Vancouver Web Development, Design, Website Marketing & Consulting
This is the online portfolio of Vancouver web developer Nelson Ford. I provide web consulting services including design and programming, maintenance, marketing and training. I've been working as a professional web developer since 2002, and building websites since 1996. I've followed the evolution of web design as it has given birth to a number of exciting disciplines including Information Architecture, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Front-End Development and Web Production as set apart from Back-end Programming and Database Design among others. My core skills and strengths include:
- Hand-crafted code
- Cheaper to maintain XHTML/CSS standards oriented development
- Web 2.0 feel from Javascript-enhanced interfaces
- More secure and stable PHP / MySQL Open-Source based database and back-end programming
- Website Marketing
I've worked for a few well known companies including Intrawest, Vision Critical (an Angus Reid company), and Cisco Systems as well as many smaller clients in Vancouver, and the United States.
See some selected past projects and services I provide, or contact me for more information
Projects
These are a few selected projects I've worked on over the last few years.
Mouse over each to find out about my role in each project, and check my services information to find out what I can do for you.
Additional portfolio items are available in the client area.
Vancouver.com
- Employer: Intrawest Corp.
- Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
- Year: 2004-2006
Intrawest, one of North America's premier resort real estate development corporations owned Vancouver.com for a number of years. As the sole Web Producer for this site, I was instrumental in its successful re-launch in 2006, with hands-on involvement in identifying new content opportunities, applying new CSS designs with stylesheets, and assisting the Director of Ecommerce with strategies to increase site traffic. I built HTML and plain-text versions of Vancouver.com's monthly email newsletter, worked with the Business Support Group and the Copywriting team to ensure that all site content was accurate and up-to-date. Special projects for the site included the addition of a webcam, and building a Google map of the city's traffic cams, which quickly became a site favourite. The result was a significant increase in site traffic, and it contributed to the sites eventual rise to first position in Google for the keyword "Vancouver." The site is now under new ownership.
AngusReidForum.com
- Employer: Vision Critical, An Angus Reid Company
- Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
- Year: 2007
Vision Critical is a start-up company providing custom online market research panel software. My my role at VC included using web development skills to program market research surveys including skinning the surveys to match the brands of a diverse range of clients. I worked proactively to streamline and standardize HTML and CSS codes, with the goal of enabling improved efficiency and reduced times in future programming and skinning. I created the HTML template for the Angus Reid Forum homepage template, which clicks through to the Panel+ software templates, and skinned both using Photoshop files provided by an in-house designer.
Cisco.com
- Employer: Cisco Systems (contract)
- Location: San Jose, California
- Year: 2007
Working on-site at Cisco's San Jose campus, I was part of a team of Interface Developers charged with producing accessible, forward-compatible templates for this enormous site comprising millions of pages, and updated by business units around the world. Source control, documentation and attention to detail were critical in this role, and this experience was invaluable to me. The photo is of a "Display Other [Product] Views" popup window template for which I rewrote the HTML, CSS, and Javascript to bring it in line with Cisco.com's new design, based on guidelines from Cisco's online user experience department.
FutureShop.ca "Ask an Expert" video Guide
- Year: 2007
Future Shop was building an interactive video assistant named Aaron, to help website users find information more efficiently, and in a friendly, more organic way. Working through Fuse Interactive, I contributed to the PHP code driving Aaron's content management system (CMS) that Future Shop uses to upload video clips and associate them to keywords on their site's video greeter module. This was a very interesting project that gave me a stronger understanding of building custom content management systems, and interfacing a PHP and MySQL back-end with a Flash front-end.
Services
Web design and development:
From Photoshop designs through to XHTML, CSS and Javascript, I provide complete web design and development of your website's front-end (the part the user sees and interacts with). Through partnerships with specialists in Vancouver and beyond, Flash, Java and other technologies can be added to the mix as needed.Programming and database:
Whether the project is programming of the dynamic back-end and database for your website, or if you simply require new functionality to plug-in to your existing site, I provide PHP and MySQL programming. Ask about special client-maintainable website development.Email newsletter production:
Building and maintaining a relationship with your customers and site users is key to building traffic and growing business. I'll help you build a strategy to communicate with your subscribers.Online marketing consulting:
New and existing websites often need focus on marketing to bring them to the next level. Site traffic can be enhanced through search engine optimization, link building, press releases, social bookmarking, better usability and accessibility, and by simply improving copywriting. I provide consulting to move your site in the right direction and get the traffic it deserves.
Site updates & maintenance:
It's one thing to build a website, but another thing entirely to keep it fresh and up-to-date. Engaging users (and search engines) with regular content updates is key to maximizing return on your website investment.Training
I've often been asked by clients to provide training on XHTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP, so I now offer this as a service to site owners who don't want the extra expense of a custom-built content management system (CMS) and who want to be able to make miner changes themselves.
Fees
Fee arrangements can be hourly, such as in the case of training, flat-rate on a project basis, or in the case of site maintenance, and marketing consulting, a retainer. Please contact me for information on which model would work best for your project.
Contact Me
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What is Net Neutrality?
"Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. The Internet has operated according to this neutrality principle since its earliest days. Indeed, it is this neutrality that has allowed many companies, including Google, to launch, grow, and innovate. Fundamentally, net neutrality is about equal access to the Internet. In our view, the broadband carriers should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online. Today, the neutrality of the Internet is at stake as the broadband carriers want Congress's permission to determine what content gets to you first and fastest. Put simply, this would fundamentally alter the openness of the Internet."
Source: A Guide to Net Neutrality for Google Users
Interesting Resources
- 10 Principles of Effective Web Design | Smashing Magazine
- Understanding Web Design | A List Apart
- How We Really Use the Web | A Sample Chapter from Don't Make Me Think