I like to give people the ability to do things they wouldn't normally be able to do. I like to take a fuzzy task and make it clear for the user. I want the user to finish the task quickly and easily but still let them have that proud feeling of, "Hey look what I just did!" The goal of DeGraeve.com is to provide free, high-quality, web-based tools that are easy to use for all users.
I started DeGraeve.com in July of 1999. Back then it was a bunch of random junk. I guess it still is a bunch of junk; it's just more complicated junk now. Since the old days, DeGraeve.com has focused on developing tools to solve specific "problems". Sometimes that problem is generating an ASCII art version of your face. Other times the problem involves divining a color palette from an image or making your own business cards or generating a logo for your business. Once in a while I hit on a good idea and develop a tool that gets spun off into its own website.
I've been writing software and building websites for almost 25 years. I've written software for dotcoms and billion dollar global distribution companies and for fun. Throughout the process of researching, designing and implementing a project, I like to ask the key question: "What problem are we solving?" The best (most gratifying) part of what I do is watching people use the things I build.