Who is Charles Oliver Nutter?

I am a developer on the Java platform who loves alternative languages and wants to help keep the JVM the best managed runtime available.

Where and when did you start programming?

I think I wrote my first program at home when I was about 8, in Atari Basic on an Atari 400. Before that I poked at existing IBM Basic code, figuring out how things fit together.

Best thing about JRuby & Ruby?

Ruby is my favorite dynamic, scripting, utilitarian language. It’s great for writing small apps and wonderful for wrapping other libraries or for making part of an app more dynamic. And in Rails, we have just about the best web framework around. JRuby does all this plus allows you to call any Java library and fit into any JVM-basedsystem. That’s awesome.

What does your typical day look like?

I wake up at some time during the day, open my MacBook Pro, and start hacking on JRuby or other projects. Sometimes I idle on IRC helping JRuby users. Generally I’m working on bug fixes or perf optimizations in JRuby proper, and most days I’ll do a quick wrapping of some Java library to show how cool it is.

Of course many days, I wake up and go to a conference to present JRuby. I’ve been at dozens over the past few years, and that’s become part of my normal routine.

What do you do in your free time?

I play PS3 games, and do more hacking :) Sometimes I play Chess or Go with my son, or watch (American) football or movies with my wife.

Current favorite apps?

I don’t use many apps, but I’ve been very happy with Chrome as a web browser and NetBeans as a Java IDE. I also use Redcar, a JRuby-based clone of the Textmate editor for OS X. Most of my “app” usage revolves around development tools.

What OS do you prefer?

I use OS X, but mostly because it has the cleanest, fastest UI of any desktop environment right now. If I weren’t on OS X, I’d be on Linux (and I have not used Windows day-to-day for maybe 6 years.

Small picture for your Workplace?

My workplace is my home, so there’s not really much to show except the couch or my terribly cluttered home office :)

Favorite: Color, Font, Language, JS Framework?

I don’t really have a favorite color. As far as fonts, I like Monaco for monospace (terminal windows, plain text files) and Helvetica for sans-serif use. But I really wish more online text used a serif font like Times Roman…serifs make it easier to read large blocks of text.
Favorite language would be Ruby, though I still like Java a lot. I don’t really do JS work.

Name something that has inspired you recently?

We had JRubyConf 2010 a few weeks ago, and I met a lot of folks who wouldn’t be able to use Ruby if not for JRuby. That was inspiring.

What do you prefer (and why)? Freelance work or full time employment?

I like full time employment, because the work I love doing fits more into R&D than “real work”. Working freelance means you’re always beholden to someone else’s whims.

What are your personal projects and goals for 2010?

I want to continue making JRuby a better first-class JVM language, with improved performance and better integration points. I want to continue working on my other language, Mirah, so it can be an alternative to Java for more users. And I want to continue helping move the Java platform forward.

Who is Eric Meyer?

A father, a husband, a speaker, a conference organizer, an author, and a reader.  A proud and happy resident of Cleveland, Ohio and a traveler of the world.  A man of many words in print but fewer in person, an aficionado of all kinds of music, and a semi-competent coder.  A veteran of the web going on 17 years now, a booster of markup and style, a creator of movements, and a defender of community and collaboration.  A lover, not a fighter.

What about CSS3?

It’s here, it’s coming, it’s stalled, it’s dead… depending on which of the various CSS modules and browsers you choose to scrutinize. For example, some of the advanced CSS selectors are supported by just about every browser in use today, and they’re part of CSS3.  Then there are things like CSS Transforms and Animations, which are well supported by a few browsers.  And then you have CSS Math, which is potentially interesting but not implemented in browsers (as it has not been for most of the past decade).

So it’s not a question that’s simple to answer.  There’s a different answer for every person.

Why reset styles?

Because browsers don’t all have the same defaults.  A reset levels the playing field.  However, as I’ve said many times, it’s most effective if you take a reset style sheet and alter to suit your own tastes, thus creating a personalized “reboot” style sheet.  Raw reset style sheets are a starting point.

What does your typical day look like?

Some administrative work for An Event Apart, a fair amount of feed reading, and a lot of e-mail.  It’s also pretty common to do content and other creative work for An Event Apart, writing talks and creating slides, and then there’s always blog, article, and book writing.

What do you do in your free time?

I work on some personal programming projects.  I meet weekly online with a group of Halo 3: ODST gamers and irregularly in real life with a group of Rock Band gamers.  I also try to make it to local web-related group meetings.  Of course, I travel a fair amount for work so these things don’t happen as often as I’d like.

