Rowan Manning

Rowan Manning

Web Geek and Front-End Developer at Nature Publishing Group

  • Ampthill, GB

Hi, I'm Rowan. I'm an enthusiastic and motivated developer; a self-confessed geek; and a problem-solver. I write JavaScript and CoffeeScript (but have dabbled in PHP and Ruby); I get a huge kick out of clean, well-written, progressively enhanced HTML & CSS. I strive to write robust and maintainable code, always preferring test-driven development and focusing on ease-of-use. My arch-enemies are inconsistency, lack of design, repetition and repetition. I'm an avid learner, and I pride myself in keeping on top of new technologies and best-practices.

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  • Rowan Manning

    I was talking to a friend recently about getting back into game development; he was very enthusiastic about learning to develop JavaScript games and… Read morewe were discussing where to start. I had one of those moments when you impart some advice to somebody, and afterwards realise that it's great advice you've been ignoring yourself. The advice in this case was: "Don't be too ambitious here – you may end up killing your enthusiasm".


    Now I realise this could be read as quite a negative statement; I'm in no way trying to squash ambition entirely – it can be an extremely powerful driving force. Where ambition can have a negative effect is when you're being over ambitious in an area you're unfamiliar with.


    Let's take game development as an example. If you set yourself some ridiculous stretch goals early on (let's say a 3D web-based MMO game) then unless you're the kind of person who never gives up, your enthusiasm is likely to wane the more small hurdles you have to jump along the way. This kind of project is excellent once you've tried (and maybe failed) a few times on smaller things.



    A Bit Of Introspection
    After the aforementioned conversation, I took a look through the 'Web Projects' folder on my computer. The ratio of released/dead projects in here swings massively in favour of the latter. There's a clear pattern too – they are nearly all very big projects which I have made a start on before I've tackled some of the smaller issues which ended up getting in the way early on. Despite my seemingly limitless enthusiasm for these projects in the early days, it slowly got eaten away until it was no longer a fun way to spend my spare time.


    The 'successful' projects have a pattern too: they're all small, realistic, and fun. They've all been great learning projects and have paved the way for bigger and better things now that I've expanded my knowledge.


    My personal take-away here is to remain ambitious, but also keep that side of myself in check. Recognise the pattern, and save some of the bigger projects for later!
    • The Mixed Blessing Of Ambition

      I was talking to a friend recently about getting back into game development; he was very enthusiastic about learning to develop JavaScript games and we were discussing where to start. I had one of those moments when you impart some advice to somebody, and afterwards realise that it's great advice you've been ignoring yourself.

    • Rowan Manning

      I'm going to talk about something which irritates me; you'll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me –… Read morethere's a point to this!


      The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn't work for me. I like to know how the product looks, feels and works in as short a time as possible. The same principals apply to web design.



      Sell It To Me


      Think about what makes you buy a product. For me, I'm attracted to a product if I believe it can make my life easier or more enjoyable in some way (and also if I think it will make me cooler… lol jk). For somebody looking for those qualities, it's important to see the key features of the product very quickly. A common theme I'm seeing in tech advertising is a little worrying, there's no attempt to build a connection between potential customers and the product in question; what I'm seeing is an attempt to appeal to people's impulse and sense of "cool".


      I can illustrate this very easily. Look at the following ad for Microsoft Surface, this is one of their launch pieces:




      You can also find a similar example with the Surface" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/dpzu3HM2CIo">Surface Teaser and tentatively the Motorola" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/F5wDYaxjbxg">Motorola RAZR M Ad.


      What does the Surface advert tell us about the product? The answer is nothing beyond some hardware details – I know it has a keyboard and a touch screen but what can I actually do with it? How will it make my life better?


      As a comparison (don't stamp me with "Fan-boy" yet), let's look at the iPad launch ad:




      I won't make a list but from only thirty seconds of footage I know an awful lot about what the product actually does! It's exciting. They haven't even really focused on the hardware, because that's not what the customer cares about – the customer cares about functionality.


      There are other product ads that recognise this too – the Samsung" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/6o0T44_4hb8">Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Nokia" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/SbXnCQtQTWc">Nokia Lumia. Notice a pattern? They are letting the product sell itself.


