Innovations

• Reimplemented an algorithm originally defined in Excel with recursive iteration upon all the possible meals by the number of desired meals which whilst logical was costly, not being particularly capable with such techniques I reduced it to simply iterating all meals (typically around 50, before excluding those not matching diet) for a max n loops, adding similar/identical meals only on later loops to emphasise variety, thus decreasing variety with each iteration, yet also handling diet protein distributions (easy in the case of carnivore, harder in the case of flexitarian). This generally completes in few iterations, and in rare cases where diet is restricted not many more. When necessary it will flag an account as having an overly restrictive diet that could not be automatically allocated an adequate variety of meals.
• Introduced the ability to no longer require an 'active' account (subscription) to place an order, and therefore also changed copywriting and terminology to be more explanatory e.g. retired 'subscription' in favour of 'recurring deliveries' that could then be switched off. When off, orders are only created and allocated on-demand, not as part of the batch processing.
• Deprecated the (unsustainable and gamable) use of a payment grace for the first order on signup if payment wasn't settled.
• Introduced the 'flexitarian' diet with a data structure for proteins on each diet permitting percentages to be set for each being used in automated allocations. (Would also permit each customer to set their own, but not implemented.)
• Simplified ingredient and exclusion handling, utilising inheritence, categories and inverted diet flags (e.g. not-vegan, not-vege) on each ingredient.
• Improved meal cards with subtitles, and label/sticker overlays.
• Replaced the basic printing of postal service labels as only permitted in WooCommerce, with a bespoke system including generation of the Odoo stock picking barcode printed on the same delivery label, greatly simplifying the pick+pack process. (This was phased, early releases instead used sorted printed picking lists and labels, to which a short weekly internal consignment identifier was added, i.e. every consignment could be uniquely identified within a given week even if delayed, and the number generally being 3–4 digits making it easier to match by eye, versus previously attempting with an entire recipient name.)
• Bundled SKUs, e.g. buy a group of items at a discount, with all products items ised individually.
• Implemented receipts instead of 'invoices'.
• Simplified customer and order references, where customers are given a short alpha-numeric code, and orders simply use their date, e.g. 241201-AB (PNR).
• Improved formatting of localised values e.g. Swiss prices, and dates.
• Far easier customer lookup in the backoffice, with default selected search allowing instant typing or paste of name/tel/email.
• Use of the Moonstalk stack with the OpenResty and Tarantool application servers.
• The entire platform went from multiple second waits in the Wordpress backoffice to simply see orders, to sub 10ms render times across all pages including complex backoffice queries.
• Lightweight json payloads in each language comprising the weekly menu and ingredients for the client-side application.
• Many pre-cached data (e.g. products per menu) generated in the webserver avoiding the need to query the database, or generated as a cache on a schedule in the database and loaded by the web server.
• When the scheduled batch processing fails (regrettably not infrequent due to Odoo issues) it can simply be re-run manually.
• Statistics on most daily operations to ensure smooth running, with a daily recap and individual signups requiring review posted to the Slack channel.
• Emphemeral datasets in records discarded when no longer required, by segmenting the orders into current and archive, where current orders contain production details that are not relevent to keep after production. (Whilst not needed at the time, it significantly improves performance should the dataset grow.)

Features

• Fully translated and localised for Switzerland in English, German and French.
• Weekly menus comprising changing meal and extras SKUs.
• Client-side basket checkout for selecting, filtering and pricing.
• Menu and product data also utilised in dedicated non-customer menu pages, with a basic CMS for managing categories.
• Dedicated 'trial' package checkout having set delivery charges.
• Customer dietary preferences include filtering.
• Coupons (discount value) with a variety of use scenarios, plus vouchers (cash-credit value), and gifts (rewards) to be claimed upon passing thresholds.
• Flexible holiday rescheduling for closure days (albeit not implemented fully abstractly).
• Utilising fairly standard scheduled early morning batch processing for credit card payments, initially using Stripe, then replaced with a Swiss payment gateway, and other methods; also downloads postal service waybills for labels, amongst other functions.
• One grace order when automated payment settlement fails. (Improved customer retention.)
• Integrated HubSpot for CRM, with many recurring API updates syncing customer state changes, such as activating or deactivating recurring orders, which is then used for automated emails.
• Implemented sending orders to the hosted Odoo service for ERP and production, including carrying out order confirmation; further integrations planned.
• Migrated data from multiple millions of Wordpress SQL rows, many duplicated or deprecated, and actually only representating less than 10,000 records after migration (Demonstrating the impracticalty and high overheads of WordPress/WooCommerce as a platform.)
• Included training the frontend dev (JS/PHP) in basic framework, Lua and Tarantool usage.
• Included the initial layout/CSS, subsequently handed over to a frontend dev, and new designer, but thus loosing the nuanced/clean typesetting I'd applied in favour of micro-animations and such like; usability input ongoing.

