Cathy K Web & Design

Well, how did I get here?

Backstory

I created my first website around 1996 using Netscape Composer, a long-dead HTML editor of yore. Soon, I managed to learn enough HTML and CSS to build a flurry of websites for customers of the film processing lab where I worked. Eventually, my management and I concluded that it was not practical to keep building more new websites. It took a few years for the upkeep of those existing websites to subside, and then I experienced a decade of almost no website work at all.

When I decided to try full-time freelance web design in 2018, I was committed to fill my brain with as much web development knowledge as it could hold. Even though I’ve since returned to working full-time at my old job, I haven’t lost my determination to keep learning and developing in my off-time. I'm pretty good at keeping myself motivated with various projects, and rarely give up when confronted with a challenge.

So yes, I always have a project in the works, some pointless, some not. This website design is a faithful HTML recreation of my first custom WordPress theme, as used on my freelance web design business site. Both websites are rather tricky to work on due to the complexity of the design, but I do enjoy the color palette, angles, and three-dimensionality of the theme so it remains fun.

I’m including this list of all the major projects, technologies, tools and features that I’ve sunk numerous hours into. This list is kept pretty up to date.

Divi WordPress theme (I probably won’t use this again)
Bootstrap
Sass/SCSS
Improving Adobe Illustrator skills
Using Visual Studio Code and relevant extensions (was using Dreamweaver)
Git and Github basics
Web server setup, WHM (reseller’s hosting account)
Invoicing system using WHMCS and Quickbooks
Setting up a local development environment with WAMP
Creating an email contact form using PHPMailer – and STILL tweaking this many months later
PHP
Various CMS frameworks before determining WordPress was still my best option
Building a custom WordPress theme for my website (ongoing)
Working with various WordPress plugins, most notably Advanced Custom Fields and Revolution Slider (kinda glitchy)
Developing content for my website and business branding, graphics, pricing structures, policies, etc.
CSS Flexbox and Grid
Adobe XD
Javascript, total beginner in January 2022, successfully implemented in current projects
Avada WordPress theme (as needed to troubleshoot a client’s website)
Shopify Buy button, shopping cart
AWS Lightsail virtual machine with Ubuntu OS, LAMP stack installed. Abandoned previous hosting account.
Paypal subscription button
Postfix in Ubuntu to facilitate sending mail from the server
Build an app using data from a QuickBooks API (mid-February 2022 / mostly finished and in use by September 2022)
Postman
GET method on forms – demystifying POST vs GET
Twilio API / curl (end of April 2022)
PHP cURL requests
Reading/writing data to database with mySQL
Google Apps Script to create a web-based price estimator

Final tidbits

I’m a San Diego / South Bay native, and a graduate of Bonita Vista High School. I have an Associate’s Degree from Southwestern College. I live in San Diego, California with my husband and ~~two cats~~ one cat. (RIP beloved Beanie.)

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