RIP Dan Schulz

[Ryan]

Despite alot of people never getting the chance to meet the guy in person, he has touched a few lives in his day.

Yup, a sum total of 15,000+ posts on SitePoint numerous more on DigitalPoint and SEO.com (I don't know the numbers on those, but they're pretty huge too AFAIK) and almost all of those posts were Dan trying to help others with web development. He was tireless in his attempts to help others. I have no idea where he found the time/energy for it but his efforts were certainly appreciated.

He didn't seem to be that well known in the WordPress community, mainly because he was doing contract work developing custom WordPress themes, but his level of work was outstanding. He was beavering away in the background on something called Semantic WP. It was/is a theme framework, albeit radically different from what is normally called a theme framework as it was an HTML/CSS framework specially built for WordPress purposes. He was extremely passionate about it and was looking forward to releasing it some time in the new year.

Someone posted a comment on SitePoint today which made me chuckle as they referred to Dan's work on "TurdPress", a term he often used to describe the turd like HTML/CSS which WordPress created. Unlike many people Dan took his dislike of the code as a challenge to help others by creating a theme which could work around all of these coding issues. He never said any of it in a nasty way, just a matter of fact, and that he wanted to do something to improve the situation in a helpful manner. I guess that sums up Dan pretty well, he'd do anything he could to help someone in need. It just so happened that the people he could help the most were web developers trying to figure out the intricacies of browser compatibilities.

[samh]

Never knew Dan, in fact I hadn't even heard of him - yet I was still moved by his passing. The WP community is wonderful in the respect that although having no first hand experience of Dan (but maybe his work, I don't know) I am still affected by his loss.

God bless you bro

[andrea_r]

Oh, this is so sad. :(

[davecoveney]

Blimey... a real shame. I didn't know him well, but I knew his name and had seen his posts in various places.

[Kim]

Such sad news.

I never got to interact with Dan at all, but have seen his posts here on the Tavern forum.

I'm keeping his family and friends in my thoughts and prayers.

[Kim]

He was beavering away in the background on something called Semantic WP. It was/is a theme framework, albeit radically different from what is normally called a theme framework as it was an HTML/CSS framework specially built for WordPress purposes. He was extremely passionate about it and was looking forward to releasing it some time in the new year.

Ryan, do you have access to the code for his theme framework? If so, what about a group of us finishing the work Dan started and release it to the WordPress community to honor his memory? I'd be willing to kick in some time on the project and I'm quite sure others would be willing to as well.

[Jeffro]

Dan has about 31 posts here on this forum and they are part of his online activity trail. I'd like to know what your thoughts are on modifying the account and changing the user title to something like RIP with a date or adding some other special info to the profile?

[williamsba]

I'm shocked. I've known Dan for years on SitePoint and met him for the first time in Chicago. I didn't even realize he was sick.

RIP Dan :(

[Brad]

I didn't know Dan but after reading all the kind comments here and on SitePoint, he sure seemed to have a positive impact on people's lives and that is a great lesson for us all.

His untimely passing certainly makes you reflect on what is most important in life.

[chipbennett]

Dan has about 31 posts here on this forum and they are part of his online activity trail. I'd like to know what your thoughts are on modifying the account and changing the user title to something like RIP with a date or adding some other special info to the profile?

Good idea.