Portfolio
Please view a selection of our recent work below.
Internet
Online music community.
Polymorphic is a netlabel releasing freely distributable music under a Creative Commons licence. Recently ported to Rails from the initial PHP based solution, the site incorporates a custom content management system to allow easy administration of new information
Content can be aggregated via RSS a various levels including the blog style News section or the audio Podcast. There's also a syndication of other netaudio material via the Netfilter.
Musical content can be streamed via an embedded Flash player that provides the normal CD style transport controls. The FlashSound API is also utilised to provide JavaScript event driven audio playback. This is used for some simple rollover effects.
Working as part of an Agile development team we initially consulted to prototype solutions for a Web 2.0 social networking toolkit that would promote the adoption of reusable functionality across the suite of AOL apps. The components were self-contained lightweight Javascript modules that could be included on any site to provide common functionality such as comments, reviews, binary opinions etc. The modules communicated with a J2EE backend.
The team also implemented a new social networking site that allowed people to express opinions on user submitted topics or themes. The site's focus is around user interactions so metrics are displayed such as most loved / hated, most contentious etc.
A later phase in the project involved work on a country specific portal. News was aggregated, stored and displayed from various disparate data sources. Search engine functionality was provided via integration to the Google image / text search APIs.
Newsletter-style portal giving an overview of various guesthouses on Phillip Island, Australia.
The aim of this site was to provide a clean and classy introduction to the various properties that collaborated for the portal. This was achieved by a simple static content layout utilising some striking graphic design.
One of the interesting features of the site was to randomise the order in which the properties are listed with each new session on the site. This was to ensure each property had a fair share of the first listing!
Online grant application system encouraging environmentally friendly upgrades for vehicles.
Radial joined this project for the last few months towards the end of the lifecycle to provide additional help and expertise for some unforeseen requirements.
The system architecture was a J2EE system running against an Oracle database. Our input was to provide a number of screens to allow administrative tasks to be completed and instigate some skills transfer to the permanent employees.
Online showcase for a luxury guesthouse on Phillip Island, Australia.
This static content site aims to invoke the warm feeling of intimacy and comfort that the guesthouse encourages.
Simple content management.
Freya required a dynamic method to administer the artwork content of her site.
Initially we ported and cleaned the existing static html structure into Rails project base. Then we developed a directory based bulk-upload system with a structure that represents a "set" of artworks to be featured on the site. Each picture can have a little meta data stored in a descriptive (YAML based) file. Arbitrary tags can be applied at each level in the hierarchy to allow grouping or tagging across user-defined sets of pictures.
Using Rails provided a convenient choice to thoroughly assert the functionality of the uploader that was developed in a Test Driven (TDD) style. The framework also provided a simple means of bolting on the necessary admin interface to invoke the uploader.
We also provided a more fluid method of viewing the artworks via a Web 2.0 style viewer.
Intranet / Application
Configurable transaction viewer
We worked as part of the team that designed and built a new configurable front end for a transaction-processing engine.
This was an extremely challenging project that required a lot of creative use of technology to meet the functional requirements. Users could design their own view of the system and apply custom styles and font groupings in a static or rule driven manner.
The team also implemented a Push style technology (pre AJAX) to notify users when new transactions arrived without screen refreshes.
Web based credit risk system.
We worked as part of the team that implemented a J2EE based solution for new regulatory reporting requirements.
Over the period of consulting a RBoS we undertook tasks that developed the system across all levels of it's multiple tiers, from server based messaging systems and batch file processing to new web based interfaces. We encouraged early adoption of AJAX and Web 2.0 style techniques to provide a more intuitive GUI with single-page based solutions and transient server based validations giving instant feedback in the users browser. We also developed an AJAX based messaging system to push instant notifications out to a users browser.