Scott Freeman

As a personal development project to improve my OOPHP and MySQL skills, I designed and developed a Facebook application that makes finding players and swapping codes incredibly easy for players of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City.

I used full object orientation to populate the players details and their friends details, and to render the page HTML in a consistent way. I also used database normalisation to ensure MySQL queries were fast, stable, and scalable. Users of the application can enter their information and search for other players based on geographical location, game details, or online status.

Visit City Folk Friends (Facebook account required).

My first real project in OOPHP and MySQL normalisation is a front-end interface to Twitter's API. Users can register for an account on the site, and save their Twitter information in an encrypted database. Using object orientation and CURL to interact with Twitter's API, users can easily update their Twitter status and view updates from their Twitter friends.

I used Javascript to create a never-ending page of updates. When the user scrolls towards the bottom of the screen, new updates are automatically pulled from Twitter and displayed just below the fold, meaning the user will never get to the end of the page.

Visit scottfreeman.net/twitter (Twitter account required).

Whilst I was employed as a web designer for Fasthosts, my role was to design and create new websites and pages for the corporate brand, modify existing websites to carry the current marketing strategy, and create HTML email newsletters.

I needed to consider cross browser compatibility, accessibility, SEO, and page load performance at all times. As part of the team, we offered each other help and support with both design and coding.

Visit fasthosts.co.uk

Another part of my role within Fasthosts was to ensure the hosting control panel stayed up to date and functional with new offers, products, and features.

The control panel was based on a templating system, which pulls in various tags and events from an external file and injects them in to the HTML layouts. I was also responsible for coding the Javascript actions and events to make interaction with the pages as easy as possible, whilst ensuring those without Javascript still get a stable and functional experience.

I was tasked to design, and create a total redesign of the reseller support portal. It had to include a searchable knowledge base, system status updates, and a documentation area especially geared towards our valued reseller customers.

I opted to create a professional looking site, with crisp and clear navigation that was very easy to use. I ensured that customers could locate and use the knowledge base very quickly, as it’s probably the most valuable area of the site. Some areas, such as the system status page, are dynamically created by reading information from an SQL database that is updated by the server administration team.

Fasthosts recently launched their reseller hosting business in America, which has been received better than expected. I was on the team to help develop the main Fasthosts website, to help with the technical coding and implementation of the site.

I used some advanced CSS techniques to deliver a rich, modern and professional experience to American visitors.

Visit fasthosts.com (Note that IP restrictions are in place, and you must have an American IP address to view).

This was the biggest project to date for Fasthosts, and I'm glad I was a crucial part in ensuring it was delivered on time and ahead of expectation. My task was to wireframe the page flow, design the visuals in Photoshop, and code the pages using PHP, Javascript, XHTML and CSS.

I created the CSS in such a way that other pages could be quickly created and the styles would suit each page exactly with little effort. I used some advanced Javascript to enrich the user experience, whist always maintaining graceful degradation across all platforms, with minimal or zero in-line Javascript code.

I created a small one-page website for Jans new home business, Life Coaching. Since this is a small home-business venture, I felt an eBrouchure was better suited than a full-blown website.

I used JavaScript to condense what would be several small pages in to one categorized page, making navigation much easier for the end users and allowing the information to be displayed neatly. I designed the site with an emphasis on freedom and open spaces, using light typography and subtle blends and gradients.

Visit janetfreeman.co.uk

I was approached to redesign the website for a local salsa dance class, Salsa Flex. Their previous site was difficult to update and wasn't drawing the number visitors they were hoping for.

I identified the biggest requirement for this project was for it to be easily updated. With this in mind, I created a simple PHP framework that wrapped the content in the default template. For ease and speed, I used an open-source Content Management System so the client could update any page at any time, and an open-source PHP image gallery for their photos.

Stainless Steel Rat

I designed this site for a friend's personal website using some images he provided. The site was designed in Photoshop, and built in Dreamweaver using valid XHTML and CSS.