Design / Programming / Video
Meet Stacey
A Freelancer.
For Always.
Often times you find a freelancer but…they are really just between jobs.
This freelancer is not going anywhere.
Growing & Changing
With Technology
Since 1998
websites
design & art direction
html
css
sass
php
javascript
javascript frameworks
git
gulp
wordpress
Joomla
server maintenance
DNS records
VIDEO
conceptualization
graphic design
video editing
sound editing
special effects
compression
vimeo channels
youtube channels
social media delivery
E-Learning
conceptualization
graphic design
programming
animation
h5p
learndash
grassblade LRS
WordPress LMS
I am a freelance WordPress website designer and website developer. I never could choose one or the other. I love doing both. Right out of college, I knew that I enjoyed to design and be creative but that I also loved to bring designs and other creative visions to life. This is the main reason that I stayed a freelancer all of these years.
Being a freelancer, I get to work on a wide variety of projects in different genres for an endless list of clients. Why would anyone ever want to do anything else?
Contact Me
Design
Branding
I have created many different brands. This involves the logo design and then establishing an overall look/feel for a company. When companies have a brand, I can work with that brand to remain consistent in all of their digital materials. And even if they just have a partial brand – like a logo – I can expand on that brand and create other elements to complement it.
Web Design
I can either work with an existing design or I can design the site myself. Often times, a designer will provide a web concept that just won’t work for mobile. Because I understand how the end product will be built, I design realistic concepts and because I am always in the “web world”, I am on top of what is current and modern.
E-Learning
I build e-learning tools. I understand what is possible and what will engage the user. If I am going to be building the e-learning tools then there is no need to “mock up” each and every one of them. I will mock up a few different ones for the client’s approval and then i will design and skin the rest with HTML & CSS.
Video Graphics
I use Adobe Premiere for most video editing and effects. Before moving over to Premiere, I will “mock-up” the inital designs in Photoshop for client approval. Once the design is approved, it is much faster to continue the graphic process within Premiere and animate the graphics there.
Programming
I am a WordPress website designer and developer now but I learned how to build websites when only html existed. There were no WYSIWYG editors at the time and it was way before WordPress. There was only code and I learned in simpletext on a Mac. Later as CSS was introduced, I quickly got on board as it changed everything. CSS continuously changes and updates as the browsers get more sophisticated so it is important to stay on top of these changes.
For instance, responsive websites are entirely powered by CSS. When websites went through this transition, it was a big learning curve. Although schooling gave me the starting blocks for programming, I am entirely self-taught with new technologies.
Reading online tutorials and analyzing code is a common thing for me as my skills are always growing. I won’t often say “I can’t” do something. If it has been done, I will usually find a way to learn how to do it.
PHP and Javascript are languages that I continue to learn as I use these programming languages daily. With the exception of those creating these languages, I don’t believe that anyone will ever know them completely as they are constantly evolving. A successful freelancer is one that gets excited to learn new things.
I am a WordPress website designer but websites are not the only thing I use WordPress for. I use it as my primary base to build websites, e-learning courses and online stores. WordPress offers clients a full content management system (CMS) and there is basically nothing you can’t accomplish with WordPress.
When I build anything in WordPress, I have a few goals:
- The site needs to be optimized for speed.
- The site should be “smart” and be built for growth.
- All areas of the site need to be easy for anyone to edit.
There are other WordPress website designers that simply purchase pre-built themes for a site and then drop in new content. I build “custom” websites. I don’t purchase pre-built themes as they are bloated and they result in a slow website.
I use the WordPress block theme and I custom build a child theme to work within the block editor. Every site I build, is built for that project alone. I will either customize the theme to a design or I will design the theme as I build the site. There was a time when I did use “theme builders” like DIVI, Beaver Builder and Elementor, as they were faster but the WordPress editor has come a long way and theme builders have just gotten more bloated.
So, in keeping with rule#1, I have made it a point to develop a child-theme that works specifically with the built in, Wordblock editor. This is also called “Gutenberg”.
In order to make sure the site is “Smart” and built for growth, I make sure that any areas that will change or grow over time, are built to be dynamic. This also makes things very easy for the client to edit. I will build areas of the site to be driven by POSTS or Custom Post Types.
