June 6, 2008 at 00:48Interview with Vlad Merzhevich
Surely many of you who are typesetting are actively using htmlbook.ru as an online reference, for example, on styles. Someone may be a regular visitor to the htmlbook.ru forum. I am sure that among the readers there are those who read the books “Site Acceleration” and “HTML and CSS by Examples,” and possibly learned from them. Who brings it all together? Vlad Mergevich, welcomed with applause :)
Hello Vlad!
Hi Dmitry.
Tell me, please, when did you become interested in the Web?
I was probably somewhat lucky that WebEdit was the first editor to create web pages that I came across. This is not a visual editor, and although everything could be done through the menu buttons, I involuntarily had to learn HTML. So he learned how to independently create web pages. Then, like many beginners, there was a fascination with frames, but quickly said goodbye to them when he realized that this thing was not flexible enough. As an example, due to a small error, the frame structure opened in itself several times. This, of course, does not speak about the drawbacks of frames, but about their improper use, however, after that I switched to another layout system, namely tables. There was still a fascination with the Microsoft FrontPage program, it was then that I realized what its main drawback was. No, it’s not at all that it was created by Microsoft, it’s childish. FrontPage takes on a lot, believing that he himself will do much more correctly than a person. As a result, you have to constantly monitor this program, “keep it in check”, and you need to know both HTML and layout features in FrontPage, but newcomers do not have this knowledge yet.
And when and how was the idea born to publish the first book?
At one time, he wrote several articles on reducing the amount of data on the site and accelerating its work. But it turned out that the articles were enough for a small book, so I decided to contact various publishers to publish it. And at that moment Yevgeny Rybakov from BHV turned to me and suggested writing a book. Here is such an amazing coincidence of desires and opportunities. After discussing the concept and content of the book, it came out under the title "Speeding up the site."
What is the total circulation? By the way, how many books are there?
Two books - “Site Acceleration” and “HTML and CSS Examples”. The circulation for the theme is standard - 5 thousand copies.
Tell me how you created htmlbook.ru? What were the difficulties?
Like many, I tried to come up with what information can be placed on my future site. I deliberately did not want to do the homepage because of the narrowness of the topic. Here came the idea of posting small tips on web page layout. It turned out that for some reason this area was bypassed, although no one needed to be convinced of its relevance. So it began with a dozen small articles, gradually the amount of information grew to a couple of hundred articles, while the subject expanded. Already not only layout tips, but HTML, CSS and much more.
What is the site traffic right now? A forum?
The site is visited on average by 9k people a day, and the forum is about a thousand. But what’s interesting, forum topics are viewed four times more often than site materials. It is clear that they are used as a thematic knowledge base.
I heard about the problems with the availability of the forum, when you plan to solve them?
Oh, this is a sore topic related to the popularity of the resource and, accordingly, the increased number of visitors. Together with the hoster, we are looking for ways to reduce the load due to technical means or switching to a dedicated server.
Can you tell a secret whether new projects are being prepared? What kind? Tell me more.
This year, plans to launch the "unfinished» WebReference.Ru, in early 2008 on htmlbook.ru held a competition to design the site. Now I’m working out the technologies and principles of this resource on the example of the site “Graphics for Web” (webimg.ru), which in some sense acts as an experimental site.
There is also one interesting idea related to Krasnoyarsk, the city marks 380 years this year. For this reason, I want to make a site with panoramic photos of the city using QuickTime VR technology. That is, these are not just flat images, they can be rotated horizontally 360 °. The effect of presence is provided.
What blogs and sites do you read? Share a selection from the chef.
Morning, like many Internet users, begins with bashorg. I also definitely go to movie sites, I love this thing. I visit thematic resources on web technologies as needed; I don’t have to contact them daily.
Do you write articles anywhere other than your projects?
No, and so my sites borrow different sites. I even encourage this practice, but with a mandatory reference to the source. So the rating of projects is growing slowly.
If I write a very interesting article, will you publish it, for example, on htmlbook.ru?
Of course, the more appeals have already been and articles by third-party authors have been published.
Who are you working now? Where?
Recently, he worked as the head of the IT department at a Krasnoyarsk company, but soon realized that the work was no longer pleasing and it took too much time. So now I work for myself, I am engaged in consulting services for web technologies.
Will you show your photo? Horror is curious.
Thank you for taking the time! Would you recommend something to novice webmasters?
