future of the web

Since 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 patterns and techniques we’ve developed over the last 15 years hold up? And... which break? In this session, Dave Shea and John Allsopp consider the challenges we’ll face as the web devolves onto a myriad devices, and the web is "always on" wherever we are. John Allsopp Successful software developer, long standing web development speaker, writer, evangelist and expert, John has spent the last 15 years working with and developing for the web. As the head developer of the leading cross platform CSS development tool Style Master, and developer and publisher of renowned training courses and learning resources on CSS and standards based development, John is widely recognized as a leader in these fields. As a presenter and educator, John speaks frequently at conferences around Australia and the world. His idiosyncratic blog Dog or Higher covers a broad range of subjects, particularly in technology and innovation, and is widely read and referenced. Dave Shea Dave Shea is the creator and cultivator of the highly influential web site csszengarden.com, and co-author of the recently-published Zen of CSS Design (New Riders, 2005). The founder and design lead of Bright Creative in Vancouver, BC, Dave also writes for a large global audience of web designers and developers on his popular weblog, mezzoblue.com. His sites have won multiple awards, including Best of Show 2004 at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, TX. He speaks internationally at design and technology industry conferences, on top of being an organizer of Web Directions. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Once 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 in the UK and started his design consultancy Stuff and Nonsense in 1998. As lead designer and creative director, his clients include national and international businesses, charities and government bodies. Andy is a member of the Web Standards Project where he redesigned the organization’s web site in 2006. He is also an invited expert to the W3C’s CSS Working Group. Andy regularly educates web designers on how to create beautiful, accessible web sites and he speaks at workshops and conference events worldwide. He writes about design and popular culture on his blog, All That Malarkey and is the author of Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa-nc/3.0/).