Full Code Press

FullCodePress Sponsor interview - SitePoint’s Matt Magain

30 April 2009 | Mike Brown | 1 Comments

Mike:

How would you describe SitePoint? A publisher? An online resource? Something that couldn’t have happened 10 years ago?

Matt:

SitePoint is really just a community dedicated to helping people build a better Web. Lately, we’ve been doing this in print form, by publishing books about building web sites, but we don’t really view ourselves as a
traditional publishing company. People visit SitePoint to read daily news or tutorials, look up something in our reference, watch training videos, or get help on building their site. And if they’d prefer to learn by buying a book, then we have that option available for them too.

As for whether this business model could have happened 10 years ago—we actually celebrated our 10th birthday last year. We’ve been doing this web caper for a while now!

Mike:

Tell us about your role at SitePoint. What do you do, what does it involve?

Matt:

I’m the managing editor of sitepoint.com. That means that, ultimately, I’m responsible for everything on our site—the design, the content, the community, the online advertising, and the strategic direction of the site. I obviously don’t do all of that myself—there are a few of us who work together to make it all happen.

In a given week I could be doing a bunch of different stuff: designing layouts, writing blog posts, optimising advertising copy, tweaking CSS or JavaScript code, looking for authors to write tutorials, and managing my team—both in the office and our blogging team who are spread across several continents. It can get pretty crazy, but it’s never dull.

Mike:

Web standards and the open web - the battle’s largely been won. Discuss.

Matt:

I disagree, the battle has not been won yet. If the goal of an open web is one where open standards prevail, then one only has to look at how many new sites built entirely in proprietary formats like Flash are popping up all the time. For many of these sites, Flash really is the right medium—they’re immersive, rich interfaces that Flash is just made for. But for many sites, it is not.

This is a huge part of the battle, in my eyes: education. It’s up to us, as informed, professional web developers, to educate others—beginners, agencies, clients—about building sites the right way, which includes choosing the right tool for the job. Those education goals are part of what motivated me to work at SitePoint in the first place.

Mike:

You were a judge at the last FullCodePress event. What’s the one piece of advice you’d give each team?

Matt:

Keep your nerve. There will be moments when you feel like you are faced with an impossible task, but the only way you can overcome those hurdles is to stay calm and focussed, and just work through it.

Mike:

The CodeBlacks are once again traveling to Australia for FullCodePress. They’ll be facing a home crowd, a potentially hostile environment and a mostly Australian judging panel. Do you think Russ Weakley could have stacked the odds any further in favour of the Aussie team?

Matt:

No, I think there’s a lot more he could be doing. For example, he should also ensure that the CodeBlacks internet connection experiences “accidental” intermittent failures throughout the contest, and that Men At Work songs are blaring throughout the night in the CodeBlacks work area. I know I’ll be doing everything I can to distract them!