Work > Overview - Pixelluxe.com - The Personal Portfolio of Marcus Hodges

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Friendship Retirement Community

Friendship Retirement Community: XHTML & CSS Cutup from JPG files / Content Management for Calendar, News, and Careers / JavaScript / AJAX / Application and Contact Forms; 2008 was my busiest year yet, and this project ended it with a bang. The site required every technology I knew (and a few I didn’t), with the production schedule from hell. I set up PHP/MySQL content management for various site features, lots of accessibility upgrades, and a ton of AJAX interface widgets. Even with many surprise revisions to structure, design, and content, the site still came in on schedule and on budget. Read all about how my biggest freelance project yet came together on the blog.

Pixelluxe Redesign 2009: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PSD file / Content Management for Blog and Portfolio / JavaScript / AJAX / Contact Form; I’m embarrassed to say how long this site has been coming - but it’s finally here and I’m glad you’re looking at it now. Brad Soroka did an amazing job designing it for me and I couldn’t be more excited about the features we worked into it. Color and interface are the stars of this show, with clean, semantic code the whole way through. Everything is easily updated with a simple content management system. More details are available in the blog.

The Heritage Foundation: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PSD file / Prep for third-party content management (Convio); This cutup job for a very visible client was turned around in just a few quick days. The site needed to be easy to navigate and to convey a lot of information in a small amount of space. AJAX show/hide effects and multi-tiered navigation help to acheive those goals. The code also needed to be very flexible and easy to update for the Convio CMS. Learn more at the blog.

National Minority AIDS Education & Training Center: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PSD file / JavaScript / PHP Templating / Forms; Navigation was the theme for this sprawling project. The site architecture was four layers deep and I used some nice CSS (with JavaScript failsafes) to provide drop-down navigation lists. I also built a slew of complicated forms and made a great big ton of paragraph tags for all that content. Read the rest on the blog.

The HCR Companies: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PDF files / Full-site Content Management (via Expression Engine) / Contact Form; This project was my first chance to really get my hands dirty in Expression Engine. The whole site is built in there, and it worked great with my CSS-driven layout. The client can update any content through a simple, intuitive interface. See the full story at the blog.

Click&Pledge: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PDF file / JavaScript / Site Planning; After setting up a logical directory structure, all I had to do for this site was cut up the graphics into some clean CSS templates and leave plenty of space for the Flash pieces. Personally, I would've liked to have JavaScript call the Flash (or better yet - not use it at all), but I will say the site does look great. Read more on the blog.

International Masonry Institute: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PSD file / JavaScript / PHP Templating; I was only on this project long enough to help get the client started, but during that time I coded up their homepage with all its interactive features and got them set up to build out their other pages by working up the “About” section of the site. This site is huge but good navigation and clean interface elements help point the way. Learn more at the blog.

Roanoke Arts Festival 2007: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PDF file / Google Maps Implementation / JavaScript / Ticketing Integration / PHP Templating; This was my first large-scale and highly-visible project, and it took home the PRSA’s Summit Award. I worked on this site from start to finish, building all the code from the ground up and even managing updates throughout the festival. Read more on the blog.

AD2 Roanoke: XHTML & CSS Cutup from previous website / PHP Templating; Completed during my time as their Online Communications Chair, this recode of an existing site increased their Google ranking from uncharted to Top 10 within one week. Also, all of the page content areas got discreet PHP files, so updating is a breeze. Find out more in the blog.

Stanly Regional Medical Center Recruting Microsite: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PDF file / sIFR Text Replacement / Forms; This small promotional site is a good example of how to use CSS layouts to acheive a brochure-style layout. We used a Flash / JavaScript utility to use a special font for headlines, and had various forms to allow for easy visitor contact. More information on the blog.

Katz Brunner Healthcare: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PSD file / Preparation for Content Manager; This was a quick cutup job to prepare a design for a Content Management System. Simple content areas and CSS-based layout help to make it easy to clients to add and update information at will. Learn more on the blog.

Colosseum Condo: XHTML & CSS Cutup from PDF file / Calendar Content Management; This was my first freelance cutup project; and while the client has since updated their site, I still like to show it for posterity and as a good example of CSS layouts at their most basic and effective. Read more at the blog.