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The first thing I need to make clear is I am not a programmer, wire-head or whatever you would like to refer to these people as. I am a designer who can also build websites. My passion is design and always will be, but in todays world design is becoming ever more technical, and I know this. So I have done my best to keep up with the trends by buying books on the relevent codes, and doing so has exposed me to a number of coding languages.
This section will give you an idea of my experience with certain coding types and where they have been used and implemented. |
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CSS
More recently I have been using CSS a lot, in fact I seem to be forever editing and adding to CSS files. This site is devoid of any CSS, why? Well when it was built I wasn't using CSS many moons ago. I have big plans for this site, which will involve the use of CSS extensively but it's finding the time to get round to it.
Examples of my use of CSS
Widgets use CSS extensively, everything you see in a widget is pretty much positioned or styled using a class or div from a CSS file. The widget eBay Watcher I co-created has a CSS file containing more than 1000 lines of information I've written to govern it's display. These classes and divs range from positioning images, controlling fonts and links, adding text drop shadows and controlling items like overflow and information received from the eBay servers. We have recently been looking at controlling the search results in XSL as we add more control to the search. Currently search results are controlled using CSS.
Websites I have built recently have started to include CSS to control the fonts, robellmediapromotions.com, eBay Watcher, ficm.org.uk etc have their fonts controlled by CSS. Websites like shop4toys.co.uk and sagaoffers.co.uk have CSS files generated automatically via the e-commerce package, but often these don't work right and need adding to, in order to get the displayed contents right.
The more sites I create, the more I am using CSS, websites like ficm.org.uk that I created and now manage has over 150 html pages that require the use of CSS to keep elements and contents consistant.
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Javascript
As I have already stated I don't right code off the top of my head, I have always had to work or implement code that has already been generated. My use of JS is implemented this way, but I edit the JS UI to blend better with it's surroundings.
Examples of my use of Javascript
Widgets again use a lot of JS. eBay Watcher uses a number of JS scripts to display and retrieve content. For eBay watcher I implemented both the front and back view tab/menu system, the stretching mechanism, the zoom box and others. These JS files were written by the developer but I implemented them into the widget and edited them as needed.
ficm.org.uk uses a script I wrote to control the way video files play within a web page. This was created because of the Eolas ruling of Microsofts use of embedded media within a browser. The website also uses a simple JS file that implemented and edited to log people into the relevant sections of the website and then displays their name on each page by use of a cookie file.
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PHP/MySQL
My exposure to PHP and MySQL has been limited, but I have used it on occasions to set up features on websites. Again these come in the form of code already created that I edited to fit in with the surrounding website.
Examples PHP/MySQL
ficm.org.uk uses PHP to display the XML feed on the Home page, News and Events sections. The calls to the php are already created, you just include the ones you wish to use and edit them as you see fit. There also PHP settings that need to be defined like refresh time in the script to stop heavy loading on the server. It works really well.
www.ficminternational.org uses the open source phpBB board for a forum and requires you to set up a MySQL database before the install. I did this in Unix over a ssh connection to our VPS. The site also uses the open source phpiCal system for the calendar section, but this is a work in progress as the VPS isn't very supportive of the WebDAV format and we are having troubles getting the server to allow a WebDAV upload.
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XML
The main use of XML I've used is for RSS feeds, but more recently I have been testing it along with XSL in eBay Watcher's search function. The XML I create along with CarpRSS, which is the php script that drives the feed on the server, work in tandem to provide up to date news and information in a smart and useable way.
Examples of XML
I use XML to create the RSS feeds for ficm.org.uk. These are created by hand and built to run not only on the website but also in separate information widgets for Mac and PC. The events feed is mainly created using a Paradox DB export to tie in with the online store, but requires manual fixing and editing to make it pass RSS validation.
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AJAX
I would say I am a sucker for all things cool, and when it coes to cool, AJAX is it. As yet I have not been given the opportunity to use AJAX in a clients site, but that's not stopped me buying books and having a tinker with it.
Examples of AJAX
Although this online portfolio needs a dramatic upgrade, I was able to use a rather cool AJAX script called Lightbox to display larger versions of my thumbnail images in the Personal and Printed sections. Clicking on any thumbnail fades the current window and pops up a large image of the thumbnail. The script can be configured to allow previous and next images. I plan to edit this script when I overhaul the site using Adobe Labs Spry AJAX library. |
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CGI
In the past I have used a number of different CGI based applications on our server. Ranging from FormMail responders to postcard systems.
Examples of CGI
L-Driving.biz and CustomeMarine.co.uk use a basic CGI form that you can set up to gather the information you require in an e-mail. The forms have been implemented with extensive changes to the UI and response page in order to fit them in better with their respective websites.
A CGI reminder service was intergrated into the ficm.org.uk website to provide its users with a simple and free way to remind themselves of up coming conferences and events. The UI was overhauled and configured to work on the FIC server.
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