What’s it take to have a mega-popular WordPress Admin Alternative? Some Orderedlist of course, and Steve Smith. We sit down and talk about design, life, and his newest love.
Devlounge: Hey Steve. Great to be talking with you today. Before we get into things, we first like to congratulate you on recently becoming a father. Best wishes to you and the family!
Steve Smith: Thank you. It’s been an exciting experience!
DL: I believe most of your early fame came from the design and release of Tiger Admin for WordPress. How did the idea for Tiger Admin come about, and did you always think it would become so popular?
SS: Honestly I just made it for myself. I wanted to see what was possible, and it was a great challenge. I decided to post the results for other people to use, and it just took off from there. I released it one evening before I went to bed, and woke up to 50+ comments, more than I had ever received before. Over then next day that grew to over 200. I believe through all the versions it’s been downloaded over 35,000 times.
DL: Many people have speculated on what will happen to Tiger Admin once Shuttle is launched. In your response post, you hit on different issues like whether or not Shuttle will have a different xhtml structure, which would force you to have to update Tiger. It’s now been a month since that post, have you made a firm decision on continuing with Tiger?
SS: No firm decision, but I think the next version will be a refresh of the design, and not just modifications to allow for the alterations to the WordPress admin XHTML structure. Another thing on my list.
DL: With the recent birth of your son, how does that change you as a person and your priorities?
Work is still a priority, of course, but off the clock if I have a choice of designing/coding or spending time with Jackson, family wins out.
SS: It’s really amazing how a child can realign one’s perspectives. Things I thought I could never do without seem to have fallen to the wayside with little or no notice. Work is still a priority, of course, but off the clock if I have a choice of designing/coding or spending time with Jackson, family wins out.
DL: As Lead Web Developer of the Notre Dame Web Group, what’s it like working together with a large team on a collegiate level?
SS: We’re not an especially large team, and we intent to stay that way. The educational environment is much different than that of the corporate, and one I’ve really come to prefer. The focus for us has always been on the quality of the end product, not on profit or speed. Obviously we want to expedite time to market, but not at the cost of the project.
Diversity is another key ingredient. In the corporate world most companies I worked for had a distinct niche with regards to their clientele, but at Notre Dame I have worked with project topics including biomolecular engineering, African studies, law, history, literature, academic freedom, and more. As a developer I love to shape and organize content for the web. Think of a University as a never-ending supply of content.
Think of a University as a never-ending supply of content.
DL: What are your favorite internet resources to visit, being design related or just general links you’d love to share?
SS: It’s hard to name specific resources that continually draw me back, but I do browse the galleries, check out Veer for some creative inspiration, and Flickr for fun and community. Most of my real inspiration comes from the people I know and communicate with directly. Whether through IM, face-to-face, or their websites, keeping in dialog with people I know and respect in this business has done more for my professional growth than anything else.
DL: What got you started in design and coding? Was it a hobby that just began to flourish over the years, or did it come on suddenly?
SS: Long story short, I started making websites because I decided not to go to graduate school for physics. My senior year of college I just wanted to be done with school, so I finished my degree, but during the year I fell back on my old hobby of web development. I had always enjoyed programming, but never really thought of doing it as a career. I dove in head first, learned as much php as I could, and got a job with a multimedia company right out of college. At the time I was still, shall we say, liberal with my usage of tables.
Early 2004 I finally saw the light of web standards, and I couldn’t get enough. Things have progressed quickly from there, but I’m always looking for the next thing I need to learn.
DL: Any other hobbies / things you’re into that you wouldn’t mind sharing?
SS: I enjoy playing my guitar, hitting the golf course, and chatting with friends, among other things. I’m kind of a do-it-yourselfer, so lately I’ve been building a deck, landscaping, and generally doing things around the house which should probably be done by a professional.
DL: Thanks for answering a few questions for us. It’s been a pleasure!
SS: You’re very welcome. Anytime.
