History

After graduating from Bristol University with an Honours Degree in Mathematics, I was accepted by British Airways for their Graduate Training Scheme and worked as a programmer there for 2 years.

I then spent 12 years at Hymans Robertson and Company, an actuarial consultancy, starting as a Programmer and working up to Senior Systems Analyst designing and implementing computer systems for the pensions and life assurance industry.

For 13 years I have been self-employed, creating web sites, CD-ROM content and Access database systems for clients.

Computer Skills

HTML

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language, is the basic code for all web pages. HTML tags tell your web browser how the web pages should look: colours, type faces, page layout. They also define what images should be shown, their size and where they appear on the page. HTML is also used to set up navigation: links to other pages in your site, or to different sites completely.

There are software packages available which let you create web pages without even seeing the HTML, but I prefer to edit the HTML code directly as I believe this gives more efficient websites with better cross-browser compatibility.

ASP, PHP, XML, Javascript, Perl, VisualBasic

All of these are ways of adding programming to web page code to make your website more flexible and user-responsive. Programming can be used for relatively minor functions like roll-over images, standard applications such as an online enquiry form, and right through to complex database driven websites.

Adobe Flash & Director

Adobe Flash is the tool of choice for producing and delivering high-impact Web sites. Musical tracks, sound effects, animations, and user interfaces all converge in Flash. Beyond their good looks, Flash sites are also about speed. The vector-based sites play as they download, and Flash technology delivers Web sites efficiently, even over slow modem connections.

Flash technology is already built-in, reaching more than 98% of Internet-enabled desktops worldwide as well as a wide range of devices (source: NPD Research, March 2005). Flash sites are consistently viewable across Macintosh, Windows, Solaris, Linux, and additional Web-appliance platforms.

Macromedia Director is used to create Shockwave movies, which give over 390 million web users access to some of the best the Web has to offer - including dazzling 3D games and entertainment, interactive product demonstrations, and online learning applications. Director is also an ideal tool for creating rich content and applications for CDs, DVDs and kiosks.

Image Processing Tools

I use a range of software packages to create and enhance images, and to optimise them for Web use. These include MGI Photosuite, Adobe PhotoShop, Macromedia Fireworks and Corel.

And...

Other computer skills include Microsoft Word, Excel and Access, Cobol, RPG and MySQL.