March 2011 Member of The Month
Without further ado I hope you will all join with me in congratulating Victorinox for winning the Member of the Month award.
You may have seen Vic around the Javascript, CSS and html forums being very helpful and giving out sound advice so be sure to check out some of his posts.
The following Interview was conducted by Kohoutec (Maleika) before more important matters intervened.
So apologies for the delay in posting but better late than never.
**** Start of Questionnaire ****
Maleika: I see you mostly around the web design and development area on SitePoint. You seem very well versed in markup & style languages, Javascript, and other fields of web design, helping out wherever you can.
[INDENT] Vic: Well, it’s really more a case of making the most of the little I know - and picking the low hanging fruit. Encountering the skills of the really knowledgable members makes simply hanging round and reading the forum worthwhile.[/INDENT]Maleika: Do you have a favorite asset?
[INDENT]Vic: My work is mainly small to medium static sites written in the Mac editor TextMate, so that’s the software I most rely upon. As I prefer sites to be simple and straightforward, and to understand what the code in my page is doing, I avoided using javascript until jQuery came along, allowing me to apply some progressive enhancement without investing the time in learning the full language.[/INDENT]Maleika: Designers can no longer rely on designing web sites just for the desktop or laptop screen. How do you feel about the new devices that need to be served and if, how do you accommodate users on a tablet or smartphone?
[INDENT] Vic:This is something I, and many others who regard themselves as designers/developers, need to get to grips with. With me, it’s still very much the weighing up and learning stage and I’ll be feasting on this set of slides again when time allows.[/INDENT]Maleika: Do you feel a web designer needs to be a jack of all trades?
[INDENT] Vic: For those working alone, it’s important to have a wide knowledge of technologies, not necessarily in depth but enough to gauge the extent of one’s ignorance. It’s worth honing skills in one or two specific areas in case it becomes necessary to brave the jobs market. Were I putting together a team of specialists, I’d favour those with a working knowledge and appreciation of each others disciplines.[/INDENT]Maleika :If you were to open a new course for web designers at a University of your choice, which subjects would you include?
[INDENT] Vic: “How to present a query on a web forum”[/INDENT]Maleika: What assets that you deem absolutely necessary in web design is hardly found in designs these days?
[INDENT] Vic: NA[/INDENT]Maleika: What annoys you the most when you browse a website?
[INDENT] Vic: Animation (though I can tolerate well spaced slow fades). Poor prioritisation of content, too much information crammed into a small area. Over-saturated background colours. Gimmicky navigation. Lazy use of inappropriate Wordpress/Joomla/Drupal templates.[/INDENT]Maleika: Are frameworks, particularly those created for the front-end (e.g. CSS frameworks, Javascript frameworks), a blessing or a curse?
[INDENT] Vic: Depends on one’s position in the workflow. Having never used CSS frameworks I’d prefer not to be handed over a site that relied upon them. Unlike jQuery, they seem to add a layer of complexity and unflexibility.[/INDENT]Maleika: If you could abandon and completely erase a feature or implementation from sites that everyone uses, what would it be?
[INDENT] Vic: Tracking cookies.[/INDENT]Maleika: What importance do you place on social networks?
[INDENT] Vic: Personally, none at all. I rely entirely on word of mouth and email. However, I’m happy for my clients’ sites to benefit from them.[/INDENT]Maleika: What’s your favorite feature on the SitePoint fora?
[INDENT] Vic: Just the overall “feel” of the site, and the patience, tolerance and expertise shown by it’s wonderful moderators. Way above other web oriented fora. Can I have another award now please?[/INDENT]Maleika: Your least favorite?
[INDENT] Vic: A “solved” option for thread titles might be an improvement.[/INDENT]Maleika: Thanks so much for being such a stellar and great chap on SP, Victorinox!
Vic: Thanks for having me.
I’ll take the opportunity to add my congratulations here and say well done and keep up the good work 
Many thanks also to Maleika for doing all the groundwork and getting this altogether.
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