I started doing web development in 1994 when I was asked by a fellow who bought an NT server to help out--I learned HTML and started programming in Perl. I also helped out with the server on occasion and learned some things about servers and server management. I kept at it, and by 1996 I was pretty busy building websites and using perl to write scripts when needed. I also used many open source perl programs, especially those published by Xtropia. In 1996 PHP was in it's beginning stages and I began using it for development. Currently I normally use PHP for development, but still occasionally use Perl.
One of my strong points for web development is that I have is a background in art. (University of Texas art school, late 60's). This may not be obvious at first, because we normally view design and programming as entirely different things. This is simply not true when it comes to the web. Programmers and designers often do not communicate very well at all, and what you get in the end is an awkward misfit. What works best is when the programmer can effectively follow the lead of the designer, respecting the decisions of the designer, and creating code and programming which adheres to the original vision of the designer. Excellent designers do not have to be excellent coders if they have a programmer working with them who will interpret their design accurately. I can do that.
There is a difference between coding and programming, although they are often used as interchangeable terms. Coding in it's strictest sense should refer to layout code, such as html and css. Programming is done when you are writing an application which needs logic and special functions to do things like open up and use the data which is stored in a database. I do both. Coding is where the design meets the application programming.
These samples must be viewed with a late model browser. If you see weird stuff your browser can't handle current W3C standards. The coding for this company was done for an intranet where they have full control over what type and resolution browser is used by the visitor, so accomodation for crippled and old browsers on legacy hardware was not done.
If you mouseover the red boxes with numbers in them on the left you will see explanations in yellow boxes. These were done for symphony-services.com
http://www.mariposagraphics.com/samples/sample.html
This was done for myself:
This page shows a variety of css and dhtml techniques:
http://www.mariposagraphics.com/samples/desertrat.html
This is a site that is editable by the owner on the fly. I used a technology called Smarty Templates (smarty.php.net) and a MySQL database (the database of choice--used by NASA). In addition, I installed a java applet which gives a WYSIWYG view for editing. I first built this site on a Windows server and wrote the whole thing in ASP. But the owner eventually came to his senses and had me rebuild his site on a Unix box using PHP. http://www.rcenedellagallery.com/ The network guy has been fiddling with the settings on this site lately so if you don't get the above, try this: https://www.nfpetrack.com/RCenedella/homepage.php
This is the staging server for a fancy mailing list and financial document exchange area for NetworkFinancialPrint.com. I can't let you in. The application here allows in the administrators of various financial services.(I have a self signed certificate installed here). https://www.nfpetrack.com/p3plus/Admin/
Here are some sites I have been working on for a company named Onrite.com:
I wrote the search engine for this application. It is a very fancy search engine that gives precedence to certain companies based on the rate they pay for their advertising--i.e., the big payers always show up first.
Here are some of their program sites. These sites use "intelligent" programming--that is if a person enters the site from an affiliate owner's website, the program knows who that affiliate is, and the display changes accordingly. The forms know who to send the data to, and the whole application knows which pages to show and not to show, depending on who enters from where.
http://www.hairreplenishmenttherapy.com
Here is my own project I am developing with Linda Dorn, the talented illustrator/animation artist who teaches at Cal Arts. The technology behind these sites is based on Smarty Templates:
Some Flash (Flash requires Actionscript programming) This was done for Gator Ford http://www.mariposagraphics.com/new/gatorwalk2.html
This was done for Publishing Net: http://www.mariposagraphics.com/media/index2.html
This was done for a Father's Rights group: http://www.mariposagraphics.com/preview/intro.html
It is impossible to show samples of Unix administration, but that is another part of my work that consumes a good chunk of my attention. I maintain several servers, including my own. I started doing Server administration about 10 years ago simply because there was no one else around to do it, and after a while, I got pretty good at it. I don't really call myself a Unix Admin, but I play one on the web. Turns out I really like running a well trimmed, lean, fast server, keeping it oiled and polished, and making sure it's always awake. I am connected to my servers by emergency alert--that is, if one of them coughs or sputters, I get notified instantly. Right now I get an email from the server in distress which says "Help, I've fallen, and I can't get up." Pretty soon I will have the thing set up to send a text message to my cell phone.