Andrew Farr Web Design
is a freelance web services company in Troy, Maine operated by Andrew Farr - a small business working for other small to midsize businesses. I aim to provide quality, modern web design while maintaining a reasonable price that's within reach for even the smallest organizations.
My development jobs can take several different forms. Sometimes, a business might need a complete site built, from layout and code to images and content. I offer all the steps of this process, starting by developing a layout that fits the company's marketing goals and target audience and then turning that design into compact, efficient code. To finish the website, I'll take photographs for the design and write content based on the description of the business and its market.
Alternatively, a customer might have an existing site in need of updates or maintenance, but not a complete rebuild. This is a common scenario, since the cost of a new site is considerably more than the cost of even an extensive update in many cases. I'd be happy to take on a short-term project like this to update code and / or content.
Another similar service that I offer is to update a site to be mobile-friendly. With the enormous number of people using their smartphones and tablets to search the Internet, having a website that displays well on a small screen has become important. Many websites that existed before the modern era of mobile devices, when seen on a small screen, look more like something that just came out of the blender than a polished web design. Google, the most widely known search engine, penalizes sites that are not mobile-friendly, costing a valuable search result ranking. For existing sites, I can do the code upgrades necessary for them to scale nicely to fit a small screen.
My technical skill set
includes a wide range of programming languages and design-related programs. In order to better fit each site's marketing needs, I don't use any visual web editors. All my code writing and editing is done in Bluefish, a programming text editor. Graphic design and image modifications are done in GIMP, an open-source Photoshop-like image editing program. Basic site layout is sketched on graph paper, and all my content is drafted on notebook paper. Programming languages I use are HTML for site framework, CSS for styling of the site (including the newest CSS3 standard), JavaScript for client-side dynamic content, and PHP and SQL for server-side back end work. I also do a limited amount of XML for sitemaps (used to index the site by search engines). I take photographs for site work with a Canon digital camera; I am also willing to use professionally taken photographs supplied by the customer.
Clients I have worked with
include several small agricultural businesses, and most other small to midsize operations are in my preferred field. I'd be willing to do work for a larger company (possible working with other designers by email), but businesses local to Maine would be my preference here as well, especially for jobs requiring content writing. Any jobs that need photography taken on-site will need to be within a reasonable drive or else have a photographer working with the project to send photos to me for the design.