SNX
http://www.snx.com
December 2004 - July 2009, June & September & December 2010, January 2011
Online face for SNX Inc - a maker of bar code software for graphic designers.
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS, Miva Merchant
I was hired as the head of SNX.com which was the face and distrubtion front for a software company that develops bar code software for graphic designers. The website is the primarily tool used to market, register, and deliver the various software products that SNX develops and sells.
The website is dynamically driven using PHP and Mysql. The e-commerce engine is Miva Merchant and the server is a shared server running PHP 4, MySQL 4, and Redhat.
I took over a Dreamweaver designed, poorly built and maintained website that needed its backend to be redeveloped and redeveloped quickly. A new version of the flagship product for SNX, Bar Code Pro, was going to be released within a month of my starting at SNX. After diving headfirst into the system, I was able to quickly prepare for the release of the product, planned and implemented the email marketing campaign to sell it, and also built several administrative tools to manage sales, customers, and technical support. The release of Bar Code Pro 6.0 went off without a hitch and with a very visible increase in product sales over the previous incarnation of the software.
Following the release of Bar Code Pro 6.0, other software products were developed by SNX (Intelligent Mail Barcode, Bar Code Pro Data Bar, and others) and released through the website. Due to SNX's current anti-piracy controls, all software is primarily registered and distributed through the site. With clients from around the world, the website needs to be easily accessible and easy to operate. Teaming up with Support and Sales, I've helped streamline the site and add features to help increase customer satisifaction while requesting support, ordering products, or accessing their account.
Within two years of my joining SNX, the traffic to SNX.com tripled from a daily average of around 400 visitors in December 2004 to an average of 1400. The current average is now half that due to internal business decisions that have left SNX unable to release a new version of its flagship product. During my time at SNX, online sales were over $1 million dollars and $4 million dollars worth of software was distributed through the site.
BTI
http://www.portabledata.com
November 2005 - July 2009
A security application to put human faces into barcodes.
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS
In the Fall of 2005, BTI began work on a project to decrease identity theft and make sensitive documents, such as passports, more secure. In an age where terrorism and identify theft are becoming daily concerns for citizens around the world, BTI, a company whose strength lies in using bar code techonologies for a variety of real world applications, saw an opportunity to use its expertise in a real world security application.
As a member of a small project team, we designed a series of algorithms and web-based software to place a person's face into a machine readable bar code. When the bar code is scanned, an accurate recreation of the person's face would appear. The software needed to be fast, multilingual, and function with over 99% accuracy.
As the primary programmer, my duties include developing new algorithms, programming software demos, managing an expanding code base, and working with several project leaders and designers to develop new techniques as we worked towards a new software solution for a variety of clients.
In the summer of 2009, the Real-Face™ project was put on hiatus. My job responsibilities for BTI shifted away from Real-Face™ and towards consulting on the deployment of a brand new BTI website.
Art and Design Online
http://www.artanddesignonline.com
March 2005 - April 2006, July 2007 - December 2010
An online directory and social networking site for artists.
PHP 5, MySQL 5, HTML, CSS, Paypal API, Basic AJAX
Art & Design Online, a website serving as a directory of artists, was originally put together by a team of developers who outsourced most of their work to India. After releasing a product that was half finished, expensive, and running on some inflexible architecture, I was approached to take over and change A&D into a scalable, flexible, and more profitable enterprise.
As Project Leader and the main client contact, my team and I (there were two of us), designed and implemented a new version of the A&D website. We transformed the website into a PHP 5.0/MySQL 4 website. Over the course of the year, we added more features (an enhanced members section, a faster and more efficent internal search engine, enhanced design elements and templates, added more administrative tools, etc) and worked with a client who was not technically inclinded. A&D's previous development team had a "we can't" attitude while my team kept saying "we can".
The website continued to grow, with Godaddy Domains and Paypal being integrated into the site. Some limited AJAX functionality was added to the site. A brand new social networking section called "My InnerCircle" was deployed. Calendars, Online Exhibitions, and more are features that users of Art and Design Online enjoy.
