Lorelle was kind enough to give me some of her time to answer a few questions on blogging, analytics and the WordPress community.

JW: For people who do not know you, would you mind giving a brief introduction of what you do and how blogging affects your life?

Lorelle VanFossen: I blog. I write technical and editorial articles on blogging, travel, web analytics, blogging, WordPress, blogging, and more WordPress, and some life and more travel.

I have several blogs and write for magazines, ezines, and other blogs, podcasts and even video blogs. I speak, teach, and present workshops on blogging, social media, WordPress, and web technology, as well as travel and writing, all over the world. I’m also a consultant for a variety of clients on social media and blogging, helping them to integrate social media marketing cultures into their businesses.

I’m also a major WordCamp fan and if I can get into a WordCamp anywhere in the world, whether as an attending fan, keynote, or presenter, I’m there – as much as I can be. Matt Mullenweg and I were in a race for most frequent flier miles. Last year, I finally lost to my friend.

I adore the WordPress Community. WordPress users want to work with WordPress users. They are the best people and I love working with them. Their needs are constantly in my mind when I write on Lorelle on WordPress or the Blog Herald WordPress News.

Blogging is my life. It’s a platform for me to have my say and teach others about having their say.

JW: You’ve been blogging for over 10 years now, what made you first start?

Lorelle VanFossen: There was no first start. Since the 1970s and 80s, I’ve been involved in the development of the web in all its forms. I had one of the first (and now oldest) websites in the world and its evolution to “blog” was just part of the process. For me, there has been no beginning or end. It’s part of the evolution of technology and publishing.

JW: What helps you generate ideas on what to post about?

Lorelle VanFossen: Everything. Anything can be a blog post. From a walk in the woods to a visit with a friend to a business meeting, conference, radio news item, book I’m reading…it doesn’t matter. Anything and everything can be written about and inspiration has no rules. It comes when it comes and if you are paying attention, your muse will guide you accordingly.

The issue for me is not to come up with the ideas but to find the time to write all the ideas down, then finding more time to actually turn a few of those into publishable content.

JW: Do you still track the analytics of your blog?

Lorelle VanFossen: No. Lately, this makes people laugh. I work with Woopra, the first live, real-time web analytics program, and it’s all about tracking the stats. But Woopra isn’t about tracking the numbers as much as the individuals.

Woopra changes the whole dynamics of web statistics. It’s not about the numbers. I don’t care about the numbers. I could have 5 visitors or 5,000. I don’t care. It’s what they take away from my site that matters. If I impact one person, my work is a success. If I can change the lives of a few more, I’ve overwhelmed and humbled.

It’s the personal touch that makes web analytics special with Woopra. Woopra turns those numbers into faces. Instead of tracking visitor 45398, I’m tracking Fred Smith or Alice Anderson through my blog. If they are using Gravatars, I see their face or avatar in Woopra. I now have a name and face to go with the stats. I’m learning about what they enjoy reading, what they are searching for, what answers they want, and what they come back for. They become friends and acquaintances. I’m like a restaurateur, chatting up my customers to find out what they really want to eat in my restaurant. That’s what I want to put on my menu, making them want to come back for more.

We’re still in the early days of web analytics, and I fear that so many are taking the profiling path. I’m a huge fan of what Woopra is doing with analytics and stats, to track the individual not the numbers, and thrilled to be a part of something I think is going to change the face of the web.

JW: What changes do you see in the future of blogging?

Lorelle VanFossen: As I said, I believe that services like Woopra are going to change much of our experience on the web. The web is breaking down barriers in so many ways – we are still in diapers.

I see blogs becoming the focal point again in online communication. While services like Twitter and other social networks are growing quickly, there is only so much you can share within a 140 character limit. Sound bites. The world of relationships isn’t possible in 140 characters or less. But it’s a start.

A blog is becoming a business card and resume for many people. It is the center of their online experience, and many are returning to it, understanding that they need a place to showcase themselves and their thoughts and experiences. A referral point. People come from YouTube, social media services, networking groups, blog comments, and all over the web to find out who you are and what you do, and why should they trust what you say and do.

I see social networking expanding, but the blog returning to the center of people’s world as they integrate all their spheres of influence back into the core.

I also see that features like what BuddyPress has to offer, integrating social network features into a blog, will change the blogging experience. The ability for people to group themselves within a blog by interests is fascinating – and distracting. It will be interesting to watch the evolution.

JW: How do you keep readers interested?

Lorelle VanFossen: Give them what they want and more. Not more as in anything and everything or over the top sensationalism, but give them more than they want in bits and pieces so they will stay interested and enthused.

Over all, give them something to tell others about. Water cooler stories do much better than staid, home work exercises in writing.

JW: With your busy schedule how do you schedule time to blog on a consistent basis?

Lorelle VanFossen: I thrive on future posts in WordPress. I work when I can and work ahead as much as possible.

