steve kwan user experience designer

The Steve Kwan dot com blog engine

(January 26th, 2006 - 10:20PM)

I'm quite proud of the technology powering Steve Kwan dot com. Let me tell you why.

• Because it's simple. There's no back-end database that generates the content for this site. So many blogs these days are constructed with third-party tools to manage content, and there's nothing wrong with using said tools...if you need them. Well, I don't. There's definitely a case to be made for using back-end databases, but a lot of the time all you really need is well-structured content. And that's what this site is.
• Because it's valid. This site is made of carefully crafted HTML/XHTML. The percentage of websites that actually meet the W3C's standards for HTML/XHTML is surprisingly low. A lot of so-called professional Web designers don't even take the time to ensure their work is valid. Doesn't that say something about how professional they are?
• Because it's easy to use. Human-computer interaction is one of my areas of interest. I'm always impressed by well-designed, elegant websites. So many people throw a lot of flashy components onto their sites, but never put much thought into how they all fit together. I like to think that this site is very well thought out and easy to navigate.
• Because it's pretty. I like the choice of colors and imagery that I came up with for this site. I think it accurately reflects who I am and what I do.

So what engine powers Steve Kwan dot com? Steve Kwan. This site is powered by manual labour. This site is powered by love, not some third-party open-source piece of junk that you downloaded and compiled onto an old computer.