Viki Pandit

Creating user interfaces is my passion, and something I take every opportunity I can to further my own knowledge and creativity.

I have been developing web-sites since 2004, and like to challenge myself with each new site I work on, by using something new, or developing a new technique to work with. In this way I have become proficient in many web development and graphics packages, although my main tool of choice will always be Dreamweaver.

Expertise

I have a wide range of skills that I use for web-development, including extensive use and knowledge of PHP, CSS, MySQL, Ajax and XHTML. I also manage my own web-server (the one this site is on in fact), and administrate domain names for several clients through the process of my work at office.

Along with these fundamental skills I have a good knowledge of several other software packages like Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Indesign (this list is only scratching the surface.) I have created user interface for school reservation systems, student management applications, hospital management systems and e-commerce sites, while always considering search engine optimisation to help improve hits on the web-site in question.

I also have extensive expertise in Search Engine Optimization. From this I have the full range of abilities to go from the basic server side operations and seo, to the user interface and client relation skills I have developed during my career.

Accessibility

Apart from being good practice, it makes perfect sense to make your website useable by as large an audience as possible. From cross browser compatibility to intuitive navigation and legibility, creating an accessibile website is important both commercially and ethically.

Clear & Concise

If you want a user to stay on your site for more than 5 seconds you need to grab and retain their interest. This means that not only should you make the purpose of your site obvious, but also structure the content to make it highly relevant and easy to digest.

Memorable

There are many websites that follow the above two rules but ignore the need to ensure that a site stands out from the crowd. This doesn’t mean just using as many fancy animations, colours & graphics as possible, but about making the overall experience of visiting the site as satisfying and memorable as you can.

Web Standards

I believe strongly in web standards, and standards based development (as do an increasing number of others). I try to separate content from function both in terms of the user interface and the back-end processes. This makes for clean, easy to maintain code, which can be understood by others should they need to see it. There are times when the rules must be bent to make sites work in all browsers, but I try to avoid this whenever possible.

One of the most exciting web standards to come around recently is the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) specification. Many see SVG as a competitor to Flash, but I think its potential is much great than just that. Being able to mix SVG and HTML opens massive number of doors for developers and user interface designers such as myself. Browser makers are starting to catch on to this (with big strides made by Opera, WebKit and Mozilla recently) and hopefully this trend will continue.

Content Management

Content management is more important than ever. But even as organizations are working to get their hands around rapidly growing and increasingly diverse collections of content, new web technologies are providing opportunities to create, manage, share, and deliver richer content more easily, sometimes cheaper, and often quicker. I have worked on customization and embedding modules for various open source CMS available like Joomla, CMS Made Simple, Concrete5, WordPress, Dasblog and PHPBB.

my interests

I have always been a huge fan of 2D animation. I remember rushing home from school to watch spiderman and disney series with my friends in the 90’s. Later, as I grew I really got hooked onto series like Inuyasha and Escaflowne. Inuyasha is truly an original and greatly inspiring Anime series everyone should watch.

I also like to explore, be with nature and learn about different cultures.

my favorite artists/bands

Music is one of my biggest passion and something i simply cannot live without.I love all kind of music and in particular the Hindi film music coz it it so rich and beautiful. I love listening to Kishoreda. His wonderful voice made songs like “Lahron ki tarah”, “Bahut Door Mujhe Chale Jana Hai” and “Phulo Ka Taro Ka” magical. He still lives in my heart and with millions of his fans.

If I am not listening to Kishore, I am listening to Asha Bhonsle. I also love to hear Christina Aguilera, Evanescence, T.A.T.u, Atif Aslam and Sonu Nigam.

my favorite song

Its difficult to narrow down on a particular song. But if I do try I can put down “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera as my favourite song. Its inspiring stuff and gets me back on track whenever I am feeling down.

my favorite movies

Thats pretty easy. The Matrix Trilogy beats all hands down. I have lost count how many times I have seen it and I still find it enchanting. I also love to see Independence Day, Terminator series and quite a few of the mushy romantics featuring Shahrukh Khan. I am also a huge fan of animated movies. Some of my all time favs would be Monster’s Inc, Cars, Up and “How to train your Dragon”

my favorite books

Don’t get time to read these days. But in school I used to read a lot of Hardy Boys. I also like classics like Black Beauty, Spirit, Tom Sawyer, Charles Dickens. Books are a wonderful way to enrich your imagination and grow .

what if we didn’t need money…

I love to be with nature and I miss it a lot in the city. I would certainly run off to someplace I can enjoy nature. And I would certainly take a classic along to read. Let me think…..Gone with the wind. Ah! that would be perfect.