the customer put in a zip code and press a button to find out the cost per crate to ship their order. I wrote a PHP script and JavaScript/AJAX that let the lookup take place without an order form page refresh and Voila! --Customers could check their shipping costs. Fruitguys have since changed their shopping cart, so check out the image to the right to see a screenshot of my shipping calculator form.
