1. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly? How have you applied new ways of doing things on the web to some of your recent work? I
visit daily Favorite Web Site Awards (http://www.thefwa.com) along with
a lot of other award web sites to see what is new and what is going on
with the industry, I visit frequently sites like AdWeek
(http://www.adweek.com) and regularly read forum sites like Ultra Shock
(http://www.ultraschock.com). I apply new ways of doing things by
reading about and following the current trends and techniques that I
can use to apply to projects that I think would be appropriate.
2. Do you prefer to work alone or on a team? Team! You can
achieve much better results working in a team. I do work alone
sometimes, and sometimes I like it, but even then I still need to
collaborate with my peers or co-workers about the project I’m working
on.
3. What is W3C and how have you used it in the past? W3C is the
World Wide Web consortium a group where members combine to make a
better Internet. The W3C does a lot of things; most importantly it
creates the standards that developers need to be aware of and comply
too. I have used W3C in the past for research of new techs and for its
validators, which now commonly are built into most WYSIWYG editors i.e.
(Dreamweaver) or you can use stand alone validators or plug-ins.
4. Do you write table-less XHTML and do you use CSS? Describe
the validation process. Yes, as of about 3-4 years ago most web sites I
write are table-less XHTML with the combination of CSS. I do still use
tables to display tabular data, forms, and sometimes I will use tables
for work a rounds in layout issues but that’s rarely. My validation
process starts with making sure the pages display properly in all the
major browsers, Internet Explorer 6 & 7, FireFox, Safari, and
Opera… (Because sometimes the older browsers themselves do not adhere
to the W3C guidelines as much as they should). Sometimes I will need to
write multiple css sheets depending on the audience of the current
project and/or to display properly in across several mediums. I will
then validate them against what ever I have declared the page i.e.
(XHTML TRANSISTIONAL 1.0).
5. What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?
I would have to say my most favorite tool is Adobe Fireworks which I
insist is the best design software for initially creating mock ups of
web applications and web sites. A lot of people in the industry would
argue that Adobe Photoshop is better for initial design concept, but
more now then ever since Adobe and Macromedia merged I feel that
Fireworks has a clear advantage when it comes to designing layout. I
would also have to say Adobe Flash is my #2, followed by Dreamweaver,
Photoshop, or Illustrator. It’s always fun to use After Effects when I
get a chance to in a project, and definitely Visual Studio or Eclipse
is a must on the list when it comes to IDE. And a slew of 3D
applications topped by Lightwave 3D or Maya.
6. What skills and technologies are you the most interested in improving upon or learning?
Over the past couple years or so I have been researching MXML and ZAML,
the xml based user interface that combines with JavaScript for a
powerful interactive user experience. Microsoft is pushing SilverLight
similar to the flash player plug-in to use with its WPF (Windows
Presentation Foundation). I have personally taken over at least 200
hours of training on these subjects and have been experimenting with
Flex and SilverLight (Microsoft Expression)
http://www.microsoft.com/expression but yet to use these technologies
in a real project.
7. What are a few personal web projects you've got going on?
Hmm… well I have been trying to get a web page up for myself
(http://www.worldpyramids.com) to display my portfolio but have not
really had time to. If you check it out, it’s not really my version of
complete at all. It needs some work to have better usability lower file
size and better motion design. I also have a blog site and belong to a
few creative communities like i.e. Coroflot
(http://www.coroflot.com/bradford1). I have been working on a personal
project creating a full screen live television or streamed video
website using Flash Media Server 3 and the H.264 encoder taking
traditional streaming feeds such as .asf .ra and converting them on the
fly to a compressed format like flv and actually very quietly have made
a lot of ground and hope to put something online late 2008.
8. How did you get into web design? I started a career that
began in AutoCAD and quickly learned that my true passion was web site
design. I have always been into computers and obviously had a
background in design, a friend approached me to make a web site,
everything came easy to me, the web site was successful and it really
was just perhaps my calling in life or something. Around 1998-1999 I
took various technical courses and spent countless hours and sleepless
nights teaching myself the do's and don'ts of web site design.
9. Describe a time when you were not sure what a customer wanted. How did you handle the situation?
It happens, first I would read over specs for the project, if I can’t
find what I need I will contact the client directly, if for some
unknown reason the client is not going to be available (which has never
really happened to me) I would probably use my best judgment meanwhile
till I could get feedback from the client and more times then not the
client is satisfied. I use technology as much as I can to help make
life easier, so a while ago I started recording audio in some
meetings(if allowed) along with taking written notes, so these types of
situations don’t occur as often.
10. What process do you use in solving problems/troubleshooting issues?
Give an example of how you recently used this process to solve a
problem. GOOGLE! Ha-ha... joking... But not really. The last time I can
recall I had to trouble shoot an issue was with the project that I am
currently working on now. The video quality of our live chat platform
was very poor, and I had to use a check mark system to eliminate all
the possible problems that could be causing it. After I finally tested
all the possible scenarios on my list, there was one possibility left.
The problem actually was not the software at all... it was a hardware
issue!
11. Describe the biggest work-related problem you have faced in the past six months.
How did you handle it? Well the biggest work-related issue not really a
problem was that a colleague was leaving the company. The thought of it
was overwhelming at first, but I have used the situation in a way to
greater my strengths and overall self-management, to name of a few of
the personal traits I have improved for myself.
12. What have you done to make your department/group/team more efficient or organized?
Give me an example. I introduced software to my team that streamlines
our work flow process, and makes communications between project
contacts easier. Also very simply my experience has benefited my team.
I have experienced a lot over the past 7 years, so more times then not
I when an issue arises I have seen it before and have a solution, and
sometimes multiple solutions.
13. How do you handle conflicting priorities? I hope to not have
any conflicting priorities, but If and when conflicting priorities come
about, I would definitely have to ask the question what is really a
priority and what isn’t. In my current team environment we use work
flow management software a queue system, which arranges tasks, projects
into a high, low priority system.
14. If you were coming up on a deadline and unsure you were going to meet it, what would you do?
I would sleep under my desk until I was sure that I could meet it. In a
more real world situation I would approach the project manager or the
client contact and let them know that I was unsure if I would be able
to meet my deadline.
15. Give me an example of a time when you had to make an unpopular
decision that was for the good of the team. How did you deal with that?
This is a really good question, I have made a lot of decisions for our
team, and I am trying to remember the last time when I had to make a
decision like this… The last situation that arose was a project
priority issue. We have favorite projects to work on, and projects that
aren’t as intriguing if you know what I mean. Well for the sake of
hours, deadlines, or milestones I had to take the team off their
current project which we all loved and were heavily into it. I knew
that taking us off the current project would not jeopardize the moral
of the team, and that we could accomplish a huge milestone for the
client on the other project in the matter of only hours.
16. How do you manage multiple projects or tasks? I use
software of course... I prioritize myself and my projects. I am a very
organized person, technology is my secret… The web based software I use
to organize my contacts, schedule, tasks, and projects is synced with
my Outlook, and then my smart phone/pda is synced with my Outlook... It
makes it easier to stay organized.