Jeffery To

Hang Seng Bank, a member of HSBC Group, wanted to transform their online commercial banking service by adopting a modern user experience and integrating with Backbase’s digital banking platform.

As part of the project’s UX/UI team, I was tasked with creating responsive HTML templates based on the team’s designs, to be integrated with the back-end system. The prototypes were built with special attention to the Backbase platform, using Bootstrap and designed to be easily adapted into Angular components.

I worked on-site with the client’s internal teams, using Agile/Scrum methodology. I also took part in design discussions and was involved in project management and planning for the UX/UI team.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development

Zurich Insurance had recently launched their Zurich Advisor Portal, an online resource for affiliated financial advisers and insurance brokers. Their front-end developers left the project after the launch, but there were more enhancements the client wanted to make.

I was responsible for completing these enhancements. The portal was developed with Bootstrap and Backbone.js and used Ajax to interface with their back-end system to generate real-time quotations for several insurance products. I developed new HTML and JavaScript to support quotations for an additional product.

I also designed layouts and developed HTML prototypes for a new financial needs analysis process for the online portal. The design went through several rounds of revision, taking into account the client’s feedback.

The client also wanted to revamp their Zurich Quote HK app using Sencha Ext JS. I took part in Ext JS developer training with their client’s internal team, and created templates for the new mobile app.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development
• Ext JS mobile app template development

Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation was looking to create a Chinese-language news source for Hong Kong with a focus on social issues. The technical implementation was completed in time, but for other reasons the site was never launched.

I was responsible for all aspects of this project: requirements gathering, web design process management, front-end development and back-end integration, client communication, and CMS training. A responsive, mobile-first and touch-friendly website based on WordPress, LifePost used custom page types and templates for feature stories and featured integrated Facebook comments and deep social sharing.

Services involved:
• Front-end theme development
• Back-end WordPress integration
• Web design process management
• Client CMS training

Royal Salute wanted a rich digital experience to accompany their interactive campaign at several key Asian airports. Available in three languages (English, Traditional Chinese, and Korean), the site allowed visitors to learn about the history of polo, receive complimentary whisky tastings, and play a trivia quiz with a grand prize of a four-day trip to Dubai to attend the Royal Salute Nations Cup polo tournament.

I built the responsive, mobile-first front end for this site. The trivia quiz was an in-browser game created using HTML5 and JavaScript with Ajax data storage and retrieval and CSS3 animation for game elements.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development

Organizers of the Hong Kong exhibition at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition, held by La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale), wanted a site that would be the online presence of their exhibit in Venice as well as the “response” exhibition held in Hong Kong the following year.

I was responsible for front-end development and WordPress integration for this project. As the site was available in English and Traditional Chinese, care was taken to ensure all text was translatable and CMS-managed.

Services involved:
• Front-end theme development
• Back-end WordPress integration
• Live site setup and deployment

Work, a recruitment process and engagement consulting firm, wanted to revamp their website, with an emphasis on delivering an interactive and immersive experience. On the home page, vibrant, full-screen images were revealed when the mouse moved over the center thumbnails. “Who we work with” featured a full-screen, horizontal-scrolling gallery of clients and case studies. And “What we think” offered a virtual wall of articles that stretched past the page edges.

I developed the front-end for this site in a responsive, mobile-first manner, to be both touch- and mouse-friendly, and to be easily integrated with the Umbraco CMS back-end.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development

Swire Hotels wanted to revitalize their website with a digital experience that captured the uniquely luxurious hospitality experience they provide. At this point in time, this meant building the entire site using Adobe Flash, but as iPads were a featured amenity in their hotels, it was decided to build an iPad-only version of the site as well. (Other browsers without Flash would see a “plain HTML” version.)

I was tasked with building this iPad-only version. Using HTML5 and CSS3 animations, with Ajax data loading and touch-friendly event handling, I was able to recreate 95% of the rich Flash experience. I also wrote the back-end XSLT templates that transformed CMS data into HTML pages and page fragments used for the iPad-only site.

I was also responsible for the design of the Sitecore CMS “content tree”: how data was organized and captured in the CMS interface, with the twin goals of an intuitive user experience for content editors and ease of development and maintenance for developers.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development
• Sitecore CMS content tree design
• Client CMS training

Emirates Hotels & Resorts, a part of the Emirates Group, wanted a website that featured their various resorts and service apartments in one place, with a user-friendly online booking system. Over time, their business shifted to focus on their Wolgan Valley resort and so the site was transitioned as well.

I wrote the JavaScript for the online booking system, a single-page application which used cross-subdomain Ajax to interface with several .NET web services. I added multiple room booking in a second phase of this project and also supervised the front-end development for a visual refresh of the site.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development/development supervision

Hong Kong Arts Festival wanted a visual refresh of their website for the 2011 festival. This year’s site featured an enhanced ticket reservation flow, where tickets for multiple programs could be reserved as part of one process.

I was responsible for the overall technical effort for this project, supervising front-end development by others and contributing code when necessary.

My employer at this time had been handling visual refreshes of the site for a number of years. The origins of the front-end code for this 2011 version can be traced back to the HTML templates and CSS/JS code I wrote for the 2007 festival site.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development/development supervision

Emirates Holidays, a part of the Emirates Group, wanted to modernize their website with an experience that combined great usability and clean visuals. The site featured a site-wide “Holiday Planner,” where users can collect interested destinations, activities, etc., then quickly include those items in a quotation request. At the center of the Request a Quotation process was a highly dynamic, front-end driven, multi-step Ajax form.

I was responsible for the overall front-end effort for this project, supervising development by others and contributing code when necessary. (Back-end implementation was handled internally by Emirates.)

Services involved:
• Front-end web development/development supervision

Pacific Place wanted a website refresh to accompany their physical renovation. Taking cues from the architectural design, the site featured a softer, more luxurious visual experience, with a homepage Flash that emphasized rich textures and materials.

I was responsible for the overall front-end effort for this project, supervising development by others and contributing code when necessary. (Back-end implementation was handled internally by Swire Properties.) I was also involved in information architecture/design reviews, client meetings, and project management for this project.

Services involved:
• Front-end web development/developer supervision

I am the maintainer/co-maintainer of numerous OpenWrt packages, including the Python interpreter. I added the Go compiler and a framework for cross-compiling Go programs for OpenWrt. I also created an OpenWrt package that simplifies the handling of slide switches on routers.

I created a number of Python plugins for Gedit. One of these plugins, Control Your Tabs, is the most starred actively maintained Gedit plugin on GitHub. I also significantly improved CSS syntax highlighting in Gedit and GNOME Builder, and added highlighting for SCSS and Less.

I am in the top 0.4% of all StackOverflow users in Hong Kong, and top 4% worldwide.