There are no absolute laws and common truths in web design. Knowing the basics is of course necessary, but everything else depends on you. You need to learn and turn your knowledge into a subject worth being proud of!
Cross-post from my blog .
Hello Vlad!
Hi Dmitry.
Tell me, please, when did you become interested in the Web?
I was probably somewhat lucky that WebEdit was the first editor to create web pages that I came across. This is not a visual editor, and although everything could be done through the menu buttons, I involuntarily had to learn HTML. So he learned how to independently create web pages. Then, like many beginners, there was a fascination with frames, but quickly said goodbye to them when he realized that this thing was not flexible enough. As an example, due to a small error, the frame structure opened in itself several times. This, of course, does not speak about the drawbacks of frames, but about their improper use, however, after that I switched to another layout system, namely tables. There was still a fascination with the Microsoft FrontPage program, it was then that I realized what its main drawback was. No, it’s not at all that it was created by Microsoft, it’s childish. FrontPage takes on a lot, believing that he himself will do much more correctly than a person. As a result, you have to constantly monitor this program, “keep it in check”, and you need to know both HTML and layout features in FrontPage, but newcomers do not have this knowledge yet.
And when and how was the idea born to publish the first book?
At one time, he wrote several articles on reducing the amount of data on the site and accelerating its work. But it turned out that the articles were enough for a small book, so I decided to contact various publishers to publish it. And at that moment Yevgeny Rybakov from BHV turned to me and suggested writing a book. Here is such an amazing coincidence of desires and opportunities. After discussing the concept and content of the book, it came out under the title "Speeding up the site."
What is the total circulation? By the way, how many books are there?
Two books - “Site Acceleration” and “HTML and CSS Examples”. The circulation for the theme is standard - 5 thousand copies.
Tell me how you created htmlbook.ru? What were the difficulties?
Like many, I tried to come up with what information can be placed on my future site. I deliberately did not want to do the homepage because of the narrowness of the topic. Here came the idea of posting small tips on web page layout. It turned out that for some reason this area was bypassed, although no one needed to be convinced of its relevance. So it began with a dozen small articles, gradually the amount of information grew to a couple of hundred articles, while the subject expanded. Already not only layout tips, but HTML, CSS and much more.
What is the site traffic right now? A forum?
The site is visited on average by 9k people a day, and the forum is about a thousand. But what’s interesting, forum topics are viewed four times more often than site materials. It is clear that they are used as a thematic knowledge base.
I heard about the problems with the availability of the forum, when you plan to solve them?
Oh, this is a sore topic related to the popularity of the resource and, accordingly, the increased number of visitors. Together with the hoster, we are looking for ways to reduce the load due to technical means or switching to a dedicated server.
Can you tell a secret whether new projects are being prepared? What kind? Tell me more.
This year, plans to launch the "unfinished» WebReference.Ru, in early 2008 on htmlbook.ru held a competition to design the site. Now I’m working out the technologies and principles of this resource on the example of the site “Graphics for Web” (webimg.ru), which in some sense acts as an experimental site.
There is also one interesting idea related to Krasnoyarsk, the city marks 380 years this year. For this reason, I want to make a site with panoramic photos of the city using QuickTime VR technology. That is, these are not just flat images, they can be rotated horizontally 360 °. The effect of presence is provided.
What blogs and sites do you read? Share a selection from the chef.
Morning, like many Internet users, begins with bashorg. I also definitely go to movie sites, I love this thing. I visit thematic resources on web technologies as needed; I don’t have to contact them daily.
Do you write articles anywhere other than your projects?
No, and so my sites borrow different sites. I even encourage this practice, but with a mandatory reference to the source. So the rating of projects is growing slowly.
If I write a very interesting article, will you publish it, for example, on htmlbook.ru?
Of course, the more appeals have already been and articles by third-party authors have been published.
Who are you working now? Where?
Recently, he worked as the head of the IT department at a Krasnoyarsk company, but soon realized that the work was no longer pleasing and it took too much time. So now I work for myself, I am engaged in consulting services for web technologies.
Will you show your photo? Horror is curious.
Thank you for taking the time! Would you recommend something to novice webmasters?
There are no absolute laws and common truths in web design. Knowing the basics is of course necessary, but everything else depends on you. You need to learn and turn your knowledge into a subject worth being proud of!
Cross-post from my blog .