Hi! I'm Robin Metcalfe, a web developer available to hire on a contract or freelance basis.
Bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to web development, honed over 15 years of building bespoke solutions for clients across the globe - from startups, clients in the health sector to finance, housing, innovative tech fields and more.
Every project is different, but the approach is the same: think smart, build efficiently, and create something you can be proud of.
Some thoughts and opinions from my daily development schedule.
Engagement on an “algorithm-free” site like Bluesky is interesting.
I assume a big factor is “active minutes” (a stat not often shown for social sites)
Do people spend fewer active minutes when there’s more aggravating news around? (ie now)
Does that reduce likelihood of a post being seen?
Or in other words, even with apparent growth, it might still seem like there’s more significant peaks and troughs since there’s no artificial algorithm to give a false impression of activity?
(I believe the Bluesky approach is far healthier btw. If it’s quieter, just log off for a little bit)
Building a tool like "Hilite Everything" opens up a whole load of interesting of challenges:
1. It's very visual & artistic. Keeping that coherent through future updates could be tricky!
Say I want to make a change to how parts of the code work. It might change functionality but *also* aesthetics.
2. Ease of use - I want to make it programmatical and also very powerful, but keep the range of options simple and - vitally - within a certain parameter range so that, again, in future, code updates can work within a well-known range.
Remember - a feature is for life, not just for Christmas!
Promoting things is hard!
People need to see something immediately that gives them an immediate know-and-tell so they know what your thing does and want to tell others about it
I've put a little interactive button on my "Hilite everything" landing page: https://solarise.dev/hilite
I've been asking myself whether or not this is something people actually want in a must-have product sort of sense (no) or if it's something that I can turn a profit on eventually? (haha, no)
I'm literally just building this because it's fun and daft and makes me smile.
Do more of that.
I finally decided to move away from my relatively expensive dedicated WordPress hosting for my own site (which is great hosting! But I don't need it) and instead set up a $5/month Vultr instance which is perfect for me. Took about 20 mins to set up with a free control panel, so well worth it.
Gonna take the money I saved moving from my old host and buy, I dunno... an egg?
Tired: finely tuned high performance admin panel
Wired: just stuff a load of config params in pastebin and let my site backend parse it
So my plan is basically to publish some of my threaded Bluesky posts on my site as a microblog.
Main issues are obviously (1) how to read the data - a tech issue and (2) how to select specific threads
Just having a basic text file which I paste a post ID into when I want to publish it works great!
I figured out how to make a far better cup of coffee with my Moka pot this morning - adding an Aeropress filter! (it filters out the bitter oils, a more consistent brew and I reduced the temperature slightly)
With thanks to @jameshoffmann.bsky.social https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfDLoIvb0w4
#coffee
I'm trying to recall a drag-and-drop HTML builder I saw ages ago and it was the wildest thing ever. Had real strong MySpace-layout energy. It was great fun, but I can't find it again.
Every result is "Hey! Build your site with us today *shows you the most boring marketing layout you've ever seen*"
I'm looking into what's available in terms of "no knowledge, just want to have fun and create something wild" beginner website building tools, and all I find are the usual frameworks that say they make things easy but in reality there's 29 layers of widgets and complexity.
Where's the good stuff?
An M.C. Escher-esque interactive experiment I made entirely with #CSS (No #Javascript involved! This is all styling)
You can play with it here: https://codepen.io/solarisedesign/pen/QbXLrZ
(might not work properly on every browser)
Another one from the #JavaScript archives
Part of a larger project, I built a colour/palette manager that lets you adjust all the colours individually, also adjust the proportion of each colour and easily add/remove/edit colours
Saves them automatically to a database too
#JavaScript #Laravel
Again, another just-for-fun thing that never quite saw the light of day!
But I'm planning on releasing this as a standalone component at some point.
A work in progress - an older project that I started last year, hoping to tidy it up and release soon.
It's a dynamic highlighting library - adds on-the-fly highlights to text (they adapt to e.g. responsive text size, line breaks, HTML tags)
Built for fun but might be useful!
#JavaScript
Working on my new website tonight. Will mostly be business, but also showing personal projects and artworks I've made in the past. Feels like it's coming together well, a work-in-progress.
I'm also planning using Bluesky as a microblogging tool. Pulling in select threads of mine as formatted text.
I've considered a few different ways of doing that. One was to manually select posts to add to the site, but that was a bit of a hassle - and I'm terrible with friction, makes things fall by the wayside!
The cleanest solution seems to be if I sign off with a little emoji (bear with me!)
Pondering board games again this morning.
Pondering board game inserts. Custom box layouts to optimise card and component storage. I fear I’m getting in too deep!
I’m fascinated by tabletop game design though, down to thinking about even how easy it is to store, align, organise box content
So much work goes into these things. You have to consider the amount of time it takes to set up a game and tidy after.
A cool game mechanic may work on paper but what if it then means spending twice as long organising parts?
And then there’s the production, printing, manufacturing pipeline.
Pushing a website live this morning to replace an existing one. No worries. It's fine. No stress. Always good to give my adrenal glands an unscheduled workout.
