Web Directions Podcast
196 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 12 years ago -Sessions from the Web Directions conference series. Sessions are © Web Directions and the respective speakers. See individual sessions for license details.
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Episodes
Real world web standards - Scott Gledhill
June 23, 2008 01:44 - 52 minutes - 21.3 MBThose initial stages of converting your company to web standards are much like trying to score that first kiss with the princess. You seduce them with the business benefits of web-standards development, and the rest of the arguments we have all read, written, and preached to anyone who will listen. But getting corporate web standards in place is just a sign that the real relationship is about to begin. The honeymoon is over, and now it’s time to figure out what has gone wrong and why the prin...
Improving Government through better use of the Web - José Manuel Alonso
June 22, 2008 23:35 - 1 hour - 24.5 MBIt’s no secret that just as the web has revolutionised business, the media, and many other parts of our lives, it is also revolutionising how governments and citizens interact, and how government provide services. But how to do it well is still something of a black art. In this keynote presentation, the lead of the W3C’s eGovernment initiative, José Manuel Alonso, looks at the opportunities the web provides governments, the challenges, old and new, the web poses, and the role of the W3C in ...
The essential elements of great web applications - Robert Hoekman Jr
June 04, 2008 01:37 - 1 hour - 25 MBMost great web applications have a few key things in common. But can you name them? Better yet - can you achieve them consistently in your own projects? In this closing keynote, Robert Hoekman, Jr., author of the Amazon bestseller Designing the Obvious (New Riders) describes the seven qualities of great web-based software and how to achieve each and every one of them by learning to communicate through design. See why it’s important to build only what’s absolutely essential, apply instructive...
Web visualisation: do you see what I see? - Jeremy Yuille
June 04, 2008 01:35 - 52 minutes - 21.2 MBThe web is packed with information and knowledge, but too often our efforts to understand what’s important or relevant are stymied by antiquated methods of presentation. At the same time, more and more libraries, widgets and services are being released to help us present information visually. Problem solved? Not really. In this session Jeremy Yuille from ACID looks at information visualisation from a user experience perspective, overviewing new and old examples and how they can help (or hind...
The mobile web user experience - we’re starting to get it right! - Oliver Weidlich
June 04, 2008 01:32 - 54 minutes - 22 MBHistorically the mobile web has been a terrible experience, but things are starting to change. Really! We are now at the point that the mobile web is becoming easier to access, both on-deck & off-deck, there’s useful & tailored services out there, and killing some time on the train home doesn’t cost more than your weekly train ticket. We’ll check out the latest and greatest in the world of mobile web and what makes them different from the others. We will also cover the important things to kee...
Delivering user experience to the inbox: designing for email - Mathew Patterson
June 04, 2008 01:28 - 52 minutes - 21.5 MBSo you’ve designed a fantastic website for your client, tested in all the major browsers and everything looks great. Now they want to send an email newsletter to all their customers, using the new design. No problem right? Just need to test in Outlook 07, and 06. Yahoo and Hotmail too, of course. Oh, and Gmail, Lotus Notes, AOL... Of course, the design may not work that well for an email anyway, and isn’t there some kind of anti-spam laws? Like it or not, HTML email is here to stay and the ...
Converting research findings into business speak - Jackie Moyes
June 04, 2008 01:24 - 47 minutes - 19.2 MBGetting your company to adopt a user-centred design approach can be an uphill struggle. The first stage typically is to get them to agree to incorporate usability testing in to the development process, at a stage early enough to actually implement any design recommendations. The second stage is to convince them to do more ethnographic style research to understand the larger context of the task that the site is trying to support. The biggest challenge comes last - how to help the business owne...
Analysing user research data - Steve Baty
June 04, 2008 01:16 - 1 hour - 25 MBIn our efforts to better understand the end users of the sites & applications we design, we generate a great deal of data. That data is useless to us until it has been analyzing and interpreted. This presentation looks at some of the methods & techniques we can use to make sense of user research data in a meaningful & rigorous way. The presentation will look at some of the common types of quantitative data collected during user research, and the statistical analysis methods we can employ to ...
Getting content right - Donna Spencer
June 02, 2008 10:54 - 52 minutes - 21.5 MBWe all know that great content is a core part of the website user experience. So why is it so hard to find content that isn’t dull, lifeless and uninteresting - blah, blah, blah? Web content can be vibrant, interesting and fun. It can draw you in, fill your head and make you learn without having to think. And it’s not really hard to write. Three simple tricks can turn poor content into a great experience - remember that readers care more about themselves than you; write in real words with au...
