Web Design & Development

Plenty of experience in this field, and Web sites have been designed since 1993.

Before WYSIWYG editors existed this meant typing the code in by hand (oh, what fun we had!)

graphics : optimise : grandmothers : free?!

Now with the advent of sophisticated Web editors, the emphasis has shifted firmly to the aspect of design, leaving the designer to concentrate on the site appearance.

Graphics: Flash or otherwise

Plenty of experience with all aspects of Web design and graphics, including advanced Flash animations and forms. I also use LiveMotion and Swish.

Optimisation

This is the key. You can make a good looking site, but how efficient is it? This page weighs in at an extremely healthy 26KB - around five seconds to load with a K56 modem!

At the date of writing, 20% of the country still don't have Broadband and it is reckoned that many people simply move elsewhere if the page takes longer than 10 seconds to load.

Grandmothers...

The trouble is, everyone and their grandmother think they can design good-looking and effective Web sites. Wrong! As a freelance journalist writing for Web and Internet magazines, I see it from another aspect, where so-called "Webmasters" ask me how to solve their problems...

Sample Sites:

All the sites mentioned below were designed and developed entirely by myself, with a little help from Peter Armitage of SabreTech Associates Ltd, when more sophisticated Javascript routines were required!

AstroArt - site designed and developed for David A Hardy, Britain's (the World's?) foremost space artist.

JoyFinzi.com - covering the work of a very talented and underestimated artist. Wife of the famous British composer, Gerald Finzi.

SabreTech - a company involved with developing hardware and software solutions.

Penwork Ministries
A charity supporting foreign prisoners with aid, letters and gifts. An example of one site supported and maintained free of charge.

Encill-art - my own Art site. Currently undergoing revamp.

Birbeck & Sons - Birmingham-based Printers.

The Apostrophes - 2-man guitar band!

Friends of Key Hill Cemetery - designed and maintained free of charge.

Free?!

Sometimes we even offer my expertise free of charge. We like to see people succeed in what is a fairly tricky subject and appreciate not everyone uses the Web commercially!

Naturally we are probably not going to design a complete Web site, unless there is a very good reason (charity, for example), but assistance will be rendered where possible.

But if you want to make a donation, please forward a cheque to Acorns Children's Hospice or pay online – with thanks!