Portfolio: Websites & Concept Pages

  Home  
  Portfolio  
  Costs  
  Contact Me  

This page lists websites and concept pages I have created since 1998. The oldest sites are more primitive, because they were designed in an era when browsers were much less capable and the Internet was much slower.

Other pages in this portfolio list:

Websites 

Here are websites I have made:

  • Browser News: a weekly web-based newsletter that offers news about browsers and web design, links to browsers old and new, design resources, and internet stats. 39 pages. Created in 1998, redesigned several times.

  • ChristRing Ministries: an evangelical Christian ministry. 80+ pages. Created in 1999. Note: since 2001 the site has been maintained by the client, who has not changed the design, but who has allowed infelicities to creep in while adding new features and new content.

Elements of Design

There are four key elements in the design of my sites.

1. I design each site to meet the client’s unique needs.

2. I design sites with code that complies with industry standards; I use non-compliant code only if needed to make sites work with non-compliant browsers. This helps ensure that sites will work with both current and future browsers.

3. I design sites that work with all browsers in common use, but which may look nicer with newer, more capable browsers.

4. I encourage clients to adopt a functional design that avoids excess. This is achieved in large part by focusing on what truly must be done, and by keeping things simple.

  • Erindale Cardinals 2003: a baseball team. 31 pages. Created in 2002. Note: this site is no longer updated, since the 2003 season is long over; some links may have broken since then. See also: Erindale Blue Jays 2001 and 2002.

  • Georgetown Eagles 2008 Major Peewee AAA: a local élite boys’ baseball team. 29 pages and growing. Created in 2008.

  • International Lawyers' Group: a lawyers' association. 90+ pages. Created in 2000. Note: this site is password protected, available to members only.

  • John Adams: a Toronto City Councillor. Was 130+ pages. Created in 1999. Note: this site is no longer accessible, as Mr. Adams let his site expire after opting not to run in the 2000 election: only a copy of the home page is accessible, and links are no longer active.

  • Mississauga Majors Baseball Teams 2000-2008: local élite baseball teams. 260+ pages and growing. Created in 2000, heavily redesigned twice. Note: JavaScript must be enabled for some pages to work, beginning in 2007.

  • Mississauga Terriers Peewee AA Hockey 2006/2007: a local boys’ hockey team. 9 pages. Created in 2006. Note: this is a very low budget site, so it lacks many features found in other sports sites. Note: this site is no longer updated, since the 2006/2007 season is over; some links may have broken in the meanwhile.

  • NCOHA Predators: a site for a youth hockey association, the North Central Ontario Hockey Association, which fields 7 élite teams. 48 pages and growing. Small Perl programs are used to enable administrators to do some site administration. Created in 2007.

  • North American Decal: a graphic arts company that offers OEM, fleet, and promotional graphic services. Was 12 pages. Created in 1999. Note: this site was later redesigned by someone else; the link goes to a copy of the last version I made.

  • Ontario Lightning Hockey Clubs: a site for an élite youth hockey association, under construction since Nov 2007. 60 pages and growing. Note: parts of the site are incomplete due to lack of information from the client. Note: JavaScript must be enabled for some pages to work.

  • Saint Edward the Confessor Anglican Church: a church site. 34 pages. Created in 1998.

  • Security News: a weekly web-based newsletter that gives news about security fixes for common PC software. 5 pages. Created in 1999, redesigned several times.

  • Stiritz.net: a professional photographer's photo galleries. 13 pages. Created in 2006. Note: this is one of my few sites that requires that JavaScript be enabled. Note: the client specified the look and feel of each page, right down to the finest detail.

  • Toronto Titans Minor Bantam AAA Hockey 2007/2008: a local élite boys’ hockey team. 25 pages and growing. Created in 2007.

  • Alma A Upsdell Family Tree: a personal genealogical site. 400+ pages. Created in 1999, redesigned twice.

