mcville: Nathan Smith Interview

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Nathan Smith Interview

Oct 31, 10:20 PM by Marko

Interview with Nathan Smith – SonSpring.com

Marko:Hello Nathan!

Nathan: Heya Marko, thanks for having me on the show. This is a nice studio you’ve got here, and great coffee out in the lounge!

Marko:For our reader’s, could you tell something about yourself?

Nathan:I’m not much of a web developer, I just play one on the internet. Seriously though – I’m 26 years old, married, grad student, and full-time User Interface Designer. There’s not much to tell really. I’m just an average guy, and enjoy what I do.

Marko:How are you doing these days?

Nathan:I’m doing well. God is good, and has blessed us. I started a new job not too long ago, and it’s been great thus far. It’s a fun web team, consisting of a great group of people. I’m learning a lot. Also, I’ve been discussing things with the guys at BetaChurch.org. We’re trying to get some projects started, so that’s been cool.

Marko:When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?

Nathan:The first computer I ever used was my family’s old Tandy IBM Compatible, before Windows. Sixteen colors, one button mouse – It rocked. I used to play Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade using old-school floppy disks. It was great, because you’d have to pop in a new diskette every time you’d go to a different area of the map. I also wasted a lot of time on the game Mario Paint for the old Super Nintendo.

Marko:What is your favorite art work / website?

Nathan:I can’t really name one site, without excluding several others that are very good. So, I’ll just say that I appreciate all the websites out there that help promote web-standards and well done design. As far as artwork, I’ve always been a big fan of the artwork done by Jim Lee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lee). When he used to draw X-Men for Marvel, I was a big fan. After he left to join Image, I sort of grew out of comic books. I also loved the Disney movie The Incredibles.

Marko:When you launched SonSpring.com were you happy with the result of the site?

Nathan:Well, the site has been through different iterations since I first launched it in 2003. Initially, it was just a portfolio site, but I wanted more of a venue of communication, so I added a blog. This led me to redesign it several times until its current form, which I’m pretty happy with.

Marko:What do you do in your spare time?

Nathan:I try to help the Church at large understand and better utilize web technologies. There are so many sites out there that are just poorly done, from both a code and design standpoint. I think that we should treat our timeless message with a little more respect. I mean, a church will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on print or radio ads, but they typically treat the web as an afterthought. It’s time they learned to speak in the vernacular, which is online media.

Marko:Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?

Nathan:Coffee. I probably drink too much of it. The best kind are the beans you buy and grind yourself. I’m no expert, but I like a good cup of well-brewed java.

Marko:Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical work day is like for Nathan Smith?

Nathan:Wake up, eat breakfast with my wife, or not if we’re in a hurry. Go to work, check email, get some project specifications, work on the projects, and occasionally go to meetings. Most of my day is spent in Macromedia Fireworks. Then, I come home and work on freelance / side projects, read the Bible a bit, and veg out a little bit watching movies or TV.

Marko:I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?

Nathan:I was disappointed with my college classes, because they really didn’t teach anything progressive, and still relied on old table-tricks for web layout. Also, my school was heavily sponsored by Microsoft, so we had ASP classes, but very little about open-source. Gradually, I just taught myself what I realized was becoming important – things like CSS, PHP, and XHTML. It’s funny, I checked my old school’s site – wsu.edu awhile ago, and saw “accessibility” on the front page. I thought maybe they’d finally come around to using web standards, but the link just went to a page explaining that the campus has ramps. It’s sad that they care about those who are mobility impaired, but not those who need help visually.

Marko:Who are some of your biggest influences?

Nathan:Martin Luther is a historically inspirational person to me. He was willing to stand up to the corruption in the church during a time that no-one else would. He nailed a list of problems to the front door of a church to make his point. That takes guts. I’d like to see more Christian designers and developers do that, and not stand for mediocrity when it comes to the web.
As far as people who influenced me directly, my boss while I was at Asbury Seminary, Jeremy Lucas was the first one who pushed me to start working with web standards in mind, rather than using table-based layout. Without that encouragement, it would have been much longer before I came around.
Another person who influenced me at seminary was Dr. Rick Grey, who challenges his students to look past the societal stereotypes and limitations, such as racism or sexism, and see people as they really are – uniquely created by God. In the classes I took with him, he pushed a common theme, “For whose benefit will you use your power?” It’s sort of like the line from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” He taught me to do the best with what talents I have, and use them to help others.

