I’m currently accepting freelance and contract work.
Read about my skills, education, and some of my recent projects. Download my resume »
Don’t feel like wading through the blog? Check out some code samples here. Download code samples »
Have a look at some of the sites I’ve developed during the last year. Download design portfolio »
Developing web applications for businesses, for non-profits, and for fun.
I’ve written hundreds of Cucumber steps. Here’s some tips I learned along the way.
Some tips on moving your application to Heroku. Also, a script to help remove bad encoding from you database.
DRY up your paperclip’d models by making a paperclip_defaults initializer.
Recently I took the time to post a reading list to GitHub. I’ve found some surprising benefits…
Splatter is a jQuery plugin which applies a random position, size, and color to elements on a page.
As few months back, I spent the weekend reverse engineering breakout with Processing.js. Checkout the source code.
Lean how to make your buttons dynamic using LESS – an awesome new CSS abstraction language.
Here’s a simple, lightweight plugin to swap default values in a form field. It works with both textarea and input elements, and runs solidly across browsers.
Create retweet links with shortened urls in ruby on rails. Only requires two simple helper methods which you can cut-n-paste into your application.
I finally had a chance to check out processing. This language seems to have a lot potential for creating things that would be difficult or impossible with plain javascript…
I'm a co-founder and the lead developer for Scholastica, a startup that allows academics to create, manage, and publish peer-reviewed journals online. You find out more about our project by reading our blog or visiting our facebook page.
Primarily, I work with Ruby on Rails and JavaScript. But I also have experience using many other technologies, including WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Unix, Processing, and more. I even do a little design now and then.
I studied at the University of Chicago. I live in Logan Square and contribute regularly to open source. I'm currently available for freelance and contract work.
Leigh Van Valen
Leigh Van Valen was an evolutionary biologist best know for the Red Queen's hypothesis. This site publishes his
papers, making his work freely available to download for the first time.
January 2011
My Florida County
My Florida County is a web application that allows residents to easily pay traffic tickets, order official records,
and make child support payments online.
November 2010
Wimbledon Winner
Wimbledon Winner is a promotional contest site built for Hill & Knowlton.
March 2010
Image Mapper
Image Mapper is a web application that makes it dead easy to create HTML image maps.
January 2010