Web Directions Podcast

For many years, developing for the web left quite a bit to be desired when it came to the tools at developers disposal, particularly in comparison with the sorts of development environments available for desktop applications. But the rise of browser native tools, in Safari, Internet Explorer and Opera, browser based add-ons like Firebug, web based tools and more mean that developers have a vast array of powerful tools to help develop, debug, profile and otherwise improve their applications. But, just what’s out there? And what can be done with them? In this session, co-founder of Ajaxian.com, and The Ajax Experience conferences, and now head of Mozilla Foundation’s new Tools team Ben Galbraith will take us on an expedition through the developer tools landscape. Learn what’s out there, and what they can do to make you more productive, your sites and applications better and faster, and your life as a developer more enjoyable. Until recently the CIO of MediaBank, a well-funded software start-up in the adver

So, you’ve decided to tap into a whole new world of business oppportunities by stepping outside the anglocentric world. That’s great! But the process of internationalisaton can be a genuine minefield for the unitiated, so take a few tips from someone who’s been there before. In this talk Myles will cover what internationalization is, when to do it, and how to implement it. Topics include: localization, organising your content for translation, finding and managing translators, and dealing with the unexpected technical issues that inevitably arise. Myles is the founder of Duck New Media, a Sydney web development and consulting firm. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

With the growth of interactivity in web applications we are pushing Javascript to its limits, not to mention the limits of HTML and CSS. And so we spend our days resorting to Flash, waiting for that distant time when browser support for CSS3 will come to our rescue and allow us to create the UIs we dream of. But this is not the way it has to be: there is a little known secret weapon right here in most modern browsers. Yes, even in IE6. Dmitry Baranovskiy is here to tell you about Canvas, SVG and VML. Come along and be amazed by standards based UI wizardry you can start implementing in projects right here, right now. Dmitry has over 8 years experience in creating web applications. Having started as a back end developer, more recently he has changed his orientation to front end development and even pure design. These days he spends his working hours trying to embrace a wide range of front end technologies while working as a UI Developer for Atlassian. He is also the creator of Optimus, the Microformats tra

This is what it feels like to be hyperconnected: a new kind of community - pervasive, continuous, yet strangely tense and tenuous, like a balloon inflated to the point of bursting. The limits of the neocortex meeting the amplifier of the Human Network. That creates unique opportunities: we can come together at a word, self-organize around or against a blog post, a live-streamed video, an automated reply from a faceless, rent-seeking organization. Nothing can stop us. We can’t even stop ourselves. But what do we want? And the other thing? You’ll need to be at Web Directions South, for the closing keynote, if you want to find out. Known internationally as the man who fused virtual reality with the World Wide Web to invent VRML, Mark Pesce has been exploring the frontiers of media and technology for a quarter of a century. The author of five books and numerous articles, Pesce has written for WIRED, Feed, Salon, PC Magazine, and The Age. For the last three seasons, Pesce has been a panelist on the hit ABC sho

Being a CSS expert is about more than just memorizing selectors. It’s also about working to improve the maintainability and efficiency of your style sheets, planning for the future, and mastering your workflow. This session will look at pushing the limits of CSS to create stunning interfaces using clean, meaningful markup. We’ll also look at CSS 3 and at what the future of Web design could look like when CSS 3 finally becomes mainstream. Jina Bolton is a designer and artist, working and residing in Silicon Valley. She is excited to be involved with the CSS Eleven, and has spoken at conferences in North America and the UK. Jina is a co-author of The Art & Science of CSS, and has also written articles for publications including SitePoint, .net Magazine, and Vitamin (of which she is an advisor). Jina has consulted for various agencies and organizations including the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative and Mass.Gov. She holds a BFA in Computer Arts and Graphic Design from Memphis College of Art. Jina enjoys tra

A new inflection point in human-computer interaction is upon us. Along with other technologies, Microsoft Surface marks a departure from graphical user interface or GUI into the world of Natural User Interface or NUI. This talk begins with discussion of emotional design and its importance in the future of society. The lens shifts to how one design team is thinking about designing for a new era in which emotional intent and intuitive interaction are the imperative. Using theoretical models drawn from a mix of history, science, philosophy, and even video game design, this presentation reveals principles behind experience design for Microsoft Surface and beyond. August de los Reyes is the Principal Design Director for Microsoft Surface. August applies his research work in emotion and design to shipping products at Microsoft. August is a graduate of the Advanced Studies Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He was a 2007-2008 Visiting Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute at the Uni

