What does a top notch graphic designer have in common with an amateur photographer who uploads his weekend pictures on Facebook? They both love Photoshop!
Infographic: The Darwinian Evolution of Photoshop by Tech King
Leeds College of Art Intranet
The all-new Leeds College of Art Intranet Portal was launched in September 2010, built from the ground up in Drupal with custom PHP and Ajax.
Originally, the College Intranet consisted of two Silverstripe CMS websites – one for staff, one for students. Keeping both sites up to date was time consuming, and the CMS itself is not very user friendly. Designing themes for Silverstripe was also proving difficult as the code and CSS syntax was non-standard.
I did some intensive research on the web to find a suitable alternative CMS, eventually narrowing it down to Moodle or Drupal. Moodle (abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free and open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). However, Moodle is not designed to be used as a CMS system, it would haver taken a lot more development time to get it into a state where it would be suitable, add to that the file upload and document repository is non-existent as is site-wide search.
It was decided that Drupal would be more suitable.
Drupal is an open-source content management system. It is a widely used back-end system for websites worldwide, ranging from small personal blogs to large corporate and political sites, including whitehouse.gov and data.gov.uk. It is also used for knowledge management and business collaboration.
The standard release of Drupal, known as Drupal core, contains basic features common to most CMSs. These include the ability to register and maintain individual user accounts within a role-based permission / privilege system, create and manage menus, RSS-feeds, customize page layout, perform logging, and administer the system. As installed, Drupal provides options to create a websites ranging from simple to complex multi-user websites.
Drupal is extremely developer friendly, at first it was a very steep learning curve to set it up but once all the relevant plug-ins, extensions and themes were installed, I‘ve found the end-user experience to be very rewarding, with plenty of scope for further customisation.
The site was launched in September and has been met with fantastic praise. I am providing CMS training and am finding that users feel that the system is far more intuitive than SilverStripe. Furthermore there is no longer any confusion as to whether content is on the student site or the staff site!
Globe Motors
Globe Motors based in Keighley, offers a first-class service at a fraction of the price of main dealer servicing – without invalidating car warranties.
This is a small 4-page WordPress-based website with a basic CSS theme applied with a small amount of Photoshop customisation.
Military Gardeners
Military Gardeners is a non-profit company offering an exciting challenge to help service personnel readapt to civilian life on leaving the Armed Forces. This can be a difficult transition, particularly for those with a long service history, amputees and those who have suffered from combat stress.
This site was built in PrestaShop, which is an open-source PHP-based shopping cart CMS with a small amount of CSS customisation.
Glen Garage Suzuki
Established for over 60 years, Zygmunt Curry & Sons Ltd – better known as Glen Garage – is an award winning Suzuki dealership in the heart of York.
The client was unsatisifed with Suzuki’s own-branded website (which offered no customisation) and wanted a better online presence. I created a simple 6-page website, with artwork created in Photoshop.
Website no longer active
Hole in the Page
WordPress-based blog website for my oldest friend, Carl Barker, who’s been writing for a few years now. He’s recently been published in Midnight Street and has some more published stories coming out this year! I predict great things for him (well – I am biased!) Check out his site and download some of his short stories.
WordPress blog-style site, with some Photoshop and CSS work.
Appy Wanderers
Keighley-based Honda Goldwing Touring Group, WordPress-based blog website with member forums and photo galleries. WordPress theme designed in Photoshop.
Challenge Lusky website
This is a small site I’ve created for Robin Luscombe, (ex of Colin Appleyard) who’s set up a personal shopping service for cars. Utilising a basic WordPress theme, the Cforms II plugin and a custom logo designed in Illustrator.
Essentially, the customer visits the site, and submits a ‘challenge’ by entering what they want from their new car, the site prompts Robin that a new Challenge has been submitted via email, he can the log onto the CMS and see all their submitted information and usually within 24 hours he’s found a competitive deal.
It’s a great idea, especially for those of us who haven’t the time to trail around all the dealerships or AutoTrader looking for the best price on a new or used car. Robin’s got a helluva lot of experience in this field, with over 30 years in the car industry, starting as an apprentice to becoming a multi-award winning dealer group senior director, he has the knowledge and contacts to find the car his customers want, without all the expense and extra cost of staff, premises, manufacturers standards, computer systems and accounts departments!