Many bloggers are what I call Weekend Bloggers. They save up their time all week to pound out 1-7 posts on the weekend to release throughout the week, making them look like they are blogging every day. Sometimes I will do that or do 14 – 21 posts ahead, always finding something to write about.

Yet, it depends. A single blog post can take me a few minutes or weeks or months to finish. I keep an Idea/Drafts file with all my blog story ideas. I go through them frequently to see if a story is ready to publish, or what needs more work. It’s an ongoing process.

I think of blogging much like magazine publishing. It involves contributions from a lot of folks, from photographers to writers. The editor has to work with all the different contributors to plan and schedule the content for every issue. Some get pushed to the front due to their timeliness, and others get pushed back for later issues. The only difference between a blog and a magazine is that I’m the editor, publisher, photographer, writer, editorial manager, etc.

A while ago, I started a series called Blog Struggles about the real life of a blogger and the hard work that goes into blogging. It’s gotten an amazing response and resonated with so many. They loved that we’re finally talking about the elephant in the room that bloggers have to deal with but few talk about.

Blogging is my job, but it is also a part of my life. I work it in. When I’m traveling and working on not creating content for my blogs, I will actually go through withdrawal. Writing is my passion and I love working on stories to share with people. Luckily, it’s my job, too.

JW: Do you think it is an easy transition for a writer to be a blogger?

Lorelle VanFossen: Easy? To move from what kind of writer to writing blogs? That’s too open a question.

For technical writers moving to a technical blog, there is little transition. For creative or fiction writers, also not a big transition. It all depends upon the skill and training of the writer and what their goals are with their blog.

A few key things a writer needs to know about writing online are:

• Keywords: You must use words people search for in order to be found.
• NO Pronouns: Stop using it, he, she, those, these, and other pronouns.
• Shorter Paragraphs Increase Readability: Keep paragraphs short and break up multiple point paragraphs.
• One Point Per Post: Keep your content to one point per post if possible.
• Short versus Long Posts: If the writing is good, long posts will work. Don’t believe the myth that short posts are best. It depends upon the quality of writing and the points that need to be made.
• It’s About Conversation: Writing for the web can be an ongoing conversation rather than a thesis, if you want interaction.
• Write Linkable Content: If it ain’t worth linking to, consider not writing it. Make people want to talk and link to your content.

JW: You have such great passion in your posts and about your industry, what advice do you have in novice bloggers?

Lorelle VanFossen: Blog your passion, or don’t blog.

Don’t blog about what everyone else is blogging about. There are enough blogs about blogging, WordPress, celebrities…unless you can bring something special to the game, don’t blog.

JW: I hear you have a talent for snow sculptures? What have you done lately?

Lorelle VanFossen: I do indeed enjoy snow sculptures. A couple years ago I did a guitar, and I’ve done dinosaurs, reptiles, rats, people, dogs, cats, castles, and all kinds of things out of the beautiful but ethereal white stuff.

Unfortunately, a sledding accident this year ripped my shoulder, so sculpting was out for me during one of the best snow seasons in the Pacific Northwestern United States. My friend, Ed Morita of Baker’s Hours, the first person with a permanent WordPress tattoo, sent me a beautiful huge picture of a Chinese dragon he carved out of 30 pounds of chocolate to make up for my downtime. He’s inspiring me to consider trying chocolate carving for a longer lasting (and not so cold) creative experience.

Next year…I have a great list of ideas for sculptures inspired by the beautiful nature and wildlife we have here in Oregon, where we just moved and have made our new home base.

JW: Thank you so much for your time.

Lorelle VanFossen: And thank you for your support of the WordPress Community.

Christian was nice enough to give me some of his time to answer questions about the future of the web, accessibility, conferences and of course JavaScript.

JW: You recently wrote an article on ThinkVitamin on how you have seen the changes in web development. Do you think that the web community will soon become stagnant because the hype of Web 2.0 has died down?

Christian Heilmann: Actually no, I think there is now more of a need for good developers than ever. The hype in Web 2.0 resulted in a lot of products that needed to go out to the market yesterday and not in the four month they really need to be good products. Now that the rush and the silly money is ebbing down developers will have less illusions of grandeur and have to do a better job in producing products that work, are sustainable and maintainable and bring a longer-term revenue stream.

This means working more professionally and thinking about what we do rather than creating the next rounded corner, gradient and vowel dropping one month wonder.

Of course less will be produced, but that is totally fine by me. I’d rather see 4 new good products than 30 that die soon after being a TechCrunch article.

JW: Do you have any tips for developers on how to communicate better to management the importance of quality code as opposed to just getting it to work?

Christian Heilmann: Keep detailed reports on how much time had to be spent fixing issues caused by code shortcuts and “fix it now and we make it work later” decisions. Show examples of how other companies managed to release products faster and better by sticking to best practices and a defined code standard.

