Web Templates Blog has the pleasure of sharing another interview with a notable Webpage Designer, Isaac Forman of TripleZero . In addition to designing some beautiful Webpages, Isaac is a major contributor to the EVolt.org Blog with many concise and knowledgeable articles to his credit. I could say a lot more about his candor and creativity but let’s start the interview:

About getting started in Web Design, “A friend gave me a spare modem of his to try about 11-12 years ago and after mucking around with a local BBS, I got online and created a few Geocities pages in Notepad. I learnt from viewing the source of other pages and a lot of trial and error. From there, I was a multimedia trainee and then started a company with another friend. Since that time, it’s just been work, work, work. . . My first ever site was a fan site for a band - it looked good, but I had not yet learned the ‘Content is King’ mantra. My first freelance gig was for an ISP owned by a sports celebrity, and I threw all of my creativity into it - again, it looked good, but wasn’t exactly all that usable and I learned from that.”

I asked Isaac about his thoughts on Web Standards, “With standards, I generally aim to play by the rules but ensure that a site still looks attractive. I don’t, however, obsessively check my pages for compliance though. Anytime that content is partly in the hands of a client, it becomes very difficult to ensure compliance is maintained anyway. . . I’d say that it’s always a compromise involving client expectations, needs of the audience, and cost of development.”

About Web 2.0, “I consider Web 2.0 to be sites that are using AJAX-type technology, but I do not have anything like this in my portfolio.” And new directions for Webpages, “I still think AJAX has a long way to come in permeating smaller sites before the Next Big Thing arrives. I’d suggest that the next leap will involve interactive video, similar to the way QTVR has worked with hotspots in the past. The internet is ideal for niche markets and television (at least in Australia) is really failing to provide for niche groups. I can see there being a real move towards video feeds online, but the gap between computer and television needs to be better addressed.”

Isaac mentioned he has not bought Webpage Templates, “I have created custom templates for other development companies. . . For clients on a budget or someone starting out in the industry, I think they would be a useful tool - either simply to get a quality site online, or as a learning process. A couple of times when stuck for ideas, I’ve browsed somewhere like Template Monster for inspiration, but never bought one. The main reason for this is that my clients are paying me for a unique site, and often their needs are quite specific. Some designers in the Template Monster catalogue are really very good at what they do.”

“Flash is not something that I develop personally, but I can appreciate its uses and have found opportunities to use it with clients. When used well, it can be a great tool for demonstrations, advertisements, and interactive elements. There would not really be any Flash-driven sites that I use on a daily basis though, but a few do use it for key elements - for example, NBA.com, ESPN, etc. Flash is obviously great for seamless presentation of video, loading data in the background and on-the-fly, and smooth, crisp animation that can’t really be presented in many other ways. A big negative is often the loss of back/forward buttons in many Flash movies, and the inability to bookmark or send a friend to a specific section in most longer presentations - I think a few of these issues come down to the developer’s use of the tool, however.”

“I’m inspired by other web sites, as well as design books and magazines. Often it only takes a colour scheme or shape to get a design started. Occasionally I find it a challenge to maintain motivation throughout a project. Sometimes if a job drags on, or changes keep coming through, it can be difficult to keep the same level of enthusiasm as when starting a fresh project, especially when I am always working on 10-20 clients in any given week.”

Isaac mentioned his main interests in Wed Design, “Content and attractive presentation are what I look for and appreciate. I like seeing people presenting a common set of content (e.g., a blog) in a different way to everyone else. Also, I get a lot more enjoyment from the challenge of designing a site with a lot of visual elements than I do trying to come up with something for a basic site which might be limited to title, content, token image and navigation. I dislike having to incorporate awkward ads into a site, whether they’re banner ads or fixed-format text ads. Oh, and “click here” in links is a pet-hate.”

Having seen his work and read many of his articles I offer many thanks to Isaac for this interview.

Arthur Brownng