April 2008 - August 2008
Implemented New Branding
In April of 2008, I began the process of architecting Jefferson's new branding for our updated web presence. The process of moving from a table-based layout to a CSS based layout, and finally fully integrating Adobe Contribute into our process, has radically changed the way we do our work. It has affected everything from our server configuration, to our development and QA process, to our coding standards. The first site to use this new layout launched in September 2008.
August 2007
Staff Training
In August of 2007 I began a training series intended to bring our staff up-to-speed on using frameworks to speed development and simplify maintenance.
May 2007
Easier maintenance with Flash Remoting
When the Department of Biochemestry and Molecular Biology wanted a Flash-based site to encourage area students to become excited about science, we were able to separate many of the text and image elements from the Flash-based UI using Flash Remoting. This approach allows for much faster turn-around on content changes, as well as ensuring that students and teachers using the site always have the most up-to-date content.
March 2007
Redundant web servers
As part of a multi-disciplinary team, I installed and configured ColdFusion server on two new servers, identified required code changes, and managed the implementation of these changes.
July 2006
Frameworks ease maintenance nightmare
Knowing that there had to be a better way, and after several months of research and testing, I started using Model-Glue to help speed up development, while simplifying upgrades.
June 2006
Source code control becomes a reality
By early 2006, the need for source code control was becoming more and more apparent, as we were all too often experiencing situations where staff members were overwriting each others code. In an attempt to address the situation, I implemented and tested an instance of CVSNT, and after some training convinced our staff to start using it. Since implementation, we've experience a nearly 100% reduction of overwritten code.
August 2005
Extending ColdFusion and Dreamweaver
I work with a combined group of developers and designers. By creating ColdFusion custom tags and documenting them using Dreamweaver extensions, I've been able to encapsulate common complex tasks in easy-to-use tags that our designers can place in their pages without having to get a developer involved. We've also used this technique to address repetitive tasks. I've recently blogged about how this was done.
