WebleyDevelopment
WebleyDevelopment is back!
I've resurrected the website as a home for news, developments and projects, and for my take on the state of the internet, and now AI, and how it all affects society.
I remember the birth of the internet as we know it. It was built to connect people and to share knowledge freely, with no one owning it. When I was 18, it felt like a place to learn, share and connect.
I’ve written more about where it went wrong in The internet was supposed to belong to everyone.
I'm helping bring Wales's front line services into the digital age, starting with childcare. Bilingual, CIW-compliant, and built in Wales, for Wales.
About me
I'm Matthew Webley, a web developer in Cardiff with too many years of experience building web applications in numerous languages, from Classic ASP, .NET, PHP, JavaScript and jQuery. Nowadays I build most apps in Laravel. My life on the web goes back to Angelfire and MySpace, and I'm the founder of Wootzoo.
Making Wales digital
Wales and Welsh childcare shouldn't have to settle for software built for somewhere else. Wootzoo is bilingual from the first line of code, built around how Welsh settings are inspected and funded, and made in Wales. We partnered with Mudiad Meithrin to bring a Welsh-first platform for Welsh childcare. Today 100 settings are on board, more than 60 of them pay for it, and over 3,000 parents are connected to their children’s records.
Web development
Wootzoo comes first these days, so I only take on the odd paid web project, when it's interesting enough. This is where I keep a few I've built, mostly for friends: Shopify and WooCommerce shops, and the custom PHP and Laravel software behind them. At Hymac Direct, a large WooCommerce clothing store, pages were taking 11 to 20 seconds to respond. Fixing the server and caching brought that down to around 100 milliseconds. If you’ve got an interesting project, I’m still happy to hear about it.
Get in touch
Tell me what you're working on, whether it's a project, a press enquiry or just a hello. I read everything, but I only reply to what I can take on.