Web Design

Back in 2006, I decided that I needed a website of my own to showcase my work as a composer. I had absolutely no experience whatsoever with HTML or any of the other then-confusing internet acronyms, and wasn’t sufficiently familiar with the resources available at the time to know where to start, so I asked a friend who had built his own simple site if I could steal his code to try to pick it apart and reverse-engineer a site of my own.

That first site was pretty decent for a first attempt, but within a few months, I was dissatisfied, and overhauled it completely, building on tricks and techniques I’d learned by looking at other composers’ websites, as well as what I’d taught myself about basic web design.

I started taking clients in 2007, and continued to build my skills and knowledge beyond simple HTML into CSS, PHP, and MySQL. I hand-coded every site for years, with more and more sophisticated results. And every few years, I would overhaul my own site, refining the presentation, and incorporating techniques I had learned from other projects, while also maintaining a consistent look and feel across the different versions. This is the fifth iteration of dennistobenski.com.

In recent years, I’ve turned to WordPress because of its versatility and security, and have started to design for non-musical clients. It’s an interesting “side hustle” that has opened a lot of musical doors for me, and has allowed me to further my personal crusade on behalf of my fellow composers.

As a designer, I strive for clarity and elegance. I pride myself on building sites that are easy to navigate, are organized intuitively, and can serve multiple constituencies with ease.

And I’m always open to working with new clients.