I finally did it. I finally wrote a light weight cms which I would use and that is saying something. As I am writing this I am just cleaning up some code ready to try out Air.
AirCMS in essence is a lightweight cms which allows a user to edit a set number of pages on their website. It’s not a website builder, it’s not reinventing the wheel it’s just a simple way to change the content on your website.
You may be asking why bother? Well it’s a good question with so many powerful free solutions like drupal, joomla and wordpress why waste time writing something that is not as powerful?. Well it’s all down to user experience. As a developer I can use drupal, joomla and wordpress and even extend them but I find that when a client gets hold of it I spend more time tutoring them in how to use it than I did theming and writing it. The first issue I always had was terminology for instance a client would ask how do I edit a page I can only see articles, I have posts and pages how do I use them, I see you have used a plugin for the nav how does that work and can you make it do this? (the list goes on). Air was built for small websites and for users that wanted to update a set number of pages. You get a site tree
Well to say the last five or six months have been busy is an understatement with a new addition to the family and no let up in projects I have been on the brink of madness.
So what’s been happening at hq? Well where do I start I am developing four projects at the moment with another two due. I have launched several new sites which I will get around to putting in my portfolio. My new product AirCMS is nearly ready
I have just finished a design off for a friend who is just started his own company specialising in the maintainence and install of bespoke air conditioning systems. Here it is anyway, Should be launching later in the year.
Just finished a new design for Eurotech Fire Protection a new fire safety and extinguisher company based in Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Eurotech is a small company who specialise in the manufactuer and global distribution of Gaseous Fire Exstingushing , so my challenge was make something so niche and quite unexciting fresh and sexy.
Any how see what you think.
After the success of the quick micro site I had done for a friend of mine recently www.gitesloire.co.uk for their holiday home in France. I was asked by my friends company to give them a mock up of new design for their existing website.
I launched a small site for a friend of mine who has a Gites in the La Loire valley in France, It was a quick build and the main aim was to give it a rustic feel. There are further improvements to be made but it had to be a quick turn around and made live for the start of the season.
It is a very small and simple site with limited content but was a vast improvement on their original Table based website which was broken.
So if you want a great relaxing holiday in the Valley Of The Kings then get on over to Gites Loire and book today.
Launched the new Camberley and Farnborough hockey club website the guys there love it but it is shy of content and they are making the effort to get it populated.
Got to admit I think its the best club website out there at the moment, and the development of the system is a long term project that will enable, team management, fixtures and player profiles.
View it now at: www.candfhockey.co.uk
Relief Milkerz
Still in the build process of this new site after some code issues and some new features I redesigned and rejigged, back in Alpha stage and bug fixing this site at the moment, expecting an late August launch now, maybe sooner.
It has been such a busy couple of months I dont know where to start really.
First off I am going to be a dad which is both a worry and very exciting news for me, however it will mean random charchters in my web pages as I am sure young Clark will be banging the keys like Seasme Streets Animal on a drum set, Loving the thought.
So whats been happening in the world of Steve “Clark Studios” Clark. Well client wise I have been approached by several companies and secured some new clients for some summer websites, One called CMS which I suppose is going to be the hardest thing to SEO in the world. As well as that I have been doing the odd campaign monitor emarketing template and consultancy and tweaks to websites.
One of these websites was a company called mantek a seal and gasket company based in aldershot who needed some bits of work done on there new Wordpress driven website, I have to say a gem of a client who had good savvy of computers already but just needed some help in tweaking their site – needless to say it is now live.
Just secured a design and templating job for a mansion house based in Hampshire which has been delivered and I am expecting the site to go live by mid July. Really liking that site.
What else, Oh yes just finished a design for a coach company based in Hampshire, it is with the client at the moment so I am expecting build to commence next month which I am excited about. See a preview here.
A part from that won a lot of money at Royal Ascot and having started writing a mean little Twitter App, shame I cant dedicate much time to it at the moment.
Well it is my birthday month and normally one of the busiest times for me normally getting drunk with the constant events and parties that litter this month, This year however it is going to spent building, coding and styling.
I have 7 projects on the go at the moment and one to demo this month, it is crazy being a freelancer and only now am I realising how much hard work it can be.
Bring on June….
Had a quick enquiry over the weekend to knock together a eshot template for Campaign Monitor for a new client.
The client is a 3 time world time Salsa champions and has featured on strictly come dancing. I was contemplating Salsa lessons as payment, Cha Cha Cha.
