RussellStoll.net

I’m pleased to announce the launch of two new church websites that I designed and built: Holy Name of Jesus Parish in New York City (http://www.holynamenyc.org) and the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (http://www.cathedralofstjoseph.org).

Both sites run off Expression Engine content management software, a low-cost CMS package that offers a terrific blend of features and ease-of-use.

I’m delighted to report that both clients are very pleased with the results.  Eric Henderson, website administrator at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, wrote the following:

“You did an outstanding job in helping to redefine and invigorate the Cathedral’s website. Your knowledge, professionalism, and creativity was inspiring. Our site is now fresh, dynamic and receiving wonderful compliments from our parish community. You were an absolute pleasure to work and I look forward to the opportunity in the future.”

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here.  Today, Russ launched a redesigned Malickcontractors.com.

Kudos to Erica Stoll for pushing pixels on this one.  Yes, she is Russ’ sister but there’s no nepotism in play here—she’s a pretty sharp designer.

The site features a Flash music player positioned in a frameset (so that the client-requested music doesn’t restart with every new page).  Instead of pop-up windows to handle the enlarged thumbnails, Russ used the Lightbox 2 javascript library for a neat image overlay effect.  Gotta love the elegant transition effects as you move from image to image. 

A fun project overall. 

I just finished two Flash animations and some general HTML edits on MedallionRetail.com.  Take a look.  The splash page intro is easy to find.  The second animation is in the Process section.

The new LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot building system has been out for a few weeks now and the first returns are in: it’s a hit!  One Amazon reviewer wrote, “I am thrilled with NXT.  It is all I expected and more.” Another writer said, “All in all, this thing is very impressive, has lots of staying power, and since it supports MacOS X, I’ll actually use it, and will most likely pull out my old Mindstorms and combine parts.  Thanks, Lego—keep up the great work!”

Warning: shameless plug approaching at high speed.  One reviewer wrote, “The help system is well done and actually helpful.” Thanks for the compliment.  I had a great time writing the help system and secretly feared that it would be the one thing that users hated.  I can rest easy now.

Update: Ars Technica gives Mindstorms NXT a 10!  Here’s their review.