gravy web consultancy

It’s been a busy few months here and it’s a great time as I’ve made a few clients very happy with the last three successful launches we’ve had (in as many weeks, I might add).

In other news, I’ve been helping a new client achieve better user retention rates and increase signups by applying a few common-sense UX (user experience) techniques and keeping a close eye on the results. It’s always very gratifying to see nice rising graphs in analytics.

If you have a requirement, check out my current Curriculum Vitae (112k, PDF download) and get in touch if you think I’m a good match to see what we can arrange. I’ve got availability coming up next month.

Thanks for everyone that’s been getting in touch and apologies for the lack of updates here. To address that right away, you can grab an updated copy of my CV (October 2009, PDF format) and contact me if you have any projects you’d like to discuss with me.

We’re getting busy preparing for Sunday’s Leeds Retail Awards along with the rest of the Gravy gang.  If you’re going, we’ll be presenting the best independent and best health and wellbeing awards. Good luck to the nominees!

A quick update for those on the availability front. I’m now booked relatively solidly now until the end of the year, so if you have any requirements, please do get in touch to see what we can work out. In any case, get in touch with your project as there’s nearly always something that we can do.

Thanks for the nice positive comments as to the latest gravy design refresh and the feedback regarding the last design iteration. I’d comment on the last design as being an exploration of the brand and getting a feel for the mileage it had in it. Thankfully, this look fits the brand well and I reckon it’ll be sticking around for a while.

What I’m up to

I’m back into designing some new user interfaces to give a couple of new products the edge when it comes to data entry and interrogation. The technology isn’t anything new given it’s PHP5, Ajax, and jQuery, but I have been trying to push things forward when it comes to making the user experience as fluid as possible through the browser whilst making regular users feel comfortable by not breaking any tried and tested UI conventions.

Over at itsallgravy, we’re working a number of local businesses on the Leeds Retail Awards site and campaign. Check it out.

A quick post with an update on availability.

I’m currently approaching capacity for bookings in August – so please get in touch with any requirements you may have as soon as you can. If you can’t get hold of me by phone (I’m having handset trouble right now meaning that  a lot of calls are getting bounced to voicemail unnecessarily) – please email me in the first instance and I’ll get right back to you.

It’s been a while since my last post as my number of clients has swelled of late, but time for a quick breather and a new post! I currently have availability from the beginning of July 2009 for:

• Contract/freelance web developer roles – using my strongest skills of PHP5, XHTML, jQuery, AJAX, MySql, CSS, Photoshop
• Contract Web production manager/ Project Manager – specialising in bringing troublesome projects back on track through a pragmatic and hands-on approach.

Download my CV (15 June 2009, PDF File) – do get in touch by phone or email if you would like to discuss a requirement with me. I’m not in the market for permanent roles at the moment.

When things quiet down a moment, I might actually get to a non-recruitment post! I have some interesting (for us geeks, anyhow) notes on handling asyncronous updates to a web app’s UI to give the appearance of action without blocking the UI and maximising snappiness on the client’s side. Told you it was interesting!

I’m currently taking bookings for April 2009 for web development and or consultancy work. Grab my CV (PDF), or give me a call.

It was great to see that the great BBC Britain from Above site that I contributed to has won a prestigious award. Well done to the rest of the guys that worked on the project at Numiko. We put the site together with a combination of PHP5, MySql, AJAX, the iPlayer all stuck together around well formed, valid XHTML and jQuery and a bit of Dojo for visual effects. The only way it could be any more Web2.0 would be to have a daft name

You can hire me. For any potential clients or recruiters that stop by – I’ve brought my CV (Mar 2009 – PDF) up tp date which you can grab yourself a copy of. I have a number of things bubbling along right now but have availability at fairly short notice (one week’s notice at present)

Please call or email in the first instance with any requirements you may have. I’m with a client during the day so please leave a voicemail if I can’t get to the phone. I promise to get back to you as soon as I can (so leave me your number!)

Just a quick post: I have recently taken a booking until the end of February, so I’ll now be taking bookings from March. Contract roles in and around Yorkshire preferred and further afield considered on a role by role basis (London, Manchester etc for shorter durations).

Check out my updated CV (updated Feb 2009). If you have any requirements in March or would like any further information, please do get in touch (email preferred or feel free to give me a call to discuss any specific requirements you have).

From today, my contact telephone number will be changing. Please see the contact page and update your records

I still have availability from next month, check out my CV (PDF file) if you have a contract role that you think I would be suited to. Drop me an email if you’d like any more information. Sorry, contract roles only.

Thanks, Dan

Now we are all back at work, I’d like to announce my availably and the types of roles I’m seeking. I am now available from the beginning of February 2009 for contract/freelance roles only. Unfortunately, I’m not considering permanent roles at the moment. Due to the number of calls I get every day, please don’t call about permanent roles.

Check out my Current CV (PDF file) – drop me an email to hi[AT]gravy.org.uk if you have a specific role in mind and would like my CV in another format (e.g. Word). As well as having a load of web-development experience I’m also keen to keep my hand in web studio/production management as it’s one of my strengths.  See the contact page for more info.

I am currently working on designing some very snazzy and very contemporary user interfaces built from scratch from Photoshop designs and assembled into lovely W3C compliant XHTML and CSS. jQuery is my framework of choice for this project which enables me to quickly prototype some nice interface elements, including the now ubiquitous drag-and-drop with AJAX back end and some nice overlays for modal dialogues and so forth. If you don’t know what I’m on about – think iGoogle but less utilitarian.