Contact

Ben Huot, D.Min.

researcher and writer for consumer/citizen advocacy
improve your life by getting better advice

February 2010

Benjamin-Newton Creative Works

wisdom of the greatest thinkers
plus more experience and research
minus profit motive equals better advice

Address

ben@benjamin-newton.com
www.benjamin-newton.com
mobile.benjamin-newton.com

Portfolio upon request

website, emailed PDF, paperback, hardcover
now most books on Amazon.com

Web Design Proficiency

Webmaster Jobs

11.5 years

project vision and concept planning
content and design creation and updates
software/script and hosting selection and installation/updating
development of ideas and projects
information organization and accessibility
link and file maintenance and bug testing
customer support and research

Design Challenges

Web Design Attributes

simple layouts
visually rich and attractive
easy to navigate
cross browser/platform
structured
accessible
easily maintainable

High Impact Graphic Design

graphics based theme
cross-browser CSS 2 and 3 based theme
interactive Flash for legacy support
interactive content without Flash

Accessible Design

webkit mobile (iPhone, Google Android, Palm Pre, etc.)
opera mini
text only
combinations
choice of multiple designs (with on the fly switcher)

Programming (Web Markup Languages)

Compatibility/Use of Technologies

can be updated with open source tools
minimal use of Javascript
appropriate use of Flash for legacy support
interactivity without Flash
works well on mobile devices (webkit based)
works well on mobile devices (opera mini based)
Internet Explorer compatible without hacks

Specific HTML Dialect

HTML 4 Strict
XHTML Strict
XHTML Mobile Profile
WAP/WML

Pure CSS tricks

dynamic menus
pop up text
rounded corners
custom fonts embedding
conditional formatting by screen size

OpenLaszlo

Flash interactivity
DHTML/AJAX animation
drop down menus in Flash
tree navigation in Flash
coded with lzx language
serverless deployment (SOLO)

Install and Customize

JavaScript
Flash with XML configuration files
Java applet

Web Languages Authoring Tools

Dreamweaver and Kompozer
text editor like Bluefish or Smultron
Stylemaster for style sheeets

Desktop HTML Testing

Internet Explorer
Firefox
Safari
Chrome
Opera

Mobile HTML Testing

iPhone SDK Browser Simulator
Google Android SDK Emulator
Palm Mojo SDK Emulator
Opera Mini Demo

PDFs Testing

Adobe Reader
Foxit Reader
Sumatra
Mac OS X Preview
Evince
Okular
xpdf

Web Interactivity

Open Source Server Software

installation
maintenance
updating

with Fantastico

Self Hosted Services

galleries
blogs
content management system
course management system

Software Titles

Coppermine
Word Press
Drupal
Moodle

Third Part Hosted Services

Also know how to use

Yahoo! Groups
Flickr
Bebo
Librarything
Del.icio.us
Beliefnet

Marketing

Linking

how to submit content to Internet Archive
how to choose Creative Commons Licenses
how to manage Webring memberships
how to submit websites to Open Directory
how to create direct link to donating to one specific sharity (most charities available)
how to create direct links to buy books through Amazon.com

Web Site Branding

themed websites
customized error pages with logo
bookmark icons of logo
animated logos

General Website

Setup Tasks via cPanel

domain name registration and renewal
transfer of hosting
subdomains
parked domains
addon domains
file management
get information from logs
branded email accounts, webmail

Bug Reporting and Feature Requests

Bugzilla (Mozilla)
Launchpad (Ubuntu)
IssueZilla (OpenOffice.org)

Rich Media Authoring Proficiency

also known as Multimedia

Specialty

communicating ideas through design on a budget with new tools

Digital Art

Digital Art Projects

custom illustrations
custom logos
custom web graphics

Digital Art Techniques

simulate real brushes and mediums
photo and drawing vectorization
use digital stylus

Multipurpose Art Techniques

crop and rescale
photoshop layer styles
manually create knockouts
scan through TWAIN
auto paint

Multipurpose Art Tools

Photoshop Elements
iPhoto
Keynote
Painter
Cararra Express
Gimp

3D Techniques

select, manually install 3d models
clothe, pose 3d models
create custom 3d landcapes
create custom 3d logos

Vector Art Techniques

soften drawings
combine and divide shapes
create regular shapes and patterns

Vector Art Tools

Inkscape
Xara Xtreme
Toon Boom Studio Express

Digital Photography

Digital Photography Workflow

take photos
weed out bad ones
improve photos
select best for further use
create web albums from photos
create slideshows from photos
incorporate select in designs

Photography Tools

Sony 9MP prosumer model with CMOS censor, pro lens, pro processor, 20x Zoom
iPhoto
Gimp

Flash and Video Authoring

Flash Design Projects

animated logos
animated photos
interactive animations
hyperlinked animations
interactive navigation
graphically rich
make navigating large sites easier

Flash Design Attributes

vectorized graphics
high impact
low bandwidth

Flash Authoring Tools

Gimp for general purpose image editing
Inkscape for drawing, re-vectorizing
Toon Boom Studio Express drawing, for re-vectorizing, animation
BBedit text editor and OpenLaszlo Compiler to assemble media

Sound Authoring

Sound Authoring Projects

record sounds digitally
make original arrangements of music
record readings of my written works

Sound Authoring Tools

Garageband for arrangement
Apple Loops and Olympus Digital Voice Recorder for source sounds
Quicktime Pro for converting to MP4, OGG Vorbis

Book Printing Skills

General Book Proficiency

successfully

researched
wrote
created pictures
formatted
proofread

Text Book Statistics

40 books (not including 3rd Party books)
10,959 pages combined total
novel/trade, pocket, and US letter sizes
hardcover, paperback, large print, and e-book
black and white
custom text formatting
typeset with LaTeX or HTMLdoc
custom covers
covers designed with Xara Xtreme, Toon Boom Studio Express, Pages, Gimp, and/or Inkscape

Picture Book Statistics

8 books
397 pages
322 unique pictures
pictures entirely vector based
pictures vectorized with Inkscape
novel/trade and US letter sizes
paperback and e-book
full color
layout done with Scribus
custom covers
covers designed with Xara Xtreme

Programming (Print Markup Languages)

LaTeX (general)

structured
footnotes
margin notes
quotations
poetry
custom footers and headers
custom page size
two-sided
custom margins
custom justification
drop caps
page breaks
multiple source files
other macro packages
convert to Open Document via RTF with structure

LaTeX (direct to PDF specific)

hyperlinked table of contents
bookmarks
links to web
meta data
color
vector graphics
interactive Flash embedding
custom embedded and subset Postscript fonts

LaTeX to PDF Authoring Tools

TeX Shop, Kile, and Winefish text editors
TeX Live distribution
pdftex compiler
Ghostscript for PDF editing
Adobe Reader

Converting LaTeX to Other Formats

latex2rtf converter
OpenOffice.org

Binding Skills

Can laser print and comb bind publications on my own with my own equipment

Book Marketing

Types of Publications

logo
business cards
flyers
brochures
concept maps
timelines

Publication Ideas

self designed
clear and clean design
easily readable
concise wording

Publication Design

resolution independent
bright and colorful
large print

Matches website

colors
images
styles

Handouts Tools

Toon Boom Studio Express
Pages (part of Apple iWork)

Linux and Mac OS X Command Line

basic file management
package installation and upgrades
compile programs with make
check out via subversion