You’re invited to join a narrated exploration into the exotic regions of HTML5 and surrounding territories. Your journey will begin with a preparatory briefing about what to expect from HTML5 - what’s different, what’s new, what to look forward to, what to watch out for. During the cruise, we’ll make some short excursions into surrounding territories adjoining HTML5, and you’ll learn a bit about their history and relationship to HTML5. Michael (tm) Smith is co-chair of the W3C HTML Working Group (helping develop the next version of the Web’s core language, HTML5) as well as one-half of a tag team of W3C rowdies who do the grunt work for the Web Applications Working Group. Mike’s been involved in design, development, testing, and deployment of Internet applications for more than 10 years - from carrier-grade e-mail delivery systems and server-side content-transformation technologies to Web browsers deployed across a range of devices. Before joining the W3C, he worked on systems for mobile operators in Jap

When developing websites or web applications, we often follow the principles of web standards, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and other accessibility guidelines. But is this enough? In this session, Ruth will look at how we can develop accessible web products by taking a holistic approach to web accessibility. She will look at different ways of incorporating accessibility into the design process to produce accessible and useful user experiences. This presentation will focus on the user experience design process by drawing on examples and learnings from Ruth’s work in Government. Ruth Ellison is an interaction designer and user experience practitioner. She is extremely passionate about creating accessible and useful user experiences. Ruth has over six years experience working on a number of accessibility and user-centred design projects across the Government and private sectors. She is currently a senior consultant at Stamford Interactive, a usability and user-centred design consultancy. She takes a

Security design is an important, but often neglected, component of system design. In this session, Douglas Crockford, creator of Javascript Object Notation, will outline the security issues that must be considered in the architecture of Ajax applications. The design of the browser did not anticipate the needs of multiparty applications. The browser’s security model frustrates useful activities and allows some very dangerous activities. This talk will look at the small set of options before us that will determine the future of the Web. During this session, attendees will: - Learn why effective security is an inherent feature of good design; - Experience a real-time demo of a Ajax client/server system based on sound security principles - See how to apply secure design to rich web applications. Douglas Crockford is a product of the US public school system. A registered voter, he owns his own car. He has developed office automation systems. He did research in games and music at Atari. He was Director of Tech

Online web applications are big business, with many people relying on the cloud for data storage and workflow. These days, an API is an essential part of any online system, but this presents authentication and authorisation issues for the humble web developer. Learn how to create Web APIs, how OpenID and Oauth works and what you need to do to implement them. Myles is a Perth-based Web developer who feels as at home building INNER JOINS as he does calculating the specificity of CSS selectors. He has worked in all the major web languages, with his weapon of choice being Ruby on Rails. He is a big advocate of semantic CSS, and unobtrusive JavaScript. He has a weakness for code double dares, many of which have resulted in crazy experiments, such as @baggygreen: a twitter cricket commentator and a version of Super Mario Bros. written entirely in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. During his 8-years in the industry, working under the moniker of MadPilot Productions, he has worked with pretty much everyone in Perth. He h

It’s not true that there are no proven monetisation models for online communities; in fact, there are distinct revenue streams that have been successful over many years. This session looks at the soft returns on investment for engaging with user generated content, communication and collaboration with the consumer and then moves into how social networks earn money for their investors and developers. The aim of this session is to limit the slapping of banner ads on every niche community online - you might be surprised to learn that the least profitable revenue model is… Advertising! Come, spend an hour on the Dark Side, and find out which social networks are making money, how much and by what means and learn about the business models in this growth industry. Laurel teaches social media and marketing and public relations courses at Universities and Colleges here in Australia and overseas (Saudi Arabia). She also runs workshops with major media companies such as publishing houses, television and music compani

User interface design is an iterative process - the design of Digg and Pownce have been a study in evolution and adaptation. This talk will inspect the why and how of these iterations by looking at specific case studies from the two projects as well as previous client work Daniel has tackled. The case studies will examine specific user interface challenges that have arisen and will chop them up into their various bits. How do I identify a challenge? What is the best approach for getting started? How do I solve the problem conceptually and technically? How will I know if I solved the challenge successfully? Case studies have been selected that are especially pertinent outside of their specific contexts to help you in your everyday UI design. The presentation will focus on design inspiration, decision-making processes, technical solutions, and learning from missteps as part of a designer’s iterative process. Daniel is the creative director at Digg, a founder of Pownce, and a founder of the Canadian web fir

Lynne will set the tone of the conference this year with insights into the future of media drawn from her wealth of experience in business, media and online communities as Senior Editor at Fast Company. Lynne d Johnson is the Senior Editor/Community Director for FastCompany.com, a leading website and community for people passionate about business ideas that also offers the complete content of Fast Company magazine. She also writes Digital Media Diva, a technology blog following web, media, and consumer trends for FastCompany.com, and has recently served as a guest blogger or columnist for TheDailyVoice, techPresident, Black Web 2.0, Rushmore Drive, IAC’s online community for African Americans. Lynne also serves on the Board of Directors of the Literary Freedom Project, a nonprofit arts organization, which seeks to empower communities of color through literature, creative thinking, and new media. Prior to joining Fast Company, she was the General Manager, New Media for VIBE, SPIN, and VIBE Vixen where she

