Welcome

Welcome to Jaypan

Hello, I'm Jay Matwichuk. I'm a front and back end web developer, and this is my homepage. I work full time as the in-house designer and developer for a medium sized publishing company in Yokohama, Japan, and I freelance on the side. I specialize in Drupal and JQuery and producing valid, semantic code, and providing sites that make the user experiences as fast and smooth as possible.

As a front and back end developer, I take a lot of pride in making sure that my sites are all valid (X)HTML and CSS. I also do my best to ensure that all javascript usese progressive enhancement so that all users are able to use the site in question, regardless of whether they are using javascript enabled browsers/devices or not.

I mainly specialize in social networking platforms for companies. So social networking is probably not the right word, as they are more specifically inter-company networking, but social networking is probably a term that most of you can relate to a little easier.

If you would like, you can check out my gallery or my portfolio, or you can drop me a line.

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Blog entry: Drupal SVN Deployment Strategy

Submitted by Jay on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 13:15

In the past year, I have started using SVN to deploy my Drupal installations. In the following post I will discuss my own personal SVN deployment strategy. This strategy allows me to work locally on a WAMP installation, and use SVN to deploy my sites to their remote installations.

Slideshow: Vancouver - 2010

Submitted by Jay on Sat, 06/19/2010 - 19:12

Pictures from Vancouver, May 2010.

Blog entry: Ubercart: Creating Line Items Tutorial

Submitted by Jay on Sat, 05/22/2010 - 14:11

I've recently created a new module for Drupal's Ubercart e-commerce solution that required me to add a new line item to the checkout process. It was a huge headache, as the documentation is incomplete, and there are no clear explanations/tutorials on how to do this process from start to finish. So I have decided to post the process here for three reasons:

Blog entry: CSS Sprites for Irregular Shapes

Submitted by Jay on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 11:10

I like to use the CSS Sprites technique on my sites, as it cuts down HTTP requests. However, it can sometimes be tricky to figure out how to put together an irregular shape in order to be able to use the method. An example is a site I was recently developing that used a 'speech bubble' like this:

Portfolio Site: QQ English

QQ English screenshot

Site Responsibilities

  • Installation on Drupal CMS
  • Creation of Drupal theme
  • Hand coding of all XHTML and CSS
  • Credit card integration
  • Development of quiz testing module

This is a sales site for a product my company sells, QQ English. This product is an online English study system, and is sold exclusively online. The site implements some flash elements, but has HTML backups for everything for users on non-JavaScript enabled devices.

Portfolio Site: Prime Eikaiwa

Prime Eikaiwa screenshot

Site Responsibilities

  • Installation into a Drupal CMS
  • All XHTML and CSS
  • Custom Drupal Theme
  • Custom Drupal Modules

This is another English school site I have done. The owners of the school were just starting up and had a small budget, so I needed to put something together in their price range, that filled their main needs - a cute looking site with a gallery and the ability to add and change basic information. I put this one together in a weekend, mainly to help them out, and add another eikaiwa (English school) to my portfolio, as this is a group I would like to drum up more business with.

Slideshow: Photoshoppery

Submitted by Jay on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 15:35

Slideshow: Images of Vancouver

Submitted by Jay on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 15:23

Portfolio Site: Synapse Systems

Synapse Systems screenshot

Site Responsibilities

  • Installation on Drupal CMS
  • Hand coding of all XHTML and CSS
  • Creation of custom Drupal theme
  • custom Drupal modules
  • custom JQuery scripts
  • All domain and server maintenance

Synapse Systems is the site for a product I developed for my company. The product itself is called Synapse, and is used by companies for inter-company communication for companies with multiple branches. The site consists of an open site used for sales, and a closed for our clients, which consists of instruction manuals and support materials.

Portfolio Site: Nakazawa Jidosha (Nakazawa Auto)

Nakazawa Jidosha (Nakazawa Auto) screenshot

Site Responsibilities

  • Site design (photoshop)
  • Hand coding of all XHTML and CSS
  • Custom php
  • Creation of custom php contact form
  • All domain and server maintenance

This was a sudden rush job, done as a favor for a friend, and I only had one weekend in which to put it all together. I coded the whole site from the ground up, design and all. The challenge here was that the client is a little older, and has never really used the internet, so I needed to build a site that would appeal to him, rather than overwhelm him. On top of this, they only have a very simple logo, so I had to try to work it into the design while not looking too plain.

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