Matt McInerney I
Via Peter : 17 Dec 07 : design, interview, plugins, textpattern, txp
Matt McInerney is a modest but very creative 19-year-old designer from Massachusetts who blogs on many things at Pixelspread, sings about many things with Something Explosive, recently created a social bookmarking site, Gleamd, and last night created tweetgift for twitter users. He found time to answer some questions for TXPQ...
TXPQ What motivates you or "makes you tick"?
MM
Recently my motivation has just been to create something compelling. In the past year I've worked on web apps, graphic design, music, and writing, amongst other things. In the past few months I've been really interested in the future of web design and typography. I think it's just the fact that I want to do and try everything creative that "makes me tick." It's a constant source of both motivation and frustration. 
Web Design
TXPQ When did you create your first web site?
MM I probably started when I was 11 or 12. I remember getting started with Flash. I would make crude little animations, and one day someone told me that I could turn them into a website. It was in the pursuit to share my work with the world that I started to learn HTML and later CSS.
TXPQ Was it successful or were your dreams shattered?
MM Success at that point was pretty different than what I might consider successful now. I put it online and that was a success then. As far as dreams being shattered, not even close. It was actually kind of the opposite. It was an opening to a new world.
TXPQ How many sites have you created since then?
MM
That's a tough one. I'm tempted to say either hundreds or thousands. I'm 19 now, and between age 11 and now I've been creating sites almost endlessly. I don't think of the sites I've created in numbers. I think of them more in milestones. The first major site I created was called theTRC.net. It was a hardcore/punk ezine I ran with a friend. That was my first introduction to dynamic web content. It was designing that site that got me to create the design site that would eventually become pixelspread.com. I remember when I was 16, I got a job doing design work for a band at Metalblade Records. Being a fan of hardcore music, that was huge for me. I got to design the band's website, banner ads, and magazine ads. And the most recent milestone for me is of course Gleamd.
TXPQ Do you have a set way of working or building a web site?
MM I always start in Photoshop. I think that's pretty standard. I build the graphic elements there, then cut them up, and start to code the site. I just use a text editor to code, Smultron usually.
TXPQ Do you use any tools to make web designing easier?
MM I really am a fan of just a plain text editor. I really don't like using Dreamweaver. I like Coda, but I haven't switched to it yet, not sure that I will. Give me something like Smultron or Textmate and I'm happy.
Transmit is a great FTP client though. And the dashboard droplet feature is an unbelievable time saver.
TXPQ As a professional, are there things you would never do, but which you see amateurs doing?
MM It really bothers me to still see table based designs. Its kind of an instant tell that the site you're looking at was done by an amateur. I think if you're not using CSS at this point, it's hardly fair to call yourself a web designer.
I don't usually like flash based sites. There are definitely exceptions, but for the most part, I'd rather see a beautifully coded HTML site. Just as far as flexibility is concerned, HTML + CSS always seems like the most reasonable option.
TXPQ Gleamd is doing well. Tell us about it!
MM Gleamd is a people database and search engine. That's the simple way to describe it. The reason I created it was so I had an easy way to find interesting people doing interesting things on the internet. There were sites that used crowd sourcing for news, articles, blog posts, videos, images, and various other content like that, but there was no directory of movers and shakers. Gleamd is my attempt to fill that space. I wanted to allows users to throw in their 2 cents, be able to vouch for people, and write a little bit about someone they might admire.
TXPQ Matt talks about Textpattern, music and design in Part 2.
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