Michael Dayah \ Affiliation

Academic

I'm currently a full-time second-year student majoring in physics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Depending on how much extra work involved, I may also major in computer science. Don't be afraid to say hi if we're in the same class. Just look for the guy waving around the silver HP Jornada instead of taking notes on paper. Below is my schedule, including both classes and meetings.

HP Jornada 568
9:40am
11:15am
12:20pm
1:25pm
2:30pm
5:20pm
6:00pm
Differential Equations (Ayres 320)
Intermediate French (Humanities 69)
Calculus 2 (Ayres 314)
Modern Physics (Physics 608)
Data Structures (Walters M311)
Web Services Staff Meeting
Calculus 2 (Ayres 316)
Differential Equations (Ayres 320)
Intermediate French (Humanities 69)
Calculus 2 (Ayres 314)
Data Structures Lab (Claxton 103)
Intermediate French Lab (Humanities 206)
Modern Physics (Physics 608)
Data Structures (Walters M311)
Differential Equations (Ayres 320)
Intermediate French (Humanities 69)
Calculus 2 (Ayres 314)

Employment

I'm also employed part-time by the University of Tennessee as a web developer for Web Services. Don't confuse that with a web designer. Generally, someone makes a pretty picture, I make it work on the web, and someone else creates content and maintains it. Below are some of the sites I've developed for the University. For some, I just created the front page. Others, I developed a template, organized information, and implemented a rudimentary content management system.

Some of the sites I've contributed to the development of.

University club web sites I maintain as a volunteer.

My development philosophies are similar to those prescribed by the World Wide Web Consortium: adaptability, accessibility, usability, simplicity, graceful degredation. I separate content and layout whenever possible and avoid hardcoding any metrics. You have your computer set at a specific resolution and font size for a reason; it's not my business restricting what you see to 700 pixels wide or setting the default paragraph font to 12 pixels. I also believe tables are an obsolete method of visual layout, though I do have a history of using tables heavily. Because of the bureaucracy and deadlines involved in development, you won't find all of these philosophies fulfilled in all of the above web sites, but you'll always find some. Sites also pass through many people using many different development tools which always manage to do more damage than good.