My background is in finance, sales and project management, working for companies like Halifax PLC, American Express and Audi.

I set up my first web presence in 1997 in the days of animated gifs and lake applets.



2. What would you consider your greatest achievement to date?

In terms of _web_ achievements, I'd have to say it's the ongoing success of FWA. The site receives thousands of submissions each month and serves up millions of visitors every year. Traffic has increased every month since the project started in May 2000.

It's very satisfying to know that so many people from all walks of life, from all around the globe, visit the site on a daily basis to see what's the latest Site Of The Day.

3. What projects are you currently working on?

I'm currently working with a US studio on a completely new site for FWA, including new branding and a host of new features that will make the site a better experience for its users. It will be a 100% Flash portal site using the latest features of the Flash 7 player.

I shall, also, be working with my favourite Belgian studio on a brand new Well Vetted site.



4. What are you thoughts on flash in terms of usability?

I can't be the only one who always sees the face of Jacob Nielsen whenever someone mentions the "usability" word? I really regret looking at the hi-res photos of him.

"Flash" and "usability" have no connection at all, as far as I'm concerned. Target audience and usability is the issue that most of the usability brigade seems to miss on occasions.

Take a site promoting a game for example like dotu.net. I can remember at the time of launch reading forum posts about the site's poor usability because the user had to drag the interface elements onto the stage itself. However, the site was a massive hit with gamers (the target audience) who loved all the interactive elements and, in particular, the bouncy drag menus.

If someone says "usability" to me, I say, "target audience". There should be a harmony between the two.

If the target audience find a site hard to use then there is a problem in the planning, design/development and specification of the site, Flash, HTML or whatever was used to build it.



5. Who is the target audience for FWA and Well Vetted?

We recently conducted a user survey at FWA and found our current audience to be over 90% male, aged 18-35 with the majority from Europe, USA and Asia.

Predominantly university educated or attended higher education and whom fall into three main professions: web/graphic/art related; professionals; and students.

The huge majority are well-experienced and heavy web users with more than 4 years surfing and spending more than 6 hours per day accessing the web.

We're hoping the new designs will open both sites (FWA & WellVetted) up to a much wider audience.



6. What does FWA bring to its visitors? Can you talk about any improvements or changes we can look forward to with the new FWA site?

I can't give too much away regarding the new FWA site but I can tell you that it will be totally transformed. It will have a whole new look and feel and will run more like a web application than a fixed page website. We've spent months making sure we have the specification right and have tried to include as many new features as possible whilst keeping the premise of the site, showcasing cutting edge design on a daily basis, the same.

The site will use an impressive content management system and will include a couple of new user participation features. The whole site will be searchable and there will be a couple of new areas to compliment the current interviews section.

The Flash usability will be great, including simple but handy features like back and forward buttons and scroll-wheel functionality (IE).

Let's put it this way. I can safely say it will be a huge leap forward from the current site, which served its purpose for a while.



7. A difficult question for sure; what would you list as the top 3 sites ever posted on FWA? Why do these sites stand out from the rest?

Difficult question is an understatement. The best I can do is a favourite 10 and these sites reflect my personal choice and don't reflect FWA as a whole.

As I became more familiar with the design sites that make up the current members of Well Vetted, it soon became apparent that this was a much better membership to approach.

The membership covers almost every continent and the product is a diverse and guaranteed quality link bonanza on a monthly basis.



10. What was the last great movie you have seen and what was the last great book you have read?

I'm not a huge movie or book fan. Once they start allowing laptops in the cinema I might find the seats a bit more comfortable.

So, not the last great film I saw but the original Planet of the Apes film was fantastic when I first saw it. Originality at its best.

A book I really bought into a number of years ago was "Communion" by Whitley Strieber. I spent a good few months afterwards reading lots of UFO and conspiracy type books. You can't beat a good conspiracy theory can you?

I recently finished Jimmy Lerner's "You Got Nothing Coming, notes from a prison fish", an education in itself.

At the moment, I'm ploughing my way through "London" by Edward Rutherfurd