Tuesday, November 18, 2003
- I know it's been a long while since I've updated this site,
but I've been really busy with my new job. In mid-July I began work with a small Web Development firm called Web 2 Market. They're located in Palos Park so it's only about 20 minutes away from home, but the best part is that I get to work from home most of the time!
Since I'm working from home most of the time I had to get a decent computer. I've finally replaced my 300 Mhz Dell with a new 2.8Ghz Dell XPS (same model as the 300Mhz! How ironic.). I also have returned to the world of broadband with a 1.5Mbps down x 128kbps up ADSL line from Covad, reimbursed by W2M.
In return for getting to work from home and the high speed connection, I've been required to learn a whole slew of new technologies. W2M has built an application that will import data from Mail Order Manager (MOM) - a manager for mail order catalog companies - into AbleCommerce (ACB) - a pretty powerful e-commerce package. This allows customers of MOM to include their products in an online store as well as their catalog and manage everything through MOM. W2M does all the customization involved in getting the site to work with MOM and getting the site to look nicer than the pretty ugly Out of Box template. We also design and build a few other sites that aren't running through ACB, but that is a bit more rare.
We use the ColdFusion version of ACB at W2M so I've been responsible for teaching myself ColdFusion in the past few months. It hasn't been too difficult to learn the basics, but I can see that it's a very powerful language and can do a lot. My most recent project has been to build a fully functional e-commerce site from the ground up for a store that is only selling a few products and didn't see the necessity of purchasing the entire ACB package.
Sites I've Built or Worked On at Web 2 Market - All sites were written in ColdFusion, HTML and Javascript. I've indicated which sites I was responsible for any graphical work.
www.associatedlearning.org - This is my Pride & Joy so far. The Associated Learning project has been my main project for two months now. I began by building the Berg Accelerated Learning and Study Skills Program that is being sold on the site. It is built in flash and consists of an introduction, eight lessons, and conclusion as well as a complete installation package. The program was created from audio CDs and a PowerPoint presentation by Howard Berg, the world's fastest reader, in Flash. I spent a lot of time getting everything to work correctly and then was waiting to add it to a web site that was supposed to be built and designed by someone else. After waiting for several weeks, we found out that the other person had backed out without letting anyone know. So I took on the project completely. The Associated Learning site is a fully functional e-commerce site that I built in ColdFusion from the ground up, including the graphic design. I've built the database with all the product information, related pages, order tracking, customer management, and affiliate management. I've built an ordering interface. I've built an account management interface. I've also built in a comprehensive administrative section to add and manage products and versions available. So I've been responsible for creating this site completely, from the design and layout to all the functionality to the product being sold on it.
www.yourelephant.com - WORK IN PROGRESS - This site will be using the new version of AbleCommerce. I am working on the front end layout, design and appearance. I am also responsible for all the graphic design, except the actual logo.
www.fqms.com - First Quality Musical Supplies wanted to convert their extensive static online catalog to a fully functional e-commerce site. I was responsible for creating a new look for them that was cleaner, more coherent, and more dynamic than their old site. I was also responsible for makeing all the necessary customizations to ACB to get my design to work and several customizations to the ACB code.
http://209.242.2.169 - The BFKPN Law Firm site still hasn't actually gone live even though I've been finished with the site for three months. We're still waiting on final approval from two of the lawyers there. Anyway, I was responsible for this site completely. The site is completely coded from scratch to display all the information for each attorney. All the attorney information is contained in a database and can be managed from an admin section I built. I was also responsible for the entire graphical design of the site. They told me the colors they wanted, showed me a few sample sites that they liked, and I came up with this design, after a few revisions.
www.polyjohn.com - I changed the static and uninformative product pages into database driven, dynamic product pages. I was required to change a lot of Pagemaker, PDF and AutoCad files into HTML, extract product images and part diagrams, and build a database of products with links to related products and categories.
http://bookstore.icma.org/ - I've done some small, behind the scenes work on the ICMA bookstore site also. I worked on a module to export product information into a *.csv file for ICMA to use in their reports, changed the code so that new products are displayed first in their own group in the search results, and made some small adjustments in other portions of the site.
www.bossenimp.com - The design of the Bossen Implements site and most of the general formatting of the site was done by an outside source, but I was responsible for several of the larger customizations, including functionality to display special WholeSale pricing if a customer logs in as a WholeSale customer, special Shipping SureCharges, and custom Shipping Disclaimer messages.
www.bigdweb.com - For the Big Dees site I built in the ability to have label information display for products on the web site and an admin section to manage label information. I have also been working on a tool to create templates to import products into Amazon.com.
www.glutenfree.com - I added and customized the W2M Affiliates Module for the Gluten Free Pantry. This allows them to have an affiliates program.
