Tell us about yourself…
My name is Nelson Lauren and I currently work as an interactive designer for a Fortune 500 company in the North Eastern United States. The main focus of my job is as an in-house Final Cut Pro editor and video producer.
One of the most popular sites I maintain is the official web site for film director Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys). I've been doing it since 1997 thanks to the support of Michael himself.
Tell us a little about the Michael Bay website…
Sometime in my freshman year at college, I went with a couple of friends to see a movie called "The Rock." I was amazed by the technical aspects of the film, the cinematography, and the story.
I went online to do some research about the movie's director: Michael Bay. At the time there wasn't much information about him online, so I decided to start a fan site. As years passed, the site grew and grew to a point where Michael Bay's PR firm at the time contacted me. They asked if there was anything they could do for the site, and I said an interview with Michael and some photos would be awesome!
Over time, Michael became more involved in the site to the point where it is now the official site. He says what goes on and what he doesn't like. He also posts on the forums to answer fan questions or address concerns.
Why did you choose RapidWeaver?
When I began designing this site, it was made on Adobe Pagemill. After a while I switched over to Dreamweaver 2. As the site grew and grew, it became a pain to maintain the site with Dreamweaver.
It was around the time of his movie "The Island" (2005) that I discovered RapidWeaver. Man, was that a breath of fresh air! No longer did I have to spend an insane amount of time updating the site. I think what sold me on RapidWeaver was it's compact nature and it's ease of use.
What is RapidWeaver's best feature?
The automated blog creation and the ability to change the design of the site in a heartbeat. I like changing the look of the site often which probably drives some people crazy.
Michael Bay and Nelson
Are you using any third-party Add-ons?
Yes. I'm currently using Elixir Graphic's Chameleon theme. I've used themes in the past by Josh Lockhart, Realmac Software, 2bitOperation, and Rapid Ideas.
With regards to Plugins I've used Collage, Blocks, and PayLoom.
Which part of the website are you most proud of?
I think it's got to be the showcase of Bay's ads (using Collage) and the blog. But what I think makes me smile is that the majority of the site is CSS & XTHML compliant. Kind of like being the first pseudo WYSIWYG CSS editor.
Any other comments you'd like to add?
Working with Rapidweaver is a blast. I cannot imagine what I would be doing without it. I think it falls into the Apple spirit of things: it lets me enjoy what I do without having to worry about how it works and if it will work. I'm very proud of the end product I get in regard to ease of use and the design of the site.Useful Links
- Michael Bay Website
- YourHead Software Plugins (Collage, Blocks and PayLoom)
- Realmac Software Themes
- Elixir Graphics Themes
RapidWeaver 4.0 is available for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
RapidWeaver 3.6 is available for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger