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 Webmasters
- Adam Wolf
Adam Wolf, next to Jouni, is about as legendary as a Simpsons
webmaster can be. He's been around since the beginning, and has recently
served as something of a connoisseur on the history of OFF websites. He
is widely considered to be one of the best, if not the best, designers. |
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How does the current state of the
community compare to different periods in the past?
There's a lot less competitiveness in my opinion. But that's because my
sites were always in the shadow of others, so for example LETS was
always trying to chase Evergreen Terrace and The Simpsons Channel was
always trying to chase The Simpsons Top 100. But these days there's more
of a set level of quality that everybody can see and the sites are in a
class of their own. There's huge gaps between one good site and another.
There's also less webmasters these days but the community that exists
within places like Nohomers.net are as strong as ever, they've just run
out of things to talk about.
You started designing at a very early time in the community. Did you
have any influences back then, or was it pretty much just trial and
error?
It probably took me 1 year to get what you'd say is an acceptable
design. Before that I had cloud backgrounds, tables with borders, images
that weren't anti-aliased, stolen graphics and all the bad sites back
then were influenced by each other. I don't consider those bad designs
of mine in the general count of designs that LETS has had because there
were too many and every site update became a design tweak. I still look
back at my designs from 1999 and 2000 and I don't see them as excellent
but I guess they were always clean and did the job and that's what makes
a good design.
If the Archive and the Folder turned into monsters, who would win in
a fight?
The archive, because myself and even Jukka are contributors there.
There'd be more substance to that monster. All the contributors would
get together and beat the Folder into the ground, although Jukka would
be working on the inside to make sure the Archive doesn't damage the
Folder beyond repair.
What are some of your other interests? Have you received any honors
or degrees?
No. I thought I could get by on being self-taught but turns out
employers don't care what you say you can do, even if you have the
portfolio to prove it. So I started a degree in multimedia arts this
year and I'll be finished that in 2008. My other interests include
music, aussie football, being quiet on trips, clapping along with songs
and diabetes!
What's the best advice you can give to an aspiring webmaster?
Open your site when it's got actual content. Have a clean design. Don't
flood message boards with your annoyingness. I could pretty much see
potential in any site if they follow these guidelines.
A semi-major topic among fans is grade-weighting. Are the fans easier
on recent episodes, harder, or just right?
I think they are just right if they are rating episodes compared to the
last couple of years. But there's way too many episodes getting 5/5
these days and there's no way these episodes are as good as the glory
years. Granted when I see a great episode in the current season I'd
probably be inclined to give it a high rating just because the rest of
the season sucked. There's also a whole group of people that are harder
on the current episodes, but those people stopped watching the show
regularly in season 12 (and most of those I'm referring to once owned
the top Simpsons websites).
Let's talk about the DVD's. How are they? Did you get the alternative
box for season six? Which sets do you watch the most?
I haven't actually got Season Six yet because they spent so long
releasing the alternative box in Australia -- it just hit the shelves a
few weeks ago. But I guess that answers your question, yes, I'm getting
the alternate box. I'm just waiting for it to be reduced in price and
that happens about a month from now.
I don't watch any of the sets regularly at all. I buy them and I watch
them in order, by episode without commentary and then with, before I go
to bed. So when I finished watching Season 5 in this way I had nothing
else to watch, so I started on other DVDs like Family Guy and Futurama.
What sites (both Simpsons and non) do you visit on a regular basis?
Ah just a bunch of geeky sites which relate to my personal interests.
Software, the media, television in general, video games. For Simpsons I
visit No Homers on a regular basis but that's about it.
The Simpsons-Family Guy fan-war has cooled down in the past few
months, but there is still a significant level of confrontation. Is it
all silly nonsense, or is one side more right than the other?
It's all silly nonsense. I enjoy both shows and often find myself
looking forward to new Family Guy episodes more than Simpsons. But both
sides of the argument have their points, I'd like to see the fans just
get together and appreciate the fact that there's more variety in prime
time cartoons these days.
What's the most prevalent problem facing the community right now?
Just a lack of new, good sites. Look at the top 5 and they're all major
sites with aging webmasters who probably don't appreciate the show as
much as they used to. If those sites disappeared there wouldn't be much
holding the place together.
You're very able in the field of web design, and your implementation
of Flash is nothing short of spectacular. Have you learned more through
active self-education or simple practice?
I seriously never thought I'd be able to use Flash when I got hold of it
about four years ago. The interface was just bleh and I didn't want to
learn it. I ended up buying a magazine with a cover cd which had a video
tutorial on the basics of Flash and I learnt everything I know from
that. I still can't do much outside of movement of text and lines so
there's plenty more to learn and I guess I will eventually under my arts
degree.
What is the biggest factor in deciding when to do a re-design?
For LETS it's usually when I'm sick of the design or if the site has had
a design for a year or two It'll always be in the back of my mind that
it needs a refresh. That said LETS current design is now about 17 years
old and I haven't thought about a redesign at all. Maybe for its 10th
birthday next March. The Simpsons Channel usually gets a small refresh
whenever I feel like the site outgrows its format, as lots of the news
sites do.
Make a rough estimate: how many total hours have been spent working
on LETS?
Seriously, I couldn't. 9 years. I can't remember how often or little I
used to update. I know I spend a couple of hours a month on it these
days which isn't much but finding the time is a lot harder than it used
to be. Redesigns take forever. So yeah. Can't help you with that
question, and if I did work it out I'd probably have to shoot myself for
being such a geek.
What's some of your favorite music? Books? Movies?
I don't read because of my short attention span. What was that other
thing you wrote? Movies and music. Yeah I like them but I'll be damned
if I can narrow down my favourites.
Summarize your plan for the next ten-years in less than fifty words.
Meet my life partner, marry her, have two kids. Work in graphic design
or similar. Keep my sites online and un-updated. Eat a giant hoagie.
Oh and did you know The Simpsons Channel, or rather, I, invented
Simpsons webmaster interviews. And then a bunch of other sites thought
it'd be cool. Plagiarismo de Plagiarismo. How dare you. |
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