Web Development
I have over 17 years of experience designing and developing websites and web tools. Most of my experience has been the development of front-end interfaces, and I regularly create and implement back-end tools and functionality. I employ User Interaction Engineering skills in every project.
In 2007, I earned a Bachelor of Science with Highest Honors in New Media from the Rochester Institute of Technology, focusing on Website Design and Development, and with a minor in Technical Writing. In 2010, I received a Master of Science in Information Technology, focusing on User Interaction Design and Usability Engineering.
I am an expert at foundational coding practices. I am highly experienced with HTML and CSS and have employed JavaScript and PHP in almost all projects. I also implement jQuery, AJAX, MySQL, and other web languages when necessary. I am skilled with varied coding tools, especially Adobe Dreamweaver and Notepad ++, and use FTP clients like WinSCP and FileZilla for interfacing with most websites.
WHM, cPanel, and Cloudflare are my tools of choice for maintaining a server's health, performance, and capabilities and the necessary components of a website, such as databases, subdomains, SSL, and mail exchangers. I choose PhpMyAdmin for development and use of SQL databases.
Prototyping is essential, and a personal hobby. I provide a sketch, wireframe, or composition before beginning development on most projects. Axure, Figma, Adobe Photoshop, and Microsoft Suite are my preferred software for developing quick and effective layouts, and Adove Photoshop and Illustrator for designing a visual representation of the final product.
Furthermore, I am knowledgeable and skilled with many web-based technologies, especially WordPress, and have developed original content administration tools of my own. When using technologies like WordPress, I regularly develop around CMS tools like WordPress, WooCommerce, Mura, and Drupal when needed, and have developed custom interfaces for client-side content management.
Additionally, I started a web design and development business in 2009 called Amalgam Web and Media aimed at providing cost-effective logos, branding, and websites for varied customers. I work particularly well with people who are new to the industry, and I focus on the clients who found traditional web design companies too expensive or confusing. Most website development work has been for larger organizations, but I have owned and operated a website development company for 10 years before dissolving it. This allowed me to apply these skills in varied environments for clients with differentiated needs. My goal is to meet the client's expectations while maintaining a set budget and reasonable timeframe.
While I develop most websites for professional need, I also build them for personal interest and intellectual curiosity. This strengthens my skills and practices techniques seldom required when developing commercial jobs.
I have also taught website development skills, user interaction engineering, and other multimedia concepts as an Adjunct Professor at both graduate and undergraduate levels at the esteemed Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology . Prior to becoming an instructor, I served as a website tutor for over a year, assisting staff with courses and material development.
Since 2015, I have served as the Web Technologies Developer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, leading the organization's web presence, and providing and maintaining websites for over 50 organizations, churches, schools, and charities, including the Catholic Courier newspaper.
I listed some recent, relevant web projects below which showcase a wealth of skills. I was the sole developer for each project, with others providing direction, text, and most images. Most websites I developed are smaller components of a larger site, visible to only a select few, have been removed, or cannot be shared by copyright. Some projects I developed recently have been changed or modified by others, no longer exist, or are too outdated to showcase here.
Notable Website Projects:
Drupal 7, Custom Design, Custom Code, Mobile Friendly, Data Transfer, Popular, HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScriptCatholic Courier
www.catholiccourier.com
Perhaps my Magnum Opus so far. I developed this Drupal 7 powered website with some artistic direction from the team. I worked mostly independently, designing a theme around the Drupal 7 functionality and adding the necessary components and developing the structure. I developed custom code for displaying information on unique pages and adding dynamically displaying buttons, ads, and other interactive components on screen. I developed the logic and presentation for each page, placing elements automatically in the proper places. I established the hierarchy and instructed the staff to add and remove elements.
Additionally, I needed to move the content from the previous website, which included thousands of articles. This required developing a custom script which pulled content from the existing Mura database, rearranged the data in the new format, added the appropriate content, and placed it in the new website's Drupal database.
The website is currently managed by a different company. It remains virtually unchanged from when I last edited it.
The Catholic Courier is a newspaper published within the Diocese of Rochester, starting as The Catholic Journal in 1889.
Wordpress 5x, Custom Design, Custom Code, Mobile Friendly, Data Transfer, Popular, HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScriptDiocese of Rochester
www.dor.org
The main Diocese of Rochester website is the product of a collaboration among me, admin, and clergy. I worked independently to design and develop a site according to their specifications. I built it around a Wordpress CMS so users could edit the site when needed. I also developed custom features for the site, including a database of parish information, a running donation page with tallies from all participating parishes, and a job board - all editable by those who have access. I also added protective measures and enhancements to make it run smooth. I developed this site around Wordpress multisite, creating a custom theme, components, and additional features.
Catholic Charities Steuben/Livingston
ccsteubenlivingston.org
This is one website in the Catholic Charities chapters. I designed this based on an established scheme and developed it around ease of use. Since many editors were going to update the site, and they would often switch who would be in charge, I wanted to make something simple to learn and manage. I developed my site around the Wordpress CMS so newcomers could easily learn the interface. There was also a chance they would be familiar with it from other projects. I modified the Wordpress install to include a few features for helping the editors, including interface tools, layout editors, and modifying the interface to sort items more logically and remove unneeded features.
Saint Ambrose Academy
stambrose.academy
Working with admin at the school, I created a new branding for the institution. Our goal was to change it from a darker, impersonal site to something lively and fun - befitting an elementary school. I used bright colors and easy to read fonts to convey the school's personality and developed new branding which would gradually be introduced. Additionally, I created subdomains for each teacher so they could have their own personal area of the site to add class details and news.
Saint Kateri School
saintkaterischool.org
Working with admin at the school, I created a new branding for the institution. Our goal was to change it from a darker, impersonal site to something lively and fun - befitting an elementary school. I used bright colors and easy to read fonts to convey the school's personality and developed new branding which would gradually be introduced. Additionally, I created subdomains for each teacher so they could have their own personal area of the site to add class details and news.
Cabin Fever
cabinfeverevents.com
Cabin Fever is a personal project and business I started alongsite a few colleagues. It is a website and app which advertises area events in an intuitive and easy to use interface. I developed this site independently, alongside others who developed an app. I developed the site with my own custom code, making a functional CMS for adding and editing events. I also included an advanced search interface for finding specific events using varied criteria. By implementing Google's Geolocation API, I could calculate distances between the user and event locations to organize by distance.
Providence Housing
providencehousing.org
Providence Housing provides shelter and support for people in need. Resources are categorized by the type of assistance needed. I developed this site to be easy and accessible to people of varied skills and abilities, and with enough information and functionality for representatives to find support for someone. I added a content management system to allow admin to easily make changes to the content.
NYS Kinship Navigator
nysnavigator.org
The NYS Kinship Navigator provides information and resources to social representatives and people in need of support. The site contains a massive database of locations and contact information, all of which are searchable through a simple front-end form, and display on a map for legibility. Admins can add and modify location listings and site information.
RIT Newman
ritnewman.com
I created the website and branding for the RIT Newman Community. I collaborated with staff at the school, working independently to develop a site which was flexible enough to accommodate the organization's changing needs and simple enough to allow non-developers to make edits using a back end system I included.