  • WebSightServices: a website integrator. Was 11 pages. Created in 1999. Note: the company shut down during the .com collapse. Note: the home page takes a very long time to load for those with dial-up connections, since it has a huge graphic selected by the client.

Concept Pages 

Here are concept pages: pages created to present design ideas. Because they are not production pages, links in the concept pages are often inactive, and links to external pages may have expired. The design of newer pages is better. Note: the newest pages may not work with obsolete browsers.

  • Astrological Forecasts (1): a concept page for a site to be used to sell astrological forecasts. Links in the page are not active. Created in 2000.

  • Astrological Forecasts (2): a concept page for a site to be used to sell astrological forecasts. Links in the page are not active. Created in 2000.

  • Calendar: a simple multilingual perpetual calendar, implemented in Perl, with the calendar displayed very compactly. Created in 2003.

  • Coalition for Persons with Disabilities: a concept site for an organization working with the disabled; the concept site fixed problems described in a detailed critique. This is a re-make of an existing Dec. 2005 site. Links in this site are active. Created in 2006.

Whence the Concept Pages?

Some may wonder why I made the concept pages.

I created some to show prospective clients what their sites might look like. E.g. I designed Astrological Forecasts (2) for an astrologer who wanted a site to promote his services: the concept page was a proposed entry page to the site.

I created some to explore design techniques. E.g. I took a design that had been made for an old proposal and re-used it as a test-bed for perfecting a new way of making drop-down menus, resulting in the current ERT concept site.

I created some to improve my design skills. E.g. I made Calendar as an exercise for improving my skills in using the Perl language.

In one case I created a concept site as an initial step in developing a site. I made Galleria to demonstrate and test JavaScript code for making a photo gallery: this code — but not the page design — became the core of the Stiritz.net photo gallery.

  • ERT Inc.: a concept page for an environmental investigation and remediation firm. This is a re-make of an existing Aug. 2003 site. Links in this site are not active. Created in 2003.

  • Galleria: a concept site demonstrating a photo gallery. Links in this site are active. Note: this is made for modern browsers. Note: this is one of my few sites that require that JavaScript be enabled. Created in 2006.

  • Home Business Place: a concept for a business portal. Links in this site are not active. Note: this is made for modern browsers. Created in 1999.

  • Mancor Industries, Ltd.: a concept page for an industrial firm. This is a re-make of an existing Dec. 2000 site. Links in this site are not active. Created in 2000.

  • Mississauga Chess Club: a concept site for a chess club. This is a re-make of an existing Aug. 2001 site. Links in this site are active. Created in 2001.

  • Modern Access Systems: a rough concept site for an international vendor of access control systems. Links in this site are active, but only a few pages exist, so clicking on many pages will go to pages which do not exist. Created in 2007.

  • Mother Teresa School: a concept site for a school. Links in this site are active. Created in 1999.

  • Mississauga Terriers Minor Bantam AAA: a concept site for hockey team. Links in this site are not active. Created in 2007.

  • Pickwick Farm: a concept site for a farm. This is a re-make of an existing Aug. 2001 site. Links in this site are active. Created in 2001.

  • Qualikom: a concept site for a internet host provider. This is a re-make of an existing Mar. 2002 site. Links in this site are not active. Created in 2002.

  • Saints Martha and Mary Parish: a concept site for a parish. Links in this site are active. Created in 2001.

  • Surplus Machine Tool: a concept site for a seller of used manufacturing equipment, machine tools, and metalworking machinery. Links in this site are not active. Created in 2007.

  • Ultek: a concept site for a internet host provider. This is a re-make of an existing Mar. 2003 site. Links in this site are not active. Created in 2003; updated in 2006 to fix an IE7 problem.

  • Volunteer Centre of Peel: a concept site for a city volunteer organization. This is a re-make of an existing June 2001 site. Links in this site are active. Created in 2001

  • WoodFantasies: a concept page for a site to be used to sell handcrafted accessories to needlework enthusiasts. Links in the page are not active. Created in 1999.