Marko:Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like? How did that take place and why?

Nathan:Initially, I was more passionate about video games. When I was in college, I made about fifteen multiplayer levels for the old games Jedi Knight, Outcast, and Academy, some of which won awards. I was on a mod team with a few guys who went on to work for Nintendo, Raven, and Ubisoft. I realized that if I wanted to follow in their footsteps, it would be good to have a website where people could download my maps, so I started learning HTML. After awhile, I realized that far more people were able to appreciate websites than the video game levels. After all, it’s free to use a browser, and a not everyone plays computer games. So, from there my interest in web standards and CSS grew.

Marko:If you where not a designer / programmer what would you be?

Nathan:I think I’d be a college campus youth pastor. Campus ministry is what made a bit difference in my life when I was in college. For awhile, I was also considering being a chaplain in the United States Air Force, but I don’t really think that’s for me. Their requirements are that you be an American first, Christian second. While the two don’t always conflict, my priorities are not in that order.

Marko:How do you like our site mcville.net?

Nathan:I think it’s a good start. I do like that it has a nice, clean and simple design. As of yet, it seems a bit empty though. In Firefox, your JavaScript menus seem to cause a problem with your Google ads, causing them to flicker near the bottom-right of the browser. Also, I’d recommend that you get your code validating before putting the XHTML 1.0 and CSS buttons on your sidebar. I think you’re on the right track though, it just needs a little more tweaking.

Marko:What kind of music do you fancy?

Nathan:Anything with a good message. I typically like Christian music, but much of it is really cheezy, and too individualized. I think that there’s a community of faith that needs to be talked about more in Worship music. I’ve also been known to listen to some rap, if it has a point. So much of it is just bragging about who shot who, but occasionally there will be a one that address real emotion.

Marko:What’s your favorite food?

Nathan:Italian food is by far my favorite. Nothing beats a good pasta dish.

Marko:Where do you go out on Saturday’s?

Nathan:Usually my wife and I spend Saturday running errands. We’re pretty busy during the week, so it’s our catch-up day. When we have time, we like to go on walks, because Boise has a great nature trail along the river, and a cool Anne Frank memorial with many inspirational quotes from around the world.

Marko:Chinese or Thai (food)?

Nathan:Definitely Thai. Chinese food is good, when done right, but most of the time, we just get greasy American-ized food that’s not really authentic. There’s a great Thai restaurant here in Boise called Mai Thai (www.maithaiboise.com) that my wife and I love to take friends and family to when they come to visit.

Marko:Coke or Pepsi?

Nathan:There’s a difference?

Marko:HTML or CSS?

Nathan:If you mean for layout and markup, Tables vs. Divs, and Style vs. Font tags, then of course CSS. I do think it’s important to remember that just because you’re using CSS, this doesn’t mean you should write sloppy HTML. So many sites I see are filled with unnecessary Span or Divs, when they could be styling things like H1’s, P’s, etc.

Marko:Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?

Nathan:I don’t really watch TV, because most of it is commercials anyways. If I want to find out news around the world, I’ll just go to BBC’s website. I do like watching movies and TV shows though. Right now, I’m borrowing the Firefly series from a friend. I went to see the movie Serenity, and then wanted to learn about all the background plot.

Marko:What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?

Nathan:I don’t really use bookmarks, since half the time I’m at work, and half the time I’m at home. I do use RSS with Bloglines quite a bit though, so that’s sort of like a roaming bookmark list, that goes where I go. You can check out my list here: www.bloglines.com/public/nathansmith. I used to have many more sites, but try to keep it limited to 40 now. In case you’re wondering, yes I am subscribed to my own site, to make sure my feeds don’t have any errors, such as relative instead of absolute links.

Marko:What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.

Nathan:Clearly, I am not the most talented designer, or the smartest developer. So, what inspires me is knowing that I’m doing the best I can with what I know how to do, and trying to serve a purpose higher than myself. When I’m dead and gone, all the knowledge I have will die too, so I hope that while I’m alive and kicking, I’ll be helping pass on what I know to others. “There is no success without a successor,” a pastor once told me.

Marko:Thanks again for having this interview, cheers m8!

Nathan:You’re welcome, thanks for the coffee. ;)

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Nathan Smith Interview

Oct 31, 10:20 PM by Marko