On The Horizon

I realise I have neglected this blog for the past year or so, but that really just reflects how busy I've been finishing my degree at UWE, Bristol. I put a lot of effort into my final year project (I really hope it pays off) and preparing for my final batch of exams was certainly hard work.

Now that's all out of the way, I've reached an incredibly exciting point in my life. Not only am I finally in a position to work as a freelance web developer, but come this November, thanks to my wonderful wife Annie, there will be a new addition to the family (our first child together).

This first week has gone incredibly well. I have quite a few projects on the go already, and the marketing efforts I have initiated so far are all looking fairly promising. I've certainly kept busy - I've ended up working far more hours than I intended to (but then I really do need to give this venture 100% if I'm going to be able to support my expanding family!).

As each new website goes live, I intend to post an update here (and may also add it to my portfolio) and although I won't be posting updates on unfinished sites that I'm working on for clients, I can certainly keep you informed of personal projects (like FilmCritique.co.uk). My latest work-in-progress is BestFreeGaming.com which will be built upon an SQL-based Content Management System (CMS) (as opposed to the XML approach taken with FilmCritique.co.uk). In terms of content, it will be a directory of my favourite games that can be played for free over the Internet. Watch this space for further updates.

FilmCritique.co.uk

As previously mentioned, I have a number of projects on the go and am working on them in the small amount of spare time I have at the moment. Recently however, FilmCritique.co.uk has been occupying most of that time and I am very pleased with its progress.

It is essentially a database of information about films designed to help people find films they will enjoy watching. But it isn't a database in the traditional sense at all - it is simply a collection of XML files, queried and processed through PHP's SimpleXML functions. In order to make the database searchable, I have created a single XML index file which contains only crucial information about each film and therefore keeps the file size down to a minimum.

I have just finished adding genres to the database so you will soon be able to browse films by genre. Otherwise, the main area I intend to focus on next is adding to the amount of original content available on the site. I am therefore looking for people interested in writing editorial film reviews for the site. I have a few on board already but it is definitely a case of the more the merrier. If you are interested then please get in touch using my contact form.

Happy Easter!

Welcome

Welcome to the new home for the JAH Web Development blog. Since re-structuring jah-dev.co.uk into a marketing site to support my new venture, I decided it would be easier to maintain a developmental blog elsewhere.

If you have checked the old blog you will see it has been a while since I've posted, but rest assured I have been busy. I have a number of projects on the go, and will provide links to some prototypes over the coming months (long before they eventually end up on my portfolio).

My placement at UWE is still going well and I am learning new web design and development techniques every day. Unfortunately, working full-time leaves me with a very small amount of spare time to work on my personal endeavours but I am currently squeezing in around 5 hours a week.

Make sure you check back here soon to see what I've been up to. Thanks for reading...