US Citizen Web Developer, Web Designer in China, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou

Hi! I'm a Web Developer & Chinese Translator who Lives in South China. We Can Meet in Hong Kong, Shenzhen or Guangzhou! (In Shanghai? We can skype/wechat!)


                The quickest way for you to determine if I might match your web design and development needs is for you to take a quick look at the "Sample Websites" menu item above

(it is the second menu item at the top from the left) and see if you can accept the prices associated with the type(s) of website you're interested in. Then we can discuss more of the details in person or by phone/skype. Please always send an email in addition to calling; if you call first.

There is a good bit of the content on my homepage that deals with the technologies that I use. It is really not as relevant to people who are creating a new website or app. When I do contract work that stuff is more relevant. However, I've striven to make every word of it as relevant and accurate as possible as well. And I've also tried to make it relevant from the standpoint of a consumer of software development services who is not an "insider" or otherwise a member of this profession. So to this extent, I believe you can get some good information from this page if, after looking at my sample web apps/sites and prices, you want to dig down into some further details regarding my web development agency/company in China, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. And after all: how did you find me? I understand search engines from the standpoint of a computer programmer. I certainly can help you along those lines (without a drop of snake-oil added), but my strong suit is programming (and my Chinese is near-native). Nonetheless, one virtue of being overly verbose is that you often leave less room for error and/or misunderstanding. It's better to provide too much detail and let the reader decide if he or she can skip it.

If you'd like a rock-solid web designer in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong or even Shanghai, China (and one who's easy to communicate with): I'm your choice. I use PHP as my main web-programming language, which is exceedingly popular world-wide. PHP is also popular with software and web designers in China and Hong Kong as well. Regardless, of what "kind" of developer you may or may not think you need: don't hesitate to contact me directly so that we can meet in person or at least speak on the phone. I live in the Longgang district of Shenzhen, China and if you're anywhere near me down in south China we should meet. While it's true that most aspects of web design can be done from afar, there are good reasons to hire a web design company in Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Shenzhen locally. Both Shenzhen and Hong Kong are great cities to live in. While there are many web designers and developers in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong, China, there are not many who are fluent in both English and Chinese. If you are located anywhere in China's Guangdong province I would love to be your go-to-guy for website design and development. And if you are in Shanghai I have no problem doing skype discussions. I also can develop other applications such as web-scraping and bulk-email programs. Hiring a US citizen web developer in China is not necessarily more expensive either. I know and interact with Chinese designers locally, and read the same books (and in the same language) they do.

Bootstrap is an open-source, front-end CSS framework developed by Twitter. Chinese web designers love Bootstrap. (Essentially, front-end design relates to what is going on in the browser in front of the user, and what the user sees, clicks, and interacts with.) In many ways, front-end development is not as difficult as back-end development, but at times I feel like it's slightly more difficult (notice the different spelling of front-end when used as a modifier as opposed to the noun form, I'm afraid you might not understand that I do in fact know how to use/spell the term). I try to make my clients' websites load fast in the browser. Sometimes this means not overdoing it when it comes to flashing graphics etc.. Page load speeds are more important than museum quality art. Further, I'm moving well-into becoming a truly "full-stack" developer. A full-stack developer is someone who is proficient in both back-end and front-end technologies. I have written complex programs which do more than you're likely to need as a small businessman or woman. However, it pays off to have someone who can see, from start to finish, exactly what is required prior to commencing that project; and who can debug any complex problem that may arise. In fact, true programming is mainly about debugging. Anyone can program until something goes wrong. So, if you're looking for a full-stack web developer and designer in China or Hong Kong: you've found one. Again, if you are in Shanghai: there is nothing preventing me serving as your website designer as well.

jQuery is a javascript framework which aims to make programming results compatible with all browsers. If you've already got a site/system built (or half-way built) using a particular set of technologies different than the ones I use, this may be of concern to you. Actually, it should be of concern to you. For most people it won't matter what programming language(s) I use: you just want the results. At the end of the day, that is nearly all that matters. In any event, please ask first before deciding that I can't (or wouldn't) take on such a project due to the fact that I don't focus on a particular language or framework which you believe needs to be part of your next project. As I discuss below, I normally use PHP (though I'm starting to love Python as well!) on the back end for web development and design projects. I have built very complex server-side programs in the past, and over the last few years have taken a good stab at becoming truly proficient on the front end. If you're really interested in how cutting edge I am (or am not), I can tell you that I'm learning Bootstrap (a CSS3 framework), and in fact this site's front end was built mainly with Bootstrap. Using this framework helps a web designer (or web design company) make sites mobile-friendly in a relatively quick and efficient way. It tends to speed up development time when you've got to make certain that your site is easily viewed on mobile devices.

