Rui Lopes homeground

about me

I'm Rui Lopes and I approve this message.

I'm a Web enthusiast originally from sunny Lisbon, Portugal, but currently living and loving San Francisco, CA.

I'm currently working at Google on Web Search, in the team that develops and keeps running its front-end. I also helped creating the Moog Doogle.

I'm wholeheartedly interested on the different facets of interaction between users and the Web, including UX, usability, accessibility, and mobility.

I'm also the co-founder of boomUX, a User Experience Design consulting company.

projects

On spare time, I delve into small projects, mostly centred on Web front-end technologies, including:

  • wābisābi, a distraction-free writing service;
  • mashmush, a free music streaming service;
  • whit.me, now defunct (spammers...), experimented on multi-hyperlink URL shortening;
  • TLD hack, an interactive experiment to find 2nd level internet domains;
  • OAuth Checklist, a work-in-progress documentation effort for implementing OAuth-aware services;
  • Tea Leaves, an iPhone app for tea brewing timing (yes, I do love me some tea).

I've open-sourced some by-products of these projects (mostly Javascript libraries), which you can find at my GitHub account.

experiments

I haven't published any experiments yet, sorry! Meanwhile, enjoy the projects listed above.

research

Up until late 2011, I've been a research scientist embraced on Web accessibility and other user experience studies on the Web, and an Invited Professor at University of Lisbon.

I've obtained my PhD degree in Software Engineering from the University of Lisbon in April 2012. The thesis focused on results and implications of large-scale Web accessibility evaluation. Previously, I earned an MSc degree which addressed hypertext processing for inclusive design.

art

In the past I’ve studied Arts, Architecture and Design. I’m still very fond on fine arts, specially artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dalí, Claude Monet, Roy Lichtenstein, Edgar Degas, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Alvar Aalto.

I maintain my interest in arts by doing photography with my Canon EOS 40D and a bunch of lenses and filters. Some early results can be seen at my Flickr profile.

I manage to keep myself sane by listening to all kinds of music (check my musical taste at my last.fm profile) but mostly progressive rock/metal, playing guitar in my Schecter C-1 Classic and cherry-red Fender Jazzmaster attached to a POD XT Live, as well as learning playing the piano by myself (currently owning a Yamaha NP-30)

follow me

Follow me daily on Google+ and Twitter, and occasionally on my blog. I also blog in Portuguese on Penso, blogo existo.