future of web design Archive

Speaking at CSS Day, and a FoWD reminder

I’m extremely happy to announce that I’ve been asked to speak at CSS Day, a one-day event in June that explores CSS in advanced detail, in the company of an array of amazing speakers: Lea Verou, Eric Meyer, Bert Bos, Tab Atkins, Divya Manian, Stephen Hay, and Daniel Glazman. Wow.

I’ll be discussing the intricacies and secrets of the Animations and Transitions modules, while each of the other speakers will also cover a single topic in great detail. It promises to be a really good day. Tickets cost €250 (plus 21 percent tax).

The day before CSS Day there are also two workshops: Eric Meyer will explain the basics of each of the modules to be explained the following day, in case you’re worried about not being able to follow some of the talks, while I’ll be teaching Responsive Web Design techniques and approaches. Tickets for each workshop cost €300 (plus tax).

And just a reminder that I’ll be speaking at Future of Web Design in London in May, where I’ll also be giving a one-day workshop on CSS3 the day before. If you book now you get the workshop plus two days of conference for only £595 (plus tax).


Speaking at Future of Web Design in Prague

I’m very proud to have been asked to present at the first Future of Web Design in Prague, Czech Republic, later this month. I’ll be giving a one-day workshop, called CSS3 Master Class, then presenting a talk with the title CSS3 Layouts for the Multi-screen World in the Design track the following day.

If you fancy seeing a great line-up of local and international speakers in the beautiful city of Prague you can get a 10% discount by using the code SPEAKER10 when you register; that’s almost €50 off a one-day ticket, €90 off a two-day ticket, and over €100 off the full workshop and conference ticket. That should help convince your boss to pay for it. Hope to see some of you there.


What I saw at FoWD 2008

As promised, slightly more detailed notes on the sessions at FoWD (further links to presentations to follow). In chronological order:

Finding Inspiration for Design (Patrick McNeil)

I missed the beginning of this, but it seemed to be pretty sage, if not rather commonsense, advice (don’t just use websites for web design inspiration), as well as some notes on current trends and tips on future ones; soft colours, more use of horizontal space, more video.

User Experience vs Brand Experience (Steve Pearce and Andy Clarke)

Set up as a confrontation, but in fact both speakers were at pains to point out that both should be thought of together. Andy Clarke adds: don’t be afraid to fail, we learn from our mistakes.

Read the full article


Impressions of FOWD 2008

Yesterday I attended the Future Of Web Design London event in Kensington (along with my lovely wife). Unfortunately I’ve been suffering from some stinking virus for the past couple of days, which left me uncomfortable, occasionally in pain, and irritated. Please bear in mind that this may have coloured my perception of the event somewhat; also, please accept my apologies if you were at the event and start to suffer the same symptoms in a few days.

I’ll write short reviews of the individual sessions at a later date, but my general opinion is that it was just OK; it dealt more in current design trends than future, almost all of which you probably already know if you keep up to date with sites like A List Apart or some of the better blogs. Although that’s not to say it was a complete waste of time; few of the speakers were less than interesting, and there are always new techniques to learn or existing techniques to reinforce.

Some of the speakers suffered from not having worked (or, at least, not for a long time) in a regular agency position (if I may coin a phrase, coal-face web development), and their advice was therefore useful on a theoretical basis only. Sure, it would be great if we could make mistakes in public and make constant revisions to our websites, but who pays for that? The client almost certainly won’t. We think ourselves lucky to have some clients who are savvy enough to make annual revisions to their sites! And while I’d love to just “get better clients”, that’s just not how the real world works for those of us who don’t work at start-ups or own our own agencies.

In summary, then, compared to last year’s @media, which I found genuinely inspiring, this was ‘only’ interesting. I’ll give careful consideration as to whether or not I attend again next year.


Aside

I’ve updated my Speaking page to include more conferences, more videos, and a little on my speaking requirements and preferences. I’m planning to cut down on the number of talks I give in 2014 (twelve is too many), but am always open to interesting offers and opportunities, so please get in touch if you’re organising an event.

[#] 1 Comment . More Asides.