Hello! My name is Eric Shulman. I am the author of www.TiddlyTools.com (Small Tools for Big Ideas! ™), a popular collection of original plugins, macros, widgets, templates and stylesheets for TiddlyWiki that I have created and shared with the TiddlyWiki community.

Think of TiddlyTools as a virtual hardware store and "demonstration showroom", offering tools, parts and techniques that provide a rich variety of new functionality and feature enhancements to help you turn a general-purpose TiddlyWiki "info-house" into a comfortable, custom-built "info-home".

The TiddlyWiki core system provides the basic structure and utilities: the foundation, framing, walls, roof, windows/doors, plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. Then, TiddlyTools helps you with all the "finish work": the appliances, fixtures, lighting, cabinets, furniture, paint, wallpaper, carpeting, etc. to best suit your specific needs and personal style.

Since the early days of TiddlyWiki (April 2005), I have worked closely with its inventor, Jeremy Ruston, to help develop and improve TiddlyWiki's core functions. I am also a key contributor and administrator of the online TiddlyWiki Discourse and GoogleGroups discussion forums, providing ongoing assistance to the worldwide TiddlyWiki community. I have written over 15,000 detailed responses to individual questions posted online. For several years I was also the lead developer and maintainer of the TiddlyWiki Classic codebase.

I was born and raised in suburban Long Island, NY, and attended Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, PA, where I studied Computer Science, Cognitive Psychology, Sociology, Human Factors Design, and Artificial Intelligence. As an undergraduate at CMU, I was privileged to work with some of the major luminaries in early software research and design, including Herbert Simon, Allen Newell, James Gosling, and Raj Reddy. I was also employed in several Computer Science Department research projects, including the development of speech recognition technologies, graphical interface systems, and interactive applications for instruction in physics, art and music. I received a Bachelor of Science in "Interactive Systems Design" from CMU in 1985.

During my early post-graduate years, I worked for several notable software development companies, including Honeywell Information Systems and Lotus Software. I was an integral member of the 1-2-3 spreadsheet development team where I helped create the first GUI-based application interfaces for Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2.

Since 1998, I have been an independent design consultant, living and working in Silicon Valley, where I apply more than 40 years of experience to provide analysis, design and software development services for commercial companies and not-for-profit organizations, with emphasis on information architecture and interaction/visual design standards to improve ease-of-use for new and existing software products and online environments.