WWW development services

The availability/accessibility of information – specifically, its meaning – is of primary importance; intent/content should remain accessible to as wide a range of software/devices/people as possible.

technique

simplicity & versatility

I aim to make things which are at once simple and versatile; to be sure that simplicity does not ignore potential/possibility, and that possibility does not corrupt/obscure simplicity.

augmentation & adaptation

Websites can be augmented in many ways to provide many different features, but such features have dependencies. When the necessary environment for such features is unavailable or otherwise broken, adaptation enables the process to continue working with minimal interference. This kind of adaptation – redundancy/failsafe/fallback technique – should be common, but many websites are unnecessarily brittle/fragile.

management & editing interface

Naturally, most websites change over time; however, it may be impractical/expensive/troublesome for such ongoing changes to be dependent upon the original developer. It is also impractical to expect everyone to learn to cope with the necessary code. Accordingly, I provide an interface which enables users to manage/edit content directly, from any web browser, using a simple/intuitive/natural format.

language

Multiple languages are supported.

optimisation

Increasingly, WWW content is dynamically generated. This means that the server must compute the pages before they are sent, and depending upon the complexity of those pages, this computation may cause problems (such as slow page delivery, &c.).

I employ many techniques for optimising dynamic processes, to minimise server load and make sure page delivery/display remains fast and efficient.

search engine indexing

With knowledge, both of the basic indexing process used by search engines, and of the duplicitous trickery used by those seeking to artificially improve ranking, I structure content which can be accurately/efficiently indexed while remaining invulnerable to penalty for bad practice.

e-mail address protection

The increasing problem of spam is partly due to the ease with which e-mail addresses may be «harvested» from the WWW. Just like search engines use programs (often called spiders/crawlers/bots) to index the WWW, spammers use similar programs to collect e-mail addresses.

I developed my own solution which is transparent to the user (i.e., you can still click on the address to open a new message, and it’s still text yet it remains invisible to the harvesters).

fluid layout

Many websites are fixed, in width, font-size, &c. This imposes unnecessary limits upon users, who may wish to vary the size of their viewport/window. I employ technique, when appropriate, which enables content to dynamically adjust to the width of the window, or the scale of magnification (as can be seen on these pages).

obsolete URL resolution

Bookmarks/URLs should remain associated with the resources which they address, but that association breaks when the resource is moved to a different location. If a resource/file has moved (i.e., its URL has changed) but its file name remains the same, it will be found automatically and displayed without error/interruption. If multiple files of the same name exist, a list of links is displayed to choose from.

I also give special attention to URLs of a previous website. Instead of leaving them broken, I make sure that each corresponds with the relevant resource of the new site.

custom error pages

Instead of the generic and unfriendly default error pages, errors are displayed in a styled page (matching that of the site) with more helpful language and other features, like this.

MS Internet Explorer

Although it remains the most ubiquitous browser, Internet Explorer has terrible problems: It is broken in many ways and it does not work well with existing standards. Significant effort is required to support it while remaining standards-compliant (supporting other browsers/software); I have invested much time and effort in understanding its bugs and how to work around them.

standards-compliance

My work complies with global standards. This returns useful advantages, especially for accessibility and in coping with the unknown and inevitable challenges of the future.

security

Although I believe security is related more to psychology – a state of mind/being – than to fangs and fences, I do examine the ramification of risk, and I do practise prudent (perhaps profuse) precaution.

examples

• Jeanette Lindström
• Kate Hammett-Vaughan
• Dr Marilyn G Chotem

zotmog

I created and continue to develop a system of software which I call «zotmog». It embodies the technique listed above, and provides a simple and powerful content management interface.

demonstration

You’re welcome to contact me for a guided tour of zotmog.

hosting & technical management

I also provide services related to hosting and technical management (domains, mail servers, &c.). I can create/prepare/manage an account on your behalf as requested (you pay and communicate with the host directly, and pay me for consulting), or I can act as an intermediary (you pay and communicate with me, and I manage all the technical details).

communication

help!