Al Sparber Interview · 1614 words posted 03/11/2004 04:54 PM

Al Sparber Al Sparber is a founding partner of Project Seven Development (PVII). Sparber and co-founder Gerry Jacobsen produce Dreamweaver extensions, books, learning materials, and operate an extremely popular web site and newsgroup community for Dreamweaver users. Al lives in the picturesque town of Hudson, Ohio, with his wife Carol and their two children, Melanie and Ryan.

since 1968: PVII’s Tree Menu Magic extension is truly amazing. For readers who haven’t seen it, the extension is an add-on to Dreamweaver that creates the sort of tree control menu people previously might have preferred to build in Flash or an applet. How long did it take to develop?

Al Sparber: Tree Menu Magic took several months from concept to finished product. Our development process always starts with a raw idea and a series of conversations between Gerry and me that lead to working prototypes of the html structure, the CSS, and any necessary images. Once we’re satisfied with the structure and the look, Gerry goes to work weaving the scripts that bring it all to life, while I begin the task of optimizing the style sheets and the markup (I can sometimes be found in the basement chanting aloud in Sanskrit as I read the CSS1 and CSS2 specs). After deciding how the structure, the CSS, and the scripts will work together, we complete all optimization processes. We then call in our customer support specialists to test and evaluate an advanced prototype. Our support team tends to see things more as a real-world user would.

When we’re confident that the product will work and be stable cross-browser and cross-platform, the most demanding parts of the process begin:

  1. Programming the extension and its Dreamweaver interface(s)
  2. Writing the User Guide
  3. Beta testing

Our beta group is comprised of a good mix of folks representing diverse backgrounds and levels of expertise. All in all, it’s a team effort from start to finish.

So PVII products have a rather long gestation period and we think it shows in the quality of each finished product.

since1968: When you sell an extension like Tree Menu Magic, does the value come from the code itself, or the automated creation of the code?

Al Sparber: Both. Naturally, what goes in the actual web pages our customers make is the proverbial bottom line. But there’s more to our products than that. The user interface (UI) allows Dreamweaver users to save substantial development time. It allows them to deploy a scripted solution with the speed and efficiency that only a graphical user interface can provide (and some of the things Gerry has done with the extension UI border on the miraculous). Documentation and customer support also fit into the overall equation. Our User Guides are thicker than most of the manuals currently shipping with major desktop applications and customer support is always free.

Stir all of the above ingredients together and that’s what makes PVII products so tasty and special.

since1968: Nick Bradbury recently noted that there are more unlicensed copies of his software in circulation than licensed copies. Is piracy a problem for PVII? How do you address it?

Al Sparber: We once considered the establishment of a ballistic missile program but we couldn’t swing the financing. Then we tried to raise an army, but no one would enlist. Then it dawned on us that we really have no way to measure piracy. So we don’t really know what effect it’s having on us.

since1968: Aside from people illegally distributing actual copies of PVII extensions or design packs, do you lose sales from people downloading your source?

Al Sparber: I really don’t know. But if someone does download our source code they are missing the extension UI and the product User Guide – two very key components that serve to make our products so darn good.

since1968: My internal blog pages validate as XHTML as long as they don’t have Flash (and when I get around to implementing the JavaScript fix for Flash, they’ll validate as well). But my home page is a mess: 41 XHTML validation errors, generated mostly by MovableType template code. Should that bother me?

Al Sparber: I think you should call a lawyer immediately. No, don’t. That would make it worse. Seriously, I consider validation a measuring device, a reference, and a gauge rather than a certification of competency. I’m an advocate of clean code and I just adore CSS – but there is a time when practicality must win out. So I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Perhaps the W3C Validator should have a better name. I kind of like MovableTargets. Catchy name if I do say so myself.

since1968: Over the last eighteen months, Macromedia has made a real push for Flash to replace DHTML for most interaction in web pages. Still, the new Dreamweaver MX 2004 updater has restored the timeline (a feature used to animate layers). Should we read that as a concession that users aren’t ready for Flash to entirely replace DHTML? Or is Macromedia just restoring a tool that designers have become accustomed to using for several releases?

Al Sparber: I think Macromedia is merely restoring a tool whose removal caused a very loud stir on its public forums. It seems to be a relatively easy way for them to show that the company is listening to its customers. As for why it was removed in the first place, I can only speculate. My business sense tells me that it should not have been removed until a viable substitute was in place. That does not mean I am endorsing Dreamweaver Timelines. By today’s scripting standards they are dinosaurs.

I see Flash more as a replacement for HTML than for DHTML. I also see it as an attempt to put a prettier face on web-based applications. But most of all, I see Macromedia doing its darndest to do exactly what it should be doing: cultivating its core technologies. I think the jury will be deliberating for quite some time.

As I see it, the news of JavaScript’s demise has been greatly exagerated. After all, it is a language native to all modern browsers. There is a certain purity and harmony when one marries well-formed markup, good CSS, and good JavaScript. Flash doesn’t do it for me yet. Flash is almost ubiquitous, somewhat accessible, but often untenable over still-prevalent dialup connections.

Flash and JavaScript have some common problems, too. In the hands of tasteful people who know what they are doing, either technology can enhance a web site. But in the wrong hands, either can be used to shake and rattle browser windows, make navigation all but impossible, or do silly things that annoy anyone over the age of twelve.

While Macromedia is constantly improving Flash and shoring up its holes – PVII is doing the same with JavaScript, the DOM, and CSS. Fire up a Tree Menu Magic page in a browser with JavaScript disabled and you’ll get an idea of what I mean. Load a Tree Menu Magic page in a real copy of Lynx, or listen to it in an assistive reader, and things really start to crystalize.

My feeling is that there’s room for both in the winner’s circle now – and for years to come. Oh, and wait until you see what’s next on our menu of magical tools!

since1968: How much does your business depend on sales of Dreamweaver? When Dreamweaver MX 2004 didn’t take off as quickly as Macromedia expected, did your sales suffer?

Al Sparber: Dreamweaver has a very large installed base, which means we do too. The success of a new Dreamweaver version seems to have no measurable impact on our product sales. That’s probably due to the fact that each of our extensions, whether commercial or free, works as well in Dreamweaver 4.01 as it does in MX2004.

since1968: When I look at the download numbers for your commercial extensions on the Macromedia Exchange, I get a little dizzy. For instance, Menu Magic 1, an extension that costs nearly $90, has been downloaded 55,000 times. Does each download represent a sale?

Al Sparber: Gee, that would be nice! Actually, all it means is that Macromedia’s link to our Menu Magic I product page has been clicked through 55,000 times. It does keep people guessing, ha!

since1968: While browsing one of your design packs I came across the following quote:

This will fundamentally cause a morphing into a well designed and actionable information infrastructure whose semantic content is downright null. To more fully clarify the current concept, a few aggregate issues will require addressing to facilitate a distributed communication venue.

I spent a minute puzzling out what you meant before I realized it was a clever update on lorem ipsum. You seem like a guy with a solid B.S. detector. How do you cut through all of the information effluvia?

Al Sparber: I use a cleaver. There is so much effluvia wafting around web development channels that you have to be quick. There is no time to think. Split decisions must be made. When reading articles or postings, I completely shut down all sensory receptors when the author:

Beyond that, I’m cool with most everything else.

since1968: Thank you for your time, Al.

Al Sparber: Thank you, Marc. It was a pleasure.

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