Interview with developer and blogger Jacob Gube of Six Revisions

December 28th 2009

• Name: Jacob Gube
• Website: sixrevisions.com
• twitter: @sixrevisions

Jacob, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. Can you give us a short introduction, your background and your role on six revisions?

Thanks for having me here to share my thoughts. I'm Jacob Gube, a web developer/web designer who also happens to run a website called Six Revisions - a website that shares useful information about web design and web development. My official role is Chief Editor, but I handle almost everything, from the design of the site and the development of it, to writing articles, and all the other things involved in running a site.

What is a typical day in the life of Jacob Gube?

I'm a morning person, so I wake up between 5:00AM - 6:30AM. First thing I do is make a pot of coffee. Then I'll check important emails. I limit my email-checking to to twice a day or else that's all I'd be doing. I do most of the creative work in the morning. Towards the afternoon, I'll handle the more administrative stuff like responding to emails, site moderation, etc. The typical day for me will end at around 7:00PM, after that, it's me-time.

Working a 9-to-5 as most of us do, how do you manage to keep up with Six Revisions and keep the great content pumping?

Discipline and dedication. There is a lot of work involved in running a big site like Six Revisions, so time management is important. I set strict times for Six Revisions, my job, and my personal time. If you let things blend together, you'll never be able to keep a balanced life, and a balanced life is needed in order for you to sustain a busy and work-intensive lifestyle and still get stuff done. Also, working with talented writers is key to keeping the site's content fresh.

Who were some of your early influences before starting Six Revisions?

Smashing Magazine was one of my early influences in the design niche. But as for the real influence that got me to establish a blog, it was Wake Up Later and Lifehacker.

What are some of the criteria you have for choosing writers to provide content for your site?

They must be well-articulated, knoweldgeable about the subject of design/development, and they should be good writers. I typically work with working professionals that just happen to have a knack for writing as well. I don't normally work with professional writers - you may be able to write well and do your research, but that's not going to substitute real-world experience in the design/development industry.

What are some of your favorite topics to write about?

Me personally? I like UI design, JavaScript, web design, free tools that help designers/developers, and, well, anything you see published on Six Revisions, whether its written by me or not, is a topic that interests me. I guess that's the number 1 criteria of writing for Six Revisions - it's got to be interesting to me because I feel that I have a strong connection with the readers and if I like it, I'm sure that they'll like it as well.

So, do you think having a background in graphic design has helped you become a better developer?

Yes. They're two related fields so having a graphic design background has helped me in terms of being able to stand in as a designer. I also have professional-level knowledge of Illustrator and Photoshop, which I'd say is rare for a PHP/JavaScript developer. I learned Illustrator before I could write PHP.

Any favorite resources you frequent, and would like to share with the feedgrids.com community?

I love Digg, it's where I get most of my current news. I like using DesignBump for seeing design-related links, and Dzone for development-related links. They all start with the letter D, so it's easy for me to remember.

Do you have anything new in the works on Six Revisions or any other sites for 2010?

Yes. And I've said this many times, but this time, it's for real. Can't say anything about it yet, but suffice it to say that significant actions have already been taken, and resources already invested into the new project. Stay tuned on Twitter @sixrevisions because that's where it will be initially announced.

Is there any aspect of the design and development community that you think is lacking attention?

Web accessibility, or what I like to call, Universal Web Design. With more people online and more ways to get to sites (mobile phones, for instance) - I think we're still neglecting the importance of a web design that is universally-accessible, regardless of a user's situation.

For someone thinking about starting their own blog, what are some helpful tips that you can share with them?

Pick a topic to cover that you're experienced in and passionate about. You should know about the topic you're writing about, because your expertise in the subject will quickly show through in your writing. You should be passionate about the topic because this will mean that you can write about it without ever getting tired of it.

Jacob, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us!