Random bits
Side projects are a fun way to develop technical expertise outside of work time. This page highlights a select few examples of personal projects that I have been exploring outside of my regular work projects.
Site development and evolution sample
HoneyBees.ca combines content, web standards, a WordPress blog, Facebook, Flash, Twitter and community involvement. It is a not-for-profit, philanthropic site dedicated to promoting honey bees. It is a space where I can bee creative and support an important cause.
Version 1.0, 2002 – 2005: HoneyBees.ca launched from very humble beginnings.
Version 2.0, 2005 – 2014: The second version of the website featured an accessible inferface while utilizing Flash components throughout. The site was designed with fallbacks to enable the graceful degradation of components so the site would work for most devices and browsers, even those without Flash, JavaScript and/or CSS. HoneyBees.ca joined Facebook in 2009 and Twitter in 2011.
Version 3.0, 2014 – today: The third version of the site launched in May 2014 as a single page web app. All Flash content was replaced with HTML5. The site is responsive and adjusts to fit various browser resolutions. It is also touch-sensitive for mobile/touch-screen access.
Memory Game sample
While walking my daughter to dance class one morning, she told me that she wanted to take photos of her stuffed animal toys and make a card game. I told her about a Memory Game card set that my father had given to me when I was a child. We discussed further and resolved to make Memory Game for her iPad Mini.
Returning home after dance, I set her up with a camera and tripod. She took photos of her "stuffies" and I went to the computer to research. I found a pure JavaScript game at CallMeNick.com available for us to use under the open source MIT license. We spent the next few hours optimizing photos and updating content, styling and playing the game. Here is the result:
Sentient Records
Sentient Records is the result of me experimenting with AngularJS, JSON data files, and HTML5 audio. I use the site at home as an intranet jukebox for my music collection. For obvious copyright reasons, this online version does not have audio linked or the media player enabled.
WDFA Radio
WDFA Radio is a live streaming Internet show that I helped to launch and co-produced with my partner Ian "Sleepy Freeman" Moore. WDFA Radio features Toronto's finest House, Hip Hop, and Drum and Bass/Jungle DJ's. WDFA now streams four or more shows monthly: a Sunday show featuring artists curated by Sleepy Freeman; a Tuesday show (MiCasa Radio) that is hosted by our resident DJ's, Mi Casa Records bosses, Cyruss Sanchez and André Williams; and the more recently the "Junction Social" hosted by East of Brimley and Baller, Drop the Beat with Gene King, and The Waxploitation Show with King Curtiss Winston.
WDFA typically streams out from the legendary Toronto Junction Control Room, but also casts live events on location from various Toronto clubs. I scoured CodePen.io for HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS sketches to use for event page backgrounds and digital flyers. We used Open Broadcast Studio to live stream via ChewTV, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and WDFA Radio.