      I'll pull up one more set of examples before I apply this to web design. Web Browsers aren't particularly exciting to anyone outside of web development. However, watch this Internet Explorer advertisement and marvel at its ability to spend a whole minute trying to make a browser look cool:




      Then watch even just one of these Google" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/googlechrome">Google Chrome commercials. Google have a different strategy here, they stop trying to talk about the browser and look at why and how we use it. They tell some very human stories which don't try to dress up the product, In fact they avoid making their product the centre of attention at all.



      So How Does This Apply To Web Design?


      The rights, wrongs, and near-atrocities of the highlighted adverts can be applied directly to building websites, particularly when working on a home page or landing page which is supposed to draw potential users/customers in.


      The mistake I see in the Microsoft Surface ads is that they focus far too much on presentation over clear information. We've all seen this on the web before – the home page where you're not able to find the information you need because of an overly distracting visual. In the advertisements from other tablet/phone manufacturers, we're given a list of features which allow you to see the benefit of the product immediately. When designing a landing page your goal should be to deliver information to the user as quickly and efficiently as possible, not wow them with impressive visuals.


      With the Internet Explorer commercial, to an outsider it may not even be clear what the ad is about. They've made the mistake of trying to make a browser look amazing to regular people, many of whom don't" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/o4MwTvtyrUQ">don't even know what a browser is. If you're faced with the problem of promoting a product which is not very easily understandable, then a good way to do this is to tell a story. A story can not only help someone understand an abstract concept, but can also really help them see value in it – they connect with the human element in a story.



      To Conclude


      So, I probably took quite a long time to get to quite a simple point, but I thought it would be nice to illustrate the importance of user-focused design with a more 'real-world' example (and vent a little of my personal frustration).


      Next time you're working on a design (or anything else targeted at customers for that matter), remember to think about the information they need before you think about ways to make your product look 'hip' and 'cool'. They will thank you for it, and I won't rant about it :)


      http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/rowanmanning/~4/c1lPVdWPATo" height="1" width="1"/>
      • How To Sell Technology

        I'm going to talk about something which irritates me; you'll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me - there's a point to this! The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn't work for me.

      • Rowan Manning

        I'm going to talk about something which irritates me; you'll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me –… Read morethere's a point to this!


        The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn't work for me. I like to know how the product looks, feels and works in as short a time as possible. The same principals apply to web design.



        Sell It To Me
        Think about what makes you buy a product. For me, I'm attracted to a product if I believe it can make my life easier or more enjoyable in some way (and also if I think it will make me cooler… lol jk). For somebody looking for those qualities, it's important to see the key features of the product very quickly. A common theme I'm seeing in tech advertising is a little worrying, there's no attempt to build a connection between potential customers and the product in question; what I'm seeing is an attempt to appeal to people's impulse and sense of "cool".


        I can illustrate this very easily. Look at the following ad for Microsoft Surface, this is one of their launch pieces:




        You can also find a similar example with the Surface Teaser and tentatively the Motorola RAZR M Ad.


        What does the Surface advert tell us about the product? The answer is nothing beyond some hardware details – I know it has a keyboard and a touch screen but what can I actually do with it? How will it make my life better?


        As a comparison (don't stamp me with "Fan-boy" yet), let's look at the iPad launch ad:




        I won't make a list but from only thirty seconds of footage I know an awful lot about what the product actually does! It's exciting. They haven't even really focused on the hardware, because that's not what the customer cares about – the customer cares about functionality.


        There are other product ads that recognise this too – the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Nokia Lumia. Notice a pattern? They are letting the product sell itself.


        I'll pull up one more set of examples before I apply this to web design. Web Browsers aren't particularly exciting to anyone outside of web development. However, watch this Internet Explorer advertisement and marvel at its ability to spend a whole minute trying to make a browser look cool:




        Then watch even just one of these Google Chrome commercials. Google have a different strategy here, they stop trying to talk about the browser and look at why and how we use it. They tell some very human stories which don't try to dress up the product, In fact they avoid making their product the centre of attention at all.



        So How Does This Apply To Web Design?
        The rights, wrongs, and near-atrocities of the highlighted adverts can be applied directly to building websites, particularly when working on a home page or landing page which is supposed to draw potential users/customers in.


        The mistake I see in the Microsoft Surface ads is that they focus far too much on presentation over clear information. We've all seen this on the web before – the home page where you're not able to find the information you need because of an overly distracting visual. In the advertisements from other tablet/phone manufacturers, we're given a list of features which allow you to see the benefit of the product immediately. When designing a landing page your goal should be to deliver information to the user as quickly and efficiently as possible, not wow them with impressive visuals.