I develop websites and web applications using the following technologies: PHP, MySQL, and jQuery. MySQL databases are used by small businesses and multinational corporations alike. This may not mean much to you because you're only concerned about having a website that looks nice and does what you want it to. That's fair enough but there are some good reasons why you might want to know a little bit more regarding the type/kinds of technology (i.e. web development platforms including programming languages and server software etc.) your website designer is using. I use a set of technologies/languages which are extremely widespread and popular throughout the entire world: the "LAMP stack" with PHP as the server-side programming language. You can go anywhere in the world and find literally tons of developers who love it and could potentially get going on a project for you in a heartbeat. LAMP-stack development is also popular in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China. From top to bottom (large sites and small): there are millions of developers out there who love PHP and MySQL (MySQL is a flavor of database). Whether you are building a large site (and by "large" I mean Facebook and Wikipedia "large": both use PHP), or just a small products site: you could potentially find a very reasonably-priced "replacement" designer in no time. What if a piano fell from a rooftop and your developer passed away? The point is you need your site to be readily and easily modifiable by the next website design team or individual who takes over. I used to design websites and applications (including for the desktop), using Microsoft's .NET framework. However, I have switched to purely open-source technologies.

Web developers can now use the Cordova framework (this framework is also called "Phonegap", but it's the same thing) to build both iPhone and Android phone apps using HTML, CSS and javascript. Essentially what this framework does is compile an app written in web development/design languages into a native application running on your smartphone. The result is a dramatic reduction in time and hassle (for your purposes that means money spent on developers) involved in producing a smartphone application. And of course: you can build an Android app for the Chinese market using the Cordova framework as well. It won't make any difference. If you need an App developer in Shenzhen, China who speaks English please contact me. I would love to help you create your iPhone or Android application for the Chinese market! Now, back to PHP: you can find software/web developers in any part of the world (again, including Shenzhen and Shanghai, China) that are gangbusters for PHP and use it all the time. It is also faster to put together small and medium-sized websites using the "LAMP Stack" and PHP than the other frameworks. Both Linux and Apple's operating system OS X are derived from the Unix operating system. This is noticeably superior to what Microsoft offers on many levels. It's also free to use as you wish (except in Apple's case of course). Finally, the future is most certainly heading in this direction. The most talented developers are open-source and most have a strong dislike of Microsoft-based development. With the exception of Photoshop: virutally all design tools are open-source from the start. CSS3, Javascript, jQuery, Bootstrap (tools used to make your site professional looking) are free software. You can find it for free on cheap server and hosting accounts literally everywhere. When your application scales, and/or you take your business to the next level, you don't all of a sudden that some kind of fee schedule kicks in.

The vast majority of web servers throughout the globe use Linux. I use CentOS and Ubuntu. Of course these flavors of Linux is very popular in China as well. There are many software developers in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong experienced with it. So I chose to switch from the Microsoft platform to open source, LAMP-stack web development and design. Web designers in China love to use the LAMP stack as well. Now I'd like to talk a bit about my whereabouts. Southern Chinese cities in The Pear River Delta region of Guangdong province (such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou) get substantial winds and fresh air currents from the ocean. This keeps the air in Shenzhen and Hong Kong relatively clean and fresh (Guangzhou slightly less so). The nearly year-round warm weather found in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou make living here quite comfortable as compared to north China. I enjoy travelling to Guangdong, and other nearby cities in South China such as Guangzhou, Danshui, Meizhou, Huizhou, Foshan, Macau and Hong Kong (if you need a web developer in Macau or Shanghai I can also help you myself). Guangzhou's history (and current active web developer scene) is a real attraction. There are entire "software parks" being set up in China. You may have heard about the fact that there is a large number of unemployed college graduates in China. China seeks to move up on the "Global Value Chain" and begin supplying complex services such as software development to global markets. (And by the way, if you need an apartment in the Shekou district of Shenzhen try this site Shenzhen Apartments in the Shekou and Nanshan district.