It is a small, yet top shelf event with leading voices from the industry. The atmosphere that makes it easy to meet other Web professionals.

Each year I leave the conference inspired in my work and with new connections to other designers and developers.

Making a New Friend

The highlight of the weekend was getting to know Jason Weaver. I first met Jason when he commented on one of my blog posts 2 years ago. We follow each other on Twitter and have an occasion conversation.

We split the cost of a hotel room and had a blast hanging out and getting to know each beyond throughout the weekend. We capped it off by visiting the Dali Museum before parting ways on Saturday.

Rooming with Jason made the conference much more enjoyable experience.

The Conference

We were welcomed to The Palladium by a giant banner flying above the steps leading to the auditorium.

It was a great venue with a comfortable auditorium and a coffee house type space where we enjoyed a casual breakfast and hang out during the day. I spent most of the breakfast hour catching up with different people that I have met over the past 2 years.

The Discovery Process

We kicked off the day by getting a look into the business of MindComet. With a lot of energy and enthusiasm, James May and Stephanie Fields shared about the process of discovery. It was a great behind the scenes discussion of the strategic role of discovery.

They shared how MindComet takes the time to get to know their client’s business and users so they can make better informed decisions in the design process. This leads to happier clients and more successful projects.

View their presentation and engage in a conversation

A Mindset for UI

Ryan Singer from 37 Signals challenged us to take a different approach when looking at an interface. Ask, “What’s this screen telling me?”, not “What’s on the screen?”, which is what we normally ask.

Ryan had us look at an interface for a tracking project time, something most of us have encountered in one form or another. He shared different principles on how to make an interface more obvious. As he went along, he mocked up a new interface giving us concrete examples of the principles he was sharing.

@rjs “Make design perform a job, not just make an interface look nice.”#frontendconf

July 22, 2011 9:49 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

Reduce the cognitive load required to get to the point of information using design #frontendconf

July 22, 2011 9:44 am via Twitter for iPadReplyRetweetFavorite

@lorielue

Lauren Martin

The bottom line: eliminate obstacles between the user’s intention and the user accomplishing their goals.

jQuery Bling

Doug Neiner was next up speaking on the topic on jQuery. Doug shared some good tips about working with JavaScript/jQuery. He walked through an example of displaying Dribbble shots using the Dribbble API and jQuery.

“ugly working code always trumps pretty, broken code” — @dougneiner #frontendconf

July 22, 2011 10:54 am via Twitterrific for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@miklb

Michael Bishop

Responsive Web Design

This is the session I was really excited about and it did not disappoint. Ethan Marcotte, author of Responsive Web Design, shared about the responsive approach to modern Web development.  I believe this approach will form the basis of how we make Websites moving forward.

Rather than just rehashing what is in his book or the article that started it all, Ethan shared about his experience working with the Boston Globe.

Ethan showed how his team has integrated this approach into their process as they reshape the Globe’s online presence using a responsive approach. The talk really fleshed out the ideas from his book and took the conversation further.

I also enjoyed getting to talk with Ethan at the after party. I found him to be a very humble person that listened and took an active interest in me as a person. Part of our conversation centered around my work at a large media company. It was fun to compare it to his experiences with the Globe.

I really appreciated him taking the time to engage me on such a personal level. I think that is one of the best things about this conference–the personal interaction with the speakers.

The Place of Web Templates in the Web Design Business

Brandon Jones challenged us to consider the role that templates or custom themes can play in the Web design practice. He believes it can help us to provide affordable solutions for smaller clients who cannot afford custom design.

The templates can serve as a foundation that we can build upon to provide a custom solution to our client’s problem. I liked this approach in that he encouraged us to not just use the template out of the box, but to build on top of it.

I have considered using a custom WordPress theme for some projects that have a smaller budget. The advantage is that many of these come with functionality built in that is currently beyond my skillset and would take time (money) to build.

I believe there is a place for using templates and custom themes to help smaller businesses create a great online experience to engage their audience.

