About me

Currently: I have been working as a Web designer since 2001. Before that I worked as an advertising graphic artist. I currently work as a Web designer in the online department at the Redding Record Searchlight newspaper in Redding, CA. The newspaper's Web site is www.redding.com.

History: Back in 1989 while working on a temp assignment at Apple Computer in Cupertine, CA, my fascination for computers was born. It occured to me that some annonymous people had developed the software programs I was using and that triggered a desire in me to figure out how to make the computer do what I wanted it to do. A couple of years later, after learning many different software programs, I bought a program development software called Visual Basic and a book and began teaching myself programming. Since then I've learned Java programming and have dabbled in Cold Fusion, PHP and MySQL database programs. The list of non-programming software I've learned is much too long to list but each one has given me a level of comfort with software that enables me to learn them easily and teach others how to use them.

Web design background: My interest in Web design started in 1999 when I picked up an HTML book at a street vendor's booth at an arts & crafts fair in a small town near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I lived for a year and a half. In the early spring of 2000, I returned to Redding and went back to work at the Record Searchlight where I had worked as an advertising graphic artist from 1996 to 1999. In early 2001 I moved over to the online department.

I worked as the sole graphic artist and Web designer in the department, creating animated gif advertising and client Web sites as well as graphics and design for redding.com. Eventually we saw the need for creating Flash animated advertising to replace the animated gifs and I began to learn Flash.

We underwent a major redesign of redding.com in 2004 in which I played a major role in all design aspects of the site including moving to a CSS model of design. Learning along the way by taking online courses and spending many hours of my free time developing my skills, I now have a solid base of Web design abilities. I enjoy both the learning process and the creative process.

With the growth of redding.com came the opportunity to teach other graphic artists to learn the Flash program. I currently am teaching Flash and coordinating the Flash advertisements designed by 14 artists in the online and the advertising departments as well as continuing to do graphic and Web design for redding.com.

My motivation: I recently bought some property in the country and plan to build a small house. I began freelance Web design as a way to save money so I can build the house without taking out a construction loan to do it. With some money in the bank and the barn-raising style help from family and friends this dream just might come true.

Web design portfolio: I offer some samples of Web sites I've designed on my portfolio page but the Web site I'm most proud of and that represents by design abilities is www.thehannagallery.com. It's a Flash based Web site that highlights the photography of my friends Jessica and Chris Hanna. In addition to the main Flash site, it has several photo galleries to display their wonderful photography. If nothing else, you should visit their Web site just to see their work. The site also has a component which allows them to create their own galleries of their photography assignments and give passworded access to their clients for photo review and purchase.

I would love to design more sites similar to thehannagallery.com but I also have other design styles to choose from. While I haven't yet developed a true e-commerce site with database functionality, that is my next step. Diving into e-commerce development will add another dimension to my skill set. As soon as I've designed some e-commerce sites, I'll put them on my portfolio page for you to view.

I'd be happy to design your site for you.

Sincerely,
Rose Flaherty