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Web Directions South 2007 » 2007

Archive for 2007

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A botnet the most powerful supercomputer

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Via BuilderAU, our online partner at the conference, the thrilling, fascinating and disturbing story that suggests the most powerful supercomputer on earth (and that means ever) may be a botnet, of PCs infected with the Storm Worm.

Distributed processing applications like SETI@home have set a precedent for such massive, parallel systems, but one particularly worrying aspect of this system is that it could potentially make breaking many forms of previously secure encryption at least feasible.

Another indicator of how important security is, not just in terms of anti virus apps we might run on our PCs, but more importantly, that built into our systems, whether they be an operating system, or a Rails, PHP, or other web app.

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2 weeks to go

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Tomorrow it’s just two weeks ’til Web Directions South 2007. Already an audience of close to 600 is expected, from all over Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, the US, South America and Europe. The only continent missing in Antarctica. So, first person who signs up from Antarctica gets a great prize.

There still are places left, including full time student discounts at just $195.

Places at the workshops are filling up fast as well - with Andy Clarke’s Web Design workshop just about full. If you are keen on that, you had better move fast.

We are getting very excited round here - hope you folks are too.

john

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Geeks on the Grass

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

All you Sydney web folks, keen to catch up with peers in a relaxed setting? Well, Friday the 21st of September sees the first Geeks on the Grass.

One of the reasons we started doing the conferences in the first place is that having started to meet fellow designers and developers, in person as opposed to online (as we had done for about 10 years) we realized that this added a whole new dimension to the relationship. So if you are Sydney based, keep an eye on The Geek Whisperer for details, and head over and meet some fine folks who have a lot in common with you.

Oh, and don’t let the term “geek” put you off. Being a geek is very cool these days.

john

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Designers, start your engines - a Web Directions competition

Monday, September 10th, 2007

For those coming to Web Directions, we’ve got some fun stuff planned. One of those is the use of various screens around the conference to show real time content from the audience (blog posts, photos and more) to see what others are saying, thinking and doing at Web Directions.

Right now, two of these little visualisation applications are online, one by the fantastic Dmitry Baranovskiy, which pulls in blog posts from technorati tagged “wds07″, and one by me (John Allsopp) (which ransacks lots of online examples and tutorials) to show the most recent photos at Flickr tagged “wds07″. (Due credit will be paid to all for inspiration and code once it is finally released).

But for now - here is your challenge. Take the apps HTML (you can do one or both), and give it some style. No rules, no limits (well, you have to use CSS, but apart from that, you can use Javascript effects, whatever takes your fancy.)

You’ve got until Friday September 14th to get your design to us (best if you email us a link to your version).

The winner of each (based on which one we like the best!) will be used for styling these apps during and after the conference, and there’ll also be really really really good prizes for the winners.

And, you don’t even have to be coming to the conference.

So, get designing! Can’t wait to see what people come up with.

john

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Standards in email clients

Monday, September 10th, 2007

I must admit I’m old school when it comes to email - I like it plain and vanilla. I read it and write it vanilla stylee. I use *this* for emphasis. But, that’s my taste and choice (OK, so I have been using email, I kid you not, since 1985). Many others love their stylish emails, both as designers, and as recipients. But if you think web designers have challenges with browsers, then you don’t even want to think about the email client landscape.

Now, the good folks at Freshview (the company behind MailBuild and Campaign Monitor) have decided to do something about it - calling for standards support in email clients.

Take a look at Dave Greiner’s detailed overview of what’s wrong, and what they think needs to be done, and if you are keen, let him know you’d be interested in lending a hand.

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Focus on Aaron Gustafson

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

With a book on Javascript due out soon, Aaron Gustafson has been one of the quiet achievers of the web industry these last few years. A wonderful educator (his workshop with Andy Clarke at Web Directions North earlier this year was very well attended and received), Aaron has been speaking all over the place, and has upcoming gigs at a wide variety of web focussed conferences such as An Event Apart and the Rich Web Experience.

Best of all, Aaron is not only speaking at Web Direction South, he’s running a whole day workshop designed to get you up to speed with Javascript. If you’ve played around with Javascript, or even if you are pretty proficient (I can do a lot with Javascript, but would really love to have the time to take this workshop, I think it would really help deepen my javascripting), then do think about adding on this workshop, which is the day before Web Directions South. Best of all, if you are coming to the conference, the whole day workshop is just $395.

The workshop already has a fair number attending, but there is room for a few more.

Register at our registration page (and if you use the email address you used to register for the conference, it will give you your discount automagically).

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Thanks to our sponsors, Glass Onion

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

I hope it’s reasonably well known that one of the principle foundations of Web Directions has always been standards, accessibility, and best practice in web design and development. For close to a decade, Maxine and I have evangelized standards, developed software all about developing standards based web sites, and provided all kinds of resources for learning standards based design. So seeing the increasing adoption of these practices and principles the last few years has been very encouraging and gratifying.

Now one of the very first design companies we became aware of who made a commitment to standards based development was Glass Onion. Folks from Glass Onion have come to every one of our Australian conferences, and last year the The Australian College of Physical Education site, designed and built by Glass Onion was highly commended by the Jury of the McFarlane Prize, underscoring this commitment.

So it’s very gratifying to have Glass Onion as one of our significant supporters this year. Glass Onion will also have a presence at the Expo, so if you are looking for a web communications agency with a long standing focus on standards and accessibility, make sure you say hi to them.

Thanks very much to Glass Onion for their support, we really appreciate it.

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Thanks to our sponsors, Adobe Systems

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

At Web Directions, we honestly like to think that we put together as good a conference as you’ll experience anywhere in the world. The best speakers, the most relevant content, and on top of that, an enjoyable event, which provides plenty of opportunity to meet and get to know your peers in our industry.

One of our particular challenges in Australia is the old “tyranny of distance” - attracting speakers to Australia, or even bringing them from around the country is far from inexpensive. Couple that with our small population in comparison with the US or Europe, and I hope people can appreciate that the risks of such an event in Australia are not insignificant.

It’s very fair to say in this context that without the support of our sponsors, Web Directions simply couldn’t be the kind of event it has become.

Adobe is synonymous with the design industry, and the web, and their products and technologies need little introduction. Not only does their support help us bring you more speakers, a record 12 internationals this year, it helps us apply the polish that makes the event more than just another conference. I think you’ll know what I mean when you arrive at Web Directions South this year.

And specifically, this year when you enjoy the food, beer, wine, soft drinks and other goodies at the Web Directions reception, you have Adobe to thank for their support of that event.

Adobe will also have a presence at the Expo this year, so look out for them.

A very heartfelt thanks to Adobe for their support of Web Directions South this year. Thank you for helping us to put on an event we know will knock people’s socks off.

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Hatch Day on hold

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

Sadly, based on the feedback of many folks, who loved the idea, and wanted to get involved, but who weren’t sure that right now they’d be able to commit the time and effort required to really make a go of Hatch Day, we’ve decided to put it on hold for now.

However, the really really good news is, there will be a Webjam on the evening of Saturday the 29th, and with so many people in town, and so much good energy after the conference, the Webjam team are hoping it will be the best one ever.

If you’ve done something cool on the web lately, show the rest of us. The Webjam team are looking for 16 presenters to show the world their sharpest recent web work, but they only get three minutes.

If you don’t have a demo, come along to cheer, heckle or just party. There’ll be booze, food and lots of your peers to hang with. Last time, there were dozens of people still partying hours after the voting finished.

Where: Bar Broadway, CNR of Regent St and Broadway, Sydney (opposite UTS)

When: 6pm, Saturday 29th September, 6.00pm till late

Register to present

Register to attend

One of the motivations for the Hatch Day was to get people active in a hands on way, after a week of hearing about what other folks are doing - so it would be great to see as many people as possible show off their stuff at Webjam.

Don’t hesitate to get in there though: the number of 3 minute presentation slots at Webjam are well and truly limited: so be sure to register via the Webjam site today.

Hack days have been successful around the world, so we do hope to see something of this kind happen in Australia in the not too distant future - in the meantime, get in touch to register via the Webjam site, and start polishing your three minute presentations to wow the crowd.

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For you Flash developers out there - a little gig

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

Our good friends at REMO are looking for a Flash developer to do some work for them.

REMO is seeking a Flash designer to help out with REMOVISION. See attached logo and Item 5 from this week’s CustOMER email here:

REMO General Store is a Sydney based online retailer with a global reputation for innovation and excellence in design. We’re growing quickly … but we’re still a tiny business. Hence the need to engage with people who are hungry for experience and who value the exposure that accompanies an association with our brand. Put simply, working with REMO is fun. The money is lousy, but the rewards are great!

In the short term we are seeking a talented Flash animation designer with motion graphic skills to help us with the opening and closing sequences for REMOVISION video clips. Rob the veteran Flash Guru (currently still busy with Design’O'Matic):

http://rmd.com.au/remo/dom/

… reckons that it’s about 8 hours work for someone … spread out over a bunch of sessions.

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