Current favorite apps?

BBEdit, Transmit, Camino, Twitterrific, Eudora, and Osmos. Runners-up:  Thunderbird, NetNewsWire 2, and Darwinia.

What OS do you prefer?

Mac OS X.  I’m still on Leopard mostly because I don’t have the time to devote to an OS upgrade, and also because as some of my favorite applications get older, I get more and more wary that an OS upgrade will break them.

Small picture of your workplace?

The office is halfway through being reconfigured, so it’s a total mess right now.  I’ll just say it’s a smallish room in our converted attic with two windows offering a lovely view of the trees behind the house and a patch of sky where I can watch summer thunderstorms approach.

Favorite: Color, Font, Language, JS Framework?

Respectively:  navy blue, New Century Schoolbook, HTML, don’t have one.

Name something that has inspired you recently?

The documentary film “Man On Wire”.  What a fantastic work of art.

What do you prefer (and why): Freelance work or full time employment?

I prefer working for myself.  It has a lot of advantages, not least of which is that I can really never be fired.  It also lets me be closer with my family.  The downside is that as a U.S. citizen, I have to pay for my own health care and health insurance, and that’s not exactly inexpensive.  If I didn’t have access to a decent group plan through a local small-business coalition, it would be even more expensive.

What are your personal projects and goals for 2010?

To finish up my current book project for Wiley and start on the fourth edition of “CSS: The Definitive Guide”, and to keep focused on making An Event Apart the best event it can be and the premiere conference choice for web designers and developers.

More personally, I have a web service idea that a friend and I are going to try to build– it’s one of those “we wish this thing existed so we’ll have to make it happen ourselves” situations.  I’m also hoping to finish a much better version of HYDEsim incorporating work I did in conjunction with Nuclear Darkness and some additions of my own.  I’m most of the way there but my weakness at JavaScript programming has proven quite a hurdle.  Once that’s done, I have some old WordPress plugins that could really stand to be overhauled and updated, and sometimes I think I should revisit S5 to take advantage of CSS animations and transforms.

I also hope to find time this year to become more conversant in American Sign Language and maybe do some carpentry.

Who is Jina Bolton?

A designer, author, and speaker, and an enthusiast in all things sushi.

Do you have a personal Brand?

Sure, you could say that. People know me as the “sexy stylesheets” girl, or the girl who loves sushi & robots, or the girl who makes really bad jokes (usually with puns). Really, I’m just Jina. :)

How do you find design inspiration and colours for a new project?

Anywhere, really. Depending on the subject matter, I’ll use colors that relate to that subject, or sometimes I’ll see a colors I like just walking around and make a mental note of it. Inspiration can come from anywhere.

What does your typical day look like?

I work from home, so my day revolves a lot around sitting at my desk and working. I try to get out everyday for something to eat (so I can get out of the apartment), but sometimes I can’t due to projects. I spend probably a majority of my day at the computer. Lame, yeah?

What do you do in your free time?

When I do get free time (which isn’t often these days) I love dining out with friends. I also like seeing movies and working on side projects. But the truth is, since I’m going to grad school part time while working full time, “free time” is a very distant concept to me.

Current favorite apps?

I’m almost always in Coda, Photoshop, InDesign, Keynote, Adium, & iTunes.

What OS do you prefer?

Whatever the most current version of Mac is out at the time.

Small picture for your Workplace?

Favorite: Color, Font, Language, JS Framework?

Black, Hoefler Text, Italian, JQuery.

Name something that has inspired you recently?

The Coraline movie gave me a ton of inspiration for mood, pattern, and color. It’s stunning.

What do you prefer (and why)? Freelance work or full time employment?

Full time employment. I don’t like dealing with billing, chasing after clients, or being worried about cash flow.

What are your personnel projects and goals for 2010?

I want to turn Art in My Coffee into a book, and I want to get at least half-way through the first stage of my thesis (a project I won’t talk about just yet!).

Who is Elliot Jay Stocks?

A designer (primarily for web but also for print), an illustrator, a speaker, and an author.

Do you have a personal Brand?

Yes, although nothing fancier than my own name.

How do you find design inspiration and colours for a new project?

A variety of sources, although I try and look outside the web for inspiration to avoid becoming stale. I collect everything in LittleSnapper and then make moodboards for the client using certain images I’ve collected that are relevant to the project. Once a pattern becomes clear, we often then draw colour scheme ideas from those images.

What does your typical day look like?

