I am based in Birmingham, and I’ve developed and designed websites since 2004. My first website was made using Microsoft Front Page, and just had some images on there. Nothing to write home about!

In 2005 I developed my first fully fledged website for Small Heath Boxing Club. The website was very advanced for the time, and some aspects of the website have still not been matched or bettered.

In 2007 till 2009, I studied for my HND in Computing at Solihull College. During this time I was employed at a local web design agency and stayed there for over a year. I then left to concentrate on my HND. I graduated in 2009.

Also in 2009, I started work as a College Tutor at Solihull College. During my time there I taught students from the age of 16 up to the age of 60 . Courses ranged from BTEC IT @ Work up to Foundation Degree level. For the most part, I enjoyed passing on my skills and experience to these students. However, I missed the practical side of the IT industry, and then left the college and joined another web development agency.

I worked at this web development agency in the position of Junior .NET Developer. All my experience up to this had been with PHP and MySQL, so it was a challenge learning the .NET framework and getting to grips with the MS SQL Database engine. However, I felt that even though .NET has it’s benefits over PHP, I could do so much more with PHP than with .NET. So, after much deliberation, I decided I would go freelance.

I felt that as a freelancer I would use more of my skills on a wider range of projects. I would be able to call upon my design skills, as well as development and SEO skills to deliver a website to the client that would far exceed their expectations. As well as this, going freelance meant that I would have greater control over a project. In an ideal world, I would design the website from concept, and see it through the development phase and then to launch. However this was not always the case in previous employments.

As well as having a skill set aimed towards website design and development, I am also a qualified Cisco CCNA Certified Associate, and hold an iPRO qualification in Computing. With these skills combined to my web development/design skills, it means I have a complete grounding on the technical side of IT infrastructure and their limits, as well as having a good knowledge about usability and limitations for users.

Philosophy
My philosophy when designing and developing websites is simple, and in three parts.

1. The Website Must Be Able To Be Used By Everyone, Including My Grandmother - The world is getting older, not younger. More and more people are starting to use the internet and computers at an age where they would not have even known about them when they were at school. I think about this every time I design a website. I want people who are in their 40′s, 50′s, 60′s even 70′s to be able to use a website I have designed. I want it to be as easy as changing a TV channel. A lot of designers do not consider this important though, which causes problems for the intended target audience of websites they have designed.
2. Everyone regardless of their equipment should be given a good experience – While there has been a boom in computers being sold with Microsoft Windows 7 installed on them, and a boom in Apple iMac’s being sold, there are still a considerable number of people using Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7. And these people are not being considered when new websites are being designed and developed. As well as this, users are now going on the internet on their mobile phones even more, so it’s also important to consider these users as well.
3. Websites should be kept simple, and not over engineered - Where most websites fall down is when it comes to how they are built. Sure, over-engineering can be good when it comes to a Mercedes S Class, but not when you want your website to be quick, nimble and reliable. When I build a website, I strip the idea back to it’s core fundamentals. Then the simplest ideas are implemented. Yes, they may be simple, but simple is always better. Just look at the wheel!

With these rules, I design accessible websites that are fast and easy to use. But even though they are simple, they are incredibly robust.