Designing the experience curve - Andy Budd
June 02, 2008 09:27 - 1 hour - 27.1 MBThese days people expect more from a website than a handy set of tools and a pretty interface - they want an experience. From the moment somebody enters your site they’ll be judging you on everything from the way the site looks to the tone of your error messages. And they won’t just be judging you against other sites. They will be judging you on every customer experience they have ever had, from the rude man at the train station to the lovely hotel clerk that checked them in on holiday. So in...
Movement (Closing Keynote) - Matt Webb
April 15, 2008 03:42 - 58 minutes - 26.8 MBWe’ve always had metaphors to understand and design for the Web. The original conception of the Web was as a library of documents. Our building blocks were derived from spatial ideas: "breadcrumbs", "visits" and "homepages" were used to understand the medium. Website-as-application was a new and novel metaphor in the late 1990s. The spatial concept of navigation was replaced by concepts derived from tools: buttons performed actions on data. These metaphors inspire separate but complementar...
Better Gmail: How Google Opened Gmail’s Web Interface to Any Developer Who Cares (And Why You Should) - Gina Trapani
April 15, 2008 03:39 - 37 minutes - 17.3 MBLast year, Google released an experimental Greasemonkey API for Gmail: coding hooks that let anyone add CSS and Javascript to Gmail that enhances how it looks and behaves. Why would you want to do this? Why wouldn’t you? Hear how Google’s using Greasemonkey to distribute Gmail development amongst independent web developers - and how those developers are integrating their own product into Gmail - resulting in a Better Gmail for everyone. Gina Trapani is a web developer and the founding editor...
Five Essential Composition Tools for Web Typography - Kimberly Elam
April 15, 2008 03:35 - 55 minutes - 25.4 MBHave you ever seen a web site so clear, logical, and exquisitely composed it made you stop in your tracks? Have you wondered how the designer achieved such a stunning and cohesive design? In this presentation, Kimberly Elam, designer and author of the best-selling "Geometry of Design" and "Typographic Systems" will reveal the mysterious relationships between proportion, visual systems, composition and aesthetics. Too often excellent conceptual ideas suffer during the process of realization,...
Bedroom to Boardroom - Josh Williams
April 15, 2008 03:30 - 44 minutes - 20.5 MBWhat happens when a designer decides to quit his day job, hang his shingle, and wakes up seven years later nowhere remotely close to where he imagined he would be? This frank, semi-informal discussion on the pros, cons, and potential progressions of a designer’s career will explore the following: - Niching your design services - Crafting a salable product - The Web Designer of Tomorrow A serial designer-entrepreneur, Josh Williams is the founder and CEO of several well known web...
Working with Ajax Frameworks - Jonathan Snook
April 11, 2008 04:57 - 50 minutes - 23.1 MBIt seems like there’s a new Ajax library or JavaScript framework coming out every week, and there probably is! Which is the best one to pick? Will you be up the creek without a paddle if you choose the wrong one? "Working with Ajax Frameworks" will delve into some common Ajax design patterns and how various frameworks can be used to meet those needs. We’ll also take a look at how we can keep our own code flexible as we bridge the gap between it and the various frameworks. Jonathan Snook is ...
Real World Accessibility for Real People - Derek Featherstone
April 11, 2008 04:05 - 1 hour - 27.5 MBWhen we follow the principles of web standards, we write valid HTML and CSS, unobtrusive JavaScript and follow WCAG and other accessibility guidelines. This simple act goes a long way to creating an accessible web site, application or service. At the same time, many sites that don’t utilize all that is good and wholesome about web standards perform surprisingly well when they are used by people with disabilities. How can we get the best of both worlds to create standards-based solutions that...
Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight - Andre Charland and Walter Smith
April 11, 2008 04:00 - 56 minutes - 26.1 MBCrash Course in Adobe AIR There comes a time when web developers need to reach beyond the browser to allow users to go offline, use local files or get rid of the hideous browser chrome. The Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is an up an coming runtime technology that allows desktop applications to be developed with HTML, JavaScript, Flash or Flex. The AIR runtime and SDK are completely free so anyone can get started immediately. Andre Charland will will give an overview or AIR, the APIs you get...
Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop - John Allsopp and Dave Shea
April 11, 2008 03:53 - 57 minutes - 26.5 MBSince the advent of personal computing, we’ve been tied to one place - typically sitting at a desk, with a keyboard and mouse, and in isolation. Even the advent of the web and the wifi-enabled laptop hasn’t much changed this quarter century old paradigm. But with the rise of mobile phones and devices like the Nintendo Wii and PSP featuring first class web browsing, our experience of the web will change dramatically over the coming years. In this context, which design and user experience patte...
The 3 Stages of Dynamic Systems - Boris Mann
April 11, 2008 03:48 - 58 minutes - 26.9 MBContent management systems have all but replaced the former art of publishing static HTML pages. From letting clients edit and add content, to content like calendars and forums that defy the "page" convention, dynamic interactive websites keep visitors coming back. At some point your website goes beyond just a site filled with HTML pages and actually becomes a full-fledged web application. From these features, we extract three stages of content management - simple content management, beyond ...
Serious Business: Putting Social Media to Work - Anil Dash
April 11, 2008 03:43 - 1 hour - 27.6 MBYou know what blogs and wikis are, and you know your YouTube from your Facebook. But do you know how to make a compelling business case for these technologies? Social media and social networking tools are poised to have as much of an impact on business as they’ve had on the way we communicate with our friends and family online. Anil Dash, a blogger since 1999 who’s helped thousands of businesses make use of social media through his work at Six Apart, shares real-world examples of how compani...
Mobile Web Design & Development - Brian Fling
April 04, 2008 00:44 - 1 hour - 28.2 MBMobile technology is poised to revolutionize how we gather information. By 2010 half the population of the planet will have access to the internet through a mobile device, making the mobile web an essential part of our lives. Yet the mobile industry has few if any resources to help would-be mobile developers from diving in other than applied experience from within the industry. Brian Fling is here to discuss the mobile ecosystem in Canada and abroad, how you go about developing an integrated...
The Why and How: UI Case Studies - Daniel Burka
April 04, 2008 00:38 - 49 minutes - 22.7 MBUser 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 star...
Government 2.0: Architecting for Collaboration - Tara Hunt
April 04, 2008 00:35 - 59 minutes - 27.2 MBWhat does Web 2.0 mean and, specifically, what does it mean for the future of governments? Tara Hunt has been speaking all over the world, talking to government audiences on this subject. She believes that Web 2.0 has very little to do with the technology and everything to do with people. Her talk will cover the main tenets of Web 2.0: openness, collaboration and community and what it means for government. "Miss Rogue" defines herself as a customer first, marketer second. In 2005, Tara becam...
AJAX Security - Douglas Crockford
April 04, 2008 00:29 - 51 minutes - 23.6 MBSecurity 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 u...
Information Visualization as a medium - Eric Rodenbeck
April 04, 2008 00:25 - 50 minutes - 23.1 MBInformation visualization is becoming more than a set of tools and technologies and techniques to understand large data sets. It is emerging as a medium in its own right, with a wide range of expressive potential. Stamen’s work in visualization and mapping is among the most high profile online today, with the live dynamic displays at Digg Labs and Cabspotting being just two of many examples. The studio’s approach is deeply pragmatic, always starting with real data and aiming to work with gra...
The Future of Web Interfaces - Cameron Adams
April 04, 2008 00:14 - 51 minutes - 23.4 MBWe’re at an exciting time in the development of web-based interfaces - along with a maturing front-end toolkit (CSS & JavaScript), there are so many technologies, trends and exciting ideas emerging that are enabling us to push the boundaries of interface design. Author, designer and code cowboy Cameron Adams will explore some of these areas and how they will apply to our development of online interfaces, including: the possibilities of front-end customisation, application interfaces, browser...
Think like a mountain - Andy Clark
November 12, 2007 00:59 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBOnce seen as unsophisticated, childish and of low artistic value, comic-book art and culture has inspired artists and designers for generations and are now are often untapped resource for web design inspiration. In this session, designer and author of Transcending CSS, Andy Clarke will examine comic book layout, conventions and colour in the context of making inspirational designs for today’s web. Andy Clarke has been working on the web for almost ten years. He is a visual web designer based...
A new life for old standards - revisions to HTML, CSS and others - Bert Bos.
October 31, 2007 08:16 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MBCSS level 2 became a standard in 1998. The last revision of HTML4 dates from 1999. That’s long time ago in Web years, but they aren’t forgotten: after several years of work, CSS is close to a revision and browser support is better than ever. It’s necessary, because CSS needs to grow: vertical text, columns, print support, complex layouts and much more is increasingly demanded. Likewise, there is a big effort to revise HTML. Interest is so high, the W3C is trying a new process, to let more peo...
E is for everywhere: mobile content, services and commerce strategies in Australia - Alex Young and Rob Manson.
October 26, 2007 09:32 - 48 minutes - 35.8 MBIn 1998 the American Dialect Society voted "e-" (as in electronic) as the "word of the year". This signified how important the internet had become in our world. Almost 10 years later we’re undergoing an even larger change. Only this time the "e-" prefix stands for "everywhere". Mobile content, services and commerce are changing the way we communicate, work and do business. And these changes are building upon the already massive revolutions brought about by the internet - only faster and made...
Is SEO evil? - Scott Gledhill.
October 23, 2007 08:43 - 1 hour - 54.1 MBThere can be a feeling in the web development community that "SEO is evil" - Scott Gledhill cuts through the hype to focus on how developing accessible, standards compliant websites is the first step in creating search engine friendly websites - and also talks about what is being done in the industry to make websites more findable, sometimes at the cost of making them less usable. SEO is big business and it’s attracting a whole new breed of web practitioners into our industry. Learn the adva...
Mashups, web apps and APIs - Raul Vera.
October 23, 2007 08:40 - 54 minutes - 45.1 MBHear all about the exciting possibilities created by these technologies from Google Australia. Raul has been involved in digital-media technology (video animation, graphics, image processing, printing) for over 25 years, as software developer, architect, entrepreneur, and team leader. He recently joined Google Australia where he is helping to build and manage the growing Engineering team. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Learning to love forms - Aaron Gustafson.
October 23, 2007 08:33 - 57 minutes - 45.5 MBForms. We all have to make ‘em, but few of us love ‘em. Aaron Gustafson believes that this is because we don’t understand them. In this session, we will explore forms from top to bottom, examining how they work and how their components can be incorporated with other elements to maximize accessibility, improve semantics, and allow for more flexible styling. You’ll get to see the complete picture with forms, including error, warning and formatting messages, styling and its implications, as well...
Trends and predictions in web technology - John Allsopp.
October 18, 2007 01:38 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MBWeb designers and developers are a very practical bunch, often too busy with today’s challenges and workloads to find time to keep up with developments over the horizon. In this session John Allsopp looks at what trends that are important for web designers and developers and innovators generally - what future versions of browsers have in store, what devices people will be using to access the web, and more. A perfect complement to Bert Bos’s focus on coming web standard technologies. Successf...
Mob rules - Mark Pesce.
October 17, 2007 13:37 - 55 minutes - 37.9 MBSometime shortly after Web Directions South concludes, somebody (probably a somebody in the "developing" world) will become the three billionth mobile phone subscriber. Good for the providers, of course - but the effects of the network on human social organization are far more profound. From the dhows of Kerala to the cities of China to the beaches of Cronulla, we’re all coming into contact with - and learning how to master - the subtle skills of spontaneous self-organization which are the es...
Pushing beyond design - Justin French.
October 16, 2007 10:20 - 59 minutes - 40.6 MBYou’re a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process - what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis. Justin French...
Human Traffic - George Oates.
October 16, 2007 10:16 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBIf there’s one thing about Web 2.0, it’s that we’re realising that there are actually people using the internet. It’s no longer about Human to Computer interaction, but rather Human to Human. Discover some of the user experience ideas and strategies behind the design of flickr.com, one of the richest Human to Human places on the web today. George Oates joined a company called Ludicorp back in the middle of 2003, having moved from Australia, where she had enjoyed a successful career in the we...
Making useful things no one knew they needed: building ethnography into the design process. - Stephen Cox.
October 16, 2007 09:19 - 57 minutes - 39.5 MBWorking in usability and user experience can give you some great insights into the product design process. Yet few organisations know how to take advantage of this information silo. As a user experience expert do you sometimes wish you could have more input into product ideas handed down from above? Ever wanted to have the ear of business strategists? Even be best friends with marketers and sales people? Stephen Cox explores some of the exciting things that can happen when the disciplines of...
The future of web based interfaces - Cameron Adams.
October 16, 2007 09:11 - 59 minutes - 40.6 MBAjax brought about a host of new possibilities in online interfaces, but where are we going next? Cameron Adams will look at the evolution of dynamic interfaces; interfaces that truly meet the needs of all their users. Through the careful use of Web Standards, client-side scripting, and server-side intelligence, it’s possible to create interfaces that shape, adapt to, and predict a user’s needs. Cameron will also be examining how the emergence of browser-based technologies such as Canvas and...
Usability: more than skin deep - Lisa Herrod.
October 16, 2007 08:21 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBWeb Usability is far more complex than User Testing and Interaction Design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface. We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a ...
Managing agile projects within large organisations - Ben Winter Giles.
October 16, 2007 08:16 - 1 hour - 44.6 MBSo you work at enterprise level. Lots of stake holders, lots of competition for time, need to deliver to multiple demands that ...POP up. All projects incur change over time, that’s the way of the world. Using a benefits driven approach to delivery rather than a process driven or methodology governed approach frees the team to think laterally, and be responsive to client demands. Agility is more than a project management approach, it’s a way of operation and culture that enables and manages ...
Wikis and community collaboration - Angela Beesley.
October 16, 2007 08:10 - 1 hour - 42.8 MBWikipedia has brought the concept of a wiki to many people’s attention and now Wikia is aiming to broaden that concept. If you think of Wikipedia as the encyclopedia, then Wikia is the rest of the library. Wikia hosts 3000 openly editable wikis that are built up by communities of fans who are passionate on topics that range from solar cooking to Neopets. In this session, Angela Beesley will explain how Wikia is not only hosting but actively developing wikis and creating hundreds of thriving ...
RedBubble: Building a site for people with big imaginations - Mark Mansour.
October 10, 2007 14:07 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MBRedBubble is a social networking platform and marketplace, not to mention a successful homegrown web app. In this session RedBubble’s software architect Mark Mansour will present the challenges the team has faced, and talk through some of the solutions they’ve discovered, during the building and scaling one of Australia’s largest Rails applications. Along the way you’ll learn RedBubble’s tenets for software design, the what’s and how’s of their database and web servers, plus processes that m...
Social networks and mobiles - Laurel Papworth.
October 10, 2007 13:55 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MBIt’s not just about email and Twitter: industry analysts agree, virtually every online social network application will develop a mobile feature in the next year or two. From Flickr pre-installed on Nokia phones to an up-to-date map of your buddies locations, mobile devices are ready to come pre-loaded with new friends for you to play with. Before you tune out to listen to music tagged and delivered to your mobile by your social network, or press SEND on a stinging critique of the Web Directio...
Social media and Government 2.0 - Sebastian Chan.
October 10, 2007 02:30 - 42 minutes - 28.8 MBMore than ever before there is an enormous amount of publicly held data about our community, our culture, and citizens. How can government respond to the opportunities of Web 2.0? How can government websites and databases become more citizen-centric, and more responsive by leveraging social media? In 2006 the Powerhouse Musuem, a NSW State Government institiution, opened its core information asset - its collection and research database - to public tagging, and dynamic user-driven recommendat...
AJAX or Flash: what's right for you? - Jonathan Boutelle.
October 10, 2007 02:30 - 55 minutes - 38 MBThe web is finally moving beyond simple html. How can you make rich web-based user experiences that don’t surprise or aggravate your users? When should you use AJAX, when should you use Flash, and when should you mix the two? What are the opportunities and pitfalls when creating richer web interfaces? In this talk, Jonathan will argue that Flash and AJAX are complementary tools in the web developers’ toolbox, and that building effective web experiences often requires a blending of the two tec...
The perils of popularity - Rashmi Sinha.
October 10, 2007 02:30 - 1 hour - 49.1 MBCan web-based social systems with their wide reach, user-generated and user-filtered content harness the wisdom of crowds? Duncan Watts’ recent experiments reveal how popularity based web social systems can throw up fickle, random trends that are essentially unreplicable, and only tangentially related to quality. However, popularity as a way to filter information continues to rise in popularity - replacing hierarchical menus, overtaking tags, and even used in lieu of relevance. Rashmi will li...