The newest Member of the Month is AndrewCooper. Woo hoo! Much kudos to Andrew, who has made notable contributions to the Web Design, General Chat, and other forums (fora?) in recent weeks. SPF mentor Black Max recently interviewed Andrew, who graciously agreed to sit still long enough to write out some relatively detailed answers to Max’s sometimes-impertinent questions. The interview went as follows:
Andrew, we know from your SPF profile you’re a student interested in, among other things, Web design, robotics, electronics, physics, electromagnetism, and astronomy. How would you describe yourself to the SPF community? What should the rest of us know about you?
Perfectionist comes to mind. I really need everything to be perfect when I do something and that does include pixel-perfection. I’ll often sit just inches away from the screen just to compare two lines and make sure they are perfectly aligned with each other. I love science and music and always have done from an early age. I only like physics though - not biology or chemistry. I obviously love computers and modern technology and I’m really big on being environmentally friendly (which includes bugging everyone to recycle their plastic / glass bottles!) despite burning tonnes of energy spending an unholy amount of hours on a computer every day.
I guess you could say I’m also a technology advocate too because I’m always bugging people to buy a dishwasher to make their lives more efficient and all sorts of weird and wonderful things. I’m terribly passionate about the subjects I’m interested in, including the beautiful world that we live in (I say world as in the Earth, Sun, Sky, Moon, etc, not the people!) and I’m also very loyal to certain companies. A lot of people will ask me if I’m on commission from Microsoft, Coca-Cola, or because I’m always talking about them and promoting their products!
Oh, and something everyone already knows about me if they read my posts is that I type / talk way too much! !
You seemed a bit surprised – flabbergasted might be a better word – to have been chosen as Member of the Month. What do you think makes a good forum member, and why do you (or don’t you) fit the bill?
I was pleasantly surprised to be chosen but it was definitely a surprise!
A good forum member, in my opinion, is someone who contributes threads / posts that helps other people in some way. Obviously to help other people the content needs to be fairly sufficient (both text and images such as screenshots are helpful) and it should be best-practice only. Members really need to try and be positive and genuinely enthusiastic when discussing subjects in the forums to foster a positive community that engages and helps other forum members in their learning and development.
I don’t think I fit the bill because I’m a greedy bugger that just takes and takes away from the community. I’ll ask questions around the forums in hopes that the answer will benefit me (and obviously benefit other readers too) and I’ll just chat about a load of topics in the General Chat forum that don’t really help anyone. If I was able to help anyone with any problems they had then I would but I can’t because I’m still at the stage of getting help from other people with my own problems.
How did you discover SitePoint, and why did you choose to become such an active member of the forums?
When I read this question on other interviews and look at the members join date I often wonder how they can remember! I honestly don’t remember how I discovered but it was probably from something about Web Design / Development. I knew from the forum index that this was a good forum so I stayed, but I was wrong, it isn’t a good forum…It’s a brilliant forum! I also started buying products from and they were further testimony to how brilliant is on the whole.
What do you think works best about the SP Forums, and what would you most like to see improved?
I can’t really point out the best thing that works for the SP Forums because there are so many good points that make up the SP Forums. Everything works smoothly, professionally, easily and brilliantly. I look forward to visiting the SP Forums each day. The SP Forums are really doing great because of the friendly community, the amazing minds at SP HQ, and the work of the SP Forum Staff and HAWK.
The reviews in the Website Reviews Forum really need to be much more detailed, concise, in-depth, and helpful. The reviewers shouldn’t just point out a negative point in a Website but they should make a suggestion on how to improve it and some help on how to go about implementing that improvement. Another improvement would be increasing the activity in the General Chat Forum. We need more members posting in the GC Forum, kicking back, relaxing and having a bit of friendly banter between each other. We have some great new threads going on in the GC Forums; we just need the members posting in there.
How would you describe yourself as a Web designer, and what outside influences and interests inspire your designs?
Describe myself as a Web Designer? Rubbish. I really shouldn’t call myself a Web Designer but nobody is going to arrest me for it! My ideal job would be a Front-End Web Developer just coding HTML, CSS, and JS all day long. That would make me very happy and I believe that (after mastering JavaScript at least) I would be a really good front-end web developer (I hope).
I don’t know whether you mean people in the industry or objects / places / design elements outside of the Web industry that would be my outside influences but my main influences are blogs, articles, books, and people. When I am designing a new Website I’ll do extensive research on the competition to see what their designs are like and also think about what I want others to think about and feel towards my design so I’ll do a lot of research in that arena. If I was doing a Website for a gardening club / society then I would have to read a lot of gardening books and magazines for outside inspiration.
What is it about robotics that you find so fascinating? (I assume you don’t think the Roomba is the be-all end-all of robotic design…)
Hmm fascinating isn’t the word I would describe it as, for me it is more about the brilliance and the idea of humanoid robots amongst society including helper robots / androids. Roomba is just the beginning! In ten years’ time when I’ve settled down neither me nor my wife will need to spend 10 - 20 minutes cleaning the house because we’ll have our lovely little 'bot to do it for us. How much time will that save us both over the course of just a year? I think what I love about the idea of robots helping humans is that it ultimately allows us to spend our time on much better things that can be more beneficial for ourselves and others. I’m all for robots in the future and they are currently helping us right now as some hospitals in America are taking advantage of ‘courier robots’ that can store drugs and other medical supplies that can be dispensed by a doctor or nurse to give to a patient rather than go all the way to the stocks or to a pharmacist themselves. For me it is all about the time saving and spending that extra time on better things.
