Drakash

A quick introduction and some (hopefully) relevant information about myself... My names Nick, and I have been working as a Web Designer & Developer for over 15 years now. I'm extremely enthusiastic and dedicated to my chosen profession, which I do for the simple reason that I love what I do. I’m extremely motivated and am able to run with a brief, from concept through creation to completion, and equally enjoy working on my own initiative or as part of a strong committed team. I enjoy and am experienced in team leading and taking control of, and developing projects on both day-to-day activities and overall strategy. I can work not only on an individual project basis, but also in help in forming policy regarding company New Media aims and objectives if so required. As well as my many commercial projects, I have worked extensively in the e-learning/local government arena, completing projects for clients such as the National Institute of Continued Adult Education (NIACE), The Reading Agency, The DfEE, National Youth Agency and various local councils. This has led to a fundamental understanding of practices such as W3C, WAI & Bobby compliance (using standards based HTML, CSS & XHTML) and also the need for user accessibility. I have developed many websites and intranets that are based on delivering dynamic content and information and making it accessible to users in a variety of electronic formats based on a variety of different criteria. The practice of delivering specific, targeted information depending on the users desires and needs is now critical in this age where users (and clients) are ever more tech savvy and have higher demands and expectations. Being fully conversant in several server side development platforms & technologies, as well as data storage & manipulation, has allowed me to develop solutions ranging from bespoke content management systems to data capture and analysis tools, as well as online gaming environments, blogs, social networking and e-commerce solutions etc. I have also specialised in using Flash & Flex to create everything from professional web animations, viral games, to full stand-alone data-driven applications. Combining the richness of the Flash front-end with the power and versatility of ActionScript, XML, Video, AJAX and PHP etc, has allowed me to really explore and create some truly exciting pieces of work. An integral part of any web developers skill set has to be, familiarity & understanding of the latest Search Engine Optimisation techniques and practices. And though I mainly focus on code & data optimisation, I am happy writing optimised content, link building, keyword scattering, planning of the implementation & creation of microsites, as well as using online advertising/revenue generating tools such as Viral Marketing, PPC/Adwords, Affiliate Marketing, Statistics & Analytics etc. I consider my design skills with tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Fireworks etc to be another area where I have many years experience in designing and providing visual solutions (i.e. GUIs, design concepts for both games and websites etc) across a broad spectrum of different applications and projects. Also note that this selection of work is just some of the projects that I have been involved in over the years and that many more examples can be provided upon request. Yours sincerely Nick Butler ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NICK BUTLER, SKILL SET Development Languages & frameworks: * PHP & ASP * AJAX (inc. Prototype, Scriptaculous, jQuery libraries etc) * ZEND & Code Ignitor PHP frameworks * MySQL * JavaScript & VBScript * CSS (inc. version 5)/ * HTML (inc. version 5)/ XHTML / DHTML * Web Services (i.e. XML-RPC, JSON, SOAP & WSDL etc) * ActionScript 1, 2 and 3 (OOP experienced) * XML / XSLT * PERL / CGI * SMARTY Template Engine OS & Network Environments & Technologies: * Windows NT, 2000 - 2007 Advanced Server * Cobalt RAQs * Understanding & experience of DNS, MX Records, CNAMES, A Records, Mailservers & Nameservers etc * BIND, SSH & Command Line Interface * cPanel, WHM, Plesk & Helm server control modules * APACHE 1 & 2 and IIS 5 & 6 * LINUX Distributions such as; Red Hat (Fedora), SUSe & GNOME Software Packages used: (The packages I use most frequently) * Adobe Dreamweaver (most recently CS5) * Adobe Flash - (most recently CS5) * Adobe Flex 1 & 2 * Eclipse Development platform & framework * MDM Zinc 3 * Adobe Fireworks (most recently CS5) * Adobe Photoshop (most recently CS5) * Adobe Illustrator (most recently CS5) * Adobe After Effects (most recently CS5) * ALL Microsoft Office packages (Inc. SQL/VB wizards/scripting, stored procedures, macros etc) * Flash Media Encoder CS5 Online Applications (a selection of the most frequently used): * Protx, 2Checkout, Google Checkout, PAYPAL, SagePay, NoChex, NetBank & WorldPay Payment Processing Systems * Limelight & Brightcove Video Encoding, Streaming & Content Delivery CMS systems * Pay Per Click Advertising (inc. Google Adwords and Yahoo etc) * Google Analytics installation & GOAL configuration * Web Statistics packages (i.e. Webalizer, Awstats, WebTrends Enterprise etc) installation, configuration & customisation * Open source software (i.e. Joomla, Mambo, PHPWiki, Wordpress, Drupal, vBulletin, SugarCRM, to name but a few) * Use of Email campaign software such as Campaign Monitor, Interspire Email Marketer, PG HTML Newsletter etc * Software for use in project management, and team/client collaboration such as BaseCamp, Jumpchart, ConceptShare, GITHUB, Subversion, MockFlow, TeamViewer etc I am currently engaged in building up my network of clients and running my own outsourcing & consultancy business. Working mainly for Media Agencies (sometimes on retainer, sometimes on a per project basis), and SME comapnies. I love getting the opportunity to build sites using a whole range of technologies and ideologies, as well as consulting on strategic & technological direction, at anywhere from company to project level. