Billy Elliot
I was responsible for the technical specification and build of this website, working almost alone throughout. After presenting my proposed solution to the client I started the build of a website that would function as three: The UK, Broadway and US tour sites.
The build required a varying level of user groups with numerous configurations of permissions so the site was built in Joomla thanks to its flexible user management and its customizable ACL (Access Control Level) features. This meant that each component and its data could be configured to be accessed and edited by only the specified user groups.
The site was built on a very tight turnaround due to constraints regarding the lifespan of the existing US site, which has to go offline due to disagreements with the former service provider.
The site was a challenge to create and required a range of skills to complete. AJAX, JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3 made for an easy to use front end, and improving my knowledge of front end development. The PHP backend was also challenging and required the installation of technologies on the server to improve caching performance.
http://www.billyelliotthemusical.com/NHS Hampshire
The NHS Hampshire website was live by the time that I arrived at NHS Hampshire Digital. However, during my time at NHS Hampshire I had been responsible for a number of new enhancements to the site, not to mention ongoing maintenance. The most notable component I added to the site was the newsletter manager. It allowed for automated emails to be sent out to users in particular email lists, grabbing content from articles that existed in the database that were associated with a list of interests users defined when they signed up.
I also moved this site to a vanilla install, migrating code, documents, images and migrating data from the database, based on a thorough migration plan and freeing the team from a restrictive edited Joomla core. This resulted in the creation of a number of components modules and plugins so that they no longer depended on core changes to the Joomla infrastructure.
http://www.hampshire.nhs.uk/NHS HCHC
The NHS HCHC website was also live prior to my arrival at NHS Hampshire Digital. However, I was still responsible for the upkeep of the site, keeping up to date with tracker items, as with all the sites, and developing a number of enhancements. Enhancements included the creation of a Services manager, which allowed for the public to search the services and sub-services provided by HCHC via AJAX, as well as having a backend that allowed for the management of services.
I again moved this site to a vanilla install, migrating code, documents, images and migrating data from the database based on a thorough migration plan, much like with the NHS Hampshire website.
NHS Hampshire Primary Care
The Primary Care site is an extranet, used to keep contractors abreast of news and providing them with access to a number of useful documents, electronic forms and useful links. The site was split into Primary Care news, GPs, Dentists, Pharmacists, Optometrists and PBC’s and featured a jQuery accordion that utilized PHP and MySQL to drag in specified articles, updatable via the backend, and another javascript based slider that grabbed articles specified for use on the front page.
I created a number of modules for use throughout the site, as well as training up a number of staff on how to administer the site and aid them in the creation of documentation regarding such issues.
NHS SCSCG
SCSCG’s site was a fairly basic brochure site. The intention was to inform users of latest news and proposed actions, as well as informing the public what the South Central Specialised Commissioning Group actually do. For this website, I spent a good deal of time training up staff, and creating one or two modules to enhance the site. I was also responsible for the site being moved to a vanilla install, rather than it sitting on an edited code base. This meant both a code and database migration, a challenge I relished and enjoyed.
NHS HIS
The Health Informatics Service (HIS) was a brochure site aimed at providing employees and the public with visibility regarding the restructuring of a number of departments within Hampshire PCT and the existing HIS. I was responsible with maintaining the site, editing a number of modules and updating a number of images that were utilized on the site.
http://www.hampshire.nhs.uk/HIS/NHS HHR
The Hampshire Health Record (HHR) is a brochure site I was tasked with maintaining as well as implementing a few new components. The project was built in Joomla and used MVC, however, previous employees had edited a number of core files on larger projects and in turn used that code base for the HHRs site. As a result I took it upon myself to migrate the project to a fresh Joomla installation, allowing us to upgrade the project to the latest iteration of Joomla, in turn securing it from a number of security vulnerabilities.
As well as this I installed and maintained a bug tracker and a registration component for members of the HHR team to track issues with their systems and apply to gain access to a number of clinical records. I also read over the brief regarding the API that would later be used to make up the HHR electronic patient record application.
http://www.hampshire.nhs.uk/hhr/Clinical Networks
The Clinical Networks projected was my first development for NHS Hampshire entirely undertaken alone. I was invited along to meetings with the client where a number of goals were outlined, functionality suggested and designs approved.
I set about initially by designing the site using Photoshop and sticking to both NHS style guidelines and departmental best practices. Once the design was signed off, I began creating the site according to the brief and functional specification created in conjunction with the client.
The project took under a month to create, excluding initial brief and spec creation. It was hugely educational experience and gave me a great sense of satisfaction following its release, as it was my first project created for the team.
Which IDE is for me
An IDE is a term used to describe the main tool in a developers arsenal. The program you will spend most of your time in if your a developer. There are quite a few on the market and I’ve spent some time in quite a number. They all have there pros and cons and here is my low down on my favorites.
Joomla: Removing Mootools from the frontend and optimising your site
A simple one today, one simple way to slightly optimise you Joomla installation. You will notice when using YSlow and other optimisation tools that it suggests including less javascript files. Http requests to the same server can only return one file at a time and only one request can be made to the same server at the same time. That is why using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can prove useful, as well as feeding images and videos from Flickr and YouTube, not to mention the costs saved on bandwidth. Anyway, the less request you have to make, the faster your site will load. (more…)