Roomba certainly isn’t the be-all end-all of robotic design, but Honda’s is some pretty amazing robotic design I’d say!
You noted that you’re into volunteering. Do you volunteer for any particular organizations? How can Web designers who work 70 hours a week get involved in volunteering?
It first started out volunteering to design / develop / produce Websites for non-profit organisations locally but I’ve just recently started doing volunteering for (organised by ) which is the national youth volunteering programme for 16 - 25 year olds in England, United Kingdom. They organise volunteering opportunities with various organisations, for example last week I was volunteering to be a participant in an equality & diversity pilot training course for the local council and then the day after I was volunteering at Age Concern to help train people over 50 how to use a computer, send e-mail, watch videos on , upload pictures, etc. I spent 3 hours teaching an elderly woman of 69 how to turn a computer on / off, play Solitaire, watch Daniel O’Donnell on (bless her) and send e-mail to her sister in Australia.
I’m hoping to be trained up to be a Cyber Mentor sometime soon for to help beat bullying in cyberspace! 
As for Web designers working 70 hours a week…Gosh! I think when you’re working that many hours each week then it may be hard to find the time to volunteer. I guess it depends on what you can help out with and when you can do it but volunteering to create a Website for a local non-profit organisation may be the only option if you can’t afford to be away from the computer.
Hmmm, I got started in doing public Web designs by volunteering for non-profits, and my first product was for an anti-bullying site. Coincidences in hyperspace…!
Burning question: Firefox, Chrome, or Opera, and why? (If you say Internet Explorer, I’ll petition to revoke the award. 
)
Well for myself personally I’d have to say Google Chrome (and by a long shot too, at least for me!). I absolutely love the interface, the speed, how intuitive it is and it really is a refreshing software application to use. On the other hand I actually use Internet Explorer 8 for regular day-to-day use / browsing and that is only because of laziness to import my bookmarks into Google Chrome. I’ll get around to it one day and when that day comes I’ll be much happier having less “Internet Explorer (Not Responding)” issues.
Your MoTM award is safe from me.
You’re interested in magnets, and the X-Men’s Magneto. What gives?
I guess my interest in magnetics stemmed from when I was interested in Science at a young age but after I started watching the X-Men cartoons and then they released the four X-Men films I’ve just become more obsessed with magnets and the character Magneto. He is my childhood super hero (even though he’s a villain!) and Sir Ian McKellen pulls the character off to a T. If I was to have any super powers it would be the powers that Magneto has.
I’ve become so obsessed with the idea of having Magneto’s powers that I’ve done some research into magnetics and electromagnetism and I’m trying to get ahold of some fairly powerful magnets to play with. The (crazy and insane) idea I have is that I could attach the magnets to some gloves, stick them on and then try attracting my metal bin towards my hands, thus giving myself the illusion that I’m somewhat like Magneto (only non-destructive). It’s nothing serious really, just child’s play…I am still young…I can dream up impossible things and not seem like a madman…Honest, I’m not delusional!
If there is anyone on the forums that has a degree in Physics that wants to tell me this stuff isn’t possible then please do. It might save my mental health.
What music makes you feel like you can code (or do) anything? You play the trumpet, and you’re into classical music, so is it Mozart that moves you? Bruckner that makes you want to bust a move? Liszt that makes you loopy? Or something else entirely? And how about that trumpet?
It’s a tough choice between classical music, pop music, and soundtrack music. When I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine and I’m listening to “The Blue Danube” I start typing very weird with my fingers as if to go with the music and it just helps! Some of the most notable amongst the huge list would be Beethoven’s Symphony No.4, No.5 and No.7, Mozart Horn Concerto No.4 amongst other pieces, Grand Sonata in B-Flat Major…Oh bugger it I’m sat here going through all of them and I really love them all! Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and many more. I can’t get enough of classical music.
I’ve been playing the trumpet since I was 10 so that makes it almost a decade for me! In school we were given the choice to play an instrument and I wanted to play the drums but there were no places left so I took trumpet and lo and behold I loved it! I’m a Grade 3 trumpet player but my tutor says I’m Grade 6 standard. That statement is really important because the only thing that has held me back from doing my Grade 6 (which is clearly much better than Grade 3) is that I’m terrible at remembering my scales. After I finished school my parents bought me my own trumpet to annoy the neighbours with! I’ve played in the school orchestra, brass and jazz bands, big bands and all sorts. I mainly play jazz and pop music (James Last-type music) on my trumpet but I’d like to play symphony music some time. I used to be a good piano player and I’d like to start again and maybe do the music exams for that too.
In the kitchen, you make a mean --?
The kitchen? Is it a computer component I’ve never heard of? I usually burn things in the oven but I am very good at preparing the best glass of ice cold Coca-Cola!
Thanks again to Andrew for being such a quality member of the forums. Look for an audio interview of Andrew by Max appearing soon…!
Hehe. I’m glad everyone liked the very long interview haha. Thanks goes especially to Black Max for nominating me for the award so :tup: Thanks again everyone 
Thanks 
Thanks also!