Web Solutions for Local Businesses
Luis R. Mercado
luismerk@gmail.com

Past Projects

Action Issues (launched Mar. 17, 2012) Action Issues will provide information about the issues that are most important to Americans. Besides providing a variety of point of views, the website's goal is to get people to take action on these issues. Besides daily updates, Action Issues is strongly embedded with the most popular social networks, helping to filter out all the clutter of useless news items published by the major news organizations.

HAPPEX Collaboration (launched Mar. 8, 2012) My dissertation work was in the field of particle physics. After finishing all the work involved in finishing my doctoral degree, I thought it would be nice to make a newer, fancier site dedicated to the people that worked so hard to make the HAPPEX-III experiment a success. The new version is meant to highlight the accomplishments and the latest papers being submitted and published by the collaboration.

East Coast Poker League, Inc. (latest version launched Jan. 2, 2012) For the new year, we wanted to create an update that would make the interface as user friendly as possible. The new left side panel was designed to house the most essential parts of the website such as weekly schedules, event calendars and monthly standings. The main part of the site has a new format for displaying the latest news and is also integrated with our Facebook page, allowing for real time updates to appear as they are posted.

Somos Amigos (launched July 29, 2011) This website was created within 24 hours for a Spanish instructor in Amherst, MA. Not only did the customer want a home on the web were people could find all the information related to the course being taught, she also required a page were potential clients could register to join the class. This required the creation of a database to keep track of the information submitted and a special page accesible only by the Instructor were all the registration information is available for viewing. Eventually, the site will include several forms of multimedia to show potential customers more about the class being offered, as well as how the Instructor interacts with her students.

ECPL Mobile (launched Jun 29, 2011) After over two years of being online, it seemed necessary for there to be a mobile version so that customers could access information and statistics more easily. Over the years, numerous people had let us know how difficult it could be to navigate the website on their mobile phones. Therefore, this version was developed for all those who made so many helpful suggestions about the accessibility of the site. Not only are all the most important sections easier to access, but style sheets have been modified to better fit all content on a mobile phone screen.

East Coast Poker League, Inc. (this version launched late 2010) Creating a website for this local poker league, based out of the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, required knowledge of website design and creation, but database management with front-end integration. Not only is it the home for the league on the Internet, but there are also several tools that were created to keep track of league member information, game schedules and point tracking systems. The creation of an Administrator site was also essential so that several people could keep track of and modify database entries if necessary.

The Red Rock Lounge (launched Oct 27, 2010) The Red Rock Lounge is one of the most popular restaurants in Newport News. Not only do they have great food, but they have a great live music scene, hosting some of the best local bands in the Hampton Roads area. For the design of the website, it was important for it to have a professional feel, but at the same time, convey a hip and cool atmosphere. Unfortunately, the restaurant shut its doors in the middle of 2011.