Websites

I’ve created more websites than I can remember, so I thought I’d better write down a list of them somewhere. I keep forgetting which ones they are…

  • Broadcast News
  • Premier League News
  • Lightpaintings
  • WordPress Guru
  • Cloud-TV
  • versluis.com
  • Pinkstone Pictures
  • Daily Thoughts
  • VIP Scoop

Things that are down and in need of attention:

  • Render Scoop

Beta Projects that I’m currenlty working on:

  • Codename KATAKA
  • Broadcast Hoting

I’ve been involved in webdesign since I signed up for my first CompuServe account back in 1995. They gave me 1MB of webspace and a really convoluted URL (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pinkstone). I started working on it instantly and haven’t looked back!

Since then I’ve been passionate about making the internet a better place, which is why I love creating websites.

For more details on each project, check the relevant drop down menu at the top.

PREMIERLEAGUE NEWS

premierleague-news

After a tough Saturday in MCR, the esteemed Reverend Andrew Toms esq. and myself teamed up for this joint venture to make the internet better. Why surf 10 websites, when all you want to read could be on a single one?

The site is based on my Autopress System and syndicates news from all major football outlets (The Sun, Sky, BBC, Premierleague.com) and every Premier League Club that has an RSS feed.

It was all Andy’s idea really, after seeing how well Broadcast News works, and I can definitely say I wouldn’t have started it without him. We’re sharing responsibilities 50/50, with me taking the lead on all things technical and him doing most some of the content admin.

Have a look at http://www.premierleague-news.co.uk and let us know what you think, or drop us a tweet and follow @PremLeague_News.

Future plans include getting rich through sponsorship, and adding a Wiki for all things routing to the site on a private section.

VIP SCOOP

vip-scoopSame concept as above, with focus on Celebrities and “V.I.P News”.

Julia and I wanted to build a celebrtity related site, due to the overwhelming popularity of this subject, and the amount of available RSS Feeds. Not that I really want to know about Ally McBeal’s marriage to Indiana Jones, or how many articles on Jade Goody can be written in an hour (god rest her soul).

The name came about while we were looking for suitable free domain names for the project. All “Celebrity News” variants were taken, so we tried keyword suggestions – they usually never work, but sometimes come up with the funniest renditions. VIP Scoop sounds very cool, and for those not in the know, “scoop” is the new in-word for “inside news”.

It’s hard to believe that VIP Scoop is even more successful than Premier League News, with close to 300 visitors a day and a whopping 356 Twitter followers within 3 weeks. The site went live on the 9th of March, a week after Premier League News. I’m still working on a proper branding, but the fans love it already.

Update: @VIP_Scoop now has a funky logo on Twitter!

Check it out at http://www.vipscoop.com

BROADCAST NEWS

broadcast-news-300x245Still going strong, now with added JOBS section and Google Trends (find out what the world is googling for). It’s my project to help the Broadcast Indusry keep up with the latest news.

The site features the latest industry news, press releases, and most watched YouTube videos.

I’ve been in touch with Grapevine Jobs and TVZ to syndicate more broadcast related jobs. Let’s see if I can get some RSS feeds from them. Broadcast Freelancer are re-designing their site and have kindly offered custom feeds for ours, and we’re all looking forward to the new layout and functionality. Big thanks to Wayne at Broadcast Freelancer!

In addition, I’m very happy to announce our new New Zealand correspondent for the site: Justin Loza. He was kind enough to pass on some freelance job offers in the past, and he’s agreed to post every new job he finds directly onto the site. Thanks, Justin! Keep’em coming!

If YOU have any broadcast related news that isn’t already in any of the magazines, drop me a line – or become an editor on the site!

Visit http://www.broadcast-news.co.uk to see it all in action.

DAILY THOUGHTS

daily-thoughtsNot so much a “website” as it is a helper layout-wrapper for the London Creativity Collective.

It’s a Facebook Group by my good friend Jerry Hyde, which accumulated over 500 members in the first 6 weeks of its launch. It’s even spawned a clone on Facebook. Pretty impressive, considering it came out of nowhere. I love that about the internet!

One popular feature is the Thought of the Day, which used to be delivered every day via Facebook Mail. The trouble is that group members can’t easily opt-out of these emails, so I came up with a proper mailing list installation. Powered by phplist and WordPress, users can now sign up or unsubscribe without it affecting their group membership on Facebook. Nice!

CLOUD TV

cloud-tv

Dedicated to still pictures and time-lapse footage of beatiful clouds in the sky.

Great for meditation and relaxation. Featuring live streaming video and footage for download and use in your own projects. Also has information about clouds and cloud-related material.

This was my first ever WordPress project, which is why it’s in desperate need of attention of a rebuild. I have recently given it a good facelift and merged it with The Book of Clouds.

I’ve also edited a 60min version of footage with a great chilled out soundtrack, but I find it’s very difficult to “sell” this project with words. You really have to experience it to see what it’s all about.

Head over to http://www.cloud-tv.com to check it out!

LIGHT PAINTINGS

lightpaintingsnet

Between 2005 and 2008, Julia and I were producing very colourful abstract Light Paintings, using Kinetic Photography.

These works look awesome in large sizes, and have lead to very successful sales and installations around the UK. Our work was available on shiny acrylic and backlit installations, even clocks and posters. We had great press coverage too, countless exhibitions around the country, very little holiday – all the while doing our dayjobs at the same time. As stressful and hectic as it was, it was a fun ride.

Although our work on this project has come to an end, we decided to honour it with its own web presence at http://www.lightpaintings.net.

This is a 100% Flash site which used to live here at http://www.versluis.com.

WordPress Guru

Need a website like this one? Your own personalised space on the web? Just ask The Guru!

The site is up and running, but I’m not happy with the layout. I currently use it as a “diary of webdesign discoveries”, anything I need to jot down that helps me (and others). This is work in progress, but I’ll let you know when it’s up and running.

I’ve come to love WordPress a lot, but there’s so many levels to it that it can be hard to grasp. On one hand, you’ve got the “write a post” aspect of it; but when it comes to running your own server and make WordPress work, that’s a whole different ballgame. Maybe the WordPress Guru can help us out.

>> Commissioned Work:

maglio-mediaMaglio Media

Maglio Media were looking for a new corporate identity, and with it a new presence on the world wide web. With an impressive list of clients and many involvements in high profile broadcast clients, I’m delighted to be chosen for this project.

This job Included 3D log design as well as data transfer from existing public profiles, link research and POP3 email setup.

oliverspanuthOliver Spanuth

Bremen based professional drummer Oliver Spanuth was looking for a website for many years, but didn’t find the time or patience until late 2008, when I told him about WordPress. With several international phone calls and creative brainstorming, we put this site up within only 5 days – with Oliver being the producer, and me being the coder. I love working like this, when distances don’t mean borders, and creativity means teamwork.

Jobs included using existing hosting, link research, MySpace profile creation, 3D Logo Creation for the Website, Business Cards, Email Signature and Letterheads.