Simon Henshall
Currently Unavailable For Work Unavailable For Work

Welcome to SimonHenshall.co.nz!

Hi there, I'm Simon. Welcome to my website! I'm a web developer by trade, and am always looking to further my portfolio. Need a new website developed for an individual or small company? You've come to the right place! Need a team member to work on a large-scale professional website? No worries! I'm familiar with most of the leading web languages, and am looking forward to making your next project a success!

Please note that the Firefox version of Adblock Plus has a feature "Remove Social Media Buttons" setting that is enabled by default. If you use both Firefox and Adblock Plus, you will need to disable it on this site to be able to view my LinkedIn and Facebook links. Don't worry; I promise there's no ads hiding under the cover!

Current Projects

Previous Projects

123gaming

123gaming

As a rapidly-growing harness racing company managing multiple websites, 123gaming took me on as a developer to help bring a fresh new look to their existing websites. Multiple websites were created on a Joomla CMS, utilising HTML 5, PHP 5.5, CSS 3, JavaScript, jQuery, and JSON. Several custom Joomla modules were created, along with custom APIs. WinMerge and isolated testing areas were used to ensure integrity.

UCSA

UCSA Registration

The University of Canterbury Student's Association had a fully-functional website already, but were looking to implement a new feature known as 'v-Plate'. This was tasked to Numero Web Design. For the v-Plate feature to be implemented into their POS (Point-Of-Sales) system designed by another developer, they also needed a brand new registration area built to collect user details (so that users could ultimately be rewarded with giveaways). I was hired to built this registration area.

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WebTools - Delta

WebTools - Delta

As a fast-growing company, WebTools had developed their own Change Management System, to track requests made by clients. This integrated with their own time-management system, Harvest, to log the amount of time it would take their developers to complete the projects that clients requested. However, the Change Management System had a number of problems with it that WebTools developers didn't have time to fix. They hired me to fix these problems for them.

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Lincoln University

Lincoln University

To join the modern age, Lincoln University was looking to create a brand-new HTML5-powered website. A small team of UX specialists and human resource staff are already employed by Lincoln University, but only one full-time coder existed at the time I was working for them. Because of the incredible pressure placed on them by other education providers, Lincoln University hired four web developers, of whom I was one, to implement requested features. Initially, I was only contracted to work for Lincoln University for a short time, which wasn't enough time to finish the project. As such, Lincoln had to the project. I was the only one they had back.

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DigiFleet

DigiFleet

AmberWeb (formerly Digiplex), contracted me to build a Fleet Management system (FMS) for their client, Fleet & Special Vehicles (FSV). The FMS was built with HTML, PHP, CSS and MySQL on a Drupal framework, with Redmine bug tracking and Gource and SVN version control. Data was automatically sent to PDF through PHP class FPDF to allow the client to quickly fire off reports. SMS was also integrated, to allow drivers to simply send a text message to a number to update their vehicle information.

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Other Projects

Personal Store

Personal Store

Over time, I've accumulated a wealth of trading cards and video games that I am no longer interested in. What better way to sell these off than with my own, personal, e-Commerce store? Building on a basic store from Expulsion, this personal store is now a fully-fledged e-Commerce site complete with PayPal integration. Unlike with the original Expulsion store, I physically have to mail out packages and communicate with buyers, so it is more of a gallery of my items for sale. Unfortunately the store is temporarily disabled while I reassess my stock.

Expulsion

Expulsion

Expulsion is an abandoned gaming project of mine, largely due to the fact that it requires a dedicated server to run on. Built on a now-defunct system, XtremeWorlds 2D MMORPG Maker, with additional C# scripting, Expulsion peaked at around 20 of my friends playing it actively. Although the official XtremeWorlds files no longer exist, I still have the Expulsion files, and I hope to pick up development again in the near future. There has been a plethora of new 2D game creation software released recently, giving real hope to the re-ignition of this project.

Work Experience

Sole Front-End Web Developer - 123Gaming (2015 - 2016)

Implementing numerous website redesigns in accordance with award-winning design company Kameleon, under request of the CTO. Multiple websites were created on a Joomla CMS, utilising HTML 5, PHP 5.5, CSS 3, JavaScript, jQuery, and JSON. Several custom Joomla modules were created, along with custom APIs. WinMerge and isolated testing areas were used to ensure integrity.

Sole Front-End Web Developer - Numero Web Design (2014 - 2015)

Contracted to design and build a jQuery-driven registration form for the University of Canterbury Student Association (UCSA). A modern registration form was built with HTML 5, CSS 3, JavaScript, and jQuery. AJAX was used to transmit data to a MySQL database that was created, with secondary transmission into an integrated Point Of Sales system.

Web Developer - Lincoln University (2014 - 2015)

Contracted to help implement new designs for a website re-branding in time for a new site launch. Also put in charge of teleconferencing with Australasian academic provider Hobsons. The website was released in full and on-time, and created with HTML 5, PHP 5.5, and CSS 3, on an EPiServer CMS with a SharePoint framework. JSON was used to pull through academic data from a CRM owned by Hobsons. Redmine bug tracking and TortoiseSVN version control were utilised to ensure integrity. A flaw was also discovered in the Hobsons CRM that was reported to Hobsons themselves.

Front-End Web Developer - WebTools (2014)

Contracted to finalise and fix bugs in a Change Management system, so that incoming projects could be handled more efficiently. Hundreds of bugs were fixed, with code using the Yii PHP framework on top of a general MVC framework. HTML 5 was used in conjunction with LESS style sheets. Bugherd and Redmine were used for bug tracking, along with Git and Subversion used for version control.

Web Developer - AmberWeb (formerly DigiPlex) (2014)

Contracted to develop and build a Fleet Management system for Fleet & Special Vehicles (FSV). This system would allow managers to keep track of information about their clients and vehicles, in a modern website. An additional SMS solution was stated to be beneficial if possible to implement. A new website was created with HTML 5, PHP 5.5, CSS 3, and MySQL, on a Drupal framework. Multiple views were created to separate administrator functionality. An SMS was developed in PHP 5.5 with cURL using API provider Texta HQ. Redmine was used for bug tracking, and Gource and SVN were used for version control.