My very first job as a programmer was the summer of 2013, as a summer intern for RPG Solutions. RPG Solutions was a company that provided software infrastructure to hospitals around the United States, and my job was to help out with the website.
Being self taught in BATCH and Python2 at the time, this was my first exposure to web development. A series of Codecademy courses later, I felt like I was a pro. Since then, I've literally worked on hundreds of websites, and things that used to take me months now takes hours. While web development isn't my favorite line of work, as it doesn't quite challenge me in the way other projects do, I rarely turn down web work that comes my way. I have the years of experience in it, so I don't like to let it go to waste.
I'd like to highlight three different websites that I have built from the ground up this year. All of these websites have unique styles and purposes, and while they aren't necessarily the most complex, I am excited to showcase them here for you.
Inklusive Arts is an artist's website, as the name would imply, and with that proves the challenge of making the website have that level of visual appeal you would expect from an artist. AmberJean, the creator of Inklusive Arts, does a wide variety of work between physical and digital mediums, and strives to bring an inclusive air to the art sphere.
Figure 1: Inklusive Arts Homepage
Amongst all of the website that I've made this year, this one probably takes the cake as my favorite due to the sheer joy of all the colors, as well as the endless supply of custom art AmberJean had for me to display.
Following up the colorful art of the last website, we have the much more serious website, Drake Sheffield Writes. With this website being for a freelance writer, I wanted to really focus on how to highlight the words on the website over everything else. The design is simple, there is a nice dark charcoal background to make the white words pop, and there is an air of elegance about it. Upon loading the homepage, one is greeted with what almost looks like a business card, with every part of the website aiming to be as clear and concise as possible.
Figure 2: Drake Sheffield Writes Homepage
I have things that I enjoy about each and every project that I work on, and for this one in particular I cannot understate how pleasant it was to work with a client who had such a clear vision on content structure.
Eagle Protective Group, based out of Central Virginia, is a local security firm that provides armed and unarmed security, as well as locksmithing services. While the company has been around for years, they were struggling a bit with their web presence. Googling their name before had them at the bottom of the first page, whereas just in a couple months they've become the number three result! Out of the three websites, this one serves as a great example of how a well built website can truly drive results.
Figure 3: Eagle Protective Group Homepage
Overall, I've really enjoyed working on these projects, and if you're interested in getting a shiny new website, or any other development work, please reach out in the form below!