Honda Power Sports

Ambitious Enterprise Marketing Site (2008)

After responding to a Craigslist ad for a Culver City creative agency D.B. was hired as a Presentation Layer Developer at Threshold Interactive. During the interview, he impressed Senior Engineer and former video game developer Ryan Sullivan with his expertise in web standards, microformats (SEO and accessibility), and cross-browser compatibility.

As a test, D.B. delivered a PSD-to-HTML mockup for the Honda Aquatrax F-15 Jet Ski in record time, exceeding expectations, securing the role.

The project was an ambitious $1.5M enterprise marketing site for Honda Power Sports, featuring over 70 models across street racing, off-road, and watersports categories.

Originally planned for a year-long development, the timeline was slashed to four months—an aggressive and seemingly impossible deadline. Initial attempts to scale with offshore resources resulted in unusable prototypes that only rendered in Internet Explorer, causing significant delays.

Recognizing the inefficiencies, D.B. pivoted to hand-coding solutions, saving time compared to managing outsourced teams. Elevated to second-in-command, he supported the project manager, liaised with the creative team, and ensured alignment on deliverables.

Key Challenges:

Uncooperative creative partners prioritizing Flash over functional, standards-compliant solutions, causing disruptions and delays
Extensive overtime leading to team burnout
Unrealistic four-month delivery timeline
Poor-quality outsourced prototypes

Technical Stack:

MooTools.js, CSS 2.1, CSS sprites, CSS print media
SwfObject for Flash content replacement
Visual Studio, VS SourceSafe, SVN
XHTML Strict Doctype, XML
.NET Framework

Delivered:

A robust, cross-browser-compatible enterprise marketing site that met Honda’s high standards, delivering a seamless User Experience across diverse powersports categories.

Outcome:

The site launched in nine months—defying the original timeline—and remained in production for over a decade. Threshold Interactive extended a direct-hire offer for a staff position, recognizing D.B.’s critical contributions to the project’s success.