Even in our day of web videos and podcasts, text is still the king of content on the web. Great typographic sensitivity is one of the hallmarks of sites that exude a professional confidence. From type sizing and coloring to leading, kerning, and measures to proper usage of quotes, dashes, and bullets, to choosing appropriate typefaces, this session will demonstrate using CSS and other modern web technologies to display type on screen with elegance and impact. Jeff Croft is a web designer and developer at Blue Flavor, an experience and design consultancy in Seattle. Beyond his work for Blue Flavor, Jeff is a blogger, speaker, critic, and industry thought leader. Prior to joining Blue Flavor, Jeff was a Senior Designer at World Online, an online journalism outfit responsible for a host of award-winning websites and the place of origin for Django, the Python-based open-source Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines. Jeff has been designing and developing web sites nearly as long as there have been we

Mainstream mobile devices are being loaded with sensors. These devices can be used to create experiences that are tailored, adaptive and responsive to the way people live and work. Location-awareness allows devices to respond to place, networked address books enable socially rich communication experiences, and motion and gestural sensors empower designers to respond to context of use. All these elements are creating a ’sensitive ecosystem’; mobile devices that adapt gracefully to context and use. This presentation will explore some of the design and technology trends that are shaping design for mobile devices, show examples of devices and services that are starting to take advantage of these trends, then explain how designers need to rethink design problems to take advantage of this technological ground-shift. Gabriel is a seasoned interaction designer and world traveler. Currently Interaction Design Director at Punchcut in San Francisco, Gabriel was a Principal Designer at Frog Design, led design teams a

Internet video has come a long way from the postage stamp generic media player to the commercial success it is today. This session looks at this journey, and examines the multitude of online video options available. We will look at content creation (simple single piece, to multi-platform, and user generated), distribution methods and publishing strategies. Then once the video is published, how do you justify it (the ROI), commercialise it (leverage the content) and monetise it through syndication, advertising, sponsorship, or pay-per-view/subscription. There will be real time demos and case studies. Since Nick ran his first live webcast in 2000, he has managed several hundred webcast productions for most of the top corporates, publishers and broadcasters in Australia. Key highlights include Australia’s first live medical operation on the web, the Australia 2020 Summit and World Youth Day. Nick regularly speaks at conferences here and overseas on online video creation and distribution, and is also an avi

Quantitative insights gathered through online analytics can contribute greatly to the design and optimisation of online experience architectures. Analytical techniques can be used to understand - Who is really using the site - What they are using it for - How well the site responds - What needs changing to enhance the experience These insights not only provide you with behavioural profiles of users for consideration throughout the design process but also can help you make important decisions on content classification, labelling, page layout and interaction design. During the design process, you don’t need to rule out all design options to reach a single solution. Through multivariate testing (MVT), it is possible to test various options real time (and with real users) to find the optimal solution. The success of an Experience Architect depends on the business impact of their architecture. Quantitative techniques can be used in benchmarking before and after performances of a website demonstrating the impa

Hear how Drupal, Semantic MediaWiki and other bleeding edge tech were enlisted along with pixie dust, FOAF, RDF, OWL, SPARQL, Linked Data (basically all the Semantic Web stuff) to build a distributed social network. The focus will be not on evangelism (I don’t really care about that) but how disparate open source platforms can talk and work together. This stuff actually works and makes development more fluid. These technologies make local development easier, but when it is time to broaden your scope, classic search is still king. How can you leverage this? Newcomers such as Yahoo Searchmonkey can play an important role in the creation of a truly distributed information system. David Peterson has been a web developer since 1995. He works way up north in the tropics of Townsville, about as far from any tech as possible. Currently he is Head of Research at BoaB interactive and is working hard to kickstart the Semantic Web down under. Not only that, but he is an Advisory Committee representative to the W3C. Wo

When I was introduced into the role of managing web projects, I naively believed a Content Management System would solve all my problems. Growing my little empire of content authors I had little idea of what was to come- before I knew it I had created a monster. I went searching for a white knight to slay this monster and was tempted by the delights of custom builds, agile development, and ruby on rails. And off I went following the trail of breadcrumbs into the forest eating them as I went, but then oh, how do I get back to my old friend CMS? Hmmm. This session will help you know how to make the choice between the sweet delights of custom builds and the faithful workhorse CMS. How to get them to play nice, grow gracefully, and present together as a seamless front-end user experience. Diana Mounter combines her 10 years of experience in graphic design, IT, database management, and marketing to approach web project management creatively and with a fine-toothed comb. In her role at the Local Government and

Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way. Kay has been working with the web since the dark days of the last millennium. She left full time employment to start Clever Starfish with her partner and two overly bossy cats in 2006, and does not miss commuting in the slightest. Because she’s a sucker for volunteering, Kay sits on the committee of the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA) and is one of the organisers of the WA Web Awards. She has three separate blogs (at last count) and also writes on ColdFusion for SitePoint and Fusion Authority. Lic