Thomas J Belknap
LAMP/WordPress Developer
Certifications/Skills/Qualifications
- WordPress, bbPress and WordPress MU
- LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) developer
- AJAX programming and third-party API’s (Technorati, Google, Sphere, del.icio.us, etc.)
- CSS, XHTML and Standards-Compliance
- Search Engine Optimization
- XML/XSLT
- SSL, HTTPS, Secure Sockets, Security Certificates
- ColdFusion MX on IIS6
- Internationalization, localization, multi-lingual sites
- JavaScript
- Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, ImageReady, Acrobat, Flash)
- JHTML, ATG Dynamo development environment. Basic Java.
- UNIX/Linux Command-line, Samba and PuTTY: installing software, applying and creating batches, configuring software.
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Server: Deploying, Installing and Maintaining
- CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ Certification
Current Projects
For examples of my work, please see my portfolio.
WholeLatteLove.com
09/09 to present
Lead Developer
- Consumer coffee appliance website, specializing in espresso machines.
- ColdFusion MX driven website
- Windows Server 2003 back end
- Cutting edge consumer social networking feature, “The Spot,” allows customers to interact with each other and experts in the field in one location.
- Responsible for JavaScript usability features of the website.
Primary WholeLatteLove.com Projects
- Return Merchandise Authorization application, which manages RMA returns, warranty repairs and damage claims for five companies run by the Salzman Group. Links to the legacy FoxPro DBMS system on which RMAs are originated. Follows an RMA item from receipt, through repairs/restoration, through shipper claim tracking and into stock as refurbished product, where applicable. Designed and built both the PHP-driven front-end and the supporting MySQL tables.
- Order processing system which manages both phone and web orders, tracking inventory between multiple warehouses and various stages of purchase. Through the manipulation of a third-party warehouse’s API, ships and tracks orders while maintaining stock levels across all companies. Served through a secure channel on an IP-restricted port, using HTTPS encrypted communication.
Christian Science Monitor Blogs
Contract
Contract Developer
- Christian Science Monitor (csmonitor.com) recently hired me for a contract to build plugins for their new set of journalist blogs powered by WordPress MU.
- The primary plugin was a content management plugin that would allow WPMU to operate in a similar CMS method to Drupal, allowing journalists to simply specify the location of images and other media to be displayed within the content of a give post and let developers place that media automatically within the body of the post on display.
- Development work done remotely, with packages being delivered and installed by me. I have been granted FTP access to the servers and site-admin level access to the blogs for this purpose.
- Content management includes creating custom upload fields for the post writing screen of WPMU’s GUI. A generic set of admin-configurable fields is installed on each new blog, and if necessary, each blog can have it’s own set of admin-configured fields. Uploads are stored in a custom-defined area on the server, outside the normal file locations for WPMU and changes the names to the Monitor standards.
- AJAX menus provide user feedback to the content management system they were using. Such feedback included adding and subtracting fields for content management, saving settings and editing actual content node information.
- A function was also required that would allow the assets to be recalled within the page template where they wanted them to go. The idea is to allow journalists to provide the needed content without also having to place it within the article in required areas, thereby maintaining some consistency to the layout of the blogs.
KODAK.com
02/07 – 02/09
Web Tech
- Corporate website driven by a proprietary platform built on ATG Dynamo.
- System built on UNIX servers running Apache to serve pages and Tomcat to interpret Java code, which is the foundation of the ATG Dynamo system.
- My primary function is stitching together creative elements such as photos, Flash animations and illustrations provided by the marketing team and third-party partners with a combination of JHTML, CSS, XML, and JavaScript/AJAX. Creative typically involves a “composition” created in PhotoShop, from which I extract approved images and all of the basic layout proportions. The creative package also includes any required Flash files.
- Duties require many “project management” skills, including balancing several projects at once, setting and meeting all expected deadlines; communicating requirements and statuses to non-technical people and generally communicating with a wide variety of departments whose purview my changes affect.
- Content controlled through “classic,” or traditional Apache serving such as Flash files and other content not compatible with ATG was handled through Samba shares to the server and a proprietary uploader tool that passed files through version control environment.
Primary KODAK.com projects:
- The Kodak Kiosk home page, which illustrates the uses of the Kiosks Kodak has installed in various stores. This page, along with many of the other pages, features a JavaScript/AJAX image swapping “recipe card” to the right that allows customers to view the various styles of a given product in its many different color schemes.
- The KODAK Gift Guide. Multi-million dollar “sitelet” that drives sales for the KODAK Online Store. Christmas 2008 sales from this sitelet topped $12 million dollars. Layout is provided as stated above, with all structural design done by me. My portion primarily done with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Promotions on this site change weekly, especially through the holiday season.
- The multi-national Consumer Digital home page (change country at the top to see the multi-lingual content). Promotions change on a monthly-basis, with occasional additional promotions in the left hand navigation area, across all sites in all countries where KODAK sells products.
- The Page One Project, which involved moving the camera and printer pages to their own subdomains, printers.Kodak.com and cameras.Kodak.com. These sites are in turn also subject to internationalization for commerce countries GB, DE, NL, and FR.
- KODAK’s Infomercial projects, found here, here and here as examples.
HolisticNetworking.Net
04/00 – Present
Developer/Owner
- This webspace is largely my development environment along with my resume
- Currently driven by WordPress MU in much the same way that DFE is.
- This blog is dedicated to dissecting the WordPress MU code base and documenting its features and functions. I also provide my final products as plugins and hacks for the benefit of the community.
Other Professional Experience
- Sutherland Global Services ~ Designed and maintained my team’s website, which was a highly-dynamic repository of all technical, procedural and warranty information for the OEM PC manufacturer our account supported. Primarily static HTML with Flash and JavaScript functions.
- Transcend Medical Services ~ Designed and maintained the server support group’s knowledge base, which was a SharePoint portal, in addition to creating a PHP customer lookup database.
