Task

The Kansas City Star wanted to create a niche based social networking site for KC area pet owners. The goals were mostly advertising based but the time was put in on the product to make sure that users could at least find a few features that they couldn't find anywhere else.

Solution

My first task was to outline the basic layout and design of the site, keeping in mind the audience and the functionality of the site. I create a brand that would coincide with The Star's overall brand but still have enough personality to stand on it's own. I also had to set up some templates for variable design areas that web editors could modify on a weekly basis.

After the basic design was done I then was tasked with writing all of the front end HTML and CSS. All of the code is written to semantic, SEO friendly guidelines. I was also responsible for the javascript that runs the "billboard" rotator on the homepage.

This is a fairly large scale site that runs on a custom content management system. It was my duty to implement the PHP (smarty) needed to connect the database information to the front end code.

*The KC Star is currently my (Ian) full-time employer.

Visit Live Site