The Wonderful World of Pseudo Elements

@chriscoyier makes CSS so entertaining. #frontendconf #csspseudoelements

July 22, 2011 2:48 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

I think Chris Coyier is one of the most entertaining speakers that I have seen. I love his excitement and enthusiasm. He shared a lot of great solutions using the :before and :after pseudo elements. He showed us how to generate CSS shapes, create a horizontal parallax without multiple divs, and lots of other cool stuff. Go look at the PDF of his presentation.

View Chris’s presentation

Chris’ article A Whole Bunch of Amazing Stuff Pseudo Elements Can Do

Explore the Possibilities

Allison House was our final speaker for the day. Her talk was less on the practical side and more of a challenge to go out and experiment. This is an exciting time on the Web. We have a lot of great tools. The challenge is to learn how to tell stories (narrative) with these tools. This is largely unexplored place.

I enjoyed her examples. It is one of those talks that helps you to start dreaming. I have been thinking about narrative and have explored a couple of ways to bring narrative into experiences I have designed. I really enjoyed talking with Allison at the after party. We continued the conversation and I enjoyed her insights.

Fun, Fun, and More Fun

I really enjoyed getting to know people at the Beer Meetup on Thursday night and the after party on Friday. I met a lot of new people and had great conversations. I met one guy who owns an ice cream franchise and just got into Web design 2 years ago. It is a lot of fun to hear each other’s journeys.

I also enjoyed getting to catch up with friends and other people that I have met through previous conferences or through different working relationships over the past two years.

Takeaways

Here is what I took away from the conference:

• I want to do a responsive Web design. I have read about it, discussed it and thought about it some more. But I just need to get my hands dirty and try it. It is the only way to learn it. I believe this site will be that project.
• Consider using templates or custom themes as a foundation for freelance projects with small budgets. I think it makes good business sense and could allow me to take on some projects with those who could not afford a custom solution.
• Experiment with pseudo selectors. I had already implemented a solution last week for styling ordered lists.
• Write a blog post about using CSS selectors. I shared with Chris Coyier an idea to write about my experiences using CSS selectors like adjacent and child combinator. He thought using real world examples make a great read.
• Experiment. Look for ways to experiment. Don’t be afraid to redesign this site. This site is a platform for me to have fun and try new things.

My post about 2010 Front-End Conference

Dan Denney’s Flickr Set (Dan is conference organizer)

Sketch Notes

Once again, I decided to try sketch note taking. It is a great exercise to push myself. I think I did a great job capturing the content in a form that helped me (as I used it to help me write this post). Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger image.

Twitter and social networking have opened up whole new avenues of relationships and with many people I have never met.

Three weeks ago, I was coding away at my job when I came across this tweet in my stream:

Amazing chocolate chip cookies! @ Culture Espresso Bar http://gowal.la/c/4eLgY

May 16, 2011 12:48 pm via GowallaReplyRetweetFavorite

@vanshea

Van Shea Sedita

I love chocolate chip cookies and wished I was in New York to share some with Van. So I replied:

@vanshea Can you send me some of those amazing cookies?

May 16, 2011 1:03 pm via Tweetie for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

I was kidding of course because you cannot send cookies through the Internet. (This is when a transporter would come in handy). So I was surprised by the response I got:

@webcraftsman DM me your address!

May 16, 2011 1:21 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@vanshea

Van Shea Sedita

I responded with a direct message. “Dude, if you are serious, here’s my address…” I still was not sure if he was serious.

@webcraftsman Done! Expect 3 of these Wed afternoon! http://t.co/OiS4Lfz

May 16, 2011 2:45 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@vanshea

Van Shea Sedita

I could not believe it. Van FedExed three cookies to me and I could enjoy them on Wednesday.

@vanshea Wow!! Thank you so much.

May 16, 2011 2:50 pm via Tweetie for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

@webcraftsman My pleasure! Can you please send some sun? ;)

May 16, 2011 5:07 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@vanshea

Van Shea Sedita

@vanshea Cookies arrived! My wife is putting in a bag with piece of bread so the cookies can absorb the moisture. Can’t wait to try. Thanks.