The Clyde Fitch Report
http://www.clydefitchreport.com
November 2008 - Present
An online blog and branding mechanism for a First Night New York City Theatre Critic
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS, Wordpress 3
The Clyde Fitch Report is currently one of the preimer theater blogs on the internet today. With currently close to 500 daily readers (up from 200 daily readers in March 2009), Leonard Jacobs, a First Night Theater critic based in New York City, has fashioned a powerful online voice for not only his views on theater but also on politics and arts advocacy. In one of the few remaining markets that doesn't not currently have a strong blogging presence, I was approached by Leonard to redesign and turn his creation into something that would not only continue to be a powerful platform in the theater community but also a profitable one. I designed a layout, picked a viable CMS engine, and complete the programming. Various changes were made during the development process (more features, slight changes in layout) with the goal of giving Leonard the most functional and effective web site to suit his needs. I'm currently still engaged with the Clyde Fitch Report and am currently working on developing an effective advertising system so Clyde Fitch can continue to be profitable and grow.
Trinity Lutheran Church
http://www.trinitylic.org
July 2009 - Present
The online presence and marketing for an ELCA congregation in Astoria, New York
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS
Trinity Lutheran Church is an old Lutheran congregation in Long Island City, NY. Started in 1890 by German immigrants, the congregation has seen much change over the last one hundred years. And now, in the modern information age, Trinity has learned that the internet is one of the primary ways for the church to not only attract new members but keep a constant connection and a more intimate relationship to its members. The old website was a free website provided by Earth Link, with limited webspace and allowed bandwidth. In early July 2009, the site became too popular and was shut down. Rather than allow the congregation to not have a website for at least one month, I completed a long over due overhaul of the Trinity website. The design had already been approved by the Pastor and the Church Council. The site was launched in one day and has won praise from many members of Trinity. The site was originally designed in Photoshop, coded in HTML and CSS, with PHP providing some templating functionality.
stynxno.net
http://www.stynxno.net
July 2001 - Present
My personal blog
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS, Wordpress 3
From photographs, world events, and CSS/HTML news, my personal blog has evolved in countless different ways over the years. As my initial entrance into the online world, I've used my blog to learn new web technologies and CMS's and as a way to highlight those things that are important in my life. It's current incarnation showcases my views on weddings, photography, and religion.
Baby Runaround
August 2007 - October 2009
We filter pop gossip so you don't have too.
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS, Wordpress 2.82
I can't lie - I enjoy celebrity and pop culture gossip. I read quite a bit of it from the latest trends in red carpet fashion to which punk band is reforming and kicking out their original frontman. I like to know what's going on in the pop culture fields that I dwell in. But, after awhile, the amount of gossip I was absorbing became too much. I felt overwhelmed. I had to get it out.
And thus Baby Runaround was born.
I filter the filters. If you want to know who's giving birth, who's reuniting for a tour in 2009, my blog is what you need to read.
I kept the blog up for almost two years before shutting it down since I no longer had the time to keep pumping out daily entrees. The domain address went back into the void in August 2010.
Wedding
http://www.stutzelwedding.com
June 2009
Wedding Wesbite
PHP 4, MySQL 4, HTML, CSS, AJAX
Every wedding needs a website to promte the wedding, give customers details about the wedding, and to provide a place where people can share all the digital photographs of that special day. This personal website was built with a different twist though. There is a section on the site allowing people who are invited to RSVP online. There's a simple custom built AJAX web app that runs the RSVP system and also allows myself the opportunity to administrate and see who's reserved, who's coming, etc.
Out Astoria
http://www.outastoria.com
September-October 2010
Blog and website for Out Astoria, an LGBT community located in Atoria, Queens, NYC.
PHP 5, MySQL 5, HTML, CSS, Wordpress 3
I was approached by Out Astoria to develop a new web presence for them. The idea was to create a simple Wordpress blog that would allow Out Astoria to manage elections of board members, report on their activities, integrate with their event promotions through Facebook, and also to allow the collection of dues and donations online.
The website uses Wordpress 3 and a variety of plugins to match the needs of Out Astoria. It is currently managed, updated, and maintained by Out Astoria and I no longer maintain its layout, contect, or code. It's a great example of a non-technical staff being able to manage their own online presence!
Advent Lutheran Church
http://www.adventnyc.com
September 2010 to Present
Website for Advent Lutheran Church in Manhattan
PHP 5, MySQL 5, HTML, CSS
Part of my seminary education consists of working at a congregation during my studies. Part of my work at Advent consists of developing and managing their electronic communication and online presence. A website had been developed but was not updated on a regular basis. I converted the website into a partially dynamically generated site, streamlined the template, and began to build a small CMS for the site.
Currently the congregation is undergoing talks on its strategic plan for the next five to ten years. I expect the website to play a role in these discussions.