Neil T King
Web Design, Programming and Creative Services
I specialise in building online/web applications and stand-alone software. This includes building & looking after Linux servers, building and maintaining web sites and other creative work. I have built myself a strong reputation in the industry for problem solving and have both creative and technical skills. My 20 years of experience in Further Education enables me to explain complex, technical instructions in an easy-to-understand way.
I undertake freelance design, programming & IT work directly, and also for intermediate companies on a consultancy basis.
Web & Email Hosting
I usually design, build and host websites for customers but if you already have a website and just need hosting (for your domain + website + email) you can now purchase that on its own to manage yourself. This will use the same high spec server infrastructure, super fast Internet connection and incredibly resiliant hosting that I use for my own sites and email. Choose from being hosted in a datacentre in the USA or in Europe, both with excellent facilities, multiple redundant connections and power supplies, hosting thousands of customer websites from 140 countries.
Full details: https://hosting.neiltking.com
Prices are low, simple to understand and you get access to an easy-to-use control panel to set up email accounts, DNS management, free SSL certificate, FTP accounts, database management, and lots more yourself. It's perfect for running your own WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or custom website.
Professional web hosting with email, daily automated backups, HTTPS certificate, PHP & MySQL databases. Price from £8 per month
For more information or if you need extra help setting up your hosting or require ongoing support, please get in touch.
Project Spotlight: File Portal
Do you need to provides files, reports or other digital content for your clients/customers to download? In collaboration with Akumenta, we have created a system that can give your business that secure, professional delivery mechanism at a fraction of the expected cost.
- Create and manage logins for each of your clients.
- Unlimited number of client logins (without paying per user).
- Secure - All access is via HTTPS (2048bit SHA-256 with RSA encryption). Clients can only access files you have uploaded for them.
- Logs how many times your clients have downloaded a file and when.
- Set expiry dates on files so they are automatically removed after a particular date.
- Upload entire folders, subfolders and files in one go, keeping their structure intact.
- Interface can be branded with your logo, designed and coloured to match your existing web site for that professional look.
- 100GB of storage space (with automatic daily backups), 5000GB of bandwidth per month, and a domain name (if required) included.
- Source code created and maintained by us so we have full control to change and adapt it to meet your business needs.
- NEW: Video files can now be streamed to your
clients.
NEW: Search facility added to easily find files.
Standard pricing is:
£49 per month (paid annually)
£300 one-off set up fee
If this sounds like something that might interest you, please contact me below for more information or a demo.
Web Sites
I have been creating web sites since the early days of the World Wide Web and kept up with modern trends, changes in HTML, CSS and related programming languages. My software has driven the back end of many web sites for all kinds of industries, including completely custom shopping systems, as well as themes and plugins to extend content management systems like WordPress. Below are just a few examples of the many sites I have built and/or look after.
The Power of Us
https://www.powerofusagency.com
The Power Of Us help organisations transform their working culture, improving staff moral and help them thrive by capturing the talents and innovation of their people. The team includes David Price OBE, whose best-selling book "The Power Of Us: How We Connect, Act & Innovate Together" is the basis for the agency. I built this website on the WordPress CMS with a completely custom theme and wrote several unique, bespoke plugins to look after subscriptions, user management, survey collection & reporting etc.
Earth Fire Ceramics
https://www.earthfireceramics.com
Earth Fire ceramics is led by Staffordshire Potter Caroline who offers pottery courses, themed workshops and tailored party events teaching and making pottery. As well as designing the logo, I created a completely custom WordPress theme and several bespoke plugins to add features such as the ability to order and take online payments for workshop sessions, gift vouchers and pottery pieces.
52 Degrees North
A graphic design and marketing agency in Tamworth, Staffordshire. For more than a decade, they've delivered expertly crafted design that connect clients with their target audience. They specialise in graphic design, digital design, branding and marketing. For their website I created a completely custom WordPress theme and many bespoke plugins to add the features they needed.
Colleges West Midlands
https://www.collegeswestmidlands.org.uk
Colleges West Midlands is a formal strategic partnership of 21 colleges, including all colleges within the West Midlands Combined Authority area. They work together to support skills development across the regions, responding as a single voice to new initiatives and government reforms. I host their website for them and continue to add extra functionality, custom created plugins and features.
Staffordshire Partnership for Employment and Skills
SPES is the culmination of the Staffordshire Providers Association (SPA) and Skills Staffordshire to form a single skills delivery partnership and strong voice in Stoke and Staffordshire working closely with the LEP/Education Trust. It's members include the majority of the Colleges, Universities, Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and training providers in Staffordshire. I designed their logo and created their custom website for them.
Statistics 24 Limited
Statistics 24 works with Google Apps (G-Suite) allowing users and organisations to run detailed reports on usage. It combines a browser extension with a powerful custom cloud-based reporting system all written from scratch.
