Work
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reasonWeekly.com The Freethinker's News Aggregator
This customized publishing platform based on the Wordpress engine gives the client full control over content, maintenance, and user management. My tasks were the design and markup of a new, original theme for the site, as well as writing the custom additions in terms of functionality.
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Skepdic.com The Skeptic's Dictionary
Skepdic is one of my favorite sites on the Web, and last year I've also had the privilege of redesigning it. My tasks were to create a simpler, more modern look, design a new logo, and reduce the amount of code used for the layout.
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Spot Zero Water
The client needed an online platform to introduce and inform their audience about their new product. The project required an original design, as well as creating a content management system, which allows the client to update and maintain their content independently.
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Equitransfer.com
The requirements for this project included a photo gallery easily updatable by the client, as well as an original design and custom add-ons. All text and images on the site are editable from a simple administration interface.
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Atheist Heaven Clothing Threads for Freethinkers
An online T-shirt storefront, enabled with a newsletter subscription service. My tasks on this project included optimizing the site for search engines. Atheistheaven.com is it the number one search result in Google for its main keyword (atheist shirts), which generates cca. 70% of its business.
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EliteMarine.us
Client-managed online store with custom design and modifications. The store and content are managed through an easy-to-use blogging platform.
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ForNorm Foundation for the Normalization of US-Cuba Relations
Simple brochure website for ForNorm, with a custom minimalist design.
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About Me
My name is Cristian Popa. I live and work in Atlanta. I am a front-end Web developer with seven years of experience, and I do my best work in the following fields:
- Web design, drafting and layout planning
- Website build-outs in standards-compliant HTML and CSS
- Website maintenance
- Accessibility and usability
- Animations and video
- Search engine optimization
For more information, or to request references from past or current clients, please feel free to contact me.
Volunteer Work
From time to time, I am available for volunteer pro-bono Web development work for charities, non-profits, businesses geared towards helping communities, educational and scientific projects, and underprivileged individuals. Please use the contact form below to inquire.
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How I Work
"Don't Make Me Think"
In recent years, the focus of good design has shifted heavily towards usability. Gone are the days when a flashy design, shiny imagery and large quantities of content which nobody ever read were enough to establish a site as legitimate. Good design today focuses on satisfying the site user's most frequently voiced demand: "Don't make me think."
Web Users Don't Read; They Scan
Style, of course, is important, but essence is what keeps users interested. And a good design should keep the essence plainly visible. It is a known fact that Internet users don't read websites. They scan them to find what they want and then they act in one of three ways:
- If they don't quickly find what they're looking for, and if they have a choice, they move on to the next website. Over the years, clients have told me countless stories of business lost on account of unusable websites ("He couldn't find our contact page!"). Downright depressing.
- The second possible outcome of poor usability is frustrated users. Even if they don't have any other choice but to stay on your site and keep looking for what they need, by the time they find it, their experience has already degraded.
- The third outcome is user satisfaction, and a little care in designing and laying out the site can achieve that. Most websites have something authentic and valuable to offer, but that authenticity is lost behind unnecessarily encumbered design. Nowadays, most everyone's precocious nephew can drop a cool shadow behind a block of text, and that's sometimes a good thing. But showing the user where she is and where she needs to go in under three seconds is more likely to make a difference.
The Development Process
This is a very rough outline of the usual stages of the Web development process. Of course, each project will have its own requirements and this process can vary, but the list below should serve as a good initial orientation.
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Understanding the Project
In a meeting, a phone call, through e-mail, or all of the above, the developer and the client establish the main objectives and the details of the project: purpose, specifications and requirements, deadlines, technologies, hosting, etc.
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Proposal
The developer submits a price quote and a proposal outlining the project down to the last detail.
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Content Gathering
Once the proposal is approved, the client submits the content of the project: text, images, video, etc.
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Design
The developer submits mockups of the most important areas of the project. Usually they involve detailed drawings of at least the home page and a generic inner page. Mockups are reviewed by the clients and they usually undergo a round of revisions.
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Buildout
After the final designs are approved by the client, the project is built and the actual code is written. Any other additional requirements are satisfied at this stage (search engine optimization, third-party software customization, etc.).
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Delivery
The client recieves the final version of the site and makes revisions if necessary.
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Project Launch
The site is launched.
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Contact Me
Please use the form below to get in touch, or write me at cristian@cristianpopa.com.