Ask why it is totally needed to follow defined processes in HR and PR but on the other hand everything in development should be played by ear.

I have set up a Wiki on the subject matter quite a while ago that has some good examples: http://icant.co.uk/webstandardsforbusiness.

In any case you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Good code and clever development practices are first and foremost a safeguard for yourself and should be something you do to protect your own sanity. Best practices being ordered from top-down are never likely to work out but instead are more likely to cause unhappiness in the development team.

JW: Late last year you organized a much needed workshop/conference called Scripting Enabled, which helped join web developers and users with disabilities better understand the importance of web accessibility. Could you give us a quick review of how well it did?

Christian Heilmann: I am still amazed as to how smoothly the conference went given the ridiculous amount of real time and money I invested in it. I guess it is another sign that having a good network of people who are as excited as you are about a certain topic is the most important thing in making anything a success.

We had great speakers giving real hands-on information of how different disabilities affect the way you access the web and what barriers they face and we had a lot of developers on the second day working with this information to build interfaces that work around these issues.

Several new products started on the event and first and foremost I managed to bridge the gap between accessibility fans and developers a lot more than most of the other conferences did. All the slides are available, all the things that were built are described on a wiki and I am now releasing the videos bit by bit with transcriptions.

Right now I am working on an upcoming accessibility section for the Yahoo Developer Network and we’ll publish a lot of the information gathered and videos there soon.

What I am a bit disappointed is that not many people take on the idea – anybody can do an own scripting enabled and I’ll be happy to promote them for it but so far there was only a second one in the US. I think it is quite a step for people to say “I can do this”.

JW: What do you think are the main reasons that web developers do not put more emphasis on development for accessibility?

Christian Heilmann: I guess the biggest part is that accessibility is just not an integral part of the product roadmap. Most of the time developers get a design and have to implement it. Whilst we develop in agile ways the design process in most companies is still very much “make it pretty then send it to the developers”. Real accessibility comes from an open, iterative approach across the board that starts with user centered design rather than fixed interfaces.

Another reason is that there is a terribly large amount of myths and bad examples of accessibility out on the web. Instead of embracing the idea of accessibility – which includes a lot of flexibility – a lot of developers just want a quick solution to be able to say they’ve done something.

This is to a large degree the fault of the accessibility community itself – feedback is hard to get and if you get it a lot of truisms and old school thinking is coming back to you. Personally I am very worried about the gap between where web development is right now and where a lot of accessibility advocates consider it to still be.

There is an amazing amount of open source solutions for assistive technology and Firefox has a lot of great extensions. Yet most of the time you ask for testing with screen readers you will hear tales of woe of how expensive these are and how hard it is to install them and that is why we should all support really outdated versions running on Windows 2000 and IE6.

The biggest issue however is bad time planning – most of the time we are already behind on the delivery of our products which would make accessibility a luxury item. This is also caused by developers being overly optimistic about their own delivery skills – we are very much likely to under-estimate delivery times as we are such awesome developers who can do everything in 5 lines and 2 regular expressions.

You won’t find yourself able to rush a plumber into delivering a four hour job in one hour, but it is easy to do that with a developer. We also are happy to get more developers to release a product faster. This is not going to happen as with more developers you also add more collaboration overhead. Nine people can’t make a baby in a month.

JW: Has the recent version of the YUI library (ver 2.6) focused enough on web accessibly in your opinion?

Christian Heilmann: The groundwork is there and all YUI components can be built using progressive enhancement. There are ARIA plugins available for the newer components, and this is where YUI3 is headed. It was a bit of a job to get all the things working and make sure we get the components up to current accessibility standards but I have to say I am very happy with where this is going.

Todd Kloots and Victor Tsaran are doing a sterling job with the 3.0 components and the need to re-write YUI for new Yahoo dependencies (the new homepage) kept the team very busy. I don’t know any other library other than Dojo (which is a framework not a library) that does as good a job.

JW: What are some web developers that really inspire you?

Christian Heilmann: Ouh, a lot. I think one of the best all-round amazing guys I know is Simon Wilison, then there is “Mr Pragmatic CSS” Dan Cederholm. John Resig puts quite a stake in the ground when it comes to moving ahead in JavaScript technology and release numbers, Scott Schiller pushes the envelope when it comes to interesting interfaces and multimedia functionality in JavaScript, Aral Balkan is a good channel into the Flash/Flex world, Gez Lemon and Steve Faulkner do great accessibility work… to name just a few.

Right now I get most inspired by people I work with who are not known names but release a lot of cool stuff to the outside world, and do my best to egg them on to get out more into the speaking and publishing world. Examples for those guys are Dirk Ginader, Marco van Hylckama-Vlieg, Rajat Pandit, Neil Crosby, Ian Pouncey and of course ex colleagues Ed Eliot, Stuart Colville, Lawrence Carvalho and and and…

Frankly there are not many developers out there who have their eyes open that don’t inspire me.

