Idiot Banter

When The Angels Make Contact Website

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Design, XHTML & CSS

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A mini site for an album released by Matt Mays. The album is a soundtrack for a movie that was never made so the site was originally supposed to look like a movie website. This mini site kept growing and is now much more than just a site for a movie trailer and some songs.

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Web Standards

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Standards

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Tight deadline? Grumpy client? None of that matters when it comes to web standards. I ALWAYS code using current web standards and best practices. I will preach web standards to anyone who will listen. Semantic code using XHTML and CSS makes a lot of sense and saves a whole lot of money. It also makes sites more accessible and more visible to search engines.

Designing From The Ground Up

There is nothing I can’t do with CSS & XHTML. I can take the most complicated Photoshop mock-ups, slice them up, and recreate them perfectly using CSS & XHTML. i can even make then look the same across all major browsers.

From Table-Based Layout To Web Standards Layout

I have no problem stripping table-based layouts of their tables and leaving them with semantic code that makes them more visible to search engines, takes up 1/4 of the server space/bandwidth, and saves time and money when it’s time for a re-design.

Cross Browser Compatibility

I design in Firefox and then use as few hacks as possible to get sites working properly in Internet Explorer, Safari (usually not a problem), and Opera (2%). I know the ins and outs of cross browser compatability and it’s a big part of any project I am a part of.

PHP & MySQL

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

PHP & MySQL, Portfolio

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I have over 5 years of experience programming with PHP & MySQL. I started out making my own Content Management System (I hadn’t heard of Open Source back then), now I mainly use PHP & MySQL when working with Wordpress, osCommerce and phpBB.

My Own Content Management System

When I first started making websites I wanted to give people the ability to update their own sites. A friend told me to look into PHP so I bought a book and made my own CMS. Looking back it would have made more sense to get Joomla or Wordpress but I wouldn’t have learned as much… right?

Wordpress, osCommerce, phpBB

I currently use PHP & MySQL while creating and customizing skins for Wordpress blogs, ocCommerce e-commerce sites and phpBB message boards.

phpBB Message Boards

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, phpBB

Comments:

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phpBB is an open source message board package that uses PHP & MySQL. I use it every time a client requests a message board. phpBB is prone to get hacked if you don’t keep it properly updated but I’ve fought a few hackers in my day and I always win!

UWA Hardcore Wrestling Message Board

A wrestling message board with over 550 members and over 25,000 posts. It has been hacked twice by some crazy guy in Germany,I’ve never had too much trouble getting it back online. The entire UWA site has since been re-done with garbage code and questionable graphics. I no longer have anything to do with it.

Various Band Message Boards

Every band I’ve ever done a website for has wanted a message board so that their fans can build a community and all of that fancy marketing stuff. I always use phpBB. Here’s a list of some of the bands (most you probably haven’t heard of): Sydney, Luke Brodie, Big Ideas, Audio Ritual, Turbulent, Outside Fairvale.

Community Server

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Community Server, Portfolio

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I am forced to skin and totally customize Community Server message boards, blogs and photo galleries at my day job. I became so good at it that I wrote what we (my co-workers and I) call “The Community Server Skinning Bible”. I would not recommend table-based layouts or ASP.NET to anyone but here’s what I can do with Community Server if I absolutely have to.

Message Boards

I have skinned Community Server message boards for the follwing bands as part of my day job: Blue Rodeo, Jerry Cantrell, Triumph, Matt Mays. The memberships range from almost a few hundred members to almost 5000 members. At some point I have modified almost every file involved in a Community Server skin (hundreds!) and I can track things down easily (seems like no big deal until you see how they wrote the code).

Blogs

I have used Community Server blogs to make updating news and reviews sections easier. It also allows commenting on the news items. Everything has been 100% skinned by me.

Photo Galleries

Out of the box the Community Server photo galleries are a mess. I hack them up and change a bunch of things to make them work for our needs. 100% skinned by me, as usual.

Rust Never Sleeps Entertainment Website

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Design, Wordpress, XHTML & CSS

Comments:

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A website for a promotions company (I didn’t create the logo). I was given a logo and asked to create a website. After discussing needs it was decided that this site would be powered by Wordpress. The site and company no longer exist.

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Among The Crowd Design Mocks

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Design

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A series of Photoshop mock-ups for an online entertainment magazine. This client came, asked for lots and lots of mock ups and disappeared. I do a search once in a while and I’ve enever been able to find a website by this name. The mock-ups were pretty fun to do. The client was very hands-on but we always managed to come up with something we both liked.

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Turbulent Website

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Design

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A website for California rock band Turbulent. These guys were looking for a re-design and I helped them out. I’m not sure that the re-design ever saw the light of day, I think the band broke up to attend college shortly after this was completed.

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Luke Brodie Website

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Design, XHTML & CSS

Comments:

No Comments

A website for Latin rock star Luke Brodie. One of my first full sites (ignore the code) and it up up and running until recently, almost 5 years later. Fully powered by my custom built CMS. Maybe I should talk to Luke about a re-design….

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Telecom Distributor Website

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2000

Posted In:

Portfolio, Web Design, osCommerce

Comments:

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A website for a wholesale telecom distributor (such a clever name). The entire site is just a hacked up/customized skin for osCommerce. I did the design, someone else did all of the back end.

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