Creative Perspectives is a series of interviews with Designers and Creatives discussing their tools, design and how they use MODX. This first series of profiles and the interview questions were produced in conjunction with CMS Expo. Over the coming weeks we will be posting Creative Perspectives on each respective site. Want to share your Creative Perspective? We'll let you know how in an upcoming post.
In this Creative Perspective GP Sietzema and Sipko Groefsema offer a combined view of how they work.
Who are GP Sietzema and Sipko Groefsema
Names: Gauke Pieter Sietzema and Sipko Groefsema
Location: Surhuisterveen, the Netherlands
Titles: GP Lead Developer
Sipko Art Director
Company: Sterc Internet & Marketing
Twitter: @gpsietzema, @groefsema
As Lead Developer at Sterc, GP is responsible for the quality of web development. He leads research in new web-related technology. Sterc as an agency focuses on user experience and internet marketing, which requires a lot of flexibility. MODX delivers this for them.
Interview
Remember your first computer? What was it? Any interesting stories behind it?
GP: It was one of those old 8086 models with huge floppy disks. I remember creating start menu’s on it, which displayed all installed games on the system. I was 7 years old and already developing stuff; I loved it!
So...Photoshop or Fireworks or both/neither and why?
GP: Photoshop, because we’ve always used it, it works and our workflow depends on it.
Who is the person who inspires you the most creatively, and what you admire most about them?
GP: That has to be the whole group of people who brought us web standards and are still on the frontline of web development. Names who come up immediately are Dan Cederholm, Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer.
Sipko: There are many great designers out there. But I don't follow or admire one in particular. When I'm low on inspiration I like to browse Dribbble; the biggest advantage of this is you only see partial designs, that way you don't get influenced to much.
People who inspire me most are the people who give feedback on my designs. It sucks if they don't like it straight away, but with their feedback give new insights and make me rethink the design which often leads to a better design overall.
What are young designers and upcoming art directors missing today that you got to experience first-hand, when you were starting out?
Sipko: Web design isn't only about making a pretty picture. It’s about usability, interaction, business goals, technical possibilities and restrictions. Concepting and wireframes are the fundamentals to build on. These 2 steps also help in ‘selling’ the design to the client. You can explain your design decisions easier this way: the design is based on the wireframe(s), which is based on the concept, which is the translation of your client’s mission statement, vision, values and business goals.
Similarly, if you had to do it all over again, what do you wish you knew then, that you know now?
Sipko:
- Start with defining the concept, make wireframes and then make your design the best you can.
- Grids rule, but they ain't holy.
- God is in the details and in our line of business it’s in the pixels.
Quick, name your favorite 3 “must-have” apps and what makes them so?
GP:
- iA Writer for typing text. That’s what it does, enable you to write.
- Sparrow for handling my enormous flow of emails in a beautiful interface.
- Sublime Text 2 for my daily coding. It’s fast and beautiful.
What HTML editor do you use? (or are you secretly using DreamWeaver in design view? :P)
GP: Sublime Text 2; Previously TextMate.
So, how long have you been using a CMS? What led you to start using MODX?
I wrote my first CMS, with loads of ‘PHP includes’ after 2 years of web development without CMS’s, which has to be roughly 12 years ago. The reason was faster development. Whenever I changed something in the HTML code of a site, I had to change ALL HTML files, which wasn’t needed anymore when I started using templates.
What are some “must-have” features and add-ons or features you like most about MODX?
GP:
- The overall SEO-friendliness
- Templating engine
- TV’s to allow us to create anything we like
- Form customization to make customizable interfaces
What capabilities does MODX give you and your team that you appreciate most, and why?
GP: We’re able to make fully customizable websites, which are stuffed with SEO and usability tricks. MODX is so flexible that it obstructs us in no way. We’re not tied to weird templating workflows or limited to predefined variables. We’re free to create anything our crazy minds can come up with.
Who touches your CMS? All members? Freelancers? Your Clients? How is that working?
GP: Our developers, project managers, support crew, internet marketeers and of course our clients. Even our accountant knows how to get stuff done in MODX. It works like a charm. By applying ‘Form customization’ to the MODX interface, we only show input fields which make sense, so it’s easy-peasy for non-technical folks.
What are the most important things you’ve learned, using a CMS, versus the “old days” of static web sites?
GP: I’ll highlight one thing: semantics. Without CMS’s we could rely on our own HTML skills for managing content and the semantics would be fine. With CMS’s we have to depend on the willingness of content managers to enter content the right way. Common pitfalls here are copy pasting from Word, other websites and the usage of ancient browsers. They all mess up semantics, which can break the site, mess up search engine rankings, etc.
Bonus Question If you hadn’t decided to go into the creative realm, what do you think you’d be doing today?
GP: That’s a hard question, because I made a job out of my hobby. Before I got into the creative realm I was doing an IT Consultancy study, so I probably would’ve ended up as a suit, advising big corporations about how to waste their budget on new hardware.
More from the Creative Perspectives Series
If you enjoyed this Creative Perspective take a look at the complete Creative Perspectives series for more inspiring and interesting stories from designers who use and love MODX.
About Jay Gilmore
Jay Gilmore is General Manager at MODX, the company behind the open source MODX CMS and MODX Cloud hosting platform. He's been working with MODX since 2006 and was one of the first five employees when the company formed in 2010. He writes about the web and whatever else catches his attention at jaygilmore.ca.
Learn more about Jay Gilmore.