- Related Web Links
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Museum of Childhood
- Mark Moxon's Travel Writing
- V&A accessibility statement
- V&A events calendar
- A V&A e-postcard
- A V&A object database
- A V&A event database
- V&A 150th anniversary slideshow
- Xara
- BuyFonts
- h2g2 Peer Review
- BBC Learning Zone Clips Library
I have been developing dynamic websites since 1998, using a wide range of technologies. Here's a summary of my web developer skills:
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W3C-Compliant Websites: I have extensive experience of standards-compliant coding in HTML, XHTML, DHTML, CSS and JavaScript. Examples of my recent coding work can be seen at the BBC, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Childhood. My personal websites also provide good examples of my cross-platform web skills, with over 800 pages of W3C-compliant code that work on all of the major browsers while degrading gracefully on older versions.
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Accessibility: When I joined the V&A, the website didn't even work in browsers other than Internet Explorer, let alone meet the accessibility standards required of government websites. I recoded over 250 XSL templates in the museum's CMS to meet the W3C WCAG 1.0 Level A and AA accessibility requirements, and I put in place a process for maintaining this accessibility level in the future.
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XML, XSL and Velocity: I have five years' experience in coding XSL and Velocity templates for enterprise-level content management systems (see my CMS skills for more information).
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Perl, PHP and ASP: I have been coding in Perl for seven years and PHP for three years, maintaining and developing applications such as the V&A's Oracle/Perl-based events calendar, PHP scripts such as the V&A's e-postcards, object databases and event databases, an ASP/VBScript-powered shopping trolley system at Xara, and the BuyFonts site, which is still generated by the Perl-based template system I wrote some eight years ago.
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Ajax: I added a number of Ajax effects, mainly using jQuery, to the Condom Essential Wear site, and I also implemented an Ajax-powered slideshow for the V&A's 150th anniversary, which thelondonpaper called 'rather fetching'.
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Database Management: I have worked extensively with Microsoft SQL Server over the last seven years, and MySQL over the last three years. I am well versed in creating complex relational database schemas from scratch, as well as writing the scripts to access them. At h2g2 I worked directly within SQL Server to develop a completely new editorial process; this led to the Peer Review system that is still a central part of the site. Both the DNA and Rhythmyx content management systems rely on SQL Server as a back-end, and I am adept in writing queries both for statistical analysis of CMS usage, and for manipulating data when there isn't a particular tool included in the core system.
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Web Server Administration: I have three years experience with Apache and Linux, managing the V&A's web servers on a day-to-day basis. I am au fait with Apache configuration for multiple virtual servers and sites.
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Web Analytics: At the V&A I installed and set up WebTrends, and worked extensively with Apache to produce log files for analysis. I also installed Google Analytics code on the website to provide client-tagging analysis for comparison. At DNA I became adept at writing bespoke SQL queries for analysis in Excel to produce management-friendly reports on a large range of issues, such as site stickiness, levels of user contributions, website growth and staff performance analysis.
In summary, I have been developing high quality public-facing websites for 8 years, using a combination of HTML, XHTML, DHTML, CSS, XML/XSL, Velocity, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, ASP and VBScript.
