Barry Els // Front-end Developer & Team Lead @ Digital Path

What I've Done A small selection of the work I've done

Internet Solutions - Interactive Map

Responsibilities

Responsive map
Advanced custom sidebar menu
Staggered data loading for increased UI responsiveness
Design: Desktop & mobile sidebar navigation

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Nike - Touchscreen

Responsibilities

Animation
Audio Processing
Online / offline data synchronisation
Social media integration

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Medscheme - Website

Responsibilities

Custom responsive WordPress theme development

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BMW - Z4 Game

Responsibilities

Flash (Actionscript) development
Sound engineering
Vehicle physics programming
"Digital paint" physics programming

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Buildaid Radio - Website

Responsibilities

Website design
Custom responsive WordPress theme development

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Makro - Website

Responsibilities

Front-end Development: Markup + CSS + JavaScript

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BMW - M3 3D visualiser

Responsibilities

Flash (Actionscript) development

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Internet Solutions - Interactive Map

Responsibilities

Responsive map
Advanced custom sidebar menu
Staggered data loading for increased UI responsiveness
Design: Desktop & mobile sidebar navigation

View Project

Nike - Touchscreen

Responsibilities

Animation
Audio Processing
Online / offline data synchronisation
Social media integration

View Video

Medscheme - Website

Responsibilities

Custom responsive WordPress theme development

View Project

BMW - Z4 Game

Responsibilities

Flash (Actionscript) development
Sound engineering
Vehicle physics programming
"Digital paint" physics programming

View Project

Buildaid Radio - Website

Responsibilities

Website design
Custom responsive WordPress theme development

View Project

Makro - Website

Responsibilities

Front-end Development: Markup + CSS + JavaScript

View Project

BMW - M3 3D visualiser

Responsibilities

Flash (Actionscript) development

View Project

Who I am

Hi there! I'm a creative software developer with loads of experience in building front- and back-ends; from interactive CD-ROMs (remember those?), kiosks, websites, web apps & mobile applications, through to REST-based APIs, WordPress deployment tooling & UI scripting for automated testing. My focus is on front-end tech and I have a (slightly obsessive) passion for SOLID code & good UX.

Skills

HTML 4 & 5

10 years experience

9 / 10

A strong focus on web standards, semantic markup and cross-browser compatibility.

CSS

10 years experience

9 / 10

I've been using LESS and SASS for quite some time, it helps form the basis for a modular approach to styling apps and websites. I'm also a fan of Bootstrap (at least as a foundation).

JavaScript

10 years experience

9 / 10

I utilise the progressive enhancement technique to ensure my apps and websites remain usable even on the most basic of devices. I also focus on building modular components that are testable and reusable.

PHP

6 years experience

8 / 10

Having previously been part of a team building a custom templating engine, I'm now focused on building rock-solid custom PHP code.

Actionscript 2 & 3

9 years experience

9 / 10

Flash is no longer the mainstay of brochure websites, but having worked in Actionscript has taught me how to think about the user interaction model.

AppleScript

3 years experience

8 / 10

A really fun language for Mac OS. I've built my own text replacement utility, some Finder file/folder scripts, browser user agent switcher, etc.

UI / UX Design

4 years experience

8 / 10

This is how I first got into development, sketching UIs on post-it notes. I have a passion for making users smile through thoughtful "It just works" UI executions.

WordPress Theme Development

5 years experience

9 / 10

Building custom WordPress themes, plus site-specific plugins to allow clients to have an admin interface that it easy to use.