Danilo Celic - For the first interview in the Top 10 FAQ for a DMX Nerd feature... (doesn't that roll off the tongue?) I wanted to feature Danilo Celic.
For those of you that don't know Danilo, he is a long time participant in the community and a curmudgeon. He is outspoken and witty and very much a contributor. He also has taken it upon himself to read the blog and let me know when I make any typos :-P.
He also suggested the feature and I think it is a great idea. Thanks Danilo!
Danilo also tells me he doesn't comment his code well... Bad Danilo... bad....
BTW, Danilo. Leaving your typos in here so you have something to mail me about... :-)
TTFFADMXN - How did you get into web design. What is you background that led you here or that you were escaping when you came here?
I made my first page for a telephone directory for the office was working at since the company provided internal phonebook was about 2 years out of date. I learned HTML by using NotePad, and frequently viewing in NN2.
I'm here basicly because I ifgured out that I didn't enjoy working were I was working, so I saved up enough to work part-time and take some computer classes at the local community college, where, several years later, I'm gainfully employed as a ebusiness counsellor for a Small Business Development Center.
TTFFADMXN - What is the biggest web design project you were involved in? Can you describe your role in it? Was it a success, if not then why not.
I've only worked on small projects, 5-10 pages, until recently, when a db based site was required for a friend's company...12-15 tables, plus add/edit/delete, and custom report generation, with dynamically generated PDF output. Boy, those were some eye-opening steps. Luckily I had done a lot of offline db work prior to this, so mostly it was building the pages (thank you MX) and formatting the reports, and researching the PDF generation. I was supposed to work with someone else on the project, but family issues left me a lonely coder. We're projecting something like $3000 in savings per month when completed (Feb 2003), so I think it'll be great success for the client.
TTFFADMXN - What are you most interested in in the technology available today?
It seems that I'm moving into dynamic sites, so all the server side stuff is pretty new, I have a lot of catching up to do compared to a lot of my fellow (and fellas, to be PC) developers in the forums. And the more that I look around, the more I like looking at Web Services (WSDL), I think that you developers out there would do well to invest some time investigating utilizing Web Services to facilitate code reuse, and to speed development. Will they be the be-all and end-all, I doubt it, but I think it warrants a good long look to see where they may fit into your processes.
I'm also interested in stealing my wife's new Handspring Treo 180 PDA/phone, with built in web browser, I'm so jealous.
TTFFADMXN - Can you tell us the funniest thing that ever happened with a client or coworker that we can talk about on a public web site?
Only thing I can think of is a particular client that I was working with on email marketing, I'd talk with her about what she could put in emails to her customers, then she'd send one out, including me on the email. I would then send her an email detailing the points that I think could be improved, the company's address and phone number being a couple of those points. After about 4 mailings, and not one of the points being addressed, I talked with her on the phone about her emails. I immediately started in on how she should be addressing the points that I had made on every message. About halfway through my diatribe, she interupted me. "Danilo," she said, "I've ignored you because I'm selling out on the featured item, every time I send out an email. Tell me, why should I listen to you?" Well, that floored me, and I laughed, and told her, "Don't listen, keep on doing what works." It was a great lesson for myself, all situations are unique, regardless of what "best practices" dictate.
TTFFADMXN - What is your most obscure hobby?
I seemingly don't get away from my computers long enough to have a hobby. It isn't so obscure to those that know me, and my wife just verified it, and I bet ~Angela will too, I argue just for arguments sake, I just love a great discussion/debate/argument. When I get into that mode, I usually agree with the person I'm talking with, but I try to explore the counter-arguments in an effort to refine and/or define what I think about a subject. [TTFFADMXN - I have to concur here with Danilo...]
TTFFADMXN - If you could add one feature to Dreamweaver, what would it be and how would it work in detail.
Now, now, that could let loose some demons. The feature that I'd most like to see within DW would be a query builder similar to Access. I haven't worked on a larger (read better) db such as SQL server or Oracle, so I don't know the tools available there, but the Access query builder lets me put together queries quickly and easily, joining multiple tables without worring about what the proper syntax should be to pull those 5 tables together.
TTFFADMXN - Tables or CSS-p....?
I'm not one to stand on soapboxes, so my answer is...both, when needed.
TTFFADMXN - What other developer in the community do you credit with igniting the most interest in you.
I'd have to say Paul Boon, with Massimo Foti a close second. Paul's delving into the inner reaches of DW is simply amazing, as well as inspiring, and can't wait to get my hands on some of his company's offerings: http://www.dwwork.com. And without Massimo allowing me to play with his extension libraries, I don't think I'd done some of the things I've done so far, both for myself, and assisting others (Hi Angela & Dan!). Stay tuned for extensions coming out soon.
TTFFADMXN - Product you least like to use?
In general, PhotoShop or FireWorks, and not because they can't do great work....I'm a code jockey, I can read, write, sleep and breathe code, but a graphics program just turns my stomach upside down, I believe that I can tell what is good graphics design, but I feel like my mouse is moving through a bowl of rapidly congealing gravy whenever I try to do something that isn't a simple scan job, or compressing existing graphics. Maybe one day inspired by Japi Honoo, or Daniele Ugoletti, I'll get my act together.
TTFFADMXN - Favorite Hex color?
#003366 (#003366)
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