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MY NAME IS MAT “WILTO” MARQUIS, AND I MAKE WEBSITES.

I’m an independent consultant. My specialization is inclusive web development.

My goal is to ensure that your content can reach any user, in any browsing
context—regardless of the size of their screen, the speed of their internet
connection, the age of their device, or the combination of browsers and
assistive technologies they use to experience the web.

If you have the same goal, we should chat.


I’VE HELPED BUILD SOME WEBSITES.

I’m a developer that heavily skews “designer.” From design to implementation, I
believe that a good layout is a flexible, durable, and maintainable one.

I’ve been brought in to help clients like Rolling Stone with their performance
concerns, clients like Axios and Microsoft with their accessibility concerns,
and clients like ProPublica and Amazon’s PillPack to build, maintain, and
improve on their websites.


RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN

I’m incredibly fortunate to have played a small part in the history of
Responsive Web Design, from the earliest discussions of the responsive Boston
Globe project—all the way back in 2011—to leading the effort to add responsive
image features to the HTML specification, browsers, and major CMSes.


FRONT-END PERFORMANCE

I’ve had the privilege of traveling the world speaking about front-end
performance. I’ve worked with organizations large and small not just to audit,
identify, and help fix their performance pain points, but to establish
workflows, development habits, and support systems that allow those
improvements—and their results—to persist long after I’m gone.


ACCESSIBILITY

I firmly believe that accessibility isn’t an add-on, a line item, or an ticket
languishing in an issue tracker for “if we have time at the end.” It’s a
persistent consideration through every step in the creation of a site—from
content, to wireframes, to markup, to the final product. In the years that
followed my accessibility work on the jQuery UI and jQuery Mobile teams, I’ve
helped guide a number of organizations through the process of prioritizing
accessibility both technically and culturally.




I’VE WRITTEN A FEW GOOD BOOKS, AND TECH EDITED SOME GREAT ONES.

JavaScript for Web Designers is paced for anyone taking their first steps into
the world of JavaScript development, but in-depth enough for anyone looking to
understand JavaScript’s inner workings. Image Performance is a deep-dive into a
subject that’s easy to take for granted, but difficult to master: putting images
on the web. It covers everything from the inner workings of image formats and
compression methods to responsive image markup to automation.

After (“despite?”) working with me twice as an author, A Book Apart brought me
on board as their in-house Technical Editor.

Before writing any books of my own, I wrote the Robust, Responsible, Responsive
Web Design chapter of Smashing Book 4, and two chapters on JavaScript for the
fourth edition of Jennifer Robbins’ Learning Web Design.

And if any cookbook publishers come callin’, well, I’ll hear them out.


I WANT TO BUILD A BETTER WEB.

Me, I’m stubborn. If it can be done on the web, I believe that it can be done
responsively, it can be done accessibly, and it can be done in a performant
way—it can be made to work for everyone.

The trickier that might seem at first, the more you’ve got my attention.

Those are the kind of projects I’m interested in—not just because that’s the
sort of impact I want to make on the web, but because that’s where the exciting
work is. That’s the space where we get to invent new approaches and techniques;
to build something brand new together, in pursuit of making the web a faster,
more welcoming, and more inclusive place.

If it sounds as though I might be a good fit for your next project, don’t
hesitate to get in touch. I’m looking forward to it.


WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

If you’re here to help people, I’m here to help you.

I’m immensely proud to have volunteered time to organizations like Blaseball
Cares (claws up) and The Covid Tracking Project—groups working to make a real
difference in peoples’ lives.

If your organization is working to help those in vulnerable positions and you
think my areas of expertise could help you do just that, let’s talk.

Whether it’s an on-the-fly accessibility audit, tips for speeding up your
website, a second opinion on a particularly thorny browser issue, or any advice
about the web, how it’s built, and how to hire the people that build it: your
non-profit is welcome to book some “Office Hours” time on my calendar,
completely free of charge, whenever it’s convenient for you and your team.


I KEEP BUSY.

I’m a former amateur boxer, decent cook, passable carpenter, bumbling antique
British motorcycle mechanic, wannabe botanist, and third-year beekeeper.

I’ve been a speaker at conferences like An Event Apart and Smashing Conference,
and an emcee for Confab. I’ve even been in a movie—What Comes Next is the
Future—to discuss the role I played in web standards, and how I hoped to change
them. I’ve got an IMDB page and everything!

Just—… just ignore the other thing on there.

It’s a long story.

GitHub https://github.com/wilto
Mastodon https://front-end.social/@wilto

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