JW: Can you describe some of your duties as an International Developer Evangelist at Yahoo?

Christian Heilmann: My job is mainly being a translator. I talk to the outside world about our products and other people’s products ours work well with or are in competition with. I talk internally about what I heard in the outside world what people want and what they struggle with. I train new developers and give tech talks in the different offices around the globe about things coming down the pipeline that will be of relevance soon and in general keep up with the market.

I’ve asked for this role as I found myself getting a lot of offers to speak at conferences, write articles and blog posts (and give interviews) and I didn’t have the time to do so. Now it is my job and I can bring good stuff to people I tried to reach for years.

I’ve been developing for a long time and proved my worth. I’d rather give more junior developers the chance to not have to make the same mistakes I had to go through but deliver better products instead.

That is why I am there to listen to their issues and find ways to explain new products internally and externally. A lot of bad code is being developed in companies because people don’t know how to talk to each other and people that should collaborate are oblivious that the others exist. I am here to fill this gap.

Right now I am doing a lot of work talking to other companies about what worked well for Yahoo in terms of building APIs, allowing developers access to our data and how to foster innovation in the company. It is thrilling to see how many companies are out there that could give us amazing data to play with but are not doing it because of easy to solve technical problems.

JW: Many of your presentations focus on script maintainability. Over the years do you believe that developers have made more of concerted effort in improving this?

Christian Heilmann: I think we are on a good way of doing that. Far from concentrating on it as it is a lot more interesting to write yet another speed comparison of different libraries and to try to persuade each other what the best way of writing a loop is but I see good work being done. Especially when it comes to build scripts and processes we could do with a lot more collaboration and release information but the problem is in a lot of cases that this is information that is company specific.

JW: I heard that you do not own a television? Is this still true and how do you watch Top Gear (my favorite show)?

Christian Heilmann: That is still true, as I just explained in another letter to the TV Licensing people who are very much confused about this. To answer the Top Gear question, I don’t as I don’t have a car either (would be pointless living in zone 2 in London). I’ve seen a few episodes on planes and in the gym on the bicycle but that is about it.

I liked what I saw but it doesn’t beat Big Bang Theory by a long shot

JW: Thank you so much for your time.

Christian Heilmann: Thank you for being interested in what I do and say and challenging me with some interesting questions. I am better in answering them live, but I hope I managed to get something good out there. Keep playing, the web is yours!

JW: With ActionScript 3.0 available in the latest version of Flash (version 9), care to give us a few highlights of some of the new features in AS 3.0?

Sas Jacobs: AS 3.0 has some major changes to the language so I’ll just touch on a couple of them. One of my favourite new features is the way XML works in AS3.0. The XML class has been replaced with a new AS3.0 version that supports E4X expressions. This means that it’s easier to navigate through an XML document using node names. You can also add filtering expressions which makes it much easier to target content.

I’m also a big fan of the new URLLoader and HTTPService classes that allow developers to load several different types of content. In addition to the usual name-value variable pairs, you can load plain text as well as XML content.

JW: If a client has no particular preference, how do you determine if their UI would be best suited for Flash or other technologies (XHTML/CSS/Ajax)?

Sas Jacobs: I love Flash but I think it is best used where there’s a specific need. Obviously, Flash is better suited to multimedia content and in situations where you don’t have any control over browser versions and types. I frequently use it to reduce page size where I have a lot of images to load dynamically. My preference is for Flash over Ajax but I think that’s my own particular bias and skill set.

JW: Hopefully the days of Flash intro and splash pages are over. Do you see any new misuses of Flash on the web or are people finally realizing how to use it properly?

Sas Jacobs: On the whole, I think that Flash is used well on the web. However, I’ve seen quite a few sites where there is an introductory page offering an XHTML and Flash version. When the user chooses Flash, the site opens in a pop-up window without chrome. I’m not a fan of that approach at all because I don’t think it’s very useable.

JW: When you were first learning Flash was there anything that you found initially difficult to master?

Sas Jacobs: When I first discovered Flash, I was working with ASP, XHTML and CSS. The concept of a timeline was alien to me as were some of the basic animation concepts. I think mastering the basics was my biggest learning curve!

JW: With the recent emergence of Flex the past year or so, do you think that web developers will move towards Flex for RIA instead of Flash? Do you foresee overlapping usage?

Sas Jacobs: Definitely. I think we’ll see a real divide between developers who are concerned with building applications and designers who are more concerned with look and feel. Let’s face it, prior to Flex it was pretty cumbersome to build applications in Flash. Flex gives me a similar approach to the one I use in Visual Studio .NET so I’m very comfortable with using it for application development.

JW: Do you feel that web developers shy away from learning Flash because it still looks like a designer tool?