I currently use WordPress as the primary base to build e-learning courses. I use all of the same techniques with e-learning that I use with websites, in terms of development but there are other tools that use within WordPress for e-learning.
There are a lot of ways you can develop training material within WordPress. I have used Learndash quite a bit and will use Learndash only when the goal is to have quizzes and tracking throughout the course. In combination with Learndash, I have used H5P elements (for interactivity) and XAPI elements for tracking of both the Learndash and the H5P elements.
For other, more simple courses that have the goal of simple tracking and the goal to be “no such an obvious course”, I have built a full membership system using Paid Memberships Pro. I custom built all of the tracking by tapping into the User Metadata of WordPress. This allowed me to build progress bars and to feed the user the proper modules, based on where they were in the program.
As a WordPress website designer, the main system that I use to build online stores is Woocommerce. Woocommerce has the most tools available and it can be customized with PHP hooks and filters. Here are some examples of online stores that I have built using Woocommerce.
Make the Connection
After building this e-learning system with Learndash, I installed Woocommerce for the shopping cart. This is a basic shopping cart that also has coupon coes.
Normac Kitchens
This website uses Woocommerce in catalogue mode. Variable products are set up and a swatches plugin is configured for the doors.
Memorial Galleries
This online store is interesting because along with Woocommerce, there is a plugin that allows users to customize their own tombstone. They can type save their design and they can purchase it right on the website.
WPInnova
This website has over 200 products but the online payment is disabled. This website is “catalogue mode” instead.
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optmization”. A website with good SEO will have a better chance of being listed near the top of Search queries on search engines like Google.
The biggest key to good SEO is “well written content”. I don’t always write the content for the websites I build but I will advise my clients on their SEO and make recommendations.
All of my websites follow SEO best practices. I use YOAST to validate the SEO for each page and each image is inserted with ALT tags and named with keywords. Header tags are used throughout the site.
When websites are complete, I will install Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. There is a plugin for WordPress called Google Site Kit that I am currently using for this. This plugin allows clients to see their google stats right in the WordPress Admin.
Accessability is always kept in mind when building websites. I use REMs as the font measurement. This gives accessible tools the ability to adjust the font sizes. Accessible fonts are chosen and colours are also chosen while keeping accessability in mind. There are lots of plugins for WordPress that can offer accessability tools and closed captioning can be added to videos and e-learning tools if required.
When I am building websites, I am sure to compress each image before uploading. I also compress all of my CSS and Javascript before uploading.
Once each website is built, I will optimize the website for speed using various tools (more compression, minification, caching, database reduction) within WordPress.
I install server based firewall and security tools and then I also recommend that my clients use an external Firewall, CDN / CACHING tool. I will install and configure this for each site that has it.
Thrivelandia
This online world was built for kids and teens. It is a membership based site with e-commerce features built in. It contains over 80 videos and over 80 interactive e-learning activities.
Make the Connection
This e-learning course was created for new mothers. It is built with a combination of Learndash, H5P and WordPress and it contains over 60 videos and interactive activities. It has full tracking using XAPI elements on the Grassblade system.
CPFF Website
This is a very large website with a full catalogue of information on pulmonary fibrosis. I built a template system for this website for a junior developer to work with and I managed the junior developer during the production of this website.
Videos
Design / Videos / Sound
FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION
And everywhere in between
Creating videos is one of my favourite things to do. The best videos are the ones that I am involved in from the beginning. I often have a hand in the concept of the video. I may write the script or work closely with the script writer. Then… I am giving creative freedom to do what I want with the concept.
I believe they are the best in the end because when you have a designer passing graphics and ideas to a video editor, sometimes things get lost in translation. The sound editor can’t always see the vision. Having a video editor execute a vision they understand will lead to a more fluid product.
Trailer
Thrivelandia Online World
Intro
Grat Grove Land Intro
Trailer
Make the Connection Course
Intro
What is attachment (e-course)
Quote Request
Most of the time, I work on a set-cost basis. If you have a project in mind, please describe it below and I can provide you with a quote.