About Zoltan

After graduating from Seneca College in the mid-90s, I worked as a graphic designer / programmer developing plug-ins for the Amiga computer system, which was then popular in video and multimedia circles. While at York University I first became involved in web design as part of the program and later developed web sites for myself and friends.

Working history

After York, I worked at New Media Architects as a web developer/programmer from mid-1999 until 2002. At NMA I worked on a number of web sites ranging from internet start-ups to established clients including the Heart and Stroke foundation. As well I worked as part of a team on an in-house database-driven content system, ActiveApps developing various parts as part of the team.

In 2002 I became a developer for the Amiga Inc.’s AmigaDE multimedia OS (build on U.K.-based TaoGroup’s IntentOS). While an excellent operating system, Intent never achieved the popularity it might have. Never-less, I did have the opportunity to return to design work, creating in-game graphics and mock-ups for a few games mobile games including a boxing and a space-combat game among others. As well, along the way I continued to work as a web developer for a number of Toronto-based clients.

In 2003 I began as a contract programmer for an internet services company, Galazio (which later transformed into Dine.TO, a restaurant search engine and marketing company) , developing various parts of their websites, including a template system (PTTemplates), that powered most of Galazio’s websites and the first version of Dine.TO’s search-engine. The projects at Galazio involved a number of challenges including:

Some of the notable challenges included:

  • One of the first dating/club events site with a mobile-phone version (visitors could check events, view form posts on their phone/PDA)
  • Various e-commerce websites with a variety of payment processing system including PayPal and Moneris
  • A search-engine usable on a phone (Dine.TO 1)
  • Various database-driven event, calendar and photo-galleries systems with back-ends
  • a mass-mailer, statistics and member management systems including opt-in mailing lists
  • A search-engine geared to restaurants
  • second-generation search based on a weighted-tags system as used in many “web2.0” sites
  • API for Dine.TO allowing 3rd party websites to include search of Dine.TO’s listings. Created for EyeWeekly.com’s website