Prof. Marcus personal site
(2012)

Challenge

Professor Marcus is a professor at Boston University and a business man around the world. He wished to have a professional personal website to show what he has done in academy and business. The website had to have a blog for him to share his latest ideas and a webpage to list books that he wrote, with links to Amazon.com for more details. I took his Web Technology class in BU. After the semester, the TA asked me to join his team to build this project. However, we only had two weeks to finish it. It was very intense for us.

Existing website Evaluation

Marcus had an old personal site. It had built in Flash with a black theme and lighting, shining animations all the time. It was a very old style design. Display method of contents was also very user-unfriendly.

Milestone Strategy

A personal site is a place for someone to show their personality and tastes. It plays an important role in creating personal branding.

• I decided to design a new theme and graphic material for Marcus with his favorite color, along with colors that give a professional impression.
• I rearranged the method of displaying information. I inserted slide show jQuery plug-in for books and homepage.
• In order to finish the project on time, we decided to use Joomla to integrate all the materials and use some modules for some functions. (e.g. Blog and Calculator)
• Taking into consideration touch device users, I designed some touchable features. (e.g. New touchable navigation bar)

Result

I left the project once I finished my parts. At that time, I moved to CA to look for a job. TA and one of my friends are still developing it. All I know was that Marcus liked his new personal site and asked the team to build his company site.

BUTSA officical site (2012)

Challenge

Boston University Taiwanese Student Association (BUTSA) has 200 members on campus every year. It is the largest Taiwanese Student Association in the New England area. It provides the latest news and provides aid for current and potential students hailing from Taiwan. Moreover, it is an interactive platform for Taiwanese or Asian students who come from not only BU but every school around New England. It is a leader for the Taiwanese Student Associations in the area.

Existing website Evaluation

BUTSA only had a Facebook group and a free forum with lots of advertisement in the beginning. They needed a website to show their information and provide some online services for students. (E.g. Airport Pick up Service and Equipment Rental Service)

Milestone Strategy

I led a web team as a web developer and project leader to develop the website.

• Designed and constructed website theme with BUTSA and BU colors.
• Designed and built the layout of every page to display information includes events, photos, videos and some documents.
• I also wrote and modified Java Script and jQuery plug-in for online forms and a photo gallery.
• I also wrote and modify Java Script and jQuery plug-in for online form and photo gallery.
• We implemented on-site and off-site SEO plans for the Website. It became the top 3 on the Google search results page with the keywords "BUTSA" or BUTSA's Chinese name.

Result

-- BUTSA official website now has more than 2000 unique visitors.
-- Since it was first launched, BUTSA's membership has increased by fifty every year.

Agape Dental Group (2012)

***Reminder Letter Generate System***

Challenge

Agape Dental group has three dental clinics in the California Bay Area. Some of the secretarial tasks at front desk are still done by hand. It places a heavy workload on the receptionist.

Existing website Evaluation

Receptionists were using Office Outlook and Publisher to send reminder letters to patients. They had to type date, time, name and email address for every single email. Once the patient got the mail, they had to make a phone call to reschedule their appointment or reply the email to confirm the appointment. Receptionists had to not only send email manually but also answer lots of phone call in order to reschedule or confirm appointments.

Milestone Strategy

In order to reduce the workload for receptionists, I designed and built a reminder letter system with PHP to improve this process.

• Wrote a PHP program to generate HTML format email. Receptionists could select date and time and check doctor schedules in the same place, which reduced probability of typing error.
• Provided confirm and reschedule buttons inside the reminder letter itself. Patients could then confirm their appointment with just one click. If the patient wanted to reschedule their appointment, they would then be redirected to the online reschedule page to request a new time.
• Receptionists would automatically get confirm or reschedule emails from patients. All these emails would be recorded for future reference if necessary.

Result

-- Receptionists were able to reduce the time spent on the phone, which allowed them to pay more attention to the patients in front of the desk.
-- Lots of patients expressed approval for this improved process. It saved them time and allowed them to reschedule without using the phone, which was convenient because they wouldn't always have the time to make a phone call, such as when they were at work.
-- The whole reminder letter process therefore became more efficient and precise.

Agape Asian Mission (2012)

Challenge

Agape Asian Mission is one of the Christian non-profit organizations in the Bay Area. It was founded by the owner of the Agape Dental Group. Its mission is to help people who live in the community.

Existing website Evaluation

AAM website only had a Chinese version. The design and contents were both simple and crude. It was not an accurate representation of AAM's mission, nor did it provide any sort of convenience or use to the group's members.

Milestone Strategy

• Rearrange contents and structure of the website based on the original Joomla theme. .
• Implement onsite and offsite SEO plan. Ex: Integrate social media and improve loading speed.
• Add dynamic interactive contents to induce users to come back, for example: photo gallery, timeline, and event schedule.

Result

-- AAM website has had a stable growth of visitors.
-- The bounce rate started to go down. The number of return visitors went up.

Baronet J (2013)

Challenge

I am seeking a place to post all the information about me. I don’t want to use any CMS to build it; this is so that I can control every detail. I want a place to show all of my accomplishments. It will be a combination of an online portfolio, business card, and blog for me to share and interact with people.

Milestone Strategy

• The website should clearly show my personality and style.
• The website should be able to integrate every personal detail.
• The website should be a place to record my accomplishments, interests, and experience on a timeline.
• The technical skill used should be cutting edge in the industry that I want to delve into.