Cal Freitas

I am a Principal Front-End Engineer for Vantage International and the CTO of Price Tempter. I created the Verses for Life website and app.

Swarzy Website Refresh

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The Swarzy website has been revamped with updated information about the services provided, a showcase of projects for recent clients, and links to apps Swarzy has built.

Swarzy is built using Next.js, React, and Tailwind CSS.

PageSpeed Insights screenshot

I spent time optimizing the site and it’s getting good results.
PageSpeed Insights: 98 for Performance and 100 each for accessibility, best practices, and SEO.

I’m starting to gather RUM (real user metrics) of Web Vitals using a trial version of RUMvision.

To get to this speed, I had to do a couple of important things:

1) ditch the third-party JavaScript for my email form and do a direct API integration.

2) Optimize image loading. “next/image” makes big promises, but if used carelessly it can damage your performance.

Visit Swarzy

When Andrew Crapuchettes calls, you should answer

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I got a phone call from Andrew Crapuchettes in December.

He asked, “Are you available? We need your help.”

Here we are in February and the RedBalloon website has re-launched with a fresh design, a new homepage, new navigation, and a lot of other revamped features. I’ve enjoyed jumping in and helping their excellent team get the new launch out the door and off to a good start.

Good timing, too – RedBalloon is getting a traffic boost from freedom-loving people who want to find employment from companies who respect their values.

Amazon Throwback

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I had a throwback day in Spokane working with a couple of my favorite ex-Amazon product and UX leaders.

My client Vantage International landed a User Experience (UX) audit for Pigu, a Lithuanian e-commerce company. We spent the day reviewing the shopping workflow and closed out by ordering a few products for pickup from a local store in Lithuania. It’s not every day I get to do that!