web design
I have been making and maintaining web sites since 1996. My portfolio is as follows:
- 1996-2006. Federal Court of Australia design, maintenance and development. This site won the Justice Served top ten legal web sites for the years 2002, 2004 and 2006. (Each year, "Justice Served" reviews over 3,500 court web sites to recognise the best court online offerings in the world.) I resigned from the Court in 2006 so I've taken a snapshot of the site as it was when I last managed it in case it changes and I'm unaware of it..
- 2007. Easy Street Retreat. After retirement from the Federal Court of Australia we moved from Sydney to an acreage that we named Easy Street Retreat, and I made this web site for it.
- 2007 Kim de Vahl Baker: Artist. Kim is a talented local artist who approached me to make her a web site. I was very happy with the result and I think she was too.
- 2008 Patanga. I am currently working on a site for a multiple occupancy community.
- 2008 Lesley Green Independent Team G running for the Bellingen Shire Council elections. This site aims to open a new chanel of communication between candidate and community.
If you like my work and my design philosophy (below) and would like me to make a site for you, please contact me with your requirements.
I believe that web design is a craft. With a bit of knowledge it is easy for anyone to cobble together a basic site. There are plenty of examples of awful sites out there. To make a good site however, it takes years of experience together with a sense of style and placement.
My philosophy of web design is this:
- Ease of use is uppermost.
- Web sites should never be designed as a demonstration of the skills or virtuosity of the webmaster, or even worse, as a demonstration of the hipness or funkiness of the site owner.
- Web sites should be an open door to the site content, where all users (regardless of the speed of their connection, operating system, screen resolution, physical disability or any other circumstance) can enter confidently and stroll about the site to get the information they want with ease and speed.
- Web sites should be simple, consistent, easily navigated and written in meaningful plain english.
- Web sites should strive to comply with W3C and other national accessibility and usability guidelines.
- Web sites should immediately declare who they are and what they are offering on the opening page with minimal scrolling. Users shouldn't have to conduct an archaeological dig and if frustrated, will quickly turn away.
- Web sites should be free of twizz and impediments such effects for their own sake. A prime example of this is a splash page or Flash introduction that serves no useful purpose but to place an impediment between the user and the content of site. How many times have you clicked 'skip intro?'.
- Just as important as all of the above is the ongoing task of keeping a site up to date. The web is instantaneous. Stale information and broken links are anathematic. Visitors will quickly turn away and lose confidence in a site if it is not current.
