Web Directions North » Session Tags

To help you get the best feel for the areas the conference will cover, we’ve ‘tagged’ each session — but note that it’s possible presentations will cover subject matter they have not been tagged with. All sessions involve individual presentations by one or two presenters, lasting an hour, rather than panels — so each will have a very in-depth focus on its subject area(s).

• AIR
• Accessibility
• Ajax
• Business
• Case Studies
• CSS

• Code-free
• Design
• Design Patterns
• Development
• Government
• Javascript

• Mobile
• Process
• Products
• Server-side
• Social Media
• Silverlight

• Technical
• Typography
• UI/UX
• Web Standards
• Vision

AIR

Sessions with this tag look at Adobe’s AIR platform

• Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight — Andre Charland & Walter Smith

Accessibility

Sessions with this tag gave a significant focus on web site and or/web application accessibility

• Real World Accessibility for Real People — Derek Featherstone
• Opening Keynote — Jeffrey Zeldman

Ajax

Sessions with this tag gave a significant focus on developing with Ajax.

• Real World Accessibility for Real People — Derek Featherstone
• Working With Ajax Frameworks — Jonathan Snook

Business

Sessions with this tag focus on issues relevant to business — business processes, opportunities, and methodologies

• Bedroom to Boardroom — Josh Williams
• Plays Well With Others: Simple Things to Make The Social Parts of Your Service More Social — Brian Oberkirch
• 3 Stages of Content Management — Boris Mann
• Serious Business: Putting Social Media to Work — Anil Dash
• The Mobile Web Landscape in Canada and Beyond — Brian Fling
• Closing Keynote — Matt Webb

Case Studies

Sessions with this tag use specific projects to help explain design decisions and practical technique application.

• Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight — Andre Charland & Walter Smith
• What Makes a Design Seem Intuitive? — Jared Spool
• Information Visualization as a Medium — Eric Rodenbeck
• The Why and How: UI Case Studies — Daniel Burka

Code-free

Sessions with this tag may or may not be technical, but they keep the ideas high-level without exhaustive code examples.

• Real World Accessibility for Real People — Derek Featherstone

CSS

Sessions with this tag have a significant focus on designing for the web with CSS. This might be theoretical, practical, or a combination of both.

• Opening Keynote — Jeffrey Zeldman
• The Future of Web Interfaces — Cameron Adams
• Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop — John Allsopp & Dave Shea

Design

Sessions with this tag have a significant focus on graphic and web design.

• Opening Keynote — Jeffrey Zeldman
• Five Essential Composition Tools for Web Typography — Kimberly Elam
• Bedroom to Boardroom — Josh Williams
• Innovation is Overrated — Indi Young
• The Future of Web Interfaces — Cameron Adams
• Information Visualization as a Medium — Eric Rodenbeck
• What Makes a Design Seem Intuitive? — Jared Spool
• The Why and How: UI Case Studies — Daniel Burka
• Closing Keynote — Matt Webb

Design Patterns

Sessions with this tag analyze reusable solutions to common design problems, whether in the classic software design sense, or more visual problems.

• Working With Ajax Frameworks — Jonathan Snook
• Plays Well With Others: Simple Things to Make The Social Parts of Your Service More Social — Brian Oberkirch
• Information Visualization as a Medium — Eric Rodenbeck

Development

Sessions with this tag have a significant focus on developing front ends or back ends for the web

• Working With Ajax Frameworks — Jonathan Snook
• Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight — Andre Charland & Walter Smith
• Visions for the Web’s Future — TBA
• The Future of Web Interfaces — Cameron Adams
• 3 Stages of Content Management — Boris Mann
• Serious Business: Putting Social Media to Work — Anil Dash
• The Mobile Web Landscape in Canada and Beyond — Brian Fling

Government

Sessions with this tag cover issues geared toward those working with and inside of government agencies.

• Government 2.0: Architecting for Collaboration — Tara Hunt
• Real World Accessibility for Real People — Derek Featherstone
• Plays Well With Others: Simple Things to Make The Social Parts of Your Service More Social — Brian Oberkirch

Javascript

Sessions with this tag have a significant theoretical and or practical component focussing on the use of Javascript

• The Future of Web Interfaces — Cameron Adams
• Working With Ajax Frameworks — Jonathan Snook

Mobile

Sessions with this tag have a focus on designing or developing for mobile and handheld devices

• Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop — John Allsopp & Dave Shea
• The Mobile Web Landscape in Canada and Beyond — Brian Fling

Process

Sessions with this tag look at the process behind designing and developing web sites.

• Bedroom to Boardroom — Josh Williams
• Five Essential Composition Tools for Web Typography — Kimberly Elam
• Real World Accessibility for Real People — Derek Featherstone
• Innovation is Overrated — Indi Young
• Information Visualization as a Medium — Eric Rodenbeck
• The Why and How: UI Case Studies — Daniel Burka

Products

Sessions with this tag are geared toward designing and developing products, focussing on web-based products (but perhaps not exclusively).

• Bedroom to Boardroom — Josh Williams
• Innovation is Overrated — Indi Young

Server-side

Sessions with this tag highlight back-end development issues

• The 3 Stages of Content Management — Boris Mann
• Working With Ajax Frameworks — Jonathan Snook

Silverlight

Sessions with this tag look at Microsoft’s Silverlight platform

• Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight — Andre Charland & Walter Smith

Technical

Sessions with this tag are more gears-and-propellers than nuts-and-bolts. Read: heavy geek quotient.

• Working With Ajax Frameworks — Jonathan Snook
• Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight — Andre Charland & Walter Smith

Typography

Sessions with this tag have a heavy focus on the way type works, in theory and on the screen

• Five Essential Composition Tools for Web Typography — Kimberly Elam
• Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop — John Allsopp & Dave Shea

User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX)

Sessions with this tag have a significant focus on user interface/experience design.

• What Makes a Design Seem Intuitive? — Jared Spool
• Innovation is Overrated — Indi Young
• The Why and How: UI Case Studies — Daniel Burka
• Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop — John Allsopp & Dave Shea
• The Future of Web Interfaces — Cameron Adams

Web Standards

Sessions with this tag focus on general issues and techniques associated with standards based web development — CSS, HTML, and accessibility.

• Opening Keynote — Jeffrey Zeldman
• The Future of Web Interfaces — Cameron Adams
• Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop — John Allsopp & Dave Shea

Vision

Sessions with this tag tackle big picture issues - concepts, ideas, future directions

• Opening Keynote — Jeffrey Zeldman
• Closing Keynote — Matt Webb