Links

• https://powermeals.ch/

Innovations

• Filter flexibility on some classifications as enumerated scales (e.g. outside spaces from terrace to big garden; workspace from bedroom desk to coworking) enabling results to be expanded with degrees of relevence, instead of simply returning unhelpful 'nothing matched'.
• Multi-faceted classification system uses both structured and unstructured tags; which may be grouped by parents, optionally redirecting and hilighting child tags; plus enabling customisation of every view where values are consumed.
• Freeform rates, in which multiple unit classes may be declared with any duration and rate; the system creating summaries of these for common cases (e.g. weekly and monthly rates).
• Unusual mobile UI giving access to an almost fullscreen map with information panel below it as a single swipable view, instead of the more typical multi-modal/click-panel-close interactions. (Usability value to be ascertained.)
• For the explore map, a SPA-style client-side with real-time filtering, using a compact base dataset maintained as JSON, supplemented with per-property JSON data requests upon user interaction, thus avoiding server-side dependencies and database queries. (Obviously only capable of handling a smaller datasets, though under 75k gzipped for 1500 properties, not likely to be exceeded for many years.)
• Tags for all filter criteria preserved in the URL facilitating sharing. Clicked properties are preserved in the query string thus do invoke a server-side response to permit sharing when first accessed with a property query string.
• Given a huge variety of spaces and users, anonymised and unrated reviews to focus the user's attention upon their own interpretations.
• Fallback client-side rendering, should the server be unable to cache Instagram using a private API.

Features

• Highly performant, using the Moonstalk framework and its javascript loader, resulting in data loading and rendering completion in under half a second for the explore map.
• The use of tags in a provider-specified order to classify spaces also supports a self-declaration community label/marque using the logo, in which any space may declare itself a "coliving community" by prefixing its core offer or values as tags e.g. «Hub House is a #purposeful #cooperative Coliving Community».
• Data stored in easily edited structured text format (Lua).
• Third-party data sources (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, Google) cached on the server to eliminate additional latency.
• Passable/overridable filters in URL, as well as settable with cookies, this statefulness allows the map and list views to be shared preserving the user input criteria.
• Some data always in-page for instant client-side changes and reduced server processing, and when unspecified shows all spaces in list view with 'disabled' styling thus ensuring all potential results appear on pages for SEO and first-time visitors. If prefs are set or passed the server trims the data set to send a lighter load.
• Unstructured locations and contextual adjustment derived from declared human-friendly strings, e.g. "Barcelona, Spain" only appears as "Barcelona" on the Spain page, but a space may declare it as "near Barcelona" or anything else appropriate for reference instead of displaying simply an unhelpful administrarive name.
• Tags permit optional space-specific custom details, e.g. the "meals" tag can be expanded with free-form text such as "full-board included".
• Friendly URLs e.g: /in/spain /with/pool
• Custom pages can replace or supplement entire categories; CSS can also easily be used to make changes to specific categories.
• Currency conversion with rounding to faciliate user information scanning and consumption.
• Instagram photos only render the two most recent official account photos, also showing both top-ranked and recent location-specific posts (where an Instagram location is known).

Links

• https://coliving.community/explore
• https://coliving.community/in/spain?stay=brief&bed=private&budget=1000

Innovations

• Novel multistakeholder model combining both investment returns as a hospitality business, and flexible fractional ownership, supported by a strong community-interest operation reducing overheads.
• Space planning for several properties permitted the use of split-level mezzanine designs optimising the number of private units.
• Crowdfunded ownership, with pledges obtained through direct outreach and marketing to potential members. (A propotion allocated for investors has not yet been raised, however some leads were generated simultaneously.

