Web International Awards » interviews

Awesome interview with Tyler Finck, horizontal websites enthousiast and developer

Bogdan Pop — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:29:55 +0000

Webia: Hello Tyler. Tell us something about yourself and your background?

Tyler: I grew up outside Portland, Maine (USA) in an environment that promoted creativity: arts, crafts, music, space to explore. I left Maine to pursue a film degree which I received from Ithaca College, New York (USA). However, I ended up enjoying the fine arts - such as drawing, designing or music - more than cinema. I did pick up a basic web development class along the way which started with notepad HTML building and concluded with Dreamweaver rollover buttons. From that point forward, everything I learned technically I picked up on my own or by watching someone better do it. Creatively I've been continually inspired by music and analog design though I still appreciate a wonderful website.

Webia: You grew up in a creative environment. Does thinking back to those days help your inspiration or were those days just the kick you needed to pursue a creative career?

Tyler: Those days were pretty special but at the same time I was learning so much in the process, whether it was structured or not. While I'm still learning now I think less about "how" to get something to look or feel the way I want. I definitely think back to those times for inspiration, for "why" my work looks or feels the way it does.

Webia: You're inspired by analog design. Are there any galleries you go trough in search of inspiration? Offline or online.

Tyler: There aren't any places I turn to but rather two completely different offline sources: my son and music. With a four year-old I'm constantly reminded to look at things from a younger, simpler perspective. That has allowed me to relax a bit as a designer and artist. Music has a huge impact on my visual world, both listening to it and creating it. I'm still really inspired by what design accompanies musicians, whether it is album art, hard copy or electronic, concert posters or videos from YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo or wherever bands are posting them.

Webia: Your site Sursly and Gavin's are quite unique. Their navigation systems are unique. Tell us about how you came up with the idea of such a navigation system.

Tyler: I had seen a lot of vertical smooth scrolling websites and while I loved them, I just wanted to move sideways. I stumbled upon The Horizontal Way and realized that I could have a little fun during that transition between "frames". I developed my site about 6 months before Gavin's site, so I learned a lot in the process. His site uses a different script that actually allows for diagonal scrolling, vertical and horizontal. It was developed by the folks at ScripterLative and works differently than similar scripts. I actually tried to get in touch with those site developers, with no results unfortunately, because a friend and I modified the script to center the target destination horizontally in the browser.

Webia: The two sites have navigation in common, but sursly.com has some nice smooth lines and transitions and lots of whitespace while Gavin's site impresses with loads of visual elements and fast movements. If this is no secret, could you describe the difficulties that appeared while developing these two sites?

Tyler: Constant challenges with both sites were and still are bandwidth and load times. Keeping the graphics as small as possible on both sites is something I wrestled with and somewhat ignored in the end. My site has changed code-wise over the past year since I built it somewhat rushed, so it has always been a work in progress and was never meant to see the amount of attention and criticism that it has received, but that is okay. Gavin's site had to be a lot closer to "finished" on launch, even though I don't think a site is or should ever be finished. But because of that, I had a lot of content to work with which is always wonderful and challenging.

Webia: So you think a website should always be in progress as opposed to finished and forgotten. Why is that? Simply because there are always new technologies? Are you a perfectionist?

Tyler: I can be a bit of a perfectionist but I'm more concerned with keeping content updated and visuals fresh. Easier said than done, I know and I urge clients, friends and anyone else with a web presence to not think their site or blog are set in stone. At the same time it is self-serving as you're hurting yourself by having a copyright in the footer that is two years old. Laziness shows, every time.

Webia: Why jQuery to power such sites? Flash can do basically the same things, and you get to play visually in order to build it, while jQuery needs programming, math and so on.

Tyler: Even though I'm comfortable in Flash and could have accomplished something similar with both sites in half the time, it just wasn't new to me, or interesting. I think a lot of people probably followed me on Twitter or sent emails because it wasn't Flash, which is kind of what I was going for. I didn't focus on iphones or mobile, flash-less platforms as a delivery method, but I'm happy that the site at least shows up, broken or not, on a lot of devices. A big "sorry" out there to you folks with slow internet though.

Webia: What are your favorite blogs you're subscribed to and would warmly recommend?

Tyler: Smashing Magazine is always a decent resource, even if they're not necessarily the first ones to find something. The amount of useful information over there is overwhelming. I've been lurking around Khoi Vinh, Veerle Pieters, and Elliot Jay Stocks blogs for years now, never disappointed… And there is a wonderful cactus blogging at Wendy the Cactus that I can't get enough of.