Sas Jacobs: I think people may shy away from Flash because the interface looks complicated at first glance, probably the same reason that people initially struggle with as a product like Photoshop. It’s not easy to pick up Flash and just start working with it as the interface isn’t intuitive without an understanding of some basic concepts. Once people come to terms with these basics, the interface suddenly makes a lot more sense and Flash becomes easier.

JW: How has your keen eye for photography helped you in your design/development work? And where can you get this “eye”, my pictures are horrible.

Sas Jacobs: I’m sure your pictures are fine! I wouldn’t class myself as a designer so I can’t claim that my designs are influenced by my photography or vice versa!

I’ve had experience in several different disciplines that I think give me a broad approach to multimedia. I’ve been a working musician most of my life, and in addition to still photography, have also worked with digital video. I think all of these experiences have naturally lead me to Flash.

I think you develop your eye over time and experience. There are some basic tips that everyone can follow to make their photos look better but I guess to be a photographer you really have to take a lot of photos.

JW: We all know that you love Flash, but are there things that frustrate you about the tool or wish could be better? Future enhancements maybe?

Sas Jacobs: I’m working a lot in Flex now as it’s much easier to build interfaces that way. I guess it’s frustrations relating to Flash application development that have encouraged me to make the shift. Flash really isn’t a robust application development tool in the same way that Flex is. Whilst you can use it to build applications, the same tasks are 100% easier in Flex.

JW: I have noticed many well known designers/developers living in Australia. How is it possible for you to work with the most beautiful scenery in the word all around you?

Sas Jacobs: On behalf of all Aussies, thanks for the great compliment. My problem is not finding time to work, it’s finding time to stop working and enjoy my country! I am passionate about traveling but am always glad to come home. I am very biased and believe that I live in one of the most lovely countries and cities on the planet.

There aren’t too many places where you can drive to a major wine producing area, or see clean, white sandy beaches 20 minutes from your home! I can go for a run along the river in the heart of the city and see wild dolphins, pelicans and many other types of birds. It’s a magical environment!

JW: Thank you so much for your time.
Sas Jacobs: Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your questions.

JW: For the newbies out there, can you give us a brief description of what JavaScript closures are?

Jonathan Snook: Closures are a handy way of accessing variables declared outside the function from inside the function. So, if function B is declared inside function A, B will have access to any variables declared in A. Very handy stuff.

JW: Any thoughts on the new Spry framework from Adobe? Does it help the legitimacy of JS libraries now that it is included in Dreamweaver?

Jonathan Snook: I haven’t looked at the Spry framework in any depth but it’s inclusion in Dreamweaver is both good and bad. It’s good to see (what I can only assume) a solid library getting implemented in a major development tool. They’re both targeted at the same market: designers. I don’t think it necessarily affects the JavaScript library landscape much. Its use of the newer and more common object-oriented JavaScript coding style is a huge plus, though. If they haven’t already, it’d be great to see their other core code get updated into a central namespace.

Where I see the danger is in poorly implemented solutions by those using Dreamweaver without understanding the technology or the consequences of those solutions. This has always been a problem with GUI-based development.

JW: With your Prototype and Mootools cheat sheets you created, can we assume these are your two favorite libraries? What makes them so great?

Jonathan Snook: Actually, I’d consider myself library agnostic. I use the best tool for the project, which has included Prototype, Scriptaculous, Mootools, jQuery, YUI and Ext. Each has certain strengths and it’s nice to pull from each one as need be. For example, I like using Prototype with data-rich applications. Whereas, if I need some quick interactivity, dropping in Mootools or jQuery is worth it.

JW: Do you mainly use Firebug for client side debugging?

Jonathan Snook: Firebug is by far the best tool I’ve used for client-side development. It has saved me countless hours and has been a godsend for tracking down stubborn problems. It still has its issues, mind you, but what is there is fantastic. I’d love to see a similar tool find its way into the rest of the popular browsers. I’ve been meaning to do a screencast covering some of the stuff I do within Firebug… one of these days. I suspect many people have yet to discover the true power that lies within. As it is, there are still many features I’ve yet to use that I’m sure would be very useful.

JW: What web developers/designer really inspire you?

Jonathan Snook: I take inspiration from everywhere and wish I could learn more about how people pull off the things they do. That’s the great thing about going to conferences like SXSW; I get so much inspiration and energy from everybody that it makes me giddy. Like Shaun Inman. He’s managed to build a decent web application and make money at it. Or Dan Rubin who has connections. He’s done great work for great clients and has also made a lot of good friends in this industry. Or Jeremy Keith, public speaker extraordinaire. He’s in demand, flying around the world to talk about what he loves.

It certainly gives me much to look forward to.

JW: When should JavaScript namespaces really be used?

Jonathan Snook: Always! It has become such a habit for me that I don’t really program any other way now. It’s a handy way to encapsulate and claim ownership to a block of code. It keeps things more organized and offers up ways to simplify code without concern for conflicting with other JavaScript code.

JW: Where do you see JS libraries headed in the next few years? Maybe a consolidation?

