My style

• I like clean.
• I like simple.
• I like a modern feel.
• I like valid HTML and CSS.

With all of that being said, the following is a showcase of some work I have done. Some of the items below are "live" web sites, and some are just me playing with different techniques. For better or for worse, but mostly for lack of time, not all of my little examples fit into the style of this site, but they deviate a little bit, just to keep things fresh.

• Green Flip Flops

  I launched a small design firm, Green Flip Flops. The site is mostly a brochure site at the moment, but as my client list grows I will be adding more and more functionality to make it easier to interact with my clients. This is my first complete site done using Code Igniter, and I really enjoyed using it. This site is also the first completely fluid site I've done - everything is done in em's and percentages. Green Flip Flops is my maiden voyage into starting a real business, I have taken the time to write a business plan and I plan on opening a business bank account and everything.

• Need A Hand, LLC

  I finally completed a small project I have been working on recently, NeedAHandLLC.com. This is a site for a small cleaning company in the northern Virginia area. The owners had a logo which I used to come up with the color palette for the site, but they didn't have much else to go on. This is their first presence on the web so they were just looking for something fairly simple to try to drive potentital customers to contact them. I love the crisp clean feeling of the blue and white, and I think the "wallpaper" background is nice and subtle as well (my wife actually helped me finalize the image I used and repeated.) It would be cool to build on the site by giving it an admin system the owners could use to keep up with their appointments and invoicing.

• Total Design, LLC

  This was another basic web site I put together from scratch for some one with no previous internet presence. I was given a basic color combination and layout for the site, and I took it from there. Most of the copy was given to me by the company owner. I 'finished' the site in February 2007, but I imagine there will be some tweaking, adjusting, and adding on throughout the site's life cycle. Take a look at TotalDesignLLC.com.

• Torra Paving

  I was asked to create this site from scratch. They had no internet presence at all, so this is a "from the ground up" project. The owners had some pictures, flyers, business cards, a company logo, and company colors, so I took all of that and built upon it. I finished the site in August 2006, so now I'm just doing routine maintenance and any updates to the site. Check out TorraPaving.com.

• Photo Gallery

  There are plenty of slide shows and image galleries out there on the web. I really liked this one because it is so easy to manipulate and customize. The pictures here are of my kids and me, but this framework could be used for anything. It would be a great feature to use to show off a portfolio of graphics, or products for sale, or just about anything that would require navigation and previews with more details available. Check out the gallery.

• CSS Slide Show

  For the CSS enthusiast in me, I found this nice CSS slide show (or photo gallery.) It has a fun sliding effect when you mouse over the pictures, and it works well in all modern browsers. Who knew CSS was so much fun? The gallery, CSS style.

• Ajax Tutorial

  I try to spend a lot of time teaching myself web programming techniques, and this is my first attempt at using Ajax. Admittedly, I have barely scratched the surface of what is capable with it, but this was a good primer for a first Ajax page. I'm using the xmlhttprequest to retrieve and load external files without reloading the page. A really cool technology, and scratching the surface here has given me some ideas and insight into how it could be a very helpful tool when doing "real" web design work for clients. I look forward to working it into some more useful web pages soon. Here's the link: Ajax page.

• Google Maps API

  Inevitably, it comes up every time you meet some one new. After some small talk or some discussion about hobbies, interests, background, etc. the person you've recently met says, "So where are you from?" Oddly enough, I've always struggled with answering that simple question. So, Google Maps to the rescue! See, my parents worked for IBM (yes, "I've Been Moved"), so I had the "pleasure" of seing a wide variety of American culture while I was growing up. Gun-to-my-head, I'd say I'm from Virginia, but there's much more to it than that. Here it is, my geographical life story.