White Whale Web Services

White Whale Web Services is a small, smart, hardworking company that does standards-based Web design and custom application development for outstanding institutions of higher education and some great nonprofits. We create dynamic, easy-to-update sites built on no-nonsense frameworks and are committed to direct communication between the people doing the work and the people paying for it.

Although the tendency to appear larger than you are is common in the animal world, we think it kills design and Web agencies.

We’re not going to play that game; we’re a small company, and that's how we like it.

We’re deeply committed to the best practices of standards-based Web development, both in theory and practice.

We design sites that are semantic and accessible and look great across browsers and platforms. On the frontend, we write XHTML with no inline scripts or styles; on the backend, we write PHP and MySQL that’s robustly secured, cached, and optimized.

We’ve built more custom Web applications than would fit on this card. (Hmm, maybe that’s a design flaw.) Our application development portfolio includes custom tools for calendaring, search, news, content management, and lots more. And they help you share data across your institution: our in-house, open-source framework XPHP lets anyone with knowledge of basic XHTML syntax put the data they need on their page.

We are proud to work with some of America’s best colleges and universities. Our work for Brown University includes sites for Admission and Research. We designed and built the Duke University site as well as Duke Today, a daily University magazine. Other recent projects include sites for Haverford College and Duke Law School, and exciting projects are in the works for Tulane University, Kenyon College, Southwestern University, and other clients.

We work pro bono for nonprofits whose missions we admire. Our nonprofit clients, who we try to give the same level of service as our paying clients, include New Urban Arts and Sophia Academy.

Nonprofits we've worked for in the past include the Nassau Land Trust and the Providence Black Repertory Company.

The most common concern expressed by prospective White Whale clients in our first phone conversation: “Our Web site needs to be easy for staff to update.”

Whether you're talking about dynamic, data-driven applications or day-to-day content maintenance, we've got you covered — even if some people find our opinions about content management a little unconventional.

We can start the conversation right now, if you’re ready. Call our office at (510) 808-4028, even just to say hi.

Or, if you like, email everyone@whitewhale.net with general questions, tonya@whitewhale.net with new business queries, or jason@whitewhale.net for boss-type stuff.

Our clients include Berkeley Law, Lewis & Clark College, Southwestern University, Kenyon College, Tulane University, Haverford College, Duke University, Brown University, and the Oakland Unified School District.

We’d like that list to include you. Learn more about our work in our site portfolio.