ABOUT
Nation Leprechaun is the personal and professional portfolio website of Yoeun Pen. NL was established in 1998 and is the brand under which Yoeun Pen presents his work. This is the fifth iteration of nationleprechaun.com
The web was originally founded by computer scientists and as such, the requirements for entry were quite technical and the designs quite utilitarian--to say the least. As the popularity of the web increased, demand for better usability increased as well. Enter the web designer. However, because they were not classically trained in the art of computer science, the growing legions of designer-turned-developers unleashed a tidal wave of broken HTML markup onto the world. Sure, things worked, the websites looked pretty and the client was happy; but after programming for a few years, these web designers started to learn--on their own--the fundamental programming principles taught to every computer scientist. They started to understand the value of using open standards, writing well-formed markup, separation of presentation and data, and writing resuable code. So all is right with the world, right? Unfortunately, no. That's just the HTML side of the story. History repeats itself again with Flash web development. In this era of AJAX and RIA websites, it's not enough to be a great developer or a great designer. When it comes to the web, you have to do both. Or at the very least, understand both sides. That's where I come in.
Although a programmer by trade, I have been involved in art and design since childhood. I keep up with current design trends as much as I do with current web technology and development practices. A glimpse into my bookmarks reveal both FWA and Slashdot. In the industry, I am the bridge between the two separate worlds. This website showcases both my artistic and analytical talents.
Cheers,
Yoeun Pen
WEB PORTFOLIO
Any developer worth their salary is language-agnostic. The algorithms are all the same. Syntax is just the dressing. Whether PHP, ASP, ActionScript, Java, Perl or Python--the only difference is the library.
However, as the saying goes, a Jack-of-all-Trades is usually a master none. In order to become an expert, it is important to specialise. I've been involved in web development for over 10 years and a professional PHP developer for over four years. My specialties are PHP, MySQL, Flash (AS3 and AS2), Javascript/AJAX, and CSS layouts. I have also made ASP and ASP.NET (C#) websites and managed MS SQL databases.
The following is a small sampling of notable websites I have developed over the years.
Enjoy.
01 FENOM CLOTHES
- Project:
- Develop an online store for Fenom Clothes. This is an independent project not associated with Bullseye Creative. The design is by Tony DeVincenzi.
- Challenges:
- The website, including the online store and checkout process, will be entirely in Flash. This is currently a frontier in Flash. Nike.com is the only other prominent Flash online store.
- Features & Technology:
- Full-page database-driven Flash website, entire shopping and checkout experience in Flash, ActionScript 2, custom CMS written in object-oriented PHP, e-commerce using Authorize.Net
02 OLYMPIC ASSOCIATES
- Project:
- Redesign the Olympic Associates website.
- Challenges:
- Implementing a novel method of actively displaying the sorting of multiple tiers of data.
- Features & Technology:
- Full-page database-driven Flash website, JSON, ActionScript 2, custom CMS written in object-oriented PHP, custom AS2 classes to facilitate easier and more reliable database integration, browser back button support
03 ADVENTURE BOYS
- Project:
- Develop the Adventure Boys website, including a YouTube-like entertainment portal where videos, artwork and stories can be hosted and shared.
- Challenges:
- Bandwidth and file storage concern, batch FLV encoding, user interface and usability, COPA-compliance
- Features & Technology:
- Customised OsCommerce online store, customised CMS written in PHP, Flash video, database-driven Flash components, designed for a large userbase
04 BLASTERBALL 3
- Project:
- Develop a marketing website for WildTangent's BB3 and an accompanying CMS
- Challenges:
- The website had to allow users to upload and download new levels from within the game itself using an embedded web browser. This proved difficult because common form elements did not behave as expected running in DirectX.
- Features & Technology:
- ASP.NET 1.1 website, custom CMS, integration with in-game web browser, security, load-balancing, signed files, user interface design
05 INDIGO REAL ESTATE
- Project:
- Extranet portal to enable Indigo Real Estate's clients to view financial reports.
- Challenges:
- The system had to support the uploading of various document formats (e.g., Word, Excel, PDF and plain text), which are then combined into a single PDF report or downloaded as a ZIP file.
- Features & Technology:
- Custom AJAX-driven CMS, PHP, dynamic PDF generation.
06 LUMICOR
- Project:
- Redesign of Lumicor.com website. It replaces their old website, where the product catalog was hard-coded instead of database-driven.
- Challenges:
- Translating the client's product catalog into a coherent database proved quite challenging, because of the many non-standard multi-tiered products. Javascript and AJAX were used extensively to push the boundaries of the user's experience.
- Features & Technology:
- Custom CMS in PHP, relational database design, AJAX, ZIP code-based sales rep search
07 BULLSEYE CREATIVE
- Project:
- Redesign the Bullseye Creative website entirely in Flash with database integration to showcase their portfolio.
- Challenges:
- This was my very first Flash site. I had never developed in Flash before, so the entire project was an invaluable learning experience. I also had to figure out how to integrate the database with the Flash website.
- Features & Technology:
- Full-page database-driven Flash website, custom CMS in PHP, ActionScript 2, XML, browser back button support
Code samples:
- Emailer.as (AS3)
- EmailerEvent.as (AS3)
- ContactPopup.as (AS3)
