Web development and web design

Do you need a new website, a minor change for your existing one or a more complicated enhancement? Than let’s work together. I’m a programmer with an artistic background. Clean and simple designs are my favourite, but I’m also open for extravagance and playful details.

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Philosophy

Privacy by design and by default: Unnecessary third party services must be avoided. Unavoidable ones need an opt-in.

Accessibility is non-negotiable. I’m still lacking some expertise and I’ll make mistakes. What I already know will be implemented. Known issues have a high priority.

Modularity and semantics: Tools should be easy to extend. Meaningless content should be avoided, content and layout are separated. CSS is preferable over div soup and websites must be usable without JavaScript.

No AI slop: I think, learn and type myself. In doing so I internalize structures and pitfalls. My code should be maintainable, not only looking plausible by chance.

Open source software is preferable over proprietary software.

Exceptions prove the rule ;-)

Costs

Costs are variable – based on urgency, personal interest or social value. Discounts for non-profit associations and initiatives are possible. Rough guides:

• Web development: 100€ per hour
• Website creation: starting from 2.500€
• Also sketching, conceptual design, advice and travel time are working hours.

All prices are final prices. In accordance with the small business regulation (§ 19 Abs. 1 UStG), no VAT is charged.

Contact

I’m best reached via mail: work [Ät] raffaeljesche [Dot] de

Other communication channels are listed on my contact page.

Skills

Mostly I’m programming in PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Databases (MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB) are familiar. Server config or DNS don’t scare my. In lingo this is also called mid-level full-stack developer with emphasis on backend in PHP.

I worked a lot with WordPress. But better alternatives exist. For a long time my favourite content management system was Cockpit CMS. It’s clean written, easy to extend and I read most of it’s source code. Sadly, since Cockpit version 2, it became incompatible with my setup of hand-made plugins and themes.

In the meantime I moved to Drupal. It’s as modular as Cockpit, open source and written in PHP. Also it has a much bigger community and a stronger focus on accessibility. Because of privacy and performance issues, unsatisfactory SQLite support and unnecessary abstraction layers, I left Drupal behind, too.

Now I have an enormous amount of specialized knowledge on content management systems (CMS) – and moved back to a static site generator (SSG): 11ty.

Over the years I worked with a lot of other tools. Some are familiar, others need a familiarization phase. So here’s an incomplete list: Linux, docker, git, node.js, composer, bash, batch, vue.js, d3.js, riot.js, react.js, Nextcloud, schema.org, jQuery, 11ty, jekyll, Hugo, ffmpeg, exiftool, SCSS, Gimp, Inkscape, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Premiere, Blender…