People Love Perch: Jack Barber

We love to hear how much People Love Perch. This interview is with Jack Barber, a freelance web designer and developer.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I’m Jack Barber and I’m a freelance web designer and developer based in Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. I work independently from an office in town, I’m married, have four children and love running. You can see my work at www.jackbarber.co.uk.

Most of the work I undertake involves supporting small businesses by helping them make the most of the internet. As well as designing websites I’m often involved in creating graphics and branding, photography and copywriting for my clients.

What sites have you used Perch for recently?:

I use Perch on my own site www.jackbarber.co.uk and have built several client sites using Perch over the last few months with more in the pipeline. Some of the highlights include:

Robin Hood’s Bay Cottages – This is my first site built using Perch Runway. The Collections feature meant creating a catalogue of properties was really straightforward and I built in a bespoke calendar system for my client which makes managing their availability really easy.

Whitby Lifeboat – Whitby RNLI asked me to create a site for them which they could easily update with their latest news and photos – Perch is the perfect platform for them. The Blog and Gallery add-ons make keeping on top of their content easy for everyone involved in running the site.

Staithes Festival – This site is built using the Perch Members add-on which forms the framework for a bespoke online application and payment system I developed for the Festival. Successful applicants are automatically published on the website, and the whole system has dramatically reduced the amount of paperwork and administration the Festival Committee have to undertake.

Folly Hall Farm – Mike and Sally wanted a site which would grow as their business did and which they could easily manage themselves. Perch’s simple interface ensured they soon go to grips editing their site – they feel in control and are making great use of the Blog add-on to keep their visitors up to date with their latest news.

Why did you choose Perch?:

I used to write my own CMS and hated having to work with bloated and confusing platforms (i.e. Wordpress). Perch was the closest match to how my CMS worked in terms of templating and content, so it was easy to learn and I was immediately converted! I felt confident recommending Perch to clients due to its simple interface, and the technical support and Forum are excellent.

How did you find working with Perch?:

Building websites with Perch is painless! Templating and creating complex layouts with multiple content areas is really easy and the add-ons make developing content-rich websites straightforward.

How do the content creators/site owners find working with Perch?:

Perch is quick to learn and clients feel in control. The interface is simple and prevents confusion or fear of ‘breaking things’ – unlike many other CMS platforms. Perch provides the best of both worlds: wide-reaching functionality for the developer and easy content management for the website owner.

Which tools do you use alongside Perch to develop your sites?

I write and publish code using Coda on my MacBook Pro. I generally design websites in Adobe Illustrator and use Typekit for fonts.