Safeguarding 24
https://www.safeguarding24.com
Safeguarding 24 allows all of an organisations users, e.g. students and staff, to report any safeguarding concerns they have while they are still online. The system works with both Google G-Suite and Microsoft 365 users and is mostly used by educational establishments. It combines a browser extension with a bespoke reporting system all written from scratch.
Friends of Staffordshire & West Midlands (North Sector) Army Cadet Force Trust
https://www.staffsacffriends.co.uk
The Staffs Army Cadets Friends are a registered charity that supports The Staffordshire & West Midlands (North Sector) Army Cadet Force. The Army Cadet Force is one of the UK’s oldest, largest and most successful youth organisations. For ease of management the site uses the WordPress CMS but with a completely custom built theme and several custom plugins.
WorldByDesign
WorldByDesign is used to promote my own mobile games and apps. Starting as a hobbyist game programmer around the age of 10 years old, I have experience of writing software for many computer and video game systems, from old 8 bit home computers right up to modern mobile, PC and consoles plus browser based games. The site is based on the WordPress CMS with a completely custom theme and custom plugins.
... and many more.
Programming
Having released several commercial pieces of software on various platforms, including mobile devices and cloud based systems, I am experienced in creating native apps, web based applications, games & browser plugins and have extensive computer hardware knowledge. I can code in many languages including PHP, JavaScript, C++, Delphi, C, Java, etc. Applications have been developed for sectors including education, automotive, child safety, medical and gaming. Many of my applications cannot be listed here as they were created on a consultancy basis to be rebranded.
My own web CMS (content management system) has been used by schools & other organisations, and my eCommerce system has been used by several businesses to sell items, look after stock control and take payments via various payment gateways.
I write custom plugins and themes for CMS systems including WordPress, and browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
The Power Of Us - Cultural Audit
The Power Of Us Agency aim to help organisations transform their working culture, helping them to thrive by capturing the talents and innovation of their people.
As well as their website, I built a custom "Cultural Audit" system which includes a subscription, user management and survey system. It allows all employees of subscribed organisations to complete a survey with complete anonymity and generate a report to help show where the organisation can be praised or improve, allowing their staff to flourish and the business to thrive.
Statistics 24
As co-founder of Statistics 24 Limited, it combines a cloud based report generating system and web browser plugins for Chrome, Firefox and MS Edge on Chromebooks, Windows and Mac's - all written by myself. Used mostly by educational establishments it monitors the usage of Google's G-Suite providing an unprecedented insight into what learners have been working on and for how long, no matter where they have been based.
In 2017 I was invited to speak on stage at the BETT Show in London (the World's biggest education technology show) about Statistics 24 which was received incredibly well.
Safeguarding 24
Part of the Statistics 24 family, Safeguarding 24 offers web browser plugins for Chrome, Firefox and MS Edge on Chromebooks, Windows and Mac's as well as a web form which can be easily embedded into a customers own website and can be accessed in any web browser (including mobile devices). All parts of the system have been written and created by myself. Used mostly by educational establishments it allows the secure reporting of any safeguarding concerns a user has, whether on-site, at home or anywhere. It is able to authenticate users against both Google and Microsoft systems for maximum compatibility. When using the browser plugin, it can optionally take a snapshot of the browser window to include in the report as evidence.
SafeSearchLock
SafeSearchLock was a Windows safety application to turn on, and lock on, the safest family-friendly filters for all the major search engines and other online content providers. Supported sites included Google, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, Ask Jeeves, Flickr and many more.
Customers included schools, churches, charities and households in over 20 countries.
WordPress Plugins
As well as completely custom themes for the WordPress content management system, I have also created many custom plugins to perform specialised functions or add extra features. Examples of some of the many plugins I have created for various organisations include:
eCommerce plugin - This allows people to run a shop via their WordPress web site. Features include looking after stock levels, product availability, shipping, taking orders, and accept payments via PayPal.
Banner plugins - These allow the easy management of banner images and videos that appear at the top of web pages.
Course plugins - These allow the importing of course information from external systems, display the course details and categorise them into subject areas. Visitors can enrol for courses online, pay for them and have their details pushed through to an external student records system. I have also added features such as a neural net which learns and suggests other courses that might be of interest to visitors.
Events plugin - A plugin to manage events and display a diary.
Forms plugins - These allow the creation of custom web forms which can email the completed forms to recipients and/or store them in a database to be downloaded as a spreadsheet later on.
Job Vacancy plugin - A plugin to manage and display job vacancies with an automated expiry mechanism.
... and many more.
