People
Destry Wion
I was a wild man from the Pacific Northwest of the USA, but I’m now a quiet root warden in the east of France with a lovely wife and two kids. I’ve been working with digital content in nearly every respect since the end of the 20th century. I plan content, produce it, structure it, make it look nice, and govern it over time. I demonstrate this by neglecting a personal website at wion.com.
I also dabble in event organisation, having conceived the Content Strategy Forum and co-organised the 2010 (Paris) and 2011 (London) events. (It will be in Cape Town, South Africa in 2012).
I stumbled upon (and started using) Textpattern CMS in 2004 after looking for an alternative to WordPress. I’ve never had to look for another web publishing tool since. That same year, I initiated the user documentation wiki to help people (like myself) get over the initial learning hump faster. Now, as Editor of TXP, and with the help of some talented and respectable people, I want to make the magazine a great publication for enthusiasts and seekers of open source content publishing systems everywhere. Too few people know about Textpattern—its history, capabilities, security track record… Seriously, if you’re just a tad bit HTML savvy, appreciate simplicity as craft, ‘build up not down’ methodology, and like having complete control over markup and copy without script interference, then you will love Textpattern CMS.
I’m currently rolling as an independent, and would try and do that even if working a regular gig. My background is in Technical Communication and User-centred Design, but I’m a pretty much a standards nut who works in Content Strategy, Information Architecture, and Interaction Design. I’m a hybrid, and I’m better for it. I provide such services to companies medium and large.
I’m thinking about designing some Textpattern architecture and authoring workshops and giving them to interested parties. I’m happy to talk about that idea further, and probably will over time.
