FAQ

Did you design this blog yourself?

Yes, I did.

So you’re a web designer.

Not quite. I get a design idea about once a year or so. My main skill set is development.

Where and when was that photograph taken?

I took the photo last October in Rollinsford, New Hampshire.

So you’re a photographer?

Not a serious one.

On what platform(s) do you develop?

LAMP/LAPP. This means an Apache server with either a MySQL or Postgres database system, and PHP or Python as the server-side language, all configured on the operating system of choice.

What about Content Management Systems?

I like open source. I’ve built sites with WordPress and Drupal. I am currently learning Plone.

Do you prefer Drupal or WordPress?

Both have their merits. Drupal is easier to extend but WordPress is simpler to theme.

Which one do you usually recommend to clients?

Now that Drupal has improved their admin interface considerably, with version 7, they are both strong candidates. The difference is in scalability. I’d recommend WordPress for blogs and Drupal for feature-rich company websites.

What about e-commerce?

I think Drupal is the stronger of the two candidates.

Where do you think the web is headed?

I think browser-based apps are definitely the way of the future. It’s cumbersome and costly to develop the same apps for different mobile device platforms. Time could easily be spent building a browser-based app that can be run anywhere. Perhaps, in time, these types of apps will replace desktop apps completely, by I’m not holding my breath.

I think that HTML5 and CSS3, in combination with jQuery will eventually offer enough features to replace proprietary front-end frameworks like Flex, Flash and Silverlight. Now that all major browsers’ current versions support HTML5 and CSS3, its time to start using these technologies and getting good at them.