Mobile Games & Apps
I have released several mobile games and apps for Android, Apple iOS and Amazon devices. Most are available via the WorldByDesign web site and include 3D and 2D games, and applications for both fun and business. These include:
Binary Chain 2048 - A free, super-casual ball matching game for mobiles. Drop the balls so matching numbers combine. Reach 2048 to make them pop and receive a bonus. Longer chains mean bigger scores.
Micro Maze - A dynamically generated maze game and a fun way to exercise your brain! This free game features procedurally generated levels that are different every time you play. Available for Android and iOS.
Crash Test Bots - A hyper casual game for all ages where the aim is to slingshot your rag-doll robot to hit as many objects as possible. It utilises 2D physics, destructible robots and fun gameplay. Available for Android, iOS, Amazon and Windows.
Ghostalker - Created for the paranormal investigation community, this app uses all available sensors in your mobile device to convert the tiniest amounts of vibration, rotation, GPS, gyroscope, light, magnetic fields, proximity etc. into speech. Commonly referred to as a "Spirit Box" it reached number 2 in the App Store chart. Available for Android, iOS and Amazon devices.
GhostEye - Another app created for the paranormal investigating community, this one takes a photograph when it detects movement using the devices camera. With various settings it can be used for motion detection and as a trespass monitor. It has been number 1 in the App Store chart.
GhostVibe - Seismograph / Seismometer vibration detection app for use by anyone, including the paranormal investigating community. It detects the smallest vibrations and movement using the sensors built into your smart phone or tablet. Features include 4 visualisations and daily logs which you can view and export.
Ball Bot - Pop the balls - more fun than bubble wrap! Click on a ball to pop all touching balls of that colour. The longer the chain of balls, the higher your score. Clear all the balls to progress to the next level. Available free for Android, iOS and Amazon devices.
Cell Infex - A game of chain reactions where you must activate a cell which in turn activates every cell that comes into contact with it. Requiring forward thinking it includes a world ranking table across all platforms. Available for Android, iOS and Amazon devices.
Dinky Racing - A retro racing game inspired by classics like Super Sprint and Micro Machines. The emphasis is on 'easy to play' as you only need to steer left and right, i.e. there is no accelerator, no brake, and no damage to your vehicle. Just make it around all 24 tracks quicker than the AI opponents.
... and many more.
Browser Games
Web Browser Games
For many years I have created web browser based games to be played on desktop and mobile devices. Often these are used to promote certain brands or products, or for education to teach things like numeracy and hand-eye coordination. Some of my web games include:
Pipe Maniac - An original Facebook puzzle game for fun and to promote plumbing courses at a college. The aim was to fix the pipe so water would lead from the tap to the drain. Written using Adobe Flash, at one point this game was getting 60,000 unique players a month from 86 countries across the world. They were launching the game over 100,000 times per month.
Fruit Slice - A HTML5 game you can play with or without Facebook where the idea is to slice up the fruit which fly onto the screen. A great example of the use of maths in game programming, it was initially created to promote catering courses.
... and many more including arcade, colouring and educational games..
Try a Wordsearch
This HTML5 wordsearch game is available for your own website, whether
it be related to education or just as a brainteaser for your visitors.
Find
the subject names
Find
the computing terms
Find
the art terms
Find
the catering terms
Try a Colouring Book
This colouring game is available for your own website, whether it
be related to education or just for fun for your visitors.
As with my other HTML5 games and apps, this will work in both desktop
and mobile web browsers.
Colour
a demo picture
Try the Snake Game
This classic game written in HTML5 is available for your own website,
whether it be related to your business or just for fun for your visitors.
As with my other HTML5 games and apps, this will work in both desktop
and mobile web browsers.
Play
the Snake Game
Try the Kick Ball Challenge Game
A HTML5 game with the simple idea of choosing the angle and power of your kick
to try to get the ball to go as far as possible. Various objects are
randomly placed to help or hinder the distance. This was popular online
with a special version played at WorldSkills UK events.
Play
Kick Ball Challenge
Creative Work
As well as web design, I enjoy graphic design and have several published pieces of work including book covers and t-shirts. I have designed countless posters and printed materials plus online banners and social media adverts.
I also create animations, illustrations, artwork, videos and other creative media. Some examples of my work are below.
Book Covers
Posters
Animation
The above video is from a training course I built entitled "Computer
and Video Game Theory for Independent Developers".
With 20 years experience in the Further Education sector and many games
released, I wanted to help inspire those who would love to become independent
game makers. It is aimed at all ages and levels of ability, and includes
100% animated video (subtitled and lip synced) to engage and entertain
students. Split into 47 bite-sized chunks it can be accessed in spare
time and should hopefully give participants a clearer idea of how to
make a game, important things to research, pitfalls to avoid, and the
mind set needed to create a game to meet their vision.
It is published by Udemy here: https://www.udemy.com/computergametheory/
Get In Touch
If you would like to contact me to discuss any work projects that I can help with, please email me at:
