About Dave
I am Dave Wilcox, a British software contractor living in Auckland, New Zealand. I have 25 years' experience in various fields of software. Most recently I have been developing web-sites, working with PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML, Linux and all the trappings which follow on from that. I have worked with the Silverstripe, Drupal and Joomla CMSes, and Zend Framework. My other projects over the last few years have included my preferred tools of Microsoft Access and Delphi. In the last couple of years I have freelanced for companies in Auckland; and previously I worked for Incentive Solutions in Auckland, on some heavy-duty PHP and PostgreSQL, with graphs, GoogleMaps, SEO, Excel integration and so on.
I used to put my hand to FORTRAN, VMS, Pascal, VB, VBA, C, Postscript, though now I have to think a tad harder for that old stuff, so only ask me if you are desperate!
Recently, I have been getting to know the excellent Silverstripe CMS while working with the smart branding team at Brian R Richards. I have been very impressed by the ease of templating in Silverstripe, combined with bespoke database development, without being forbiddingly complicated. Earlier this year I was using Zend Framework (ZF) for Colenso and Westpac. I have just finished two OpenCart ecommerce projects for Herbalink and Musseldog and implementing Paypal to manage online purchases for educational software company Topologika.
Prior to that, I was involved in two dollops of Paypal integration: for PharmaHealth I have created a Shopping Cart for online sales; and for Kenpo Karate I prepared the entry form for their 2010 Tournament at Eden Park Auckland, including Paypal payments for fees and extras. I find that Paypal is a bit of a challenge as there are huge numbers of options, and a deluge of documentation; but it's the standard and familiar to customers around the world, which makes it commendable.
I aim strenuously for W3C-compliant HTML using CSS, though not unfailingly. Check any of my websites in a validator. If you have a need for a website where you can update the content, and you don't like talking to the pin-stripe suits, please let me know.