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NICK BUTLER (PIP & PEEL DESIGN), A SMALL SELECTION OF WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT WORK Market research World A hugely successful information portal for anyone involved in market research (i.e. professionals, graduates, students etc), with 10000’s of active users & member submitted articles. It includes podcasts, full document management system, user tracking & statistics, changeable themes, supplier’s directory, job vacancy section etc. Changes have been constantly made to both the content keywords and the underlying code to produce a very strong Search Engine optimised site. The site is currently ranked 2nd-3rd Worldwide in Google for the search term 'Market research' (an industry generic title), and receives over 1.5 million unique visitors per year. * [login to view URL] (DJS) National Market Research This site takes just 7 standard pages of content and through the use of server side code & manipulation, creates 3500 pages of fully optimised, search engine friendly content. * [login to view URL] Secure Virtual A total re-design & development of this company providing IT resources such as Cloud hosting, SaaS & network solutions for medium to large companies. * [login to view URL] The Orange Tree A Flash & HTML site, pulling in all data from a MySQL database and dynamically created XML feeds, to provide a rich interactive user experience for this locally owned pub chain. Online competitions engineered to run simultaneously with in bar events, and full CMS system to change all site information, also had to include integration with a card swipe terminal in each bar, which rewards users with points to spend on drinks for each use of the card which they apply for using the website. [login to view URL] The Font Pub A single page containing; information, full page resizing gallery, newsletter sign-up and contact form, to give this newly opened pub an online presence until I replace it with the full blown website. * [login to view URL] [login to view URL] A video lifestyle site, aimed at women 25-55. All videos hosted/presented by household names & well known experts in the USA. Runs from a fully bespoke CMS system, which ties together Video Content delivery networks, Ad Delivery networks, fully automated playlist scheduling, AJAX, XML & Flash frontend, video streaming & on the fly encoding technologies, as well as user & asset data tracking and manipulation, via an integrated CRM system. * [login to view URL] Ortoo Mail A small info site for this Salesforce plug-in, using CSS & jQuery to add some more interesting & slicker front end elements (i.e. contact form dropdown etc) * [login to view URL] SPC I was asked to undertake the design and development of this site for Europe’s most innovative card manufacturer. SPC provide Active Card services for the Retail, Telecoms, Security and Entertainment industries all over the world, and a QR code was made an integral part of the company logo, to enable compatible devices to go straight to the company website by using the logo QR code. * [login to view URL] St John Secured Homes A series of 3D based Flash interactions, aimed at soft selling the company product to the consumer by appearing to be a site giving free advice on home security. * [login to view URL] SCI Football Festivals A yearly site, built very much with SEO in mind, in order to get this industry leader ranked highly for all the required search phrases. Also had to be consistent with the new brochure, and yet interesting and easy to use. * [login to view URL] SNICKERS Fantasy Football A Flash site for Masters Food to promote various activities, from a Fantasy Football game & league to community sports events. All content is pulled in from XML sheets so that content can be changed as needed. * [login to view URL] [login to view URL] A total re-brand of the existing site, using many interactive Flash elements (i.e. navigation, interactive conservatories, The Showcase etc) that were not really an option in previous iterations. as they were primarily built for search engine indexing. Now, as well as optimising the site for Search Engines through carefully written content and interlinking pages, and building Search Engine Friendly gateway sites, the company launched a high budget Adword/Pay Per Click campaign, to drive visitors to the site for any searched relevant to conservatories. * [login to view URL] Variety of e-Commerce Stores A selection of e-commerce projects that worked on over the last 18 months * [login to view URL] * [login to view URL] * [login to view URL] * [login to view URL] Kuche Design A small but highly effective & visual site for this bespoke kitchen design & installations company, that features several interactive galleries as well as random & resizing page backgrounds (using full scale photography) * [login to view URL] DfES, Educational Maintenance Allowance Creation of the Flash frontend for this website. Which provides information, and an online application service, for grants encouraging young people to stay on at school. * [login to view URL] The Flies Flash website used to promote this new and upcoming UK band. This was (at point of going live), the only promotional (marketing) format used by the band, with the aim of revealing aspects of the band’s music, yet keeping and enhancing the feeling of mystery & surrealism. * [login to view URL] Paul Steel Music A quirky Flash based website, for this Brighton based pop maister. Developed working very closely with Paul himself. * [login to view URL] Robert Post Flash Blip A Flash promotional site based around a game/competition to promote the new single by Robert Post. * [login to view URL] EE Smith Contracts Ltd I took the existing Flash based site used by one of the biggest names in Interior Fitting & Contracting in the World, and turned it into a highly visual, fully Search Engine optimised site, allowing them to showcase all their work and capabilities. Though the information about the company is still of paramount importance, the focus has been put on using visual impact & dynamic content, to underline all the copy, no matter where the user is on the site. * [login to view URL]