
Daniel Lidiyanov has been part of the prestigious "Site of the Year" contest since its inception in 2018. He started as a judge in the "Programming" segment, and a little later became the Moderator of the segment. He has made a great contribution to the development and dissemination of the competition, and to date is also a member of the Supervisory Board.
🎤 His interview for "Site of the Year" 2024:
Daniel Lidiyanov started dealing with the web already in the 5th grade, creating his own site, and a few years later his hobby turned into a "profession", when in the 11th grade he created and developed the oldest Minecraft server in Bulgaria today.
He is the co-founder and CEO of Weband Studio, a member of the board of directors at Accounting Company Dal Siat Plc and an active participant in the creation of several startups - "SoFun - Bulgaria Discount Card", "TalentVision.bg - the Bulgarian platform for filmmakers" and "Arhiv.online - Accounting House Management Software". This year, he is again part of the jury in the "Site of the Year" contest in the "Programming" segment.Â
You can find out more about his expectations from this year's edition of the competition in the following lines.
What are your impressions of previous years' participants? And what new do you expect this year's edition to surprise you with?
More precisely, mixed. That's where it's most enjoyable when it's time for the competition. They are mixed because the projects, the people, the teams behind them and the level of the sites are like that. I expect the unexpected.
Every year we receive applications that show that the level is really rising and for us, as people dedicated to the mission in the industry, this can only please us and has an inspiring effect!
What are the main challenges facing websites today?
This is a serious matter. I would say that the clash comes at the level of supplier selection. The market is flooded with a variety of tools, technologies, and people who provide this service. No site is like another. Projects contain complex deliverables, thanks to client requirements, business requirements, contractor expertise, budget and pre-set goals, and much more. This cocktail of factors means that if it is not well thought out in advance, the site can suffer from a variety of symptoms when it is 'Live'.
What recommendations would you give to the participants of Site of the Year 2024?
First I would give advice to those who are hesitant to be a participant. For them, I will say that they do not even suspect how many benefits they will receive after becoming participants, regardless of whether they are "winners", because with us, everyone wins :)
And for the participants themselves - I advise them to trust the feedback they will receive from the jury. In this format, it is invaluable.
With the advent of AI, what are your expectations for the development of sites?
As developers, I will share that using AI saves us time while developing sites. At Weband, we use AI every day in programming, strategic planning, process validation, content creation, and more. On the one hand, this lowers production costs. On the other hand, it easily shows and will begin to distinguish the quality of workmanship from different companies.
Build time for static and normal sites will continue to trend down thanks to out-of-the-box tools. Already in a few hours, a decent and working site can be put up. But that's not the interesting thing. AI is accelerating the development of this process very quickly and is starting to shift the focus from making sites faster and for less money to creating a whole new kind of functionality.
As with any economic revolution, we will now have wildly different types of features across sites. We will increasingly see data driven sites that, thanks to their self-learning, will develop autonomously. We're yet to see sites that offer augmented reality tools, 3D, and mind-blowing presentational VR features.
In a few words, I would say – normal evolutionary processes to which we must adapt as quickly as possible.
What are the most memorable moments from previous years as a member of the jury?
Apart from the fact that the evaluation process is exciting as you meet and evaluate the best sites, I won't hide that the award ceremony dresses up the whole point of it, bringing us all together in one place and reminding us that
behind every super site, there is a super team.
What is the most valuable for you in your participation as a jury in Site of the Year?
That in this way I feel that I am contributing to the "web". It's ours, Bulgarian web!
Link to the interview: here