        With the Internet Explorer commercial, to an outsider it may not even be clear what the ad is about. They've made the mistake of trying to make a browser look amazing to regular people, many of whom don't even know what a browser is. If you're faced with the problem of promoting a product which is not very easily understandable, then a good way to do this is to tell a story. A story can not only help someone understand an abstract concept, but can also really help them see value in it – they connect with the human element in a story.



        To Conclude
        So, I probably took quite a long time to get to quite a simple point, but I thought it would be nice to illustrate the importance of user-focused design with a more 'real-world' example (and vent a little of my personal frustration).


        Next time you're working on a design (or anything else targeted at customers for that matter), remember to think about the information they need before you think about ways to make your product look 'hip' and 'cool'. They will thank you for it, and I won't rant about it :)
        • How To Sell Technology

          I'm going to talk about something which irritates me; you'll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me - there's a point to this! The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn't work for me.

        • Rowan Manning

          I’m going to talk about something which irritates me; you’ll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me –… Read morethere’s a point to this!

          The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn’t work for me. I like to know how the product looks, feels and works in as short a time as possible. The same principals apply to web design.

          Sell It To Me

          Think about what makes you buy a product. For me, I’m attracted to a product if I believe it can make my life easier or more enjoyable in some way (and also if I think it will make me cooler… lol jk). For somebody looking for those qualities, it’s important to see the key features of the product very quickly. A common theme I’m seeing in tech advertising is a little worrying, there’s no attempt to build a connection between potential customers and the product in question; what I’m seeing is an attempt to appeal to people’s impulse and sense of “cool”.

          I can illustrate this very easily. Look at the following ad for Microsoft Surface, this is one of their launch pieces:
           
          You can also find a similar example with the Surface Teaser and tentatively the Motorola RAZR M Ad.

          What does the Surface advert tell us about the product? The answer is nothing beyond some hardware details – I know it has a keyboard and a touch screen but what can I actually do with it? How will it make my life better?

          As a comparison (don’t stamp me with “Fan-boy” yet), let’s look at the iPad launch ad:
           
          I won’t make a list but from only thirty seconds of footage I know an awful lot about what the product actually does! It’s exciting. They haven’t even really focused on the hardware, because that’s not what the customer cares about – the customer cares about functionality.

          There are other product ads that recognise this too – the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Nokia Lumia. Notice a pattern? They are letting the product sell itself.

          I’ll pull up one more set of examples before I apply this to web design. Web Browsers aren’t particularly exciting to anyone outside of web development. However, watch this Internet Explorer advertisement and marvel at its ability to spend a whole minute trying to make a browser look cool:
           
          Then watch even just one of these Google Chrome commercials. Google have a different strategy here, they stop trying to talk about the browser and look at why and how we use it. They tell some very human stories which don’t try to dress up the product, In fact they avoid making their product the centre of attention at all.

          So How Does This Apply To Web Design?

          The rights, wrongs, and near-atrocities of the highlighted adverts can be applied directly to building websites, particularly when working on a home page or landing page which is supposed to draw potential users/customers in.

          The mistake I see in the Microsoft Surface ads is that they focus far too much on presentation over clear information. We’ve all seen this on the web before – the home page where you’re not able to find the information you need because of an overly distracting visual. In the advertisements from other tablet/phone manufacturers, we’re given a list of features which allow you to see the benefit of the product immediately. When designing a landing page your goal should be to deliver information to the user as quickly and efficiently as possible, not wow them with impressive visuals.

          With the Internet Explorer commercial, to an outsider it may not even be clear what the ad is about. They’ve made the mistake of trying to make a browser look amazing to regular people, many of whom don’t even know what a browser is. If you’re faced with the problem of promoting a product which is not very easily understandable, then a good way to do this is to tell a story. A story can not only help someone understand an abstract concept, but can also really help them see value in it – they connect with the human element in a story.

          To Conclude

          So, I probably took quite a long time to get to quite a simple point, but I thought it would be nice to illustrate the importance of user-focused design with a more ‘real-world’ example (and vent a little of my personal frustration).

          Next time you’re working on a design (or anything else targeted at customers for that matter), remember to think about the information they need before you think about ways to make your product look ‘hip’ and ‘cool’. They will thank you for it, and I won’t rant about it :)
          • How To Sell Technology

            Tagged with Advertising, Rant, Tech I'm going to talk about something which irritates me; you'll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me - there's a point to this! The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn't work for me.

