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Sites I've Built
Web Programming differs from web design in many ways.
- A web programmer's work may never be seen by the end user.
- Web programming like CGI (which stands for Common Gateway Interface, but means "interaction with the server") isn't done in the relatively simple HTML. While HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, it's not really a language per se, but more like a code. PHP, ASP, and Perl are the most common programming languages for the web. While they don't compile or run like other programs, they are still very powerful, and wonderfully speedy.
- Web programming is science, where web design is art.
In fact, the differences between web design and web programming are so pronounced that most design firms have separate individuals for designing versus programming.
Lucky you, though -- you found me.
My left-brain/right-brain analyses have always come back saying the same thing: I'm extremely balanced between the math and logic side of thinking, and the art and abstractual side of thinking. I studied computer science for several years before I switched to film to pursue my real interest, screenwriting. (And once my first screenplay sells, I probably won't be doing much more of this web-work; I love website creation, but I love writing more.) I have an eye for visual media, and the knowledge of how to build a functional site.
A designer can give you a pretty web site. A programmer can give you one that works. I can do both.
Singlesaints.com has been my laboratory and studio. Let me give you a few of the back-end details you might not see when perusing the site.
- Profile database. I concisely and accurately store the personal, public, and demographic information for each member, as well as their preferences. When a user logs in, his favorites list becomes available as a drop-down, letting him select any user's profile he wishes to visit. His search parameters become the defaults when he goes to browse for new matches. And soon, his preferred color scheme (or theme, or skin) will become active as well.
- Mail center. I created a way to store tens of thousands of messages without needless duplication. New messages can result in a notification email to the recipient's personal email address, or the message can be forwarded in its entirety to the user, depending on their selection. The date the message was sent is recorded, as well as the date it was read, and if it is a reply to a previous message.
- Dynamic pages. A single header file and footer file make changes to the entire site quick and painless. A list of new members is generated on the fly with every new page load, so the newbies are always visible. Parties or other events listed by users are also generated on the fly, so new postings to the calendar get immediate attention.
- Flash chat. A chat room and instant messaging client built in Flash.
- User accounts. Users can log in, upload photos, create thumbnail images of their photo, and update their biographical information on their own.
- Forum. I built a message board and search utility that now has thousands of threads with tens of thousands of replies.
Additionally, on the administration side, I've built graphing utilities to show growth and projections, gender, age, and locality distributions, and quick search utilities.
Originally I built the CGI in Perl, using a flat file system instead of a database. That is what I call "learning the hard way". MySQL and PHP came around and made my life much easier -- I've since become proficient in PHP and MySQL, and have dabbled in ASP.
Tell me what you want for your site, and let me make a bid.
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