Portfolio of My Designs
“Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.” — Frank Lloyd Wright
“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo Da Vinci
PocahontasPamperedPets.com
July 2008
Pocahontas Pampered Pets is a new pet grooming and boarding service owned and operated by certified pet groomer Shelby Lowe. Shelby wanted to promote her growing business to pet lovers in and around Pocahontas County. In addition to grooming and boarding, pets are also frequently available for adoption, and the website helps would-be pet owners see what's available very easily.
MurphysUsedAutos.com
January 2008
Mike Murphy has been in used auto sales for quite some time in the upper end of Pocahontas County. In order to boost sales, he wanted a website that would enable potential customers to see what vehicles he had to offer quickly and simply. Additionally, as a dirt track racer he wanted a blog on which he could post race results and news. This website meets both these needs in a straightforward and easy to use manner.
BoyerStation.com
October 2007
The Boyer Station Motel, Restaurant, and Campground is nestled within the beautiful mountains of the Monongahela National Forest, in the town of Boyer, Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
Open since 1979, Boyer Station hearkens back to the early 20th century, when the area's logging industry was booming along the Greenbrier Division of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
The website boasts much imagery of the motel room offerings, the restaurant atmosphere, and the spacious campground. It also features a section on area attractions, as well as driving directions to Boyer Station powered by Google Maps.
SheetsGMC.com
September 2007
"Sheets Garage" started serving the automotive needs of Pocahontas County and the surrounding area back in the 1920s—when the earliest automobiles began taking to the area's first roads. Today, known as Sheets GMC, they continue to serve as they have for some 85 years now.
Sheets GMC wanted a website that would reflect their history and role in the county, and of course needed a website that would showcase their continually changing automobile inventory with maximum impact to customers and minimal fuss to website maintainers.
To meet these needs, the website features a section detailing the beginnings and history of the Sheets automotive enterprise, as well as separate sections for new and used vehicles. An intuitive inventory management feature was developed that allows Sheets GMC to update their vehicle inventory online themselves, complete with images, easily and quickly, and without having to know any HTML.
MartinSaffer.com
May 2007
Martin Saffer is an Attorney-at-Law, having established his practice in Marlinton, West Virginia in 1976. In 2006, he was elected to the Pocahontas County Commission. As an individual having both a private practice and a public office, Mr. Saffer's dual roles made the design for his website a bit more challenging than usual.
The West Virginia Ethics Commission forbids an individual holding a public office to use his or her position for private gain. So as both a commissioner and an attorney, it was imperative that the design of Mr. Saffer's website maintain total separation of these concerns. The solution was to make essentially two complete website areas that make no references to one another—one for his role as an Attorney-at-Law and the other for his role as a County Commissioner. The main entry point of the website simply presents the visitor with links into each of these areas. This unique design solved the problem, and was approved by the West Virginia Ethics Commission.
"I would recommend David Fleming. He is thoughtful and very responsive. His design of MartinSaffer.com solved a challenge posed by my election to the county commission to separate my law practice from my role as county commissioner yet have a complete web presence for both. His site design is user friendly and I can easily update it with new information." — Martin Saffer
The website is clean and straightforward, incorporating some of Mr. Saffer's own imagery into the background and various pages. Separate content areas for each of Mr. Saffer's roles allow him to manage news and articles without the need for a webmaster. Also—as with all my designs—content is backed up daily to ensure that nothing is lost in the event of a server failure or similar incident.
8RiversSafeDevelopment.com
October 2006
Eight Rivers Safe Development, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation advocating the protection of caves and karst landscapes. The proposed construction of a waste treatment facility upon karst terrain was the impetus for this group's formation.
Eight Rivers Safe Development—whose name comes from the 8 rivers of Pocahontas County, West Virginia—needed a website set up quickly. To keep pace with the issues, they wanted a design that would easily accommodate evolving content such as photos, videos, and news.
"Our original ideas were just thoughts on paper. David made them come alive based on some pretty sketchy input. The design of the website is very professional, and 100% of viewer feedback has been positive." — George Phillips, president
"I've worked with several website developers, and David is far and away the best. He took my site map and rough copy and in a couple of weeks turned it into a comprehensive website." — Roger Brucker, member, Board of Directors
In addition to this website's clean layout, its key features are database-driven news and media albums including both static pictures and motion video. A recent addition incorporates newly designed slide show functionality. Also, an RSS feed is utilized to keep subscribers abreast of new developments.
SaveTheSharpFarm.com
May 2006
Designed to assist efforts in preventing the use of eminent domain for the waste treatment facility alluded to above, this website started out with a feature that allows the mass-mailing of letters to public officials. Users can enter their return mailing address and print custom-addressed envelopes and letters, ready to sign, seal, and stamp—a unique and valuable feature for issues of public debate.
"David's multifaceted talents augmented with perseverance, insight, curiosity and reflection allow for his gift of expression through the written word and through his photography. He will capture the attention of your target audience and they will find themselves clicking onward into the world you want to share with them to learn and experience more." — Tom Shipley, the Sharp Farm of Slatyfork
Over time this website grew to feature more background on the Sharps of Slatyfork, Pocahontas County, West Virginia, and inspired writings and imagery to showcase the uniqueness and beauty of the Elk River watershed and Big Spring Fork valley. Today, SaveTheSharpFarm.com is powered by the same content management capabilities found throughout my designs: news, media albums, and an RSS subscriber's feed.
A core feature of this website is its blogging capability, which allows content authors to post image-rich articles. This website also hosts a forum where users can register, login, and post messages about the matter.
Full disclosure: I designed and maintain SaveTheSharpFarm.com of my own volition, to address this local issue with which I am involved.
WebFundRaisers.com
December 2004
For about 16 years now, my parents have sold fundraising products in support of school groups; band, cheerleading, sports, etc. A few years ago, they decided to augment their business with a website so that they could cut back on physical travel and bring in more sales through the Internet.
Their website is a full-featured e-commerce site that includes many products, lots of item imagery, an intuitive shopping cart, and PayPal integration. And it's working: they're receiving orders from schools across the country.
"We are very much pleased with the format and facility of our website. We're experiencing good returns, and many of our customers have commented on how easy the website is to use." — Jim and Shirley Fleming
A design goal was to enable one to quickly find what they want to sell, to "cart it," and to check out—all in the fewest number of clicks possible. We achieved this goal, as it only takes 4 clicks of the mouse to complete an order: add-to-cart, enter shipping information, verify the order, and finalize the transaction. The end result is a website that is robust and very easy for customers to use.
What do you think?
The websites showcased above demonstrate a substantial subset of the features found throughout my designs. These features continue to evolve, and I'm always working on new ones.
If you like what you see and would like to get started on your website, just contact me and we'll talk about what you have in mind—and how I can help you achieve it.