LightSites is a Full-Service Web Development Firm.

meet Featuring custom site design, and the implementation of dynamic site components, a LightSites-designed site can be counted on to serve the clients’ needs thoroughly and intuitively. From e-commerce solutions to content management, image optimization to copy editing, every detail is carefully thought through and executed in the most streamlined and efficient manner possible. LightSites now provides hosting as well, closing the loop on full service for a comprehensive approach to web identity.

I am very proud of having served a wide variety of clients, all with very different priorities for their sites. It has afforded me a great series of opportunities to learn new technologies in what is an extremely vibrant field.

-McNeil Johnston

Custom Web Design & Development

It’s the only kind of web-design and development I do. Simply put, I believe that every client has different needs in terms of functionality as well as design aesthetics. While sites built from pre-fabricated templates may be an econmical alternative, and may in fact be suitable for some, it’s just not what I do. After all, a website is the sum total of the client’s Internet identity – not a mere afterthought or ‘necessary evil’.
When approached by a prospective client, one of the most enjoyable parts of the design process for me is the discovery of the essence of the client’s product(s), life or work. In turn, I love the conceptualization of how best to serve that essence in terms of design, form and function. It may sound hifalutin’ but I believe it’s true – that a web site is a work of art, and as such requires great care and understanding.

Webmaster: Site & Server Management

Keeping things running on a website, while not nearly as challenging as it was at the dawn of the Internet, is still a vital part of the web developer’s job description.

Hackers, spammers, downed servers, bandwidth overloads, DNS problems, propagation issues and a host of other gremlins can all conspire to partially or completely disable a website. On the other side of the coin, so can stale, out-of-date – or worst of all – inaccurate content! In a perfect world, the handling all of these concerns would be the job of the guy who built your website – and if I’m your web designer, then that’s the way it is. To date, I serve as webmaster to every single website I’ve ever built. It’s a nice vote of confidence that I’m very proud of.

Lately, I’ve been working with a couple of clients for whom I’ve built-in a way for them to manage their own content. Through a password protected online administration panel, they’re able to do simple editing like text replacement, style changes, even image uploading and cataloguing, all without my intervention. In these cases, I still handle large-scale design/structural changes and server maintenance for them.

I generally charge by the hour for site maintenance, and each site’s rate is negotiated separately at the time of contract execution. Incidentally, maintenance charges NEVER begin until the site is publicly launched.

Graphics, Typography, Logo Design & Layout…

They don’t call it web-design for nothing! Supported by vivid imagery, whether in the form of still pictures, charts and graphs, or stunning animations, websites have come a long way from the text-only web pages of yesterday. Coupled with well-proportioned layout and logical visual flow, today’s website really should be a work of art. The web designer’s palette has expanded over the years in just about every area, and graphics are certainly no exception.
Photographs, cartoons and drawings can all be rendered on web pages, and when appropriately placed, can have a great deal of impact. Generally, when a client provides me with images or image concepts for a site, that’s only the first step. Images must be web optimized, in terms of resolution (the Internet imposes some pretty rigid constraints there), brightness, color-correction and sizing. Remember also, that many mundane page objects like ‘buttons’ and logos are also graphics, and require very special attention if they’re to be successful. Often such attention results in very subtle changes, but they sure are worth it! (For example, take a look at my logo at the top-left of this page – see how the background ‘brightens’ slightly behind the logo, almost as if the logo lights it up? Sometimes it’s the little things that really make a page ‘pop’!)

Whenever possible, I like to use custom imagery for a site, whether it is provided by the client, or I shoot it myself, this brings a freshness and vitality to the project with the added bonus of freedom from copyright constraints, which are a very real concern.

A word about animation… Making things move around on a web page used to be completely impossible. Then came the animated GIF – a simple and small self-contained graphic…

Then came DHTML – dynamic HTML, the combination of JavaScript, CSS and HTML that enabled simple motion like you see with the menu above (if your browser has JavaScript enabled, that is)…

It’s All About The Database!