Features

• database and public portal listing and enabling discussion amongst candidates
• bespoke CMS to catalogue candidate properties and score them for easier classification, using multiple criteria, colour coded for ease of reference
• most of the properties involve the replacement of extremely large numbers of windows, thus sourcing was researched from China, to reduce the otherwise significant fitout costs (despite tariffs)
• some properties include adequate capacity for multi-use event spaces, further diversifiying potential revenue and uses, especially for remote team offsites

Links

• https://hub.house/admin/report?53
• https://hub.house/admin/report?pontasso
• https://hub.house/admin/report?106
• https://hub.house/admin/report?60
• https://hub.house/admin/properties?reports

Innovations

• Partnered with an emerging streetartist to create a Steve Wozniak mural, providing him with exposure, and an atypical but recognisable portrait that prominanetly features in the social media posts of visitors, becoming strongly associated with the space.

Features

• 6 private offices in an ancillary block at the rear of the space, ensuring the core community space is not overly influenced by predeominantly static users.
• Two dedicated hotdesk rooms, plus flexible use of common space for events, and also featuring standing deskspace.

Links

• http://facebook.com/Coworkin

Features

• partner pitchdeck

Links

• /portfolio/waurw-monkeybar.mp4
• https://www.facebook.com/jacob.jay/posts/10152385855810787
• http://www.waurw.com/

Innovations

• Multiple pricing and comission models to support both owned assets and third-party assets
• Per-class (category, product or variant) cascading inherited attributes, with ancestor and descendant overrides providing a variety of ways to control how suppliers add new items and values
• Mediated messaging, with client-supplier messaging relayed through an operator
• Supplier auctioning with deferred (countdown) booking assignments in cases of unknown availability
• Collection options using geolocation
• Flexible delivery class calculations assignable per-category and postcode
• Geographical search ranking availability of items with delivery constraints
• Ability for an operator to easily swap their CMS view to that of a supplier (delegate authentication) when handling operations by telephone

Features

• Categorised product (and variant) listings with search
• Bespoke CMS handling categories, products and their variants with dynamic attributes
• Booking functionality (not calendared)
• CMS and API for suppliers
• Mobile app with push notifications and messaging for suppliers and customers
• Multi-device and multi-role authentication and notification settings

Innovations

• Bespoke image slider handling multiple content parts (image, title, subtitle, price, inset image) and integrated as the core compoent of the page layout
• Image slider waits for the next slide's image to finish loading before progressing to that slide (a common issue on slower connections with every other slider implementation)
• Shows the name of the next item in the slider

Features

• Responsive design (adapts to screen size and orientation such as for tablets)
• Feature products in the front page slider simply with tagging
• Automatic slider with manual controls
• Web fonts (to match the product aesthetic)
• Localised prices and shipping notices
• All the Moonstalk Kit optimisations (e.g. typographic prices and async JavaScript loading

Links

• /portfolio/magnus.mov

Innovations

• Fuzzy-logic search, gradually widening search criteria scope when not enough matching results are found, i.e. for every non-matching input criteria a corresponding potentially acceptable criteria would be used instead such as 1 bathroom instead of 2, with these criteria being colour-coded (match versus near-match) for easier identification by the user.
• Comprehensive type-ahead search using multiple sources of data (names, telephones, locations, emails, prices), removing need for time consuming paging of adminstrative list views to find relevent records.
• Use of geohash indexes for high-performance geospatial property search.
• Use of deferred slideshow loading to improve performance and usability (almost unheard of at the time, most solutions simply advancing to to half-downloaded images on a timer, or attempting to download all upon page load despite potentially not subsequently showing them).

Features

• Customer-facing functionality including geographic search and display of properties with mapping and slideshow
• Agent functionalities including search, management of properties
• Agency-owner functionality including customisation and configuration of website, and management of agents
• Support for multiple agency locations per site, and agents per-agency
• Activitiy streams with messaging and notifications for each agency, agent and property
• Signup for new agencies (clients) with a default name-derived subdomain
• Automatic geo-location and address completion when adding properties
• Image upload and optimisation for slideshows
• Email notifications when agents are not active on site
• Property owner CRM with agent association
• Editable print view with QR code for window display
• Utilisation of Moonstalk's internationsalistion, geospatial data, type-ahead search, and notification features

Innovations

• First coworking space in Delhi, and one of first few in India.
• First open-access space offering both coworking and accommodation for those visiting from further afield.
• Bespoke furniture constructions including large-span communal tables using wood with internal (hidden) iron dowels

