About GuyMy background, my skills and my thoughts on web development

About Me

My family roots are in rural Saskatchewan by Lloydminster — and part of the reason for starting this business venture full-time is to have the flexibility to assist in a farming operation that has been in my family for over a century. I am very busy during May and September - but my clients still have access to my services after the farming is done for the day. If you are considering becoming a new client of mine, I may choose to not book you in for large projects during these two months. Site updates, security checks and core updates are one thing when I have already put in 8-10 hours on assorted farm machinery — planning, creating and execution of your new web presence takes time, and total focus.

My Skills

One would think that graphic designer, web developer, typographer, programmer, e-commerce specialist — and heavy farm equipment operator, welder and mechanic would be enough of a skill-set? Not quite — I have also taught as a sessional instructor at Grant MacEwan (Digital Arts and Media program), been a downhill ski instructor, a plumber apprentice, oilfield pipefitter and I know my way around video editing in Premiere and Final Cut. As if that were not enough to keep me busy, I am also an avid cyclist - mountain, fat-tire (snow), cyclo-cross and road — and have the mechanical chops to keep my fleet of two-wheeled steeds running at peak performance.

My web development preferences

What is Joomla and why build in it vs. WordPress or Drupal? I believe Joomla is the mid-point of features, ease of use, security and adaptability of the three most popular open-source content management systems on the web. Having worked in all three systems during my 19+ year tenure at Northlands, I can say that all have their strong points and weaknesses — and for me, Joomla is my preferred platform. Why? I like the partner companies that support and extend Joomla - Rockettheme, Gantry, JoomWorks, Akeeba to name a few. I like that I don't need to buy additional security modules that are essential to site security in the WordPress world. I have two-factor authentication available built into Joomla and a back-end administrator directory I can lock down in my hosting control panel for dual-layer password protection.

I like that I can build industrial size sites like Drupal and organize them in very similar ways that Drupal can. I don't enjoy how Drupal and WordPress typically take so much extra manual coding. I like that Joomla seems to have a more vibrant community of contributing users and developers than WordPress or Drupal. Bottom line? I think I can build a Joomla site in less time and with better features and security than the other two open-source CMS systems — which means my customers are happier, have better ROI and don't need to worry whether their site is running correctly or not.