Web Development

Retirement

I am leaving this page here as it reflects a previous life and way of working – but I have not taken on new work since March 2020 and will be retired from all but a small amount of web work from March 2021.

My thanks go to all of those clients, over many years, who have trusted me with their websites, online presences and data but the time eventually came to let them choose younger hands to support them!

How can I help?

Web development …. it’s not rocket science but it can still go spectacularly wrong!

  • Need someone to build you a website, add a new feature to your website or take on an existing site?
  • Want to keep control of your own site but need some help sometimes?
  • Been let down by a previous developer? Got what you were promised but not what your business actually needed?
  • Finding yourself at odds with your web developer and need someone to come in and help run the project so it meets your business needs?
  • Need a second opinion, or someone to talk to about an online idea? A feasibility study? A sanity check?
  • Want to work with someone who has 20 years of web and business experience?
  • Need to rescue, convert or move a site or a database?
  • Need more hosting for your site and/or email? Or more reliable (or faster) hosting?
  • Prefer not to pay large company overheads? I can give you a fixed price quote or charge by the 0.25 hour (I am VAT registered).

Then it would be worth contacting me and having a discussion about what you want to achieve. With a wealth of development, support and consultancy experience I might be able to help you navigate your way through the technology so that you get what your business needs.

A bit of background ….

So often over the years I have worked with companies that have found themselves with a dead-end web offering that was simply inappropriate for their marketplace and requirements; too complex, too flashy, lacking in maintainability, incapable of being updated easily (leading to big bills paid to someone for typing in new content), too slow or just unable to expand and meet emerging needs. I have even been called in to rescue situations where the original developer has simply walked away!

Because I have been a web developer for a long time (since 1994), a programmer for an even longer time (since 1969) and in business both with big companies and by myself (since 1977) I tend to think of the business first unlike many web developers who are just keen to sell you a website and who will sometimes create sites interesting to build but inappropriate for your particular users and requirements – I’m not saying they would do this intentionally but I have attended a number of meetings where web companies have tried to push the latest, shiniest bleeding-edge solutions to people who really need something easy, familiar and maintainable.

Some of my clients have been with me 10 to 20 years – early adopters who have built their web presence in line with their users; from simple brochure sites through early ecommerce offerings to fully responsive online shops – always with an eye on being stable, professional and easily maintained.
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How I Work for You

Mostly I work as part of a small, ad hoc team, meeting the client’s requirements by calling in the best skills we can muster but without them having the need to meet the overheads of resources they will never require. So I am part of a network of designers, project managers, SEO experts, on-line marketing experts, copywriters and proofreaders and will pull in the resources required for your project allowing you to either interface solely through me or individually with each of the team members. In this way we believe we give the best fit for your project, be it a single page web brochure or a massively interactive B2B offering.

Because we are not an organisation with organisational overheads and ideas, our working practices can be much more flexible. In general, I will work with an appropriate designer and other experts on the production of your website to ensure its smooth development, roll-out and support.

Some recent scenarios

  • A client came to me with look and feel designs and a loose functional specification and asked for a quote for the development of a website. My initial feedback on the designs and functionality helped the client to tune what they wanted to be more practical and I then used WordPress to provide them with a flexible, responsive and easily maintained site
  • I was approached by an SEO and content expert, on behalf of their client, to turn a new look and feel they had had  story boarded into a website that they could manage themselves and into which they could put a mass of pre-existing information.
  • I have recovered a website that the original developer abandoned. Keeping the original database and admin system but adding new website display code means that the existing content and web addresses will be kept but the system will now be responsive and maintainable and can now be extended to provide the additional functionality my client requires

Clients

Check out my portfolio, testimonials and blog posts about new and developing sites I’m working on.

Who am I?

I have worked in the RAF, Marconi Space & Defence, NAG Ltd, Domino Systems Ltd and Dynamic Listing Ltd. and have programmed at every level from soldering iron to expert systems.

During my time as Programme Manager at Domino Systems we developed for Dell Europe, Lloyds Bank, SmithKline Beecham and a wide range of small and large organisations. Working with the Quantos Consultancy I have been the technical provider for work with clients such as Kafevend.

I have been an external technical developer for Whatsonstage, building three sites for them over the years, and also for a major West End ticket supplier whose initial multi-language ticket affiliate and hotel package systems I built. I also developed the first on-line ticket sales systems for the National Theatre, Wycombe Swan and others and built and still manage my own offering: UK Theatre Web which incorporates iUKTDb, the UK’s largest on-line performing arts database.

I have developed and maintained my own content management system (CMS) though I tend now to work with either bespoke solutions or existing frameworks such as WordPress.

Over the years I have done everything from a single Javascript add-on to a page of an existing site, through simple (and complex) contact forms to whole sites turning over in excess of £1million per month. I have worked alone directly for clients, in distributed teams, as an outside consultant and freelance developer to in-house teams and as part of large projects. I spent many years working in international software development projects prior to my time with the web and am more than comfortable with collaborative working.

Geography is no issue. I work with companies in Oxfordshire, Kent, London and locally. Some long-term clients I have never met, others I have met once or twice and some more I see regularly. Whilst at Nag I worked in, and ran, UK-wide (Alvey), Europe-wide (Esprit) and US/UK projects (Toolpack) so have a lot of experience working in this way.

Much of my work comes through word-of-mouth recommendation and the network of professionals with whom I work.

People I Work With on a Regular Basis Include;