location: Conondale Qld 4552
email: me@mkhala.com.au
online: www.mkhala.com.au
skype: mkhala
profile
I am an experienced graphic designer and web developer looking for a unique challenge.
My background in analytical thinking compliments my creative abilities – I possess a great eye for detail and apply a logical approach to problem solving.
I am not happy with a project unless I know I've done the best possible job. I ensure all my web applications are standards compliant and fully accessible.
I am a very quick learner and am keen to explore new technologies.
expertise
- interface design & usability
- web application design & programming
- web site development
- web accessibility
- graphic design
- desktop publishing
- editing & proofreading
technology + methodologies
- industry-standard software & tools
- international web standards
- user-centred design
- process-oriented project planning
- life-cycle planning for systems development
- supporter of open-source development
guidelines + standards
- W3C specifications
- W3C WAI guidelines
- Dublin Core & AGLS metadata
- Queensland Government Information Standards
education
Graduate Diploma in Information Technology –
2004–2006 (part-time)
Queensland University of Technology – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
I graduated with a GPA of 7.
Associate Diploma of Art (Commercial Art) –
1994–1995
Queensland College of Art (Griffith university) – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Certificate in Design Methods and Principles – 1993
Glen Innes TAFE – Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia
Certificate in Fine Arts – 1992
Glen Innes TAFE – Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia
Bachelor of Science (Honours) – 1987–1991
University of Wollongong – Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
skills
(self-rating scale: experienced > competent > trained)
operating systems
- Linux (competent)
- Macintosh (experienced)
- Solaris (competent)
- Windows (experienced)
languages
- CSS (experienced)
- Filemaker Script (experienced)
- Java (trained)
- JavaScript/AJAX (experienced)
- .NET platform: ASP.NET, C#, VB (competent)
- Perl (competent)
- PHP (experienced)
- SOAP & WSDL (trained)
- SQL (experienced)
- unix shell script (competent)
- VBA (competent)
- XHTML & HTML (experienced)
- XML, DTDs, XSLT & XSL-FO (experienced)
- XML Schema, XPath and XQuery (competent)
- XPress Tags (experienced)
desktop applications
- Adobe Acrobat & Distiller (experienced)
- Adobe Illustrator (competent)
- Adobe Photoshop (competent)
- BBEdit (experienced)
- FileMaker Pro (experienced)
- Iconographer (competent)
- Macromedia MX Studio: Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Freehand (experienced)
- Macromedia Director (trained)
- Macromedia Flash (trained)
- Microsoft Word (experienced)
- Microsoft Excel (competent)
- Microsoft Access (trained)
- OmniGraffle (competent)
- QuarkXPress (experienced)
- StyleMaster (experienced)
- Zend Studio (competent)
- email, web, FTP and SSH clients (experienced)
server-based applications
- Apache httpd (experienced)
- Apache Tomcat (trained)
- Apache FOP, Xerces, Xalan (competent)
- Interwoven Teamsite (experienced)
- pdftk (trained)
- miniSQL (experienced)
- MSSQL (trained)
- MySQL (experienced)
- Swish-E (experienced)
- Web Services (trained)
professional experience
Freelance Web Developer & Graphic Designer
August 2007 – current
m’khala
Late in 2007 I made the decision to move to full-time freelance work.
Please see the portfolio section of my web site for details of some of the projects I have completed as a freelancer.