Jonathan Snook: I suspect we’ll see both an expansion and consolidation. More libraries will continue to be released but it will be harder and harder to achieve the mass popularity of the main libraries. At the same time, many of the main libraries find themselves achieving the same goals in the same ways. Currently, each main library has a solid strength that differentiates itself from the rest. Some are small, some are large, some are modular, and some are all-in-one. But put a “build-your-own” configurator behind them and suddenly they all begin to look the same. So, we’ll begin to see some libraries drop in popularity and eventually stop being developed.

JW: With the most current versions browsers are there any specific bugs that really “bug” you?

Jonathan Snook: I don’t think there is a specific bug that gets on my nerves. Once you know what the problem is, you simply work around it. For IE, I just wish that the DOM API would match what everybody else is doing. Forking code for various browsers is tiresome and is one of the reasons why JavaScript libraries have been so successful. Oh and Safari. They need to move to the latest Webkit. It’s frequently a source of frustration for me.

JW: Do you feel your skills as a graphic designer give you a unique advantage as a freelance developer?

Jonathan Snook: I think being well-rounded (in the intellectual sense) is a huge asset. Understanding what the possibilities are and how best to approach specific problems go a long way to providing value to clients.

JW: I hear one of your favorite tv shows is The Simpsons. Think that show will ever get cancelled? Will Bart ever wear a different pair of pants???

Jonathan Snook: I do enjoy a good episode or two of the Simpsons. It’s been consistently decent. Although seasons 4 through 6 were probably my favourite. Best episode ever: Lisa’s Rival. “Here’s a ball. Maybe you’d like to bounce it.” Classic.

JW: Thank you so much for your time.

Jonathan Snook: Thank you very much. It’s been a pleasure!

JW: Pageflakes is a personalized online Ajax desktop that allows users to read news, blogs, emails, do Web searches and access a variety of services. What types of challenges have you had to face and what technologies do you use?

Hasin Hayder: First and foremost, our biggest challenge is usability and performance. We maintain tremendously big database servers for Pageflakes users which is really tough to manage effectively. As far as usability is concerned, the challenge is to have a large amount of innovative features without overwhelming new users. Pageflakes has a very strong development as well as a management team. Hopefully you know that our new CEO Dan Cohen managed MyYahoo in his previous job which was a big hit. He adds value to Pageflakes with his innovative ideas these days.

Pageflakes is a language independent platform for flake developers which means you can use any language seamlessly for developing modules for Pageflakes, which we call flakes. But the core of Pageflakes is developed using the Microsoft ASP.NET and AJAX frameworks (formerly Atlas). We also make huge use of JavaScript all over Pageflakes.

JW: Are there any risks in using Ajax if you don’t really know what you are doing, as there are sometimes with, say, PHP?

Hasin Hayder: These days Ajax is almost a hype which is often used for show off instead of the main purpose, the usability. You know that you can make your application more effective by successful use of Ajax; also you can drop usability by misusing. If you are planning for developing applications which can bring colorful moments for users, you have to use Ajax technology more seriously, just really when you need it. And no doubt to say that Ajax opens the door of software which we couldn’t think without it.

Besides dropping usability there are not many issues not effectively using Ajax. And nothing worse can happen other than loosing users for your applications.

JW: What would be your Top 5 skills or technologies for anybody trying to pursue a career in web development?

Hasin Hayder:

1. Javascript – Learn it through popular libraries, not by reinventing the wheel.
2. Usability issues – No matter who you are working for, you must have a sense about usability and colorful moments. You must perceive that skill inside you.
3. Optimization and Security issues – Independent from any programming languages, if you really want to succeed in the field of web application development, trust me, these are the key features you should be aware of.
4. Common sense – You need to make huge use of this thing. As long as you know how to deliver your application KISS, chances are higher that you will get a promotion.
5. Programming language and database – Last but not the least, the minor issue you should have been familiar with, some flexible programming language and database server. Choices depend on you and environment of the application you plan for. My favorite choice is PHP, .NET as programming language and PostgreSQL as database server.

JW: What really excites you about the web now?

Hasin Hayder: The service oreiented architecture of today’s web apps excites me very much. Most of them are coming in open standard and providing API to help in globalizing their services. Everyday I go to sites like ProgrammableWeb to find out what’s coming new and how I can incorporate that with my web apps.

Also, I am a tech blog reader, so I read Technorati and sites like TechCrunch, Ajaxian, and Planet PHP every now and then and the news comes there always excites me.

JW: Would you say that Smarty is something every PHP developer should know?

Hasin Hayder: Nope, Smarty is not the thing that every PHP developer should know; instead they should have proper knowledge on separation of layers and splitting your application into modules. Smarty comes as a choice when you think for a complete (and sometime more than that) solution for presentation layer. Smarty allows the developer to write small amounts of code as a Smarty template to make development more enjoyable. I love Smarty because of its power and short learning curve.

