TTFFADMXN - Marja Ribbers-de Vroed
This is the second TTFFADMXN interview and I wanted to get someone that was a nerd (although she explicitly mentioned that she didn't see herself that way) and an extension developer. Marja is one of the best of both really and somewhat in the news as she is working with George Petrov on the DMX Zone.
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've been working as a software engineer for a well-known Dutch software company for about 10 years. But then I decided I did not want to work there anymore , and since then I've been working with my husband in our own company FlevOOware.
I "discovered" web development early 2000, and I soon found out that I could actually create my own extra (DHTML) features in Dreamweaver by building custom extensions. I needed a news scroller for a website I was working on, and back then there wasn't much choice in DHTML scrollers. So... I created my own and somewhat later turned that into a free extension: Cross-browser AutoScroller was born.
Since then, I've developed several other ones. And now... let's face it... I'm hooked!
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.
That would have to be the first website I ever created.
It was a fairly large site in 3 languages which I did voluntarily (read: for free), because I thought it would be a nice way to gain some experience in website development. We bought Dreamweaver especially for that project, and not bothered by any prior web development experience I just "plunged in".
I think I built that site from scratch about 3 or 4 times, as each time when I was about finished I had learned so many new techniques that I wasn't satisfied anymore with how I had set up that site. But that was an endless process (I learn something new about web development almost every day) and the site obviously had to go online at some point. So... we finally did put it online.
Anyway, in that first project, I learned about HTML, CSS, JavaScript and ASP, so it definitely offered me a chance to become familiar with lots of web development aspects.
TTFFADMXN - What are you most interested in in the technology available today?
Well, I'm about to become involved in a project using XML and XSL(T), and I'm really looking forward to that.
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?
No such thing comes to my mind. Sad isn't it...?
[matt adds - I want to work in the Netherlands if everything is so well organized that funny customer things never pop up... LOL]
TTFFADMXN - What is your most obscure hobby?
Playing Canasta (a card game) on the internet at the Yahoo game site: I get to play with people all over the world there, which is really fun!
TTFFADMXN - If you could add one feature to Dreamweaver, what would it be and how would it work in detail.
Being an extension developer, I would like to be able to create trial versions of Dreamweaver extensions (versions that become functionally invalid and thus unusable after a specified time). Until now all my extensions have been freebies, so that wasn't really an issue. But now I'm about to release my first commercial DHTML extension, it would be really nice to be able to offer eg. a 30 day evaluation period for those extensions so interested DW users can try them before they buy them.
TTFFADMXN - Tables or CSS-p....?
Definitely CSS-p, although I do not hesitate to use tables when I need them.
Usually I still want to support older browsers like Netscape 4.x and in some layouts I simply need tables to get Netscape 4.x to display a page similar like more modern browsers.
TTFFADMXN - What other developer in the community do you credit with igniting the most interest in you.
There are several extension developers that got me enthusiastic about extension development, eg. Massimo, George Petrov, Al Sparber / Gerry Jacobsen, and others.
And more general: ... I really wonder about Murray Summers: he seems to be active in the DW newsgroup almost 24 hours a day... does that man ever sleep? And doing all that, how does he find the time to make a living?
TTFFADMXN - Product you least like to use?
I'm not very enthusiastic about Flash, and although I own Studio MX, and thus a copy of Flash MX, it's still just sitting there in the box as I can't get myself to take a serious look at it. I can see that in theory it can do marvelous things, but most often when I see it on sites I dislike the way it is used.
TTFFADMXN - What is your favorite hex color?
#006666 (#006666)
8:51:54 AM
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