Web Design and Site Planning
Though graphics heavy, knowledge of data flow and image compression allows for fast load times. The image based navigation items require a single download and the image changes on rollover are based on XHTML code rather than separate scripts.
Learn about other projects below.
Click banners to see screen shots or text links to visit the sites.
Outside's Magazine, one of the leading outdoor lifestyle and travel magazines, needed Flash animated advertisements for the publication's Web site. Laurence Liss programmed a series of Flash animations that would play in a small window over the site's content. The ad could be closed by the user with a small "close" button. Click through traffic could be monitored because the ad integrated with the company's advertising system.
Public Broadcasting Atlanta, wanted to allow users to listen to the station's ratio content through a standard Web browser. A Flash based solution was desired for compatibility and reliability reasons. Working in conjunction with Hired Gun Design, Laurence Liss programmed a player that takes the station's four radio streams and allows users to switch between them. The player is lightweight from a code and file size point of view, and works regardless of platform or browser thanks to the ubiquity of the Adobe Flash Media Player.
American Clay, is a national company that creates custom wall finishes based on a patented clay-based formula. The company has applicators and distributors in nearly every state in the U.S. and also in countries around the world. In order to better manage the company's directory of showrooms, applicators, and distributors a Content Management System (CMS) was needed so that American Clay employees could access and updated the entries as needed. In addition the company maintains a list of workshops and training events that are time sensitive and also needed to be editable by the American Clay staff. Laurence Liss and Hired Gun Design restructured and organized the site's data and worked towards a sensible basic layout. Hired Gun Design created the stunning new design and Laurence Liss translated it into a CMS-based Web site complete with directory and event calendars.
The City of Las Vegas Museum & Rough Rider Memorial Collection, is a small historical museum located in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The museum required an updated Web site that would be easy to update and allow for the museum staff to post blogs and news quickly. Laurence Liss worked with Hired Gun Design to restructure the site and integrate it's appearance with an existing database that is currently used to track and search for items in the museum's extensive collection. The design was completed by Hired Gun Design and programmed by Laurence Liss. It uses some simple PHP to send form data and to rotate image headers randomly every time the page is loaded. The museum staff blogs on Blogspot, and these entries are fed onto the site's front page automatically. The site is template based using PHP includes to be more versatile than Dreamweaver templates but the main content areas are designed for easy updates by the museum staff using Dreamweaver.
Outside's Go Magazine is a publication of style and travel for the affluent adventurer. The magazine has a circulation of more than 200,000. When Laurence Liss took the job of Web editor, the magazine had a series of static HTML pages, a system that was already causing problems for users and administrators of the site. After considering the needs and wishes of the publishers, Laurence Liss partnered with ATG Design Group and began working out the structure and design of a Content Management System. The system was designed to allow for entries to be cross-categorized, so that stories could appear in multiple sections of the site simultaneously. As the magazine has strong visual content, the CMS had to allow images to be used as access points to the various stories. Further, as audio and video elements were desired, the system had to accommodate such media in a way that would both allow them to be distinguished from other stories, but also appear in the same sections as standard stories.
Jackal Cycling specializes in building high-end custom bicycles. The company needed a Web site that would allow customers to choose parts and design and purchase custom bikes. The site required a specially built content management that would allow for advanced features such as optional parts and grouped parts. In addition the site required its own credit card processing functions and order management pipeline. Laurence Liss designed the data structure and databases and coded the site based on an ongoing list of desired functionality.
The New Mexico Department of Health needed to move into the 21st century and move information on its service providers into a database that would be available to the public. The goal was a simple interface that would allow users to search for specific services, or services by city, county or region. Further, the agency wanted its records to directly tie into the Web site, thus the users would have access to the same information as the Department itself. Hired Gun Design teamed with Laurence Liss to deliver the completed site. It was a great collaboration. Liss and Hired Gun worked out the site architecture together, then Hired Gun created the visual design while Liss created the functionality. The result is a simple, beautiful and functional Web site that is very user friendly.
CommuteSmart is a federally-funded organization sponsored by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. Vanpooling is one of the methods promoted in order to reduce traffic and pollution in the area while still getting people to work efficiently. Each vanpool is a passenger van that carries a group of seven to 15 people to and from work each day. There are many vanpools serving different routes and new ones are added often enough that the CommuteSmart administrators wanted to be able to add, edit, and remove them from the Web site without having to call a programmer every time. Laurence Liss programmed a simple content management systems (CMS) to make this possible. The new system also features an automated email form for users to use to request more information on a specific vanpool or setting up a new vanpool.
Digital Dispatcher, a company specializing in improving the efficiency of delivery vehicles through the use of cutting edge cellular technology, required a Web site that would allow for frequent updates to be made by staff members with no experience using HTML code. News and events would have to be posted on a regular basis by users who needed varying levels of access to the system. Further the company did not want to invest in proprietary software for these purposes. Laurence Liss designed and coded a custom built content management system (CMS) to handle all of these needs. In addition to administrative functions, the finished site allows for registered users to access data, such as training material and documentation, not available to the general public. The visual design of the site was meant to show the varying uses of the company's services as well as the simplicity of its products, and the cutting edge technological approach.
SafeToys.com is an Online magazine and safety forum for parents and guardians of young children. Laurence Liss was hired as the editorial director of the publication for his strong print background and understanding of Internet communications. Liss helped guide a full design and programming team to create a branded look for the site and to program a custom CMS. The system had to be able to organize recall data from the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and integrate it into SafeToys.com. The system also had to allow for this data to be broken into simple categories and to be easily searched. Further, blogs and original news stories and articles had to be able to be managed and archived gracefully.
Kacie Comly is fine artist specializing in alternative process photographic prints. Laurence Liss designed and coded a Web site for her that would act as a showcase for her work as well as well as an Online résumé. The site was designed to allow text to be easily changed and updated without any knowledge of code.
Michael Donnor is fine art and portrait photographer primarily making black and white silver gelatin prints. Donnor had created a look and feel for the pages of his Web site but did not know how to implement the design. Liss was asked to help make the pages functional and come up with the best display solution. Due to the unique rollover effects and the desire to allow for automatic global scalability of the pages, the site was created in Flash. Small HTML links at the bottom of the pages allow for search engines to crawl the site and descriptive text in the pages will aid with search engine optimization (SEO).
Print Professional Magazine, formerly titled Business Forms, Labels, and Systems Magazine, is a business-to-business publication reporting on the world of commercial print. As one of the publication's senior editors, Liss was asked to help create the design of the site, plan content strategies, and to lead the IT staff in recreating the publication's Web site to coincide with its re-launch under a new name.
PromoInbox is a service of Promo Marketing Magazine and its series of Web sites designed to aid distributors of promotional products. Laurence Liss worked with the publisher to help design this Flex-based, database-driven site. The site underwent several iterations and design revisions. Currently it allows approved companies to add products to the site through a specially designed back-end.
