I am who my nameplate says I am: Peter Zicari, an editor, writer and self-taught programmer in Cleveland, Ohio, with any number of interests beyond that. Click the 'About me' element at right for more.

This site is a display case for my web-development and writing efforts and a test bed for experiments in javascript, php and HTML5 programming. These aren't necessarily obvious, but they underly the content throughout -- the Jack stories and the ACES cartoons, for example, rely on AJAX techniques. I have a growing body of work projects to show off under "My Projects" at right.

"If not now, when? If not us, who?"

This site was founded in June 2012. (In truth, these pages will always be under construction. But you knew that. Anything I can do to stretch my own knowledge, add content and improve the appearance of this project is fair game, so check back now and then. )

Links. Links to people I admire

• CassandraPages
• Jonathan Sa'adah, photographer
• Mark Fisher, Insight editor at Columbus Dispatch.
• William Neff, visual reporter
• Christopher Morris, awe-inspiring caricaturist
• Jon Fobes, photo editor/composer
• Dale Omori, photo editor / producer
• Dale McDonald, photographer
• John Early McIntyre, copy editor deity

Why the widget? It's what I do.
Why green? It's my favorite color, even if it can be ambiguous on the Web.
Why boxes? One of my goals is for you to be able to shuffle them, just for fun. They'll be important in the next phase of the project, to make the design responsive to tablets and small mobile devices.
See "What."

I'm doing these pages the hard way just to prove that I can, rather than install Wordpress or one of the other template systems. The Jack tales are a database-driven AJAX feature to demonstrate that I can build a CMS, for example, and because there's nothing in them that really needs to be in a search engine.

The ACES cartoons are also an AJAX setup -- to save having to hard-code the images when I want to add one. While this is arguably like building a steel mill to supply a fork to eat lunch with, it will save me effort later, I can use the experience and I should be able to demonstrate the skills.

I'm using jQuery, php and several plug-ins, adding snippets of my own when needed, so it goes without saying that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. Other tools I'd like to endorse: GoDaddy, Aptana, Gimp, InkScape, and practice.