Application Development Sample

Originally posted: March 1 2005 @ 18:25 ET

Quick Information:

Resume in Open Office format, and doc format

Cover Letter in Open Office format, and doc format

Site samples MTLS.us, Lanier.com, BinaryGeek Smarty Template Demonstration

As a PHP contractor I've had many requests for work samples. I've decided to make a single post to my weblog to satisfy most of the requests that I receive.

Since I primarily develop DB driven applications, the most you could see of these projects is a login screen. I will add (with the client's permission) a reference to a recent project. The client came to me requesting a site that had a Flash/Shockwave feel but without the requirement of a Flash plugin. The client works on several government contracts and wanted something that would stand out from his competition. Since most of the machines used by military personnel are locked down, installing browser plugins would be impossible for many of the sites visitors. Since the business of my client (Chemical Engineering) is rather dull to read about, I chose to use a lot of imagery from the client's research as well as royalty free stock photography. I also incorporated a layout with few straight lines to contrast the "data sheet" look that is so common in the industry. Navigating through this site you will see that the content and imagery change in response to your exploration without the need to click and load a new page. And if you resize your browser window short enough to allow scrolling on one of the pages using the "data layout" you can scroll the page to notice a neat CSS/DHTML trick that produces a 3D optical illusion. The translucent paper appears to be sliding underneath the brushed aluminum page frame which casts a shadow over the text, while the image of the earth below the "paper" stays in place. To clarify, I've attached a screen shot:

(My code is thoroughly tested to ensure cross browser compliance.)

The most important thing I do is write DB driven PHP. This is very difficult to demonstrate without allowing access to secured areas, or wasting resources on a demo environment. I can, however, show you the features this client received with their project:

1. Site layouts developed using Smarty Templates.


2. Code is clean, well documented, and Object Oriented, as seen here.


3. "Alternative PHP Cache" and memcached eliminate the overhead of generating pages on the fly.


4. Client opted for the use of text files rather than a database. (Although I repurpose code to save clients time and money, I am still flexible and am not limited to what I feel is best.)


5. Client manages their own content using a full featured "Content Management System." You can see a demo of the CMS.