I make beautiful websites that are accessible & elegant, allowing your users to do what they need to, without your site getting in the way. To do this I liberally apply common sense alongside technical expertise to make sure your website is as useful as it can be.
I’m a developer as well as a designer, which means I understand the design of your database as well as being comfortable discussing layout, typography and colour.
My preferred working style is friendly and flexible, avoiding jargon and buzzwords in order to give you the best solution for your needs. I’ll help you through the process, guiding you toward producing a site that is great for your users. Why not drop me a line and we can have a chat about your particular project.
Web Standards
I only hand-build sites using web standards and semantically rich XHTML and CSS; these technical terms might seem confusing, but don’t panic. What they mean is that your users get fast loading pages and search engines, like Google, can get at your content easily.
Any JavaScript techniques I use are unobtrusive, meaning that your site will work for those people without Javascript enabled on their machines and on as many devices as possible. For those that do have JavaScript, they’ll get the extra clever stuff.
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is a programming framework that lets me develop complex or very custom web applications. For when even a powerful content management system isn’t enough, Rails gives me total control of the design of your site allowing me to build pretty much anything.
It’s the technology behind several impressive sites; Twitter, Basecamp, Yellow Pages and hundreds more.
ExpressionEngine
ExpressionEngine is the foundation for the site at which you are looking. It is a highly flexible content management system that lets you add to, and maintain, the content on your site through a straight-forward web interface.
ExpressionEngine has enough flexibility to run multiple sites, forums, galleries, members-only content and even simple shops. Put simply, I can customise an EE-powered site to your precise requirements to give you the site functionality your users need.
Textpattern
Textpattern is an lightweight content management system that allows you to modify and update your content through a web based interface.
It’s not ideally suited to very complex sites, but for smaller scale informational websites or blogs it’s streamlined interface is the ideal fit. The price (free!) is another point in it’s favour for the budget-conscious.
Andy Croll
I’m married to Jo and we currently live in Singapore, having previously lived in the UK.
After a degree in Computer Science from the University of Southampton, I worked for Accenture for 4 years, working in a variety of project management roles for their biggest outsourcing clients in the UK. My time there was focussed on making things work properly and look great – this focus remains in my work today.
I re-entered web design in 2005, and in April 2006 I left Accenture to pursue web design as my ‘proper job’.