I am the Chris Walker

I enjoy writing clean code.

Which is why I built this site. I am a fan of clean, clear websites. I am proud of the quality of the markup used on this page, it's standards conformance and it's accessiblity. I have ensured that the typography is clear and well spaced, and aligns correctly to a fixed line base, which greatly facilitates reading and is commonly lacking from many websites. Unfortunately my lined paper will not scale with the text on most browsers. Therefore zooming the text will stop the alignment with the rules, but fortunately not the relative spacing of each line.

To be honest, much as I appreciate design, I do find graphic design difficult. I can happily code from a sketch or mock-up but coming up with a design myself, I find a daunting task. So I am quite pround of this site which was my own design entirely and while I am sure it is not original (a piece of paper? there must be other sites like this...), I did create this one from scratch.

Coding background

Development is my real drive. I have self-taught myself PHP, SQL and Javascript over the last 4 years, and have been making websites since about 1999. The real change came in the move towards the web as an application platform, and whilst I was working in Technical Support for an ISP I designed and built many web based tools to assist myself and my fellow agents. These ranged from a simple tool to parse information from email headers to much more complex mashup applications to pull data about a connection from various sources to a fully functional database driven rota for shift scheduling.

As my confidence and knowledge grew, so did my appetite for learning. I now have experience in ColdFusion, and working with large applications, such as the CRM tool the company used.

My most interesting project has to be working with Polar Adventures Ltd. I built the websites for the Polar Race and London 2 Paris Rowing Record. That is the less interesting part of the work, although I enjoyed building the Google Maps Mashup we used to track the progress of the teams as the raced across the ice. In fact I recieved much praise from those following the race, particularly the families of the racers, regrading how great is was to be able to follow the positions and get news about the racers every morning. However, that brings me on to the interesting bit.

Arctic Experience

Being out in the Arctic for the race was an excellent experience. I was mainly in charge of keeping the website up to date with the status and position of the racers and keeping the news flowing. To do this properly I really needed to be out in Canada. So in April 2007 I spent 6 weeks in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada being technical support and communications for the Polar Race. Reolute is unlike anywhere I have ever been. the cold is intense, and that first time you breath in through your nose in a climate like that is a memory you will hold forever. It didn't take long after arrival before there was 24-hour sunshine, and I'd forget what time it was working in the evenings because it was still light then check my watch to find it was 2a.m.!

Other Interests

Learning new things gives me a real buzz, and at the moment I am studying Japanese at Exeter College and am thoroughly enjoying it! It is quite amazing to learn a new language and particularly when you have to re-learn how to read before you can start! I hope to be able to take a GSCE in the subject next summer.

I also enjoy outdoor activities and love to go camping, surfing, walking or some combination of the three with my finacée, Rosie. Our other major love is snowboarding, and so we try and go once a year. In fact we met whilst we were both working in Val Thorens in the french Alps as Chalets host for the 2002/2003 winter ski season.

I also love to make (and eat) Chilli Chocolate Cookies!