Cher Stewart

Eventually, I hope to do mostly photography, wedding and family/baby websites. I happen to love taking pictures, which has been most recently my daughter, and not much of anything else. I love how artistic you can get with a personal site like this and really set the mood for whatever the client is looking for. Between the photos and the design they are showcased in, you can really capture an audience, and invoke any emotion you wish. I wanted to experiment with a darker color with this site, and this was my first time using these colors, and I am really happy with the outcome.

I was the secondary Front-End Developer on this project, at LuxuryRealEstate.com. This was my first experience using the HAML and SASS, to compile XTML and CSS. I styled many of the pages, there are a few I am particularly proud of, because after the pages were complete, the designers told me that they could hardly tell the difference between their comps and the page I developed. This was the second project I worked on in Ruby on Rails, and the second project presented to me as a team of Front-End Developers. I learned many important lessons developing with my co-FED, and how to our changes to the stylesheets affected each other's work. This site is very near deployment, and I am excited to see it in use by Cornerstone.

This site was designed based on the company's existing brand identity. The old site was very outdated, and Heather wanted to bring an earthy elegance to represent her company. This site was developed in Ruby on Rails. Destination Weddings NW was recently featured on Evening Magazine, stating the website has been essential to a substantial growth in the company. This site features custom flash, ajax and a self-modified sifr helper for rails.

This design features the use of Expression Engine to manage the contents. Although the final product isn't quite what I had envisioned for the company, I think many of my ideas are still present, and hey, it is for a good cause. I believe in doing everything the best we can for the Earth and our bodies.

Lice Knowing You, Inc.'s owner Nancy Gordon came to me armed with a few words. Whimsical, Witty and Character. These are the things she wanted to see in her company, Lice Knowing You, Incorporated's web site. She wanted to grab the attention of visitors, and entice them to learn more about her service. I had a bit of an agenda of my own with this site. Nancy was looking for a simple way to make updates to the site, and strong accessibility and search engine optimization techniques of development. Already well-versed in accessibility and SEO, I wanted to tackle it even more. Her site is completely accessible (disable the CSS and you will see), and I have implemented sIFR for viewing pleasure, which can be easily removed, and substituted with a web-safe font without the design being compromised. I am still what I consider new to Ruby on Rails framework, but I have now armed myself with a simple CMS plugin based on divs, haml and AJAX that I can proudly say I designed and built myself. This site was an amazing milestone for me in what I will be able to accomplish in the future, and how quickly and efficiently I can get it done. (I've listed the CMS as a separate portfolio piece). I also created letterhead, postcards and business cards.

This was the main focus of my job as a Front-End Developer at LuxuryRealEstate.com. I completed maintenance tasks for styling/restyling existing pages, updating information on existing pages, creating new sections on existing pages, as well as creating and styling new sections and areas of the site. It was somewhat of a challenge to work in this PHP site, as many front-end developers, some still with the company and some not.

Website for Photography Company. Featured flash, ajax and PHP. Playground Inspired LLC wanted to ensure the right tone for their site and brand identity. The logo speaks for the company. Business cards and postcards match and add more to the ambience. This site is growing.

I am really passionate about improving the web, not only visually, but semantically and for accessibility as well. This site was originally intended to continue what another Developer, Lara Kramer, started, but we have since decided to merge the sites and our ideas, and will soon be launched, with all URL's going to the same location. I wanted this design to be more Web 2.0, and refreshing. The logo is the Saint Louis Arch, with the "recycle" arrow integrated in.

This is the Tableless, haml based content management system I have built for MySQL database driven websites programmed in Ruby on Rails. Once it is more stable, I plan on making it a plugin available through sourceforge. It's basic concept is this: Manage all content simply, and without navigating away from the client's site. I loved how at LuxuryRealEstate.com the Realty Master (admin interface), was within the chrome of the client's site. I think it is less confusing for the user/administrators to navigate that way. It brings a certain level of comfort and congruence. It's still in it's early stages, but beautiful and functional. I plan to continue to implement more features as I become more well-versed in the programming language I now love, Ruby!

This is a blog I created for myself using the Free Version of Expression Engine. I chose to build my own templates and design, in the hopes to inspire single moms into believing that being two parents makes you a superhero. I'm still pretty happy with outcome, although, it's still kind of unfinished. I've closed many of my posts, because my ex, and the father of my daughter came across it and tore me down for posting my feelings on him and how he changed over the years on the internet. I still want to find a way to help and inspire single moms and dads, but I suppose I can find a way to do without making Alexis' dad feel like a schmuck.

I had two tasks for this site. The first was the front-end development of the store-front, as displayed, using tables as requested by the client. Although I hadn't used tables in quite some time, I still managed to get the project finished in a short period of time. The second task was to design and develop the client's admin area, also using tables. I was told that the client thought my design was better than what they had asked for, which is always an awesome compliment.

This is a site I did work on at LuxuryRealEstate.com. My main tasks were to fix issues on the site, and to develop the front-end of new sections added to the site. This project involved working with multiple front-end development styles, and tried my patience on many occasions. I am still pretty happy with my part in this Ruby On Rails website, even through all of my frustration.