Webia: What are your favorite horizontal scrolling websites?

Tyler: The only horizontal one I can think of off the top of my head and really enjoy is Carrot Creative. Very well done.

Webia: To round things up, any tips and tricks, things to look out when developing a horizontal scrolling website?

Tyler:Less is WAY more, leave Flash behind, and try something different.

Red

Bogdan Pop — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:43:31 +0000

This is the 1st article in a series that is meant to describe colors and provide detailed information about their waveform, tones, and advice on where and how to use them. We kick of with red because it has the longest wavelengths. Did you know that infrared and red lasers were developed based on this color just because it has the longest wavelength? Another reason for choosing red is because it is the first named color in the RGB color system.

Having the longest waveform, red catches people's attention, and not only. Familiar with Spanish toreadors, fighting those bulls? Well, those bulls are also attracted to red. Because it catches people's attention red is generally used in negative ways, to indicate danger or emergencies. For example, traffic signs that deny entrance are red. Sometimes, red is used in advertising to attract people's view towards a product or campaign. In "Contemporary Ergonomics" (Boca Raton 1996) we find out after several different studies that red is indeed the color that carries the strongest reaction. That's why scientists always recommend using red for warning signs and labels.

Red in web development

Having the above description, we add the fact that on the web red is usually used to emphasize errors, warnings. So, where should we use red? The question is tricky because of that little detail that says that it gets people's attention. Do we use red on errors, or do we use it on advertising campaigns? If we use red for advertising, then what color should we use for errors? Using it for both wouldn't be very smart, as it would pack a lot of confusion.

Chatting with color experts

To finish up this article, we contacted Igor Asselbergs for advice. Igor is a renowned color expert with over 20 years of experience. He blogs on livelygrey.com and is the current CEO of Colorjinn, a company that develops digital colors tools.

Webia: First of all Igor, welcome to Webia! Please tell us something about yourself.
Igor: I worked as a color consultant in architecture for 15 years. I had my own small consultancy with a few partners, which was an interesting mix of art and science people. Currently I focus more on developing tools for color and design geeks. Nevertheless, it's still color that intrigues me and I still do a bit of consultancy now and again, along with guest lectures at various colleges.

Webia: Speaking of web, especially user interfaces on the web, where should red be used?
Igor: Did you know people cannot perceive color? Seriously! It's a scientific fact. People can only perceive color differences. You can perceive the difference between red and green, but not green or red as such. Therefor your question is impossible because it depends how, in conjunction with which colors, red should be used. Think of a red door. Does a red door stand out? Only if the wall adjoining the door is NOT red. The impact and significance of red, or any color for that matter, depends on the context.

Webia: So one important factor is context. A good example for this is the image attached in the header of the post. Does it pop up? Yes it does, because it contains mainly red color tones and contrasts the site's overall dark theme.

Webia: Should red be used for advertising purposes (not just on the web)?
Igor: I don't see why not. But again, it depends on the context.

Webia: Red is generally accepted to accompany errors. What should be a good solution if red cannot be used. (Example: red is the main color of a product, brand that is showcased on the site. Errors would blend in due to this into the site and will not pop out.)
Igor: Red accompanies error because it stands out in most cases. That is simply because most of the world around us is NOT red. So if you cannot use red to symbolize error, use any other color that stands out. Which is the color that is not much used on the site. Though I would exclude green, because it often symbolizes the opposite of error.

This is the first article of a series of articles regarding colors. If you liked this article you can subscribe to the full content rss feed and stay updated as we post new information.

Past interviews round-up

Bogdan Pop — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:40:10 +0000

We have done a series of interviews in the past, and here's a round-up of the best ones we had.

Web International Awards » interviews

Awesome interview with Tyler Finck, horizontal websites enthousiast and developer

Red

Red in web development

Chatting with color experts

Past interviews round-up

Interview with Bjarne Christensen, talented graphic designer from Denmark

Exclusive interview with Chris Coyier, owner of CSS Tricks

Interview with Brett Borders

Interview with Chris Bewick, owner of Stompfrog.co.uk

We bring you the head of Cabedge LLC, Chris Blanz

Back to back: Alessandro Benini vs Valerio Pianella from Inspiration Multimedia

Interview with Bartosz Sulkowski, owner of Tweex

Interview with Steven Hylands

Interview with Matthew Ginop of MCG Web Development

Behind Standards Reboot with P.J. Onori