Web Developer (contract)
April 2007 – August 2007
ourbrisbane.com (Brisbane City Council)
primary duties
- planning, design and development of web applications to support ourbrisbane.com
- maintenance and trouble-shooting for existing web applications
- scheduled web site content maintenance and updates
key achievements
- implementation of the 2007 Riverfestival website
including:
- site construction and template updates based on the 2006 site
- enhancements to last year’s visual design and functionality (inc. expandable navigation)
- incorporation of custom overlays on Google maps (Riverfire road closures)
- integration of a new advertising solution (DoubleClick)
- programming of feature & logo slideshows
- translation of XML data into an alphabetically sorted list of show bags for inclusion in the ourbrisbane.com ekka 2007 pages – used PHP, XSLT, XHTML, CSS
- design, development and implementation of a new subscription process for ourbrisbane.com e-newsletters – used PHP, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript
- scripting of a customised link reporting tool used for management of specified links within ourbrisbane.com content – used PHP
- development & implementation of a radar image loop and pop-up window for the ourbrisbane.com weather page – used PHP, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and JQuery
Senior Analyst/Programmer (contract)
February 2007 – March 2007
QM Technologies
primary duties
- analyse client requirements and maintain applications to agreed client specifications
- modify existing templates and applications to suit client needs
key achievements
- modification of existing form layouts and data mapping – used Dialogue, XML
- modification of data input and output routines – used perl, XML
TeamSite Developer/Administrator
April 2005 – February 2007
Web and Publishing Services, Department of Natural Resources and Water (NRW)
primary duties
- administration and configuration of an enterprise-level web content management system (CMS) – Interwoven Teamsite version 6.5
- planning, design and development of customisations to expand the functionality of the department's CMS
- planning, design and development of web applications to be implemented as key support systems for the CMS
key achievements
- implementation of a web application for publishing 2007 valuation data on the department's Internet site – used PHP, JavaScript, XHTML
- designed a web-services implementation for access to departmental water monitoring data through the department's web site, implemented the client for this web service – used PHP, AJAX
- planned and initiated implementation of a security audit of all departmental web pages (both Internet and intranet) – all files containing potentially vulnerable code have been identified – used PHP
- authored a business case to propose upgrading the RDBMS on all departmental web servers to MySQL (we currently use miniSQL) – the proposal has been accepted and a pilot implementation approved
- authored a departmental standard for PHP coding conventions based on current industry best practice
- developed a chain of scripted applications to synchronously publish web content (from the CMS) and replicate databases to our web servers (Teamsite does not support miniSQL) – used PHP, Perl, SQL
- designed and developed a web-based application which provides a familiar authoring environment for departmental policy officers to publish their policies in the CMS as well as insert policy metadata into a database – the end-user enters their metadata and content into a customised Word document which converts this to XML, the user then uploads the XML into a web interface which generates HTML pages and PDFs as well as inserting the metadata into the database – used VBA, PHP, SQL, XML, XSLT, XSL-FO, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript
- authored a command-line tool that generates a content inventory of all files on a specified web site or sub-site, the inventory is used for reporting, and document and content management purposes – used PHP
TeamSite Systems Administrator
December 2002 – March 2005
Web and Publishing Services, Department of Natural Resources and Mines (NR&M)
primary duties
- administration, maintenance and configuration of the department's CMS
- management of user accounts and CMS access rights
key achievements
- planned, managed and implemented a major version upgrade of the CMS (version 5.0.2 to 5.5.2) – the upgrade introduced a new and enhanced data storage format (to improve performance and reliability) which required conversion of all existing content into the new format – used vendor supplied command-line tools, Perl, PHP, shell scripting
- as a precursor to the CMS upgrade, specified and rolled out a development and testing environment – this included installing Solaris 8 and all CMS software components onto a Sun workstation and the subsequent configuration of the workstation, web server and CMS
- wrote a script to automate ufsdump backups of the CMS development server to a remote file system – used shell scripting
- designed a new top-level CMS branch configuration and workflow for implementation of the department's intranet – this design allowed for scalability and ease of user management (we started with less than 20 non-technical users and now have more than 300)
- developed a web interface for use by business content approvers when interacting with CMS workflow – this interface is part of the department's intranet and provides a familiar and much less intimidating environment – used PHP, XML, Perl, XHTML
- documented selection criteria (including functional and testing requirements) for a new indexing and search tool for the department's Internet and intranet, and then implemented and configured the chosen tool (Swish-E)