Get up around 7.30, have breakfast with my girlfriend, get to my desk around 8.30, answer emails and do general admin stuff, settle down to work around 10.30, have lunch and go for a walk around 12 or 1, crack on with work until about 5.30, answer a few more emails, cook dinner with my girlfriend at about 6, do some personal work / email catch-up / procrastination-induced client work catch-up until between 7 and 8, and then relax with a movie or TV show until bed at around 11.

What do you do in your free time?

I write and record music under the Sourhaze pseudonym, draw, watch a lot of movies, and go for long walks in the countryside. Oh, and daydream about eventually writing a sci-fi novel.

Current favorite apps?

The Hit List, LittleSnapper, and Ableton Live 8.

What OS do you prefer?

Mac OSX.

Small picture for your Workplace?

Favorite: Color, Font, Language, JS Framework?

Right now my favourite typeface would be FS Clerkenwell. Language: CSS. JS Framework: jQuery (surprise surprise). No idea what my favourite colour is.

Name something that has inspired you recently?

My mate Mike Kus’ approach to colour in web design.

What do you prefer (and why)? Freelance work or full time employment?

Freelance by far. I will never go back to full-time employment.

What are your personnel projects and goals for 2010?

Do less client work (and more product-based work), get more illustration jobs, release the next Sourhaze EP, release a new version of my site, expand the business, buy a house, and blog more often.

Who’s Brian Hoff?

I’m a graphic designer, blogger, speaker and part-time educator on the subject of design from Philadelphia. I’m also the guy behind the design blog, The Design Cubicle, in addition to running my own business focusing on brand identity and web design.

Do you have a Brand?

I focus on and enjoy sharing and interacting with others within the design community in as many ways possible. Designing, blogging, speaking and teaching makes this possible, and I guess you can say I’ve established somewhat of a personal brand because of it.

How do you choose the idea and the colors in any new project?

Typically when starting a new project, for somer reason I always seem to start off by choosing the type. This usually helps to establish the feeling and mood I am going for. Colors and other design elements soon follow. Of course as a project progresses some or many of the starting elements will change—but it’s all part of the design process and working through a problem.

What does your typical day look like?

I usually begin my work day around 8:30am, which starts off with Twitter and RSS feeds for the first half hour or so. Then I respond to client emails, which usually takes another half hour, and then move on to proposals and invoices (if needed that day). Around 9:30 or 10am I start my client work, which I try to split my day between two projects. This helps me to get fresh ideas and a new perspective on a particular project. I find that working on one project all day for eight hours straight tends to not be as creatively productive as it could be with a fresh set of eyes the next day or so. My day usually ends around 6:30pm by responding to blog comments, reader emails and interview requests (like this one!). I also try to write around 2–3 articles a week on my blog, which usually takes place after 8 or 9pm. Go to sleep, rinse and repeat…

What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

Besides the obvious (the Adobe Creative Suite), I also use Little Snapper for storing and organizing online inspiration, Remember the Milk for keeping track of tasks and other client remembrances, Suitcase Fusion 2 for keeping my fonts and families organized and quickly accessible, and Subernova for tracking expenses and time. My iPhone is also a must have, in addition to my second monitor connected to my iMac. This helps to be more productive and timely.

What do you do in your free time?

I enjoy being around friends — going out to bars, live music, or just sitting around chatting the night away. I enjoy walking around with my camera and photographing different things around the city.

Current favorite apps?

If we are talking iPhone apps, I would say my top 3 are Dropbox, Flickr, and the Amazon app—simply for the fact that the Amazon app makes it much easier to browse and buy then the actual website. Top 3 Mac apps would be Dropbox (love it!), Tweetdeck, and Coda when doing development.

What OS do you prefer?

I’m actually a big fan of Tiger (Mac OS 10.4) — it was by far the most stable, in my opinion, of any of Apples amazing OSs.

Small pic for your Workplace?

10. Favorite: Colors, Fonts?

Definitely a tough question. Favorite (lack of) color: White. Favorite font(s): Anything that H&FJ crafts. All of their typefaces are incredibly beautiful and well designed.

The things or source that inspired you?

Print design, magazine / book layout and typography provide a lot of inspiration for my web work. I also love color palettes of old, vintage/retro posters.

What do you prefer, the freelance work or the full time employee?

Freelance work. There’s a lot to do and maintain, but its well worth it in the end. Nothing is more gratifying then running your own business…and being the boss ;)

Your projects and goals for 2010?

I’m looking forward to speaking and traveling more. I also plan on starting a book towards the end of this year, and of course, as always, plan on learning as much as I can about design and improving my own skills and knowledge on various web technologies. I love to learn and explore.