Sun's Design System
For the last 6 years sun.com's design system has been evolving into a robust set of HTML components and templates. As the lead tech in the web design group it was my task to define, build and manage this library of components.
What started as a simple perl script and a flat file database has evolved into a robust asset management tool. Our documentation covers over 600 component variations and over 100 page templates. Dynamic pages render XML data so all assets are kept up to date when any change is made.
Browsing this library is made possible by an ajax based tool that uses auto generated screen shots of components to simplify browsing. Other tools include a graphics library that allows publishers to browse available images as well as a banner archive that keeps a record of banners from marketing.
Updates to the system are released monthly and are communicated via an email alias and internal blog. Along with the 38+ country sites the CSS is distributed to over 100 different sub sites.
Documentaion may not be flashy or exciting but it's the foundation for a consistent brand and user experience. If you want to know more about how Sun's design system works, check out Modular Web Design. This book was written by Eight Shapes', Nathan Curtis, who helped us take our component system to the next level. Blown away by our system he has applied our methodolgy to several of his clients with much success.
This is a project I did for Fishbowl Design. Since the site's owner had little budget and even less knowledge of web publishing I convinced all those involved that using a WordPress blog was the best solution for this site. With very little compromise to the original design we made it fit the basic blog structure and I went to town creating a custom theme that fit their content and design.
In the end the site has held up really well. Easy updates means up to date content which keeps the client and her customers very happy.
This project for Fishbowl Design consisted of building out a small website for a local optometrist based off of designs from Fishbowl. I constructed two versions of this site starting with a quick build to get the site live and then a follow up redesign with more robust content.
With upwards of a million page views a day on more than 38 country sites, the sun.com homepage is the definition of high profile. Since 2005 I have been sole developer resposible for homepage HTML, CSS, and Javascript code; ensuring stable performance and rendering across multiple platforms, countries and languages.
Since 2005 it has been through several design iterations and numerous feature enchancments. With the latest revision I have focused on streamlining the files for the homepage, reducing the number of files to almost half of what they used to be. This massive cut in file calls was credited by Sun’s Director of Web Engineering, Will Snow, as a contributor to Sun’s resilience from crashing on the day of the Oracle & Sun announcement.
oblix.com
After leaving Sun Microsystems, Karri Myles, the Oblix webmaster knew he could only trust one man to handcraft the CSS and master templates for his new oblix.com design. We worked together to build fast, easy-to-update pages that didn't compromise his original designs and worked in browsers as lowly as Netscape 4.x. After that we worked together again to make a robust DHTML menu for the Oblix website.
Oblix no longer exist after being bought out by Oracle several years ago.
sun.com circa 1999
Although dated now, the purple sun.com site got much praise and notice when it was released. I still consider it a great achievement. Created by a group of five people and rolled out worldwide, we knew our small group meant delivering top notch templates and style guides.
In its day it recieved good reviews and was even mentioned as a good example in one of Jakob Neilson's many web usability books.
My role in this design was much like my current role, but our team had more leverage over design direction and it was my bright idea to do the purple background. Some people loved it, some hated it, I just thought it was better than white. Since it was my first major project at Sun, it was definitely a trial by fire. My co-workers quicky found that my attention to detail and ability to adapt kept me at pace with the group and the project.
This site is an idea run amok. After pulling out hair searching on five different Bay Area craigslist sites for the same thing I decided I would make my own craigslist interface that would let a computer do all the searching. Two days later crazedlist was born.
In the beginning the site used ajax to load results in a single page as they came in from a script on my server. Since that meant my server was hitting craigslist over 2 mil times a month my server's IP was eventually blocked. With thousands of bummed users, i worked around the block by serving users a page of iframes with their results in it. Not ideal, but still easier than going to 20 different craigslist sites.
The site has been live for over three years now and has a continually growing user base. It has been mentioned on sites such as the consumerist.com and lifehacker.com.
winery trip planner
Although I have used the google maps API in several personal projects, this was the first tool i used to for a client. This tool allows users to search the sites winery database in order to plan day trips to different wineries. It has held up well and has been well recieved by users.
As a bonus I also gave the site a pro bono polish with a gradient background and cleaner header code to help it look a little more modern.
planetpayne.com is my personal blog and photo website. Designed by me with the aid of a sketchbook, a scanner and wacom tablet it attempts leave the world of boxes and dropshadows behind.
The site is powered by the default Wordpress theme that i have hacked up to fit my needs. The image library is powered by a homebrewed Perl script backed by a MySQL database. Javascript is used to navigate the image albums using preloading and caching for a faster end user experience. Of course non-javascript users are supported by fallbacks programmed into the Perl.
Polaroid Icons
Pixel perfection is in my blood. As a fun project and extension of my polaroid obsession I made a large group of mac icons based on vintage polaroid cameras and submitted them to the 1998 Pixelpalooza Icon Contest at iconfactory.com. I didn't get the glory I was hoping for, but I did get 3rd place which was pretty cool. These icons appeared in serveral mac magazines at the time including a japanese magazine "Mac 100%".
Even though desktop icons today are full blown illustrations, these 32x32 pixel icons are a perfect example of illustrations limited by size and colors. On the web I'm often faced with the same limitations, but I still enjoy zooming into 1600% and perfecting little images one pixel at a time.
People's Press
This now defunct site was my first website, and it's still one of my favorites. It was chock-a-block of fun VW goodies like a VW typeface I made to match old bus emblems, a set of VW icons, and a digital library of my vintage VW ad collection.
This refreshing look at vintage VW's got much attention in the VW scene and was featured in several US magazines as well as a French VW magazine and a German design website.