Features

• Regular community events and meals
• 8 en-suite bedrooms amd 1 bunkroom (convertible between 4 bunks, or 1 double)
• Live-in cook and 2 kitchens
• Cleaning, housekeeping and security staff
• Mixed-use lobby, lounge and dining space with A/V system
• Coworking desks (and monitors)
• Colourful paint and fabrics to enliven the otherwise drab interior

Links

• http://moonlighting.club/Delhi
• http://facebook.com/pages/Moonlighting-Delhi/115049215186020
• http://www.timescrest.com/society/goodbye-home-office-10422
• http://www.entrepreneurindia.com/magazine/2013/april/Sharing-Spaces_8-6-1/
• http://archive.asianage.com/life-and-style/moonlighting-club-young-entrepreneurs-663

Features

• Automated filesystem to URL mapping for sites and applications, with no configuration necessary before use (including web server)
• Includes a bespoke low-latency NoSQL database which shares the web application environment and functions, whilst also supporting a task queue with seperate processes
• Internationalisation and localisation including handling for plurals and GeoIP
• Best-practice handling of script-loading, CDN assets, canonical tags, addressing, salted passwords, microcaching, deployment (via dCVS), etc.
• Many supplementary applications providing functionality ranging from calendaring to geospatial search

Links

• http://moonstalk.org/
• http://moonstalk.org/Manual
• http://bitbucket.com/moonmill/moonstalk

Innovations

• Deferred batching to accept multiple uploads over a configurable timeframe, and then re-broadcast them together as an album or single blog post after no more items had arrived (instead of individually upon arrival).
• Utilisation of special 'routing' tags, allowing uploaded media to be dispatched to specific accounts or groups of accounts simply using a tag, thus avoiding the need for specific client routing UI, and instead using a client's native tagging UI.

Features

• Prioritised image processing queue with service provider connection constraints
• Service provider error aggregation and reporting to quicly idenitfy and prioritise API issue resolution with destination service providers
• Support for multitudinous client upload APIs including metaweblog and Flickr, which with DNS spoofing enabled official clients to be used with the server
• Bespoke upload applications and Plug-ins including iPhone, Aperture, Windows Live Gallery and integration with Nokia share
• Support for hosting uploads directly on the service, including views for user streams, albums and individual photos

Innovations

• Unique cross-platform provider plugins, deployed with a single download and simply double-clicked to install. Easily constructed plugins using ZIP packaging with XML provider configuration and platform-specific processing scripts.
• Clicking an item in the validation checklist selects it in the media catalogue for correction.
• Automatically re-validates after corrections are made.

Features

• Support of submission via disc (postal) or FTP.
• Report generation for printing when submitting via disc.
• Conditional metadata validation and review.

Features

• Photo upload with user, location and event galleries
• Location and user profiles with public and private messaging
• Friending with reciprical relationship indication ('strength')
• Simple colour-coordinated navigation
• Options to feature/hilight photos and sponsored events/locations
• Watermarked photos

Innovations

• Utilised a two component architecture, a plugin gathered metadata, and a seperate standalone application performed the FTP uploads, progress feedback, finishing by updating Aperture's metadata status fields. This architecture was beneficial to avoid blocking the modal Aperture plugin architecture, and additionally allowed the standalone application to handle uploads from other applications, including via Drag and Drop.

Features

• Ability to perform additional exports from Aperture and have them appended to an existing upload
• Saves upload status back to Aperture after upload
• Minimised (menubar) progress view

Innovations

• Optimised service addition and sign-in UI, including transparent post web authentication token retrieval (e.g. OAuth) using a simple 'becomes frontmost' check
• First application to upload both image data and annotations
• First application to interface between both multiple applications and multiple web services
• Comprehensive abstractions for web service behaviours with modular service plugin architecture including per-plugin version checking
• Co-branded builds with default sign-in prompts for service providers using an automated build system, and with provider-specific statistics (via a private website login)
• Only application to be able to upload images and then later sync the annotations (e.g. via Flick API)
• Only application to employ database-free metadata via file system extended attributes (i.e. for service upload IDs)
• Transparent licence activation after purchase on website

Features

• Integral image and metadata manipulation functions
• Support for multiple disparate web-service APIs for uploads with an aggregate progress UI
• Interfaces with the file system and external applications to collect data, including support for standards-based emebedded IPTC/XMP and XMP sidecar files for annotations

Links

• https://web.archive.org/web/20160319083827/http://picturesync.net/windows

Innovations

• First library to enable use of common code and functionality with disparate service providers.
• Simultaneous classed data and string handling (suitable for AJAX-type web server deployment scenarios as well as desktop).

