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Michael Barnathan Computer Scientist, Software Developer, and Web Developer, among many other things... Computer Scientist Software Developer Web Developer many other things...
Web Design

Web

Welcome to the web design section. My experience with this field has always been somewhat of a peculiarity, as I never truly intended to design websites in the first place. I designed my first website around the end of 1994, when my family signed up for America Online service over a 2,400 bps dialup connection. I was 9, going on 10, at the time. Though I originally had no intention of designing websites as anything more than a casual activity, I soon found that my skills (which I must always make sure are up to date in this ever-changing field) were in high demand. After designing a number of personal and freelance sites, learning XHTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl, and MySQL in the process, I began working as a professional web developer for Kaller Historical Documents in May of 2001. Though I left in 2003, I am still frequently asked to design websites. Many of my sites have won "highest rated" awards on SiteCritique and other website rating services. There is something that sets me apart from most web developers: I am a programmer and a utilitarian. I won't use or discard elements due to web dogma (or any other reason than using the right tool for the job), though I do code to standard XHTML. Unsurprisingly, this makes me much faster and my sites much more compatible than most web developers can boast. I also don't use browser hacks, which makes my sites much more future-proof than 90% of current designs. I didn't have to change any of them to work with IE7. Hacks simply aren't necessary if one has a sufficient grasp of CSS.

I'm equally comfortable designing fixed and fluid layouts, though I tend to design my own sites with fluid layouts. I don't follow a particular design genre, but I can do the web 2.0 thing if that's what you want.

Documents