- designed and implemented a series of dynamic content indexes for the department's intranet to help staff access specialised content – used PHP, SQL, XHTML
- implemented numerous customisations to the functionality of the CMS to improve its usability for non-technical content contributors and help increase productivity levels for all users – used Perl, XML, PHP, SQL
Web Developer
April 2001 – December 2002
Web and Publishing Services, NR&M
primary duties
- planning, design and development of professional quality web pages, database systems and complete sites
- maintaining and updating existing departmental intranet and Internet sites – including provision of templates, training and help-desk support to web content authors
- research and documentation of web publishing guidelines and procedures for a distributed network of web authors and content providers
- ensuring that all new and updated web content complied with NR&M and whole-of-government guidelines, policies and standards
- providing technical and professional advice (to both clients and management) on matters related to online publishing using current and emerging web technologies
- configuration and basic administration of the department's new CMS – Interwoven Teamsite version 5.0.2 (after June 2002)
key achievements
- close involvement in a successful pilot implementation of the new CMS – used Perl, XML, XHTML
- concurrent with the CMS pilot, contributed to a full redesign of the department's Internet site – we implemented a standards compliant and accessible web site, and were the first Queensland Government agency to adopt a 'consistent user experience' (which later became a Queensland Government Information Standard) – I received an NR&M business excellence award (2002) for my participation in this project – used XHTML, CSS
- designed and developed standards compliant web sites, both static and dynamic, to support community organisations funded by the department – used PHP, XHTML, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- designed and developed a number of database-driven intranet applications to support the business needs of the department – used PHP, SQL, XHTML
Graphic Designer
October 1997 – April 2001
Scientific Publishing, Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
primary duties
- planning, design, desktopping and production of professional quality publications
- liaising (during all stages of a project) with clients from across the whole of Queensland
- desktopping of publications while adhering to set budget and time constraints
- producing style sheets and design guidelines to enable other team members to implement and desktop my designs
- providing technical and creative advice and ensuring that corporate identity and publishing standards for DNR were maintained
- overseeing the role of service providers in the production process
key achievements
- developed an online 'Asset Trading Market' for use by departmental staff to advertise and search for assets which are available for internal transfer – used PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- drafted the 'Web and Publishing Services Processes' document – an outline of the group's operational requirements, workflow processes and procedures
- designed and developed a Visual Basic macro for Microsoft Word to facilitate conversion of Word documents into the Quark XPress Tags format – this can be imported into QuarkXPress as ASCII text while retaining all significant editorial markup – used VBA, Xpress Tags
- designed and scripted the Product and Enquiries Tracking Tool (PETT) – a Filemaker Pro version 4 relational database – PETT is a marketing tool that was designed to capture information about DNR publications and services, and to track client enquiries regarding these products – used Filemaker Script
- authored How Should I Provide Digital Files to Scientific Publishing – a brochure advising clients on the most appropriate formats and methods for providing the raw content for their publications
- successfully designed, desktopped and production managed a wide variety of quality printed publications
- received a departmental award for 'Innovation and Customer Service in publication materials' (1998)
Desktop Publisher
January 1996 – October 1997
Department of Primary Industries (DPI) which later became DNR
primary duties
- providing quality design and desktop publishing support to: firstly, the Landcare and Integrated Catchment Management support unit (as part of a two-person design team), then the Communications and Publishing group and, finally, the Scientific Publishing unit
- design and desktopping of publications while adhering to set budget and time constraints
- providing technical and creative advice on matters related to the design and printing industry, including informal training of other team members in the use of software
- editing of supplied material and proofreading of final layouts – including ensuring that corporate identity and publishing standards for DPI and DNR were maintained
key achievements
- assisted with the design for DNR's original web site, including creation of images for the home page
- contributed to the establishment of a standardised system for tracking jobs in progress and for filing and archiving of active and completed jobs (this system is still in use today)
- worked closely with landcare and ICM extension officers to develop and provide a range of support materials for landholder and school landcare groups
- proofread the DNR Sign Manual produced for DNR's Forest Management unit
- successfully designed and/or desktopped a wide range of quality printed publications, including design and desktopping of the Department of Natural Resources Annual Report 1996–97 (excluding the cover)
referees
Details for professional and/or personal referees are available on request.