Resume

I specialise in designing and developing clean, easy-to-use websites, eNewsletters, and online interfaces using best design and coding practices and a mobile-first approach.

My focus is always on good usability, time-honoured visual design principles, and thinking about the everyday people at the end of the line who'll be using (or maintaining) what I've built.

I code my design concepts with care in W3C standards-compliant HTML & CSS, and make them sparkle with jQuery, HTML5 and CSS3.

After that I wrap them up in the very client and SEO-friendly MODx Revolution CMS, test them on browsers and mobile devices, and release them into the wild.

Take a look at what some of my lovely clients have to say about working with me.

expert

Website & online interface design
HTML / XHTML & CSS (hand-coded)
MODx Revolution CMS
Mobile / responsive stylesheets
Wireframes / Prototyping
Web Usability & Accessibility
eNewsletter design & development
Campaign Monitor

advanced

HTML5 & CSS3
WordPress
Usability testing
jQuery implementation
Social Media implementation

intermediate

Web analytics
Web content writing
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
eCommerce implementation
jQuery

software I use every day

Adobe Photoshop CS5
Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 *
MODx Revolution CMS
Firefox & Firebug
Chrome, Safari, IE9, IETester
FileZilla
cPanel

* I just use Dreamweaver like a glorified version of Notepad because it's intellitext, pretty code formatting, and live view help me work much faster. I still code all my HTML and CSS by hand, no wysiwyg shenanigans here thank you very much.

I'm a Web Designer and Front-end
Web Developer with over 12 years industry experience.

In that time I've worked for a range of organisations including Queensland State Government, TAFE, Suncorp Metway, GBST, IGA, various Councils and a number of fun, fast-paced Design Studios.

I currently freelance full-time for a number of design studios in Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane, and the UK, as well as working directly with my own clients.

I take a people-driven approach to my work which means I'm always thinking in terms of how user-friendly a website can be made for everyone involved; from my clients and their customers to the next web designer to take over the work.

I also test with real data to make sure what I've built won't break once it leaves my care.

My speciality is web design and front-end development (more about that in the box on the left there).

My sub-specialities include eNewsletter design and development, website usability and accessibility, HTML & paper prototyping, search engine optimisation (SEO), social media integration, and simple web content writing.

I used to work with WordPress but for the last three years have made MODx Revolution my open-source content management system of choice as I find it to be more powerful, scalable, just as easy to use, and with the added advantage of paid commercial support.

I enjoy working with others, I'm very organised, can provide accurate estimates for how long things will take, and I take responsibility for my own deadlines and projects.

After many years of working in the middle between pure designers and hard-core developers I've developed a knack for translating complex technical info into plain English, e.g. from programmer-speak to designer / client-speak and back again :)

My complete resume, work history, and references are available on request.