Features

• Standardised functionality: list/make albums, list/download/upload media.
• Initially available with modules for Webshots, Flickr, and Yahoo! Photos.
• Session saving (service dependant).

Links

• https://web.archive.org/web/20080913040425/http://mediasock.org/
• http://mediasock.googlecode.com/hg/Release/Docs/MSCF%20Outline.pdf
• http://mediasock.googlecode.com/hg/Release/Docs/MSCF%20Service%20Reference.pdf
• http://code.google.com/p/mediasock/source/browse/

Links

• lumiere-JV-BusinessPlan.pdf

Innovations

• clients can utilise service discovery not only check with a low cost (i.e. via HTTP HEAD) if a provider supports the protcol, but also what methods and characteristics are supported by that provider (interoperability between clients and servers is notably not guaranteed by the protocol)
• designed from the outset for easy implementation by service providers; could be implemented simply atop existing page forms, using existing cookies for authentication and utilising other common API methods instead of requiring new implementations

Features

• choice of implementation models for service providers
• fixed-string XML and values allow parsing of responses without requiring a heavyweight XML parser

Links

• https://web.archive.org/web/20161104230119/http://profileconnect.org/mediasock
• /portfolio/MediaSock.pdf

Innovations

• Optimised service addition and sign-in UI, including transparent post web authentication token retrieval (e.g. OAuth) using a simple 'becomes frontmost' check
• First application to upload both image data and annotations
• First application to interface between both multiple applications and multiple web services
• Comprehensive abstractions for web service behaviours with modular service plugin architecture including per-plugin version checking
• Co-branded builds with default sign-in prompts for service providers using an automated build system, and with provider-specific statistics (via a private website login)
• Only application to be able to upload images and then later sync the annotations (e.g. via Flick API)
• Only application to employ database-free metadata via file system extended attributes (i.e. for service upload IDs)
• Transparent licence activation after purchase on website

Features

• Integral image and metadata manipulation functions
• Support for multiple disparate web-service APIs for uploads with an aggregate progress UI
• Interfaces with the file system and external applications to collect data, including support for standards-based emebedded IPTC/XMP and XMP sidecar files for annotations
• Fullscreen view

Links

• http://web.archive.org/web/20160313224800/http://picturesync.net/

Innovations

• First and only application to avoid polling iTunes every second or so, and instead more efficiently poll by simply calculating when the track ends, thus avoiding undue CPU load
• Use of variables for configuring metadata preferences
• Creation of JPEG artwork from iTunes PICT wrapper
• First application to provide artwork upload

Features

• Locates artwork from disk, or extracts from iTunes
• Integrated Last.fm scrobbling

Links

• http://holocore.com/?OnDeck

Features

• Forms guiding a user through the incident reporting process, including providing multiple points of contact according to availability
• Backend databases and administration for locations, contacts (multiple internal and external roles, with individual calendar-based availability and regional holidays)
• Backend reporting for incidents by location with highest severity identification
• Email notifications with normal and priority addresses (for SMS)
• User authentication with anonymous 'SOS' login
• Multi-language support

Features

• enrollment forms and cost calculator for courses and locations (200+ combinations with 7,000 dates and further options)
• CMS with multi-region and language capabilities, for page content, plus news and jobs
• Course finder (narrows choices through a multi-stage questionaire)
• Co-branded version for affiliates (distinct logo and contact details)
• Messaged board

Features

• Uses the WebShop system (listed elsewhere)

Innovations

• Whilst having similar functionality to Miva Merchant v2 (current at the time of development) this bespoke solution provided extensive options for custom integration. See the other E-commerce projects on here for some specific deployments.

Features

• Shopping basket and wish-list supporting custom price calculators with multiple input variables
• Discounts (static and dynamic, from codes or links)
• Subscriptions (time and useage based)
• Affiliate tracking
• User accounts with multiple addresses per-user
• Product-specific supplementary requirements
• Distinct order and payment statuses
• Product availability restrictions (with potential for stock keeping)

Innovations

• Use of tabbed-UI and javascript popup menus to maximise functional real estate whilst providing two-click access to almost all areas of the system.
• Color coding of tabs and areas for ease of identification (in an earlier implementation).