Stuart Butcher

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Stuart Butcher is the popular Textpattern user known on the forum as the bombsite where he answers many people's questions. He also took over the running of Textgarden after Sivert's death and has ported many Textpattern templates.

TXPQ What is life all about?

SB Growing old gracefully.

TXPQ What motivates you or "makes you tick"?

SB I find that helping people is a big motivator, listening to problems and trying to help them through a rough patch. I am a trained mentor. Injustice usually gets me going on a blog rant.

TXPQ Would you like to say anything about family, where you live, hobbies, lifestyle, etc?

SB You can find most of that stuff in my About section at the bombsite.

TXPQ Would you like to say anything about your day job?

at some point I would like enough website work not to have to bother with anything elseSB I am looking for part-time work, part-time because I do website work and need time for that though at some point I would like enough website work not to have to bother with anything else.

TXPQ What is your involvement with Freshly Pressed? Why Wordpress?

SB WordPress was the first software I used for the bombsite. I didn't know any better until I found Textpattern. I became involved with FreshlyPressed because I knew the other people involved and was invited to join the team due to my knowledge of Textpattern. When FreshlyPressed was initially set-up it was going to support both WP and TXP but it became apparent that TXP users weren't particularly interested probably because, for the most part, TXP users are a little more knowledgeable than the average blogger who would tend to go for WP. Anyway as there seemed little for me to do I dropped out of the team though I still host with them.

TXPQ You ported many many themes to Textpattern which can be seen on Just Another Theme and Textgarden. Why don't you port so many nowadays?

SB I haven't ported any for a while simply because I have been too busy.

TXPQ You're one of the most prolific forum problem answerers and you also write articles in your Textpattern coding section of thebombsite.com on things like SEO, linkable biographies, xml-rpc, archiving, navigation, using excerpts and the front page. Does anybody ever hire you to set up their websites with Textpattern? Is it love, insanity or masochism that keeps you coming back for more?

I put the site together and get the code and mechanics working properly then get someone else in to do the decorating which I translate into CSSSB As I mentioned earlier I like to help. Answering questions on the forum fits into that as does writing articles on TXP coding on the bombsite. Yes I do get asked to set up websites, both directly and indirectly. I tend to avoid the direct approach as I don't consider myself as a "designer" so unless the client already has a design that he/she wants to use I probably won't ask for the job. I am more of a site builder or constructor. I put the site together and get the code and mechanics working properly then get someone else in to do the decorating which I translate into CSS. It's a method that works extremely well when I work with Matthew over at Squaredeye. He gets the design sorted with a client, sends me photoshop or image files so that I can see how the final result should look, then I go in, do all the TXP / XHTML / CSS coding and get the site up and running.

Web Design

TXPQ When did you create your first web site? Tell us about it.

SB By that I presume you mean someone else's site? That would be James Lomax which is a photography site combined with a weblog. A very simple design, some might call minimalist, so as not to detract from the photos. James already had a design in mind so that suited me.

TXPQ How many sites have you created since then? Tell us about them.

SB I don't know how many sites I've done altogether as many were more in the line of a client having a particular problem with an existing site which I went in and sorted out for them. As for sites where I have done the whole construction there is The Vine (though they are having server problems so it is probably down, you can see an image of it on Squaredeye though), Jenny Jaskey Gallery, Why We Whisper and the latest is Business Cards.

Textpattern

TXPQ When did you first use Textpattern?

SB August 2004

TXPQ Have you used any other broadly similar software?

SB Only WordPress which I mentioned earlier though I am looking at Expression Engine at the moment as Matthew uses it occasionally.

TXPQ How does Textpattern compare?

SB It is number one.

TXPQ Why do you use Textpattern?

It is the simplest to install. It does not require an intimate knowledge of PHPSB It is the simplest to install. It is very light-weight yet extremely flexible. Flexibility can be extended with a wide range of very easy to install plug-ins. It does not require an intimate knowledge of PHP.

TXPQ Any thoughts about Textpattern...?

SB No. I use it all the time. I don't need to think about it.

TXPQ Any thoughts about net, life, the universe etc...?

SB Answering that question would require a 32 part serialization. It would be better to read my weblog.

Categories: Forum Support, Web Designer