          • Rowan Manning

            I’m going to talk about something which irritates me; you’ll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me –… Read morethere’s a point to this!

            The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn’t work for me. I like to know how the product looks, feels and works in as short a time as possible. The same principals apply to web design.

            Sell It To Me

            Think about what makes you buy a product. For me, I’m attracted to a product if I believe it can make my life easier or more enjoyable in some way (and also if I think it will make me cooler… lol jk). For somebody looking for those qualities, it’s important to see the key features of the product very quickly. A common theme I’m seeing in tech advertising is a little worrying, there’s no attempt to build a connection between potential customers and the product in question; what I’m seeing is an attempt to appeal to people’s impulse and sense of “cool”.

            I can illustrate this very easily. Look at the following ad for Microsoft Surface, this is one of their launch pieces:
             
            You can also find a similar example with the Surface Teaser and tentatively the Motorola RAZR M Ad.

            What does the Surface advert tell us about the product? The answer is nothing beyond some hardware details – I know it has a keyboard and a touch screen but what can I actually do with it? How will it make my life better?

            As a comparison (don’t stamp me with “Fan-boy” yet), let’s look at the iPad launch ad:
             
            I won’t make a list but from only thirty seconds of footage I know an awful lot about what the product actually does! It’s exciting. They haven’t even really focused on the hardware, because that’s not what the customer cares about – the customer cares about functionality.

            There are other product ads that recognise this too – the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Nokia Lumia. Notice a pattern? They are letting the product sell itself.

            I’ll pull up one more set of examples before I apply this to web design. Web Browsers aren’t particularly exciting to anyone outside of web development. However, watch this Internet Explorer advertisement and marvel at its ability to spend a whole minute trying to make a browser look cool:
             
            Then watch even just one of these Google Chrome commercials. Google have a different strategy here, they stop trying to talk about the browser and look at why and how we use it. They tell some very human stories which don’t try to dress up the product, In fact they avoid making their product the centre of attention at all.

            So How Does This Apply To Web Design?

            The rights, wrongs, and near-atrocities of the highlighted adverts can be applied directly to building websites, particularly when working on a home page or landing page which is supposed to draw potential users/customers in.

            The mistake I see in the Microsoft Surface ads is that they focus far too much on presentation over clear information. We’ve all seen this on the web before – the home page where you’re not able to find the information you need because of an overly distracting visual. In the advertisements from other tablet/phone manufacturers, we’re given a list of features which allow you to see the benefit of the product immediately. When designing a landing page your goal should be to deliver information to the user as quickly and efficiently as possible, not wow them with impressive visuals.

            With the Internet Explorer commercial, to an outsider it may not even be clear what the ad is about. They’ve made the mistake of trying to make a browser look amazing to regular people, many of whom don’t even know what a browser is. If you’re faced with the problem of promoting a product which is not very easily understandable, then a good way to do this is to tell a story. A story can not only help someone understand an abstract concept, but can also really help them see value in it – they connect with the human element in a story.

            To Conclude

            So, I probably took quite a long time to get to quite a simple point, but I thought it would be nice to illustrate the importance of user-focused design with a more ‘real-world’ example (and vent a little of my personal frustration).

            Next time you’re working on a design (or anything else targeted at customers for that matter), remember to think about the information they need before you think about ways to make your product look ‘hip’ and ‘cool’. They will thank you for it, and I won’t rant about it :)
            • How To Sell Technology

              Tagged with Advertising, Rant, Tech I'm going to talk about something which irritates me; you'll have to forgive me if I descend into a rant at first, but trust me - there's a point to this! The dressing up of technology in advertising doesn't work for me.

            • Rowan Manning Rowan Manning liked
              Linus Norton

              Linus Norton in Javascript, Web Development

              Really looking forward to modules in ES6
            • Rowan Manning Rowan Manning liked
              Bevan Stephens

              Bevan Stephens in Design, Web Design, Typography

              45-75 characters per line is generally accepted as safe for comfortable reading.
              • Fluid Type | Trent Walton
                Fluid Type | Trent Walton

                Embracing the fluid & flexible aspect of responsive web design was an easy decision, but I've been less sure-footed when it comes to balancing that with setting type on the web. From a purely typographic perspective, one could argue that an adaptive approach (where we set breakpoints around fixed-width containers of text to precisely govern measure) is ideal.