(ofc it did all go to plan, as these things often do!)
Are we heading back to a more decentralised web?
People on all sides clearly becoming more frustrated with big tech (or becoming more subsumed by it)
Is a return to a more personal internet on the cards?
I'll likely be focusing a lot more on #Laravel and @craftcms.com projects for the foreseeable future.
I'm still doing WordPress work but in more of a support/maintenance capacity, not so much new developments.
If you're looking for a developer to help with any of these things, let's chat!
These are pulled directly from my Bluesky feed
Hi, I'm Robin Metcalfe , a web developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland
I graduated from Edinburgh University in 2002 after studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Since then I've been working in various capacities as a freelance, self-employed and contracted website developer for clients and agencies worldwide
I started building websites when I was 15 on the old family computer - a machine that was far removed from the computer I now develop on. But it was powerful enough, and offered a route to explore a world of possibilities
The web was a far, far quieter place then
There were only a few websites compared to today and search was rudimentary - finding what you wanted was more like looking through a phone book.
But it was a fascinating and untamed place. No-one quite had a grasp on what it actually was or what to do with it.
It also combined two of my great loves - art and coding - into a single package, letting me explore design and layout along with complex back-end coding solutions to power forums, shopping carts (very basic e-commerce at the time) and whatever else could be built along the way.
So here I am now, older and wiser, still building and crafting solutions for the web. And still enjoying it as much as the first time I saw a website I'd built appear online.
Technology has advanced a long way since I coded my first website. If you're looking for help with your online presence or need someone for consultancy, development tasks or project planning, I'll be happy to help.
The modern internet is more of an interconnected "network of networks" - compromising all sorts of devices and displays. Mobile phones, tablets, smart devices (lightbulbs, fridges, cars - anything you can fit a chip and a power source).
I'll help you figure it out.
AI is complicating things too. AI-derived content is quickly filling up search results and websites, paradoxically both limiting visbility by swamping human writers/creators and enhancing visibility for those who care enough to stand out.
(I wrote all of this myself, by the way. With my hands! Never used to need to say that...)
I can manage it for you
There's never-ending growth in software too. Always some new framework or library around the corner promising to make life easier, simpler, more streamlined. But they often don't, only adding complexity.
So what's the answer? There's many answers. Depending on what you need or what you want, there's going to be something that'll suit you. The only problem is finding and building it.
Some great options are Laravel, WordPress and Craft - offering a wealth of data-management, CRM, CMS solutions amongst many others, they're fully customisable, scalable and powerful enough to act as the backbone of any company's online presence.
PHP is the backbone of dynamic websites and applications. It powers platforms like WordPress and frameworks like Laravel, enabling anything from custom content management systems to fully bespoke applications.
JavaScript makes the web interactive. Whether it's dynamic front-end functionality or working with libraries like React, JavaScript ensures your site doesn’t just function — it feels alive.
The building blocks of the web. HTML provides structure, and CSS ensure that structure looks amazing. Together, they form the foundation of every website.
Python is the #1 choice for data-driven projects. From backend processing to machine learning integration, its versatility allows complex challenges to be tackled easily.
Databases are the beating heart of modern web applications. Using tools like MySQL, your data is structured, secure, and easily accessible. Many other powerful database systems are available.
Most of my work is carried out under NDA for clients. These projects often incorporate:
These use Laravel, WordPress or Craft CMS depending on the requirements. I'm more than happy to explore alternatives though!
Get in touch if you'd like to discuss anything like this, or other requirements at a high level
I've worked on many other websites, both in a development and support capacity here in Scotland and further abroad.
Here is a small sample of a few other sites I've had the great pleasure of being involved in the development or maintenance of.
I've been very fortunate to have worked with a large number of diverse and creative agencies throughout my development career, working alongside many talented individuals to deliver quality and value for their clients.
If you're looking for a developer available on a freelance or contract basis, get in touch.
Here are some apps and tools I've built over the years both for clients and for personal experimentation/fun.
I'm also a keen generative artist, and have created a number of generative artworks.
An experiment with dynamic text and particle effects
A JavaScript library that allows multi-line HTML text highlights with many configuration options
A tool for editing colors and proportions in palettes
A paint app with a twist
No JavaScript was used in the creation of this CSS animation (interactive)
Code-generated art. One of countless possible variations in the series
Code-generated art. One of countless possible variations in the series
Code-generated art. One of countless possible variations in the series
Animation for a company specialising in live pathway tracking sensors
A demo for an interative generative art tutorial app
An entirely useless enhancement for HTML input boxes!
An older version of this website
If you'd like to get in touch for any reason - I'm available for contract & freelance work and I'm always happy to respond to dev questions or comments - get in touch using the form below, or you can reach out to me on socials.
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Let's connect
If you want to follow updates from me or chat about anything, the best way to do that is through Bluesky . I was on Twitter/X for years, but recent events have made it a much more stressful place.
Or if you want you can check out my LinkedIn profile, though I'm rarely active on there, it's basically a digital CV.
I'm always happy to chat about anything web or non-web related, feel free to send me a message.