Web development
by Perfect Zero Labs.

Perfect Zero Labs is a one-man company specialising in front-end web development. We combine technical experience with an "eye for design", although we strictly focus on the unseen part of web development: the actual code.

Why are we called Perfect Zero Labs? Have a guess. @PZLabs

Who "we" are

Perfect Zero Labs is... just one guy.

That guy is Drew: the opinionated self-taught web developer with over eight years experience in front-end development.

Drew learned everything he knows about web development through both commercial and personal experience, and is particularly passionate about HTML5, jQuery and "user experience" (UX). Before web development he was interested in games programming, and had developed a number of ActiveX controls (remember those?) and programs in Visual Basic. He finally realised his first ever publicly-released game, Graduates and Gorillas: the game, in 2012.

Outside of work and away from running a small empire of web sites, Drew enjoys designing and building LEGO models, fine dining, action movies, listening to music and customising MUNNY figures.

What we do

We're specialists in front-end web development... that means writing the code to make all those fancy web sites (including this one) work.

Unfortunately there's no way to explain our skillset without reducing ourselves to a bunch of keywords...

Core skills

• HTML
• HTML5
• CSS2
• CSS3
• jQuery
• AJAX
• Smarty

Additional skills

• PHP
• MySQL
• CodeIgniter/Kohana
• SEO
• Dreamweaver
• Fireworks
• LAMP web server
• WAMP web server
• LESS
• WordPress themes
• HTML e-mail templates

Limited experience with

• WordPress plugins
• Responsive design
• Twitter API
• CSS3 animation
• Twitter Bootstrap
• XML

and reluctantly

• IE6 support

We are NOT web designers. Though we've had to do our own web designs out of necessity, it's something we find incredibly difficult.

We use Windows, and our software of choice is any basic notepad program with code highlighting - perhaps Dreamweaver for larger projects and e-mail templates.

With great reluctance we also have an iFad - I mean - iPad mini for testing and debugging.

Why we exist

In these supposedly hard times (whichever slogan you like to use), it's easy to want to play things safe.

But as much as we tried being employees, the sad truth was that our skills and expertise usually went unrecognised, but were certainly taken for granted. Like most people we were also disillusioned with office politics: that social status, rather than actual ability, is rewarded.

Perfect Zero Labs is about building working relationships with clients, where each side benefits and everyone leaves happy - a win-win or no deal situation.
We're interested in doing the best job we can within our expertise, and establishing an honest reputation as the front-end specialists who can get things done.

Unfortunately there are some who disagree with this approach, and many have tried to shame us into conformity. Nevertheless, we believe in doing business the "new" way: by treating people like human beings, and not like robots, computers, machines or data.

How we "work"

Without communication we can't exceed expectations.
Without trust there's no relationship.

What you can expect from us

• To be qualified for the job. We will never put ourselves forward for or accept any work that we know we can't do, or aren't able to do to the best of our abilities. We do, however, like a challenge.
• To put the work in. We will put the necessary hours in to complete the work. If we don't know how to do something, we'll bother trying to find out - but that doesn't mean you can be dishonest about the nature of the work.
• To focus on the end user. We believe the most important person in web development is whomever will actually use the site. We will make suggesstions regarding user experience (e.g. we dislike gratuitous animation!), but we're all for whatever's important to the end user. Our motto is, "functionality over design."
• To complete the job. We absolutely hate leaving a project unfinished, and we will do [almost] whatever it takes to reach a state of completion - long after the lazy people have made their excuses and disappeared.

What we want from you

• To let us do our job. We are specialists in web development, and we would hope there is enough trust to let us do what we know how to do. Of course, we'll accept if we do something wrong.
• To keep us informed. The biggest issues occur because someone decided to withhold crucial information, or keep things deliberately vague. It's important for us to know what's going on, so we can prepare and work accordingly.
  We will charge clients an additional amount if they have been deliberately dishonest about the work we were hired to do.
• To treat us with respect. We will not tolerate any abuse of any kind, and will press charges whenever necessary.
• To pay us, and to do so on time. As a company it's important to know when we'll be paid for work carried out. We reserve the right to stop work on a project if payment is delayed or withheld.

We welcome any thoughts on how else we can reach a "win-win or no deal" outcome with our clients.

Where we've been

• 

  Alpha Christian Au Pairs

  Web site
• 

  RPW Design

  Web site
• 

  UCL

  Prism
• 

  Fit For Sport

  Web site
• 

  SilentMode.tv

  Web site
• 

  G2 / Brand Republic

  Brand Olympics
• 

  Vodafone

  Your Better Business
• 

  GSK

  POS Assessment Tool
• 

  CUUSOO List

  WordPress plugin
• 

  Project Swapfig

  Web site (in development)