            • Rowan Manning Rowan Manning liked
              Gordon Murray Dent

              Gordon Murray Dent in Cooking

              Who is your favourite chef and why?
              Show previous 6 comments
              • Gordon Murray Dent
                Gordon Murray Dent
                Mine has to be Jamie Oliver because of the way he has influenced children around he world to adopt healthy eating habits. I know Tom will agree!
              • Linus Norton
                Linus Norton
                Delia - because she owns Norwich City FC
              • Tom Michaelis
                Tom Michaelis
                To be honest, I find Jamie Oliver to be a touch boring - no inventiveness in his cooking.
              • Matthias Knoll
                Matthias Knoll
                I agree with Gordon! Jamie Olivers recipes are amazing. I particularly love the 20 minute meals. Simple and fast to cook for after work.
              • Tom Michaelis
                Tom Michaelis
                I really like Simon Rogan of L'enclume in Cartmel and also Nuno Mendez of Viajante in Bethnal Green - both champion fresh local produce, and make some truly stupendous dishes with them.
              • Karen von Grabowiecki
                Karen von Grabowiecki
                I actually like Jaime as well. He maybe not the most innovative in terms of using super exotic ingredients, though there is something to be said about super high quality traditional food, good resources and done just the right way.
              • Alec Frusher
                Alec Frusher
                Good question Gordon - I have a number of favourites...

                Marco Pierre-White - the godfather really. Most of the top chefs (inc. Rogan, Ramsay, Blumenthal) in the UK have trained under him

                Sat Bains - living in Nottingham myself Sat has to be up there. He holds the only Michelin stars in the East Midlands and continues to come up with some of the most inventive dishes I have had the pleasure of eating

                And many more....Roux brothers for shaping the picture of modern cooking, Pierre Gagnair… Read moree for taking cooking almost to an artform...the list is endless!
              • Lucian Tarnowski
                Lucian Tarnowski
                Definitely Jamie Oliver for me. I love his campaigns to get people to eat healthier. Check him out speaking at One Young World over the weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WIrNoM84u6g

            • Rowan Manning in Css, Html, Javascript, Web Development, Front-end Architecture

              This is excellent – sums up perfectly the right way to develop front-end http://f2em.com/
              • A Front End Engineer's Manifesto

                It is not just about helping users that may have trouble d­i­f­f­e­r­e­n­t­i­a­t­i­n­g­ colors or difficulty reading small fonts, but is about providing comprehensive access for users that may prefer to use either the keyboard or the mouse; in providing a clean print friendly format; in providing content to devices of varying technological capabilities.

              • Rowan Manning in Management, Hr, Startup, Start-ups

                This is crazy http://www.quora.com/Zynga/How-do-Zynga-employees-feel-about-the-companys-summer-2012-stock-price-drop
                • Linus Norton
                  Linus Norton
                  Ouch. I don't know how these companies can convince people to continue to work for them. Any sane person would be out of there in a second.

                  I think the "hollywood" view of startups has a really negative impact on young developers who just think that's how its done. 10-12 hour days are fine - if you are enjoying your work, never get stuck doing because of pressure from management.

                • Nature Publishing Group, Front-End Developer

                  November 2012 to present

                • BraveNewTalent, Front-End Developer, London, UK

                  October 2011 to November 2012

                  Hi, I'm Rowan. I'm an enthusiastic and motivated developer; a self-confessed geek; and a problem-solver.

                  I write JavaScript and CoffeeScript (but have dabbled in PHP and Ruby); I get a huge kick out of clean, well-written, progressively enhanced HTML & CSS. I strive to write robust and maintainable code, always preferring test-driven development and focusing on ease-of-use. My arch-enemies are inconsistency, lack of design, repetition and repetition.

                  I'm an avid learner, and I pride myself in keeping on top of new technologies and best-practices.

                • Web Developer

                  January 2008 to October 2011

                  With Freestone I worked on web sites, web applications, email marketing, web banners, and digital campaigns for some major world-wide brands. My role involved working as part of a team on projects from concept through to fulfilment, as well as performing basic server maintenance and supporting existing web sites.

                • Art Foundation, BTEC Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at Bedford College

                  2007

                • A Levels, Samuel Whitbread Community College

                  2006