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of work creating database front-ends for the web – in effect putting companies’ databases online so that they, their customers and staff can interact with them in real time via browser. In some cases, they are merely straightforward table-based ‘online spreadsheets’ that simply display and sort data, and allow behind the scenes administration, but they can also be completely relational, pulling data from multiple tables and organizing it in unique ways.
My work is done in PHP with the ubiquitous MySQL database platform. These are powerful and robust tools, which when used together form the backbone of an incredible variety of applications from Content Management Systems (like WordPress, which drives this site), to image galleries, discussion boards, and countless smaller-scale ‘widgets’ and ‘plugins’. While the sky’s the limit in terms of database manipulation, my work is either project-specific custom design or the implementation of an existing script package that accomplishes a goal elegantly.

Copywriting and Brand Publishing

Words words words… If we’re not careful, the words we use in a website can either be swallowed up by the design, or seem to go on and on, ad nauseum. The art of copy writing for the web is a unique and essential discipline – one that mustn’t be ignored.

Magazine publishers, advertising executives, and politicians all know that copy-writing is specific to the medium in which their material is being presented. Strange, then, that so few web site owners realize this.

I make it a policy to offer copy-writing services to my clients in an effort to render their textual content as effectively as possible. Often, this is as simple as knowing how to divide long stretches of copy into bite-sized pages. Occasionally, I ask for more detail. More often than not, however, we agree to simplify, simplify, simplify!

One of LightSites’ most recent and exciting clients is The Brand Publishing Institute. Forming a unique relationship with them has exponentially increased LighSites’ power of presentation of the written word and media. Visit their site to learn more!

Social Media

What started out as a lark has now become a powerful tool for networking and marketing, both for individuals and companies.

Social media today shapes the very essence of perception in markets across all fields of endeavor. LightSites is expert in the implementation of presences on LinkedIn, Google Plus, YouTube, and a host of others…

Facebook and Google+ have become an especially relevant entities through both personal interaction and ‘pages’. A Facebook Page is a must for companies and individuals who want to market themselves in the most viral way possible, while Google+, properly executed, can have a near instant impact on search engine placement. Individuals can create pages for their endeavors beyond the everyday social interaction, or for a cause. Businesses can use Facebook & Google+ as a tandem forum, a platform for up-to-the-minute content, and as a ‘shadow site’ thus pulling content from their existing web sites to where the viewers are!
LightSites is on the cutting edge of page creation, and invites you toLike LightSites on Facebook and join LightSites on Google+!

Twitter is what it is. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you’re among the millions of active users, LightSites can set your site up to target you for ‘following’. Follow LightSites on Twitter

Media Production – Audio, Video & Music

HampQuadA A composer long before taking up web-design, I have extensive experience in commercial, jazz and classical audio production. I still own and operate a full-service recording and video production studio which affords me the opportunity to handle any form of audio-for-web creation in-house. I also handle file conversions from virtually any audio or video format to mp3, mpg, Flash, etc. using state-of-the-art software and hardware tools.

So You Want to Design Your Own Site?

Some people like to do everything themselves… I guess I fall into that category… and for those Rennaissance men and women out there who’d like to build their own websites, I’m here to help. With a forthcoming, experienced ‘spirit guide’, the journey to web self-sufficiency can be richly rewarding! It is precisely that sort of mentor I had in Earle Beasley, himself a self-taught entrepeneur and owner of The Alexander Group, a marketing firm with which I do extensive work.

Simply put, I’m available on a free-lance basis as a consultant in a variety of Internet-related capacities. Whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer contemplating your very first website, or are an advanced designer looking for a quick solution to a vexing problem, if I can help, I will!The only strict policy I have on consulting is this: If I don’t know the answer, I’ll say so! Then, I’ll do my best to find it for you or refer you to someone who does – at no charge.

Fees for consultation are totally negotiable, and are generally calculated on an hourly basis, but I’m open to flat fee arrangements and barter too!