River Road Studios is a company I started in 1999, originally to sell my handcrafted gemstone bead jewelry, and to manage affairs for flashquake, a quarterly online literary journal that I own and publish.

But people kept asking me to design web sites and write content for them. So after family matters significantly curtailed my ability to take my jewelry show on the road, I decided to hang out my shingle as a web freelancer.

By day, I'm an IT manager for a small government agency. But in my spare time, I write and work on flashquake and other people's sites.

I believe in an iterative approach to web design. If you have a firm vision for your site, I can help you implement it. But if you don't have that clear vision, I can work with you to discover one.

I work almost exclusively via e-mail. If you work with me, we'll discuss your ideas in e-mail conversations, and I'll send you links to pages I design for you. You react to the design, I implement your requested changes, and send you a link to review. This cycle continues until you're happy with your site. Some changes you request may not work in the web environment, and I'll let you know when they won't, and why.

Here are some of the things that I can help you with:

• Guide you through concept development
• Suggest ways to engage your target audience
• Provide graphic design services
• Site information architecture and navigation layout
• Ensure site conforms to accessibility and usability standards, degrades gracefully for older browsers, and performs acceptably in all the major browsers
• Content development and/or content editing
• Low-cost e-commerce solutions
• Consultation on improving or revamping current web site
• Advise on ways your site can help to meet your business goals

My prices are extremely competitive. Since I fit my web design work in between my day job and my own projects, I charge you by the piece. You can review my price list.

In addition to over thirty years of business writing experience, I have published many literary stories, personal essays, and articles. I can help you to find the appropriate voice and style to convey whatever message you want to deliver. Together, we can:

• Create new content to your specifications
• Edit/revise existing content
• Organize your content in an optimal way for the web

• flashquake — An online literary journal.
  You can review past designs for flashquake in our archives.
• Consideration — My own personal site (now woefully outdated, because I've been too busy!).
• Hike for Hope — A site I created for my nephew's charity hike to benefit diabetes research and education. (Mark is now a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and will be graduating from the Flight Academy in December 2006.)
• Bill Asenjo's Electronic Portfolio — A site I created and maintain for a freelance writer and consultant, which includes a lot of his clips.
• From the Teacher's Desk — A site I created and update monthly for a retired schoolteacher and author, Jacquie McTaggart
• Eric Maisel — A site I redesigned for this creativity coach, psychologist, author and teacher.
• New York State Governor's Office of Employee Relations — This is one of the sites I manage for my employer.
• StateJobsNY — Another web site I manage for my employer.
• Accessible Web Sites — I maintain this web site for the NYS Forum's IT Accessibility Committee. It houses the committee's presentational materials and to provides resources for public sector web developers in producing accessible web content. In the fall of 2005, we held an "Accessible Can Be Beautiful" redesign contest which dispels the myth that accessible sites have to be boring. The winning design was submitted by Charlynda Winkley from the University of Buffalo.
• Joseph "Silly" Sottile — I designed this site for a poet and retired school teacher whose passion is sparking a love of poetry in children.
• Sarah Black — Sarah is a writer who wanted a site to publicize her varied writing projects.

• Telephone: 518.664.8558 (home phone with answering machine) or 518.424.4550 (cell phone with voice mail)
• E-Mail: oradnio@wsg.net

• I'm a long-term public servant who will probably be retiring within the next five years. I've been in the IT field since 1984, and have seen a lot of trends come and go.
• I am an active advocate for ensuring that technology is accessible to individuals with disabilities, and have been the co-chair of the NYS Forum for Information Resource Management's IT Accessibility Committee since 2003. In 2004, I received the Forum's Award for Excellence in Government Information Services for my work with the committee, and in 2005, the Forum was named to the Advance America Honor Roll based on the committee's work.
• My writing has been published in both online and print publications.
• I serve as administrator for the FlashMemoirs online workshop, and as assistant administrator for the FlashFiction online workshop.
• I publish an online literary journal, flashquake (see the link above), and have also been a contributor.
• I live in rural upstate New York, on banks of the Hudson River, with four cats and a pet woodchuck.

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