JW: What are the main differences between a template, library and framework?

Hasin Hayder: Think that you are going to a garage to repair your car. The “paint shop” you can consider to be the template, the “repairman” is the framework and the “tools” he uses are your libraries. To make a long story short, a library comes with a repository of objects which will help you to perform different kinds of activities. A template is the thing which generates the outlook and framework to make successful use of all of these. In my personal experience, I am a big CodeIgniter fan. It’s such a wonderful framework for PHP developers that I think almost every PHP developer should give it a chance. And I am fairly sure that you will fall in love with it.

JW: What has made WordPress so popular and how does it compare with other tools like Movable Type and TypePad?

Hasin Hayder: If you read my book you will find that I discussed several issues about blog engines. When I started blogging, one of my interests was redesigning my blog with a fresh look and feel every now and then. For that reason I always looked for easier templating system. After spending time with several engines I’d found that WordPress is so beautiful and it comes with thousands of designs developed by communities. WordPress is slim, smart and easier to extend. I am a programmer by nature, so plug-in framework and templating features attracts me the most. Movable Type is another pioneer and a very mature one in this category, but it’s really much more than a simple blogger actually needs. And I always prefer open source software over any other as long as I can stick with that. From all these perspectives WordPress comes best for me.

JW: Matt Mullenweg developed WordPress at the age of 21. So many other web applications recently have been given life by people who are barely of drinking age (i.e. Zoomr – Kristopher Tate at 17, Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg at 20). Is anybody over 30 considered over the hill in “web years” now?

Hasin Hayder: What can I say, ha ha, Most developers behind Pageflakes are below 30. It seems that it’s a most effective time for a developer to come with new ideas. After 30 is a age to settle down with your own company or bigger responsibilities. When it was time for C/C++, you will find that the innovative routines and ideas came thru the head of under thirties. But it’s time for web applications, so young developers shine again as usual. You will find young developers leading the age, as always.

JW: Thank you so much for your time.

Hasin Hayder: Thank you also for managing your time for this interview.

JW: You have been involved in web development for a number of years
now, but what got you started originally?

Nicholas C. Zakas: I first got interested in web development watching CNet on television. At the end of the show they gave a web site address for more information, so I hopped onto AOL to look for it. Since AOL had no web browser at the time, I was stumped as to how to get that content. I crossed paths with someone on a message board that said he could teach me how to make my own site. The instructions he sent overwhelmed me initially, as I had never heard of HTML. So I went out and bought a book on HTML (at the time it was on version 3.2) and setup my first web site in 1996 to keep in touch with friends. Even though my college had no Internet courses, I kept learning on my own, updating my site as I learned new techniques and eventually got a job working on the college’s web site.

JW: What were your first experiences using JavaScript? What difficulties did you first encounter?

Nicholas C. Zakas: My first experiences in JavaScript were simply outputting different things to the page using document.write(). Silly things like saying “Good morning” if it was before noon or “Good evening” if it was after 5 pm. I quickly got ramped up at my first job, developing for Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0. Only then did I start to understand what a complex language JavaScript truly was. My initial difficulties all centered around cross-browser issues. As CSS and the DOM were in their infancy, trying to make solutions that worked in both browsers was extremely challenging.

JW: For someone trying to get more acquainted with JavaScript (past the beginner level) what would be a good route to go in learning how it is really used on the web?

Nicholas C. Zakas: My advice to anyone who wants to learn JavaScript is quite simple: read every book you can find. You can learn a lot online, but oftentimes you won’t get the full story. There are some highly intelligent, extremely talented engineers writing JavaScript and blogging about it, but in my opinion, most of these posts are slanted towards that particular person’s preferences, tendencies, and use cases. Books (good ones, anyways) tend to supply arguments on both sides of an issue. I’m not just saying this because I’m a JavaScript book author, either; I’m saying this because it’s how I learned and I’ve seen people led astray by a passing comment on someone’s blog. Books first, blogs second, then back to books to cross-reference.

JW: You have another Ajax book coming out (Professional Ajax, 2nd Edition). What are your thoughts on the future of Ajax and is there too much hype now?

Nicholas C. Zakas: Last year I predicted that the excitement over Ajax would minimize in 2007, eventually being swallowed up as another web development technique, and I think we’re already starting to see that. There was way too much hype over Ajax last year, everyone wanted Ajax this or Ajax that…I think Mark Twain said it best: “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” What we came to learn was that Ajax was not a golden bullet, it didn’t solve all of our problems with web development. I think we’ve now come to the point where people understand that Ajax is really about creating an enjoyable, rich experience for users. Initially the focus was on the technology (XHR specifically), but it’s now come back around to where it should be: usability.

All that being said, Ajax isn’t going away. What I think has changed is the view of Ajax’s impact on a product outside of usability gains. We’re starting to see a slowdown of people saying, “this has to have Ajax”, and I think that’s definitely a good thing. In the future, the focus will be more on the user experience and what can possibly be done to improve it; Ajax will be one tool in the engineer’s toolbox.

