Web Design and Programming?

***Steven*** · #1 02-12-2008, 09:27 PM

Who here does web design and programming for work, or for fun?

Aside from some stuff here (when I get time now), I do stuff at work once in a while. If a client needs a new website, I usually make one for them. Most of the time, I use PHP, but once in a blue moon, I'll build a MySQL database for its backend to store dynamic content. I've gotten more into using strictly CSS for layouts with my more recent sites.

The most recent ones I did were for one of our sister companies (PC Dude/Laptop Repair Center - http://www.pcdude.com/ and http://www.laptoprepaircenter.com/), which serves our retail service end, and one for one of my clients. The last one, for a client, was stressful, since I was under an extremely tight deadline (2 weeks for an entire website... usually takes a month for a the same website - so not much time to try out ideas).

Of course, I have to sometimes beat it into the owner's brains that I can't do web design all the time -- it burns me out very easily, compared to other work I do (my official title is network engineer and consultant... I like to work with the network infrastructure and talk to people to find out what they need and try to help them out). I've also been very busy helping to develop and refine a business voice over IP system, since the next generation of business phones are headed that way.

apsterling · #2 02-12-2008, 11:03 PM

I've do basic PHP for fun, and I've tried out designing for mobile devices (think iPhone)

I find basic work fun, rather than pushing it.

***Graham*** · #3 02-13-2008, 12:44 AM

I do a lot of web development actually. interestingly enough the only full live functioning web site I work on is ThrillNetwork. However, thats largely because my interest are not in developing web sites themselves.

For ThrillNetwork. I do a lot of work with PHP, JavaScript, Flash, HMTL, and CSS. None of its too difficult really. The PHP work is mostly with the back end of the site. For this I heavily interact with our MySQL database. For the JavaScript portion of development I mainly do AJAX type stuff. One of the more notable JavaScript applications I wrote for ThrillNetwork is the search suggestions box for the ride and park database's main page.

Also, as far as ThrillNetwork development goes I've had a large hand in developing the Ride & Park database. In fact the current database is mainly my programming (with a few exceptions). The database is pretty much my pet project on the site.

For my other work (which I find MUCH more interesting) I write web applications and development tools. Basically this means that I work on making programs that allow other people to make web sites. I have two main projects that I'm working on at the moment.

The first is a large content management system written in PHP which will be fully scalable and feature such things as advanced user administration, style/template system (which has a compiler that I wrote in PHP for allowing designers to put conditional logic embedded into the HTML templates), and a powerful plugin and install system.

My other main project is actually a programming language of sorts. C/C++ developers are used to having a preprocessor for their programs when they compile. I've found that in order to optimize code and streamline design it is important to have such tools at hand. This is one of the major drawbacks of PHP and other scripting languages of the sort. In fact large JavaScript programs make use of preprocessors by having their developers just run the program though a C preprocessor. So, I am working on developing a generic preprocessing language made specifically for web development. Eventually I would like to include program optimization into this web application build system as I feel that program optimization is very important but is lacking with many scripting languages as their interpreted nature leave little room for compile time optimizing.

Anyway, if you have any questions about any of my projects let me know.

PANTSFREE · #4 02-13-2008, 07:47 AM

Right now I'm finishing up my degree in interactive media. Right now the only web site I'm working on is this personal page, http://frankdecot.com. I really enjoy all the CSS coding... I'm still trying to find the time tobuild up a better knowledge of PHP, Flash (right now I'm learning A LOT about flash and action script), and other good stuff.

I'm hoping to get some intern type work this summer, and when I graduate in the spring of 09 I'll be out there looking for a job in the field.

coasterz44 · #5 02-13-2008, 02:04 PM

I run a few websites. Nothing really major design/development wise going on with any of them... probably the most technical one I've done is http://www.MySubscribers.org which is just a Myspace tracker. I coded the IP tracker myself in PHP and it uses a MySQL database so users can 'identify' their visitors with their FriendID. Brings in a nice bit of side money.

I've also got:
http://www.HorrorNights.be - Halloween Horror Nights media/fan site.

http://www.ZombieCrawlOrlando.com - Local 'flash mob' event I help with. I'm actually in the process of creating a DVD from the last crawl and re-doing the site.

http://www.PandB.org - Prometheus and Bob fan site. I really need to get rid of the forums though, damn spam bots took over.

I'm really terrible at the 'design' aspect of web design, so I mostly just find a template and mess around with the CSS. HorrorNights.be is really the only site I created from scratch.

**Kyle L** · #6 02-13-2008, 06:49 PM

Most Programming I ever did was Microsoft Visual Basic for a class I took. It was awesome. I love spending 4 hours a day in a Computer Lab for a week to make a program that calculates MPG for various cars; a task I could do in 10 seconds on my calculator and a piece of paper.

Awesome.

**Andrew Polcyn** · #7 02-13-2008, 08:08 PM

I took C and C++ in college (Pascal in high school)and had I been able to interpret for myself, I could have a nice computer software job. Anyhow...

I have programmed in BASIC too. That seems to be very easy. Eventually I'd like to get back into programming.

rjholla2003 · #8 02-13-2008, 09:07 PM

Steven, best avatar/signature/location status ever! I'm guessing that's Pacman Jones in street clothes there. And to be on topic...

I've dabbled in some amateurish web design and very little in PHP. My PHP experience comes from my work aiding my friend Wade with GadvUpdates. I used to be much better with PHP than I am now (which isn't saying a lot), but now I've been busy and not as able to dive into the code and learn via trial-by-fire like before. I might dive back into PHP if I have my own web space to just goof around with and do whatever.

As far as just HTML, I sling open Dreamweaver and whipped up this. I fell into the webmaster role for the Residential Leadership Council by trying to impress my girlfriend, LOL. She, along with her roommate at the time founded the Council and wanted a website. I started playing around, stuffed the first version of the website on a flash drive, and loaded it in IE when my gf wasn't paying attention. Next thing I know, Google is my best friend and I'm on E-board. Joke's on me! It used to be better, but the photo gallery is MIA since my laptop crashed and I lost the photos, and the copy that was on the server somehow was messed up by the ResLife webmaster. There was also an interactive calendar of our events that was made in Outlook 2007 beta. I have a copy of Outlook 2007 on my laptop now, so maybe that will come back online before I hand the keys over to the incoming webmaster.