Working With Rails

I have been developing websites with .NET and PHP for years, concentrating on CSS table-less design, standards compliance, and accessibility has set me apart from other web developers. I wasn’t introduced to Ruby on Rails until mid to late 2006, but I’ve made every effort to become as proficient as possible and now fully embrace behavior driven development and the agile approach to software development.

Any opportunity to work with Rails is an opportunity to create the next “best site” that I have done.

I’ve been focusing on presentation and design lately and have taken numerous Photoshop training courses to hone my skills.

• November – Current: Create a custom Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) application for an Appleton based company. Utilizing rails we are aiming to allow this company’s proprietary intellectual property to be utilized in a way that simply wasn’t possible with their current vendor.
• Sept – November: Customize and install Inacom Rails CMS with repeat customer Bell Laboratories for their site BellLabs.com the parent company of the previously developed tomcatbrand.com (new belllabs site not yet live).
• May – August 08: Developed a generic custom CMS to use at my consulting firm, Inacom, for our clients. Instead of requiring that the customer do all the page design for each new page we provide customized templates with editable snippets. New blank template pages can also be created. This configurable and installable CMS will save time and money for our clients and allow us to do more projects, and do them better.
• Jan – April 08: Audit scheduling tool for Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation (WECC) allowing customers from across the nation spanning various local power companies the ability to call representatives in their area and schedule a Home Energy House Call (energy audit). Data was queried via a SOAP web service provided by the energy companies.
• Sept – Dec 07: Product catalog showcasing Rodent Control Products for Madison Area company Bell Labratories. Custom content management system allows for the client to manage their products without needing to pay additional maintenance fees. Ajax drag and drop ordering of nearly all content on the site provides extreme flexibility during content display. See the site in production here.
• March – Sept 07’: Developed a custom corporate CMS site for a local Madison insurance company WEA Trust. “Go Live” was Sept 14th 2007. This portal allows for WEA members to create a profile to track significant life events that they want more information about. Some of the content is WEA specific, some is just good life advice. The site is currently open to all who want to register. Ajax and javascript are used where appropriate to create a better user experience. See the site in production here. Be sure to register for an account to experience the full functionality! (on the front end user side anyway…)
• Oct – Dec 06’: CMS system for Eau Claire area a cappella group Impromptu. Screen shots coming soon…