May 18, 2011 1:32 pm via Tweetie for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

@vanshea Still trying to figure out how to FedEx you some sunshine. Thanks again.

May 18, 2011 1:34 pm via Tweetie for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

@webcraftsman I hope they’re still good man! Sun will be here soon enough..I think. Enjoy!

May 18, 2011 2:37 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@vanshea

Van Shea Sedita

Enjoying cookies from New York. Thanks @vanshea http://t.co/pW4RGvn

May 18, 2011 6:43 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

Those chocolate chip cookies were sooo good. You’re the man @vanshea.

May 18, 2011 6:52 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@webcraftsman

Jeff Bridgforth

@webcraftsman :) Nice! Hope there’s milk nearby! Also, I’m not even a real big fan of cookies.

May 18, 2011 6:54 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@vanshea

Van Shea Sedita

I have never met Van in person. I thought about how generous he was to take the time and spend the money to send me some yummy cookies. I believe that Van started following me after the following tweet:

Had a great lunch with @webcraftsman, designer extraordinaire.

February 23, 2010 3:00 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@jmspool

Jared M. Spool

Van follows Jared and started following me right after this tweet. I thought this was a great example of networking and social media. (I still am working on trying to send Van some sunshine.)

No, I am not being paid to plug this site. To be honest, all of what I said above is not meant to be taken seriously. I came across this site while I perused my RSS subscriptions. I found out about this site through TechCrunch. I just went to the homepage of the Friends of Family site. I have no intentions of trying this service.

I do find this interesting. I think most families are pretty cocooned in this day and age. I am not sure how most people my age find community. My community revolves around my church family. But at times I do not feel as connected as I would like to. The daily grind of just managing life with 2 now 3 kids does not leave me a lot of energy to be proactive about setting up time with other families. My wife and I have been a part of a small group with some other couples with small kids. That could be a challenge finding a babysitter from week to week. And now the group is splitting up because several of the families are relocating.

Interesting where this post went. I started out just mentioning a new social networking site and now I am pondering being involved in community. I think there is more I could say. But I will save that for another time.

I encourage you to visit Kathy’s article on the Creating Passionate Users blog. She has an interesting chart that shows the scary similarities between group therapy and Web 2.0.

The del.icio.us lesson

• Personal value precedes network value
• People rarely do things for the “good of the network”
• Del.icio.us, though providing very cool tagging features, is mostly about a single person remembering items for later.

His third point resonates with me because that is how I use del.icio.us. I think it points to the fact that Web 2.0 is really about helping individuals accomplish their goals. Recommendations are helpful when they help me accomplish what I want.

Joshua has some other interesting observations or lessons on what we have learned so far about leveraging the Web.

Joshua Porter did a seminar on Web 2.0 and here is my summary. He talked about it using different themes he has identified.

• Information Remixing — He showed us housingmaps.com which is “mash up” of Google Maps and Craig’s List. Information remixing takes previously disparate information and ties them together in new ways that are more useful.
• Architecture of Participation — We looked at del.icio.us. This theme takes one person’s activity and makes it a useful tool for others. Del.icio.us allows a user to enter bookmarks and then tag them with different categoried that are useful to that person. Then I can look to see what others have put under those tags. It is collabortive filtering that takes personal info to help others find valuable content.
• Social Networking — Flickr and Netflix would be examples of this. This theme deals with sorting information based on who I am and who my personal authorities are.
• Interfaces — This theme deals with making new interfaces for content through what are referred to as APIs or Application Programming Interfaces. One example is Andale which uses information in eBays database to help those who sell on eBay become better at it. Here is a description from their website, “Andale Research is a power tool that can boost your sales every day. By helping you uncover the secrets to successful selling on eBay and formulate winning pricing strategies, it can show you how to sell more and maximize your profits on every sale.”

I thought Joshua did a good job of trying to make the concept of Web 2.0 a little easier to understand.