Design, Technology & a Lifetime of Learning
My career has grown alongside decades of changing technology, from traditional printing and typesetting to graphic design, desktop publishing, HTML, and modern web development.
Throughout those changes, one thing has remained constant: I have always wanted to understand how things work and what I can make them do. That curiosity has shaped the way I approach design, build websites, learn new technology, and share what I have learned with others.
Where It Started
Some of my earliest memories of computers come from visiting NCR with my dad in the 1960s. I remember the enormous computer rooms, raised floors hiding the cables, reel-to-reel data systems, and rows of equipment that seemed to fill the room. Instead of intimidating me, it made me curious about what these machines could do.
My interest in computers began long before they became part of my professional career.
Into Publishing
My professional career began in the printing industry in the late 1970s, when typesetting and page production were already beginning a major technological transition.
I worked with Compugraphic and Mergenthaler Linotype systems, learning not only how to operate the equipment but how to push beyond the basics and understand what the technology could do. At the same time, I learned the traditional side of print production and design, from typesetting and paste-up to the hands-on processes used to prepare artwork for the printed page.
Those early years gave me a foundation that has stayed with me throughout my career: understand the process, pay attention to the details, and never stop learning just because you know enough to get the job done.
From Type to Screen
By 1980, the way we worked with type and page layouts was beginning to change dramatically. Compugraphic systems introduced preview monitors that allowed us to see page composition on a screen before the finished type or page was produced.
Today, working visually on a computer screen seems completely ordinary, but at the time it represented a major shift in publishing. I was watching the industry move from traditional production methods toward the screen-based workflow that would eventually become desktop publishing.
For me, each new system meant another opportunity to experiment, learn its capabilities, and figure out how it could make the work better or more efficient.
Less Is More
One of the first lessons ingrained in me when I entered the publishing industry was simple: less is more. Good design isn't about filling every available space. It's about communicating clearly, directing attention, and giving people a reason to keep looking.
The longer you can hold someone's attention, the better your opportunity to turn that interest into a customer. That principle has stayed with me through print design, advertising, web development, and everything in between.
When Everything Changed
In August 1984, just months after Apple introduced the original Macintosh, I attended a publishing seminar at the University of Missouri in Columbia. For me, it was one of those moments when everything suddenly clicked. The skills I had learned in traditional publishing could now be applied directly on a computer screen.
Within a couple of hours, I was helping other people in the class understand the new system. I wasn't simply learning a computer program - I already understood the publishing process behind it. The tools had changed, but the principles of typography, layout, design, and production had not.
That experience showed me something I would encounter repeatedly throughout my career: when you understand the fundamentals, new technology becomes another tool to learn rather than a completely new world to start over in.
From Publishing to the Web
When the Web came along, HTML immediately appealed to the same part of me that had always enjoyed figuring out how technology worked. I began experimenting with the markup, changing things to see what happened, and building websites for my family, my five kids, and eventually other people.
One of the unexpected turning points came through eBay. I designed my own eBay templates and store, other sellers saw what I was doing, and before long they were asking me to design theirs - for pay. What began as another way to experiment with HTML gradually turned into freelance work.
My eBay design and presentation techniques were eventually featured in two published books about professional selling and product photography. More importantly, that early work helped launch a freelance web design career that has now continued for more than two decades.
Learning by Doing
I've always believed the best way to learn technology is to work with it. Read the explanation, then change the code, experiment with it, break something, fix it, and see for yourself what happens. That approach has guided the way I learn and the way I teach.
When I taught an HTML class, I had one firm rule: no WYSIWYG editors. The goal wasn't to teach students how to use a particular program; it was to teach them HTML. Software changes, workplaces use different tools, and sometimes the only editor available may be something as simple as Notepad. When you understand the markup itself, the program you use to write it becomes a tool - not something you depend on.
The same thinking applies to good design and accessibility. Long before accessibility became a regular part of web-development discussions, I cautioned clients never to rely on color alone to communicate something important because not everyone sees color the same way. Good design should communicate clearly to as many people as possible.
That philosophy is also behind the tutorials on this site. Whenever possible, I want you to work with real examples, change the code, and see the results rather than simply reading about how something is supposed to work.
Still Learning
Technology has changed enormously since those first computer rooms, typesetting systems, and early Macintosh computers, and I don't expect it to stop changing anytime soon. That's part of what has kept this work interesting for me for so many years.
I still approach technology the same way I always have: learn how it works, experiment with it, and keep digging until I understand what I can make it do. This website is a continuation of that journey - a place where I can put decades of experience to work while continuing to learn and sharing what I discover along the way.