JW: There has been so much talk about the pros and cons of JavaScript libraries recently, how do you know if you should use one or not? Do you personally use them?

Nicholas C. Zakas: I’ve gone on record several times speaking about my disdain for JavaScript libraries. Personally, I find most libraries to be bloated, poorly-documented, poorly-maintained and designed without practical usage in mind. Many force you to change your programming style to adapt to the library, which I also don’t like.

When should you use one? When you don’t have the time or inclination to understand JavaScript at a deeper level. In many environments where Rapid Application Development is the norm, JavaScript libraries allow much faster development than writing code by hand. They also enable developers to come up to speed faster, without worrying about cross-platform issues (which are presumably abstracted away with the library). The real problem is that once you use a library, you can become dependent on it. What happens when you need something that the library doesn’t include? Do you know enough to make it happen, or do you write it off as not possible?

The only library I’ve ever used, and would ever recommend, is the YUI library. I’ve been a big fan of YUI since before I joined Yahoo!, and now, working with it almost on a daily basis, I remain convinced that it’s the best option for those looking to use a JavaScript library. Besides being written in an “a la carte” manner (I wish more libraries were), it also has the backing of one of the most trusted names on the Internet and is staffed full-time with an incredibly talented groups of engineers.

JW: I heard a quote from Douglas Crockford recently saying that JavaScript is probably the most popular programming language in all the platforms it is deployed. Do you think its popularity will continue?

Nicholas C. Zakas: Now that people understand the power of JavaScript, I do believe that its popularity will continue into the foreseeable future. It is a truly unique language that seems to have infinite possibilities, which is why I believe it has been picked up for so many other uses (Flash’s ActionScript, Websphere’s ECMAScript for XML, JScript.NET, etc.). This isn’t to say that JavaScript doesn’t have any roadblocks, because it does. The folks at ECMA are hard at work trying to define the next generation of JavaScript, which really pushes the language further and gives it more powerful features, but unless we can get agreement by all browser vendors to implement the new JavaScript, we could be caught in a crossfire between browsers with different feature sets similar to when the Web was in its infancy (think of the additions to HTML that both Netscape and Microsoft made). The real key to the evolution of JavaScript isn’t really what Firefox starts implementing, but what Internet Explorer starts implementing. I know there’s a lot of anti-Microsoft sentiment when it comes to the Web (and other technologies), but the fact of the matter is that they still have most of the browser market and until a technology can be used on Internet Explorer, it is really just a toy for geeks rather than a useful tool for practical development.

JW: What developers really excite/inspire you?

Nicholas C. Zakas: I’ve been very inspired by Douglas Crockford‘s work. He’s the first person I came across who publicly said, “hey, JavaScript isn’t a toy language, it’s really powerful.” While I can’t say I always agree with his conclusions, he has done more than anyone else I can think of to really promote JavaScript and its usage in enterprise situations.

I’ve also recently been inspired by Hedger Wang. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Hedger at Yahoo!, and he never met a problem that he thought was unsolvable. The sort of stuff that he comes up with on a regular basis is just incredible. His blog is a treasure trove of brilliant techniques using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

I was also very inspired by the work of Erik Arvidsson and Emil Eklund at their site, WebFX. They were doing all of this DHTML and JavaScript hacking long before it became popular. I learned a lot from their work and was pleased to get to meet Erik on my first trip out to California. Those two guys, both now working for Google, are two unheralded but very important frontend engineers in the era of increased JavaScript use.

JW: Is it just me or have web standards suddenly become another hot topic? Are people (developers and web community) finally realizing it is important?

Nicholas C. Zakas: I think standards are coming back around as an important part of web development, and I think many people have taken important steps to make this happen. The emergence of WHAT-WG and the new HTML working group over at the W3C are examples of the increasing realization that the push for XHTML and other “next step” standards were out of touch with the reality of the market.

It is heartening to see people excited about standards and working hard to use them, but also tempering that with a realistic sense of balance with functional and user requirements. I’ve argued before that tables shouldn’t be overlooked for difficult layouts

JW: It seems that everybody is working for Yahoo! nowadays. Are they grabbing up all the best people for some sort of world takeover?

Nicholas C. Zakas: I think it’s an arms race of sorts with Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft. All the best web developers in the world seem to be getting invites from all three, which I think points to the fact that these companies all realize that the next great frontier is the Web, and they all want to be staffed to appropriately take advantage of it. There are incredibly talented web engineers working at all three companies and I think that this bodes well for the future of the Web as a whole. Competition breeds innovation, and with three major players (plus countless other smaller companies) all in the game, I expect to see some really incredible strides within the next 5-10 years.

JW: Thank you so much for your time.

Nicholas C. Zakas: Not a problem.