wds08: the stream
What follows is Web Directions South 2008, as seen on my flickr and twitter streams. With some annotations where I felt it was appropriate. I kind of like the picture that emerges :)
Day Zero
counting down to end of work, which coincidentally marks the start of my #wds08 festivities... 05:10 PM September 24, 2008 from web
going to have dinner with L, then head to port80 in a little bit. don't drink *all* the beer ;) 07:31 PM September 24, 2008 from web
back from pre #wds08 #port80 - great night! but definitely time for sleep :) 12:20 AM September 25, 2008 from web
Day One
Opening Keynote - Lynne D Johnson: New Media...New Rules
playing "spot the wordle graphic" at #wds08 ;) 09:26 AM September 25, 2008 from web
@RuthEllison eeepc reducing the average size of laptop though ;) 09:34 AM September 25, 2008 from web in reply to RuthEllison
Two notable toy trends: iPhones and little laptops/"netbooks" (Eee PC, Aspire One). In previous years, the trend was "mac laptops as far as the eye can see".
noting that #wds08 is a trending topic on search.twitter.com 09:51 AM September 25, 2008 from web
@trib nah the esquire cover was just the fucking BLINK tag done in print ;) #wds08 10:07 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to trib
The whole Esquire cover thing... it just blinks, which is annoying. I don't want my magazines to blink at me (I don't want any media to blink at me). I don't particularly want magazines to "update over 30 days" either - if I want that I'll go look at your website.
personally i think magazines won't die until monitors look as good as high quality print. #wds08 10:10 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
librarians... they're information brokers, right? books or otherwise! #wds08 10:13 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
@madpilot yeah and they don't run out of battery on long flights! 10:14 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to madpilot
simplistic comment about "will their politics become ours". what, everyone thinks like rupert? what bullshit! #wds08 10:17 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
I forget the precise wording of the question, but it was something about Google's potential dominance of media meaning that Brin and Page's politics would "become our politics". That's just too simplistic - all publications have bias, whether people adopt that bias comes down to how much they think and how much they just absorb.
media consumers don't think for themselves any more or less based on the source. some people analyse, some don't. #wds08 10:19 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
Derek Featherstone - Accessibility beyond compliance
boo to the doorbitch who wouldn't let us in with coffees! missed the start of derek's talk. we're geeks, need 'feen! #wds08 11:12 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
I should mention that I refer to anyone doing any form of door duty as "doorbitch". It's not a derogatory term and I've done doorbitch duties myself.
But seriously, who denies geeks caffeine? :)
just realised i mentally associate @feather 's voice with Dragon Naturally Speaking commands. #wds08 11:22 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
This is true. When I describe how users give commands to Dragon Naturally Speaking, I probably do a slight Derek impression.
@feather: “oooh, that's evil. Popup windows bad.” #wds08 11:33 AM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
Grant Young – social media
Grant Young just had a moment of terror, realising he didn't check what he'd bookmarked on delicious before he took a screenshot... #wds08 12:10 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
loving the room's reaction to Will It Blend iphone episode... it's just a fucking phone, people! #wds08 12:20 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
second wordle graphic spotted! #wds08 12:41 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
JS libraries
laughing at the geek sledging in the js libraries session. #wds08 01:57 PM September 25,2008 from mobile web
would it be snotty to mention you can swap an image on hover using css? ;) 02:17 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
.... *snort* apparently not, cam just mentioned it :) 02:18 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
"where did you get this from?" "google. i felt lucky!" #wds08 02:21 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
switching to typography with jeff croft. #wds08 02:45 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
Jeff Croft
Jeff made a comment that came across as wanting to ignore accessibility concerns (although he said later that wasn't his intention). It didn't go down so well on the back channel...
man we need to solve this px font resizing issue. will IE ever come to that particular party?? 02:59 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
@tuna it's a common designer atttitude - ahhhhh nah nobody who reads MY site has low vision... see also: small grey text syndrome. #wds08 03:04 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to Tuna
@ocean ie6 and firefox2 both. ff2 holds back inline-block. ie6, well we know the shopping list of reasons... 03:08 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to ocean
pondering making my twitter stream public for the duration... twitter search *should* reveal tweets to followers, but doesn't. 03:09 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
@ocean yes, but all target audiences can and do include people with vision issues, who'd like to resize. 03:12 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to ocean
@ocean ie6, ie7, ie8 all have the problem; although 7 and 8 have the zoom function. so, they have a workaround of sorts. 03:15 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to ocean
nice simple explanation of vertical grid though. #wds08 03:19 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
hmmm. hanging bullets look wrong to me. just habit from websites? #wds08 03:28 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
Later on, there was some discussion about how many typography rules have been or should be rewritten for the web. Croft did mention the issues around the choice of serif vs. sans-serif, where the rules were essentially reversed online.
August de los Reyes
@ruthellison reckon surface could be microsoft's wii or ipod? 04:19 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to RuthEllison
going open for the duration of #wds08 04:24 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
philosophy and it - it's an underrated combination. but then i would say that. 04:32 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
(I have a degree in Journalism and Philosophy, but work in IT. So... yeah :))
i can see the future with microsoft surface. ms diversifies into a lurcrative windex sideline... #wds08 04:47 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
excellent closing presso, great conceptual mix. can forgive the prevalence of promo reels ;) #wds08 05:10 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web
@scttw should we underestimate the under-served raver computing market? :) #wds08 05:13 PM September 25, 2008 from mobile web in reply to scttw
Day One drinks
Webjam 8
Day two
Jeff Veen – Designing through data
my wifi and the slide system came back up at the same time. coincidence? or something more sinister? *wiggles eyebrows significantly* #wds08 09:21 AM September 26, 2008 from web
now after...what... a three year wait... i'm about to see @veen speak again :) #wds08 09:23 AM September 26, 2008 from web
thanks for all the birthday wishes, guys :) so far thankfully 30 hasn't felt too different from 29... here's hoping that lasts ;) 09:41 AM September 26, 2008 from web
Yes, it was my 30th on day two. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, really.
ahhhhh, hay net, an old friend. have hay or need hay? have borrowed that example many times. @veen #wds08 10:06 AM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
Link: veen.com/wds08.pdf
Note - connectivity issues ensued.
Jina Bolton – sexy stylesheets
Michael(tm) - HTML5
Miles Eftos – openid, oauth
finally got some sweet sweet connectivity back :) in miles' openid presso #wds08 01:45 PM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
I should mention the wifi was great given all the restrictions. At some points I strongly suspect there were a few people abusing the network with high-bandwidth stuff (probably photo/video uploads).
heheh miles explaining what 200ok means... hopefully plenty of you already knew ;) #wds08 02:01 PM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
switched to burka's presso, double-dipping sessions ;) 02:31 PM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
Daniel Burka
Surface and afternoon tea
Mark Pesce
behind you, mark, behind you! #wds08 04:20 PM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
i think it's fair to say i just got a LOL :) 04:27 PM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
all done bar the after party :) #wds08 04:54 PM September 26, 2008 from mobile web
after party
grabbing some food before heading on to the shelbourne. 06:30 PM September 26, 2008 from web
Lmao as the dancefloor fills to rick astley #wds08 11:23 PM September 26, 2008 from txt
I love yous guysss ;-) #wds08 01:36 AM September 27, 2008 from txt
The day after...
heheheh boy do i have some classic photos from last night.... :) 11:20 AM September 27, 2008 from web
now off for brunch with an old friend (and to see their new place!). 11:22 AM September 27, 2008 from web
getting ready for drinks and food with the perth crew, at the kirk. #port80 #wds08 06:26 PM September 27, 2008 from web
Sunday
feeling the bittersweet #wds08 comedown. it's awesome having so many wonderful people come here! but the buggers always leave afterwards ;) 02:53 PM September